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HBS MBA Sample Essays: How to Craft a Winning Application



Having helped hundreds of candidates gain acceptance to these elite business schools, Jeremy Shinewald of mbaMission and Liza Weale of Gatehouse Admissions, in partnership with Poets&Quants, have pooled their collective experience to now help you. Using a carefully curated collection of 50 successful essays for HBS and the GSB, they have broken down why each one worked and created a truly essential guide to crafting essays for these schools more confidently and effectively.


The HBS and Stanford GSB essay prompts are both deceptively simple and intimidatingly broad. Yet the beauty of these essay questions is that you are in control! You are a unique individual, and this is your chance to show HBS and the GSB who you genuinely are and why you are an applicant worthy of admittance. The admissions committees are not seeking a certain type of candidate. Quite the opposite, actually! They want to get to know the real you, so through your essays, you want to forge a meaningful connection with the schools, presenting yourself sincerely and honestly.




hbs mba sample essays



The widely varying essays in this guide prove that no one definitive path to success exists. Some of the essays are pragmatic and straightforward, while others are more sentimental and incredibly creative. They were written by a diverse group of applicants representing all walks of life and a variety of industries, functions, and geographies. These successful candidates prove that the HBS and GSB admissions committees are open to a vast range of topics, experiences, styles, and voices.


Because of this, the more personal and open you can be about why you do what you do, the more memorable and appealing you will be. Because there are so few of them. Few people are completely honest, and even fewer are vulnerable during the storytelling process. Some of the best essays begin with a failure story and how it shaped them.


The Indian School of Business (ISB) is one of the premier business schools in India, attracting top talent from around the world. The ISB admission process is highly competitive, and essays play a crucial role in the evaluation of applicants. In this article, we will provide an in-depth analysis of


The HBS essay will be VERY different for everyone. Do not fall into the trap of trying to write an essay like one you have read in the past or like your friend is writing. There will be a wide range of successful essays this year, and proper execution will be the key rather than simply the content alone.


While this year, HBS has added a 900-word limit to the essay in an effort to eliminate any stress about how much is too much to write, most essays that work will fall somewhere between 700-900 words. Consider quality over quantity. If you can write a solid 600-word essay that is powerful and moving, do not feel the need to lengthen it. We have helped many applicants write successful essays on the shorter side.


I am an international student and I was not satisfied with my former MBA advisor. I just thought my HBS essay was not good enough. A few days before the 1st round deadline, I decided to invest in the Essay Decimator from Essaysnark. That was the best decision I made and I am sure their insights were instrumental to my approval. Essaysnark definitely made all the difference in my process and I am extremely grateful for them. They have a deep knowledge on the process, they invest time to deliver really high-quality comments on every single word of your essay. I simply could not be more satisfied. After getting approved last year at HBS, people ask for advice on the process and my recommendation is: invest time in your essays and work with essaysnark. This is my best advice for any MBA applicant. Thank you essaysnark!


Harvard MBA personal statement examples can be helpful to applicants preparing to write their own stellar essays. That's why we've provided five of them for you to review and get inspired. So whether you have your eyes set on Harvard business school or just need some help with your personal statement for a different business school, this post will have some valuable information for you.


Below are some of Harvard's famous prompts with sample answers that will help inspire your own. Pay special attention to the different ways these sample answers respond to the prompt while tying it back to the skills and qualities needed to succeed in business school.


Email us for more information about our services! Start strong Begin with your thesis, the main thrust of your essay. Your admissions reader will be working through many essays very quickly, so be sure to make a good first impression.


We encourage you to write your fellowship essays with theunderstanding that this is the only essay the fellowship committees are readingto learn about you, your experiences, and goals. Approach your essays with theidea that the fellowship committee is learning about you for the first timethrough your essay(s).


It is okay to repeat information from your admissionapplication, but keep your audience in mind. The fellowship committees aretrying to determine if you are a good fit for that particular fellowship andthe cohort of fellows they are building, whereas the admissions committee ismore focused on determining your fit for the Kennedy School more broadly. Weadvise you to emphasize why you are a good fit for that particular fellowshipin your fellowship application essays.


Admissions essays are not shared with scholarshipcommittees. We encourage you to write your fellowship essays with theunderstanding that this is the only essay the fellowship committees are readingto learn about you, your experiences, and goals.


Most fellowships with essay requirements will have the specific format outlined on the financial aid application. If the format is not specified in thedescription of the fellowship, essays should not exceed two pages in length andshould be single spaced. PDF format is preferred for all submissions. Ouroffice does not have sample essays; we encourage all applicants to be authenticin their essays and to follow the prompts provided for specific fellowships. 2ff7e9595c


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