This post is marked as OLD. Wharton still likes to see candidates talk about innovation in their essays and they may have a question geared exactly to that this year. However, this particular essay critique is from a long-ago admissions season. Check out the latest Wharton MBA essay questions to see what this school is looking for today.
Wowser you Brave Supplicants are having a tough time with Wharton’s “innovative” question. We’ve been reluctant to do full essay critiques on this one because… well, because they’re so long. Critiquing a 600+ word essay in a blog post makes for a very long blog post. ‘Cuz you know that we can never be brief. …
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Cassiopeia says
Timely post in light of the looming R1 deadline! Would you recommend that individuals devote more time talking about the implications and impact of the "innovation" than on describing the innovation itself? Is it matter of proving why your particular solution was an innovation and not just a new coat of paint on an old, decrepit building?
essaysnark says
Cassiopeia, exactly. Your "innovation" should be presented on a pedestal, so that the reader sees its beauty.
The issue we're seeing with a lot of these essays is that the reader may not (probably doesn't) have the context within which to understand why a solution to a particular problem is especially innovative. In many cases, the way the essays read, we're left wondering, "Shoot, isn't this just a story of this person doing their job?" Maybe you can *define* what 'innovation' is/means to you – in a similar fashion as you could do for a 'leadership' essay. You don't want to TELL the reader how it's innovative – it should be self-evident from the story itself – but you may need to provide enough of a framework around it to make the innovative-ness more clear. And most definitely 'impact' is ALWAYS a good thing to be highlighting, though it's probably not the #1 most important aspect in this particular case.
Not sure if this is any help but it's all we could come up with after a long day of essay reviews!!