You may be wondering why we’re spending so much time talking about issues of writing style on a blahg that’s supposed to be about strategies for getting in. A good set of essays for an MBA application will answer the question that the school has posted in its essay prompt. That goes without saying. Anyone who’s managed to find this little snarky corner of the internet already knows that (or, err, maybe we shouldn’t assume — given how many essays we see that don’t actually do that!). You probably have already heard about the basics that need to go into a standard “why MBA” or career goals question too. Few BSers wander into Snarkville without already having studied this stuff for at least some time, and knowing some of the standard elements that are required for getting the app together.
We also have a whole library of “getting-in guides” that go into great detail on what to say — and not to say!! — for the specific questions asked by specific business schools. Our essay questions page for each school gives a high level sketch for each question as well.
Those resources are available to help you on how to approach the questions in terms of your content strategy.
And yet what can truly set you apart is the way you present your content strategy through the techniques and delivery of the information. That’s why we go into what may seem like more esoteric topics about construction and tone in the essays: Because you have ready access to the guidance you need on what an essay should contain. You should have that whole category of developing your content covered. These aspects of actually writing, though? Here is where you have the opportunity for the true competitive edge.
Can you get your ideas across effectively?
So let’s continue on with another perhaps trivial-seeming point, which can still make a world of difference in the reader’s experience of your writing in your MBA app and convincing them of why you belong at their school.
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UPDATE! Final post in WRITING WEEK is here!
You may also be interested in:
- The trap of buzzwords
- The paint-by-numbers essay
- Citation needed (or why generic references about the school in an essay are useless)
Tell us what you think.