We have occasionally talked about formatting essays in terms of double spaced or single spaced and hopefully you already got the memo about font size.
Because everything matters in your MBA essay submission.
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As with so many aspects of your application process, a mistake in any of these areas won’t cause you to be skipped over by an admissions reviewer in favor of another applicant. In addition, not making any of these mistakes won’t likely even be noticed. It’s like when your house is clean: Nobody notices that. But when it’s dirty, it’s readily apparent.
You want your essays to be clean and therefore unnoticed. Small writing, grammar, or formatting issues call attention to the construction of the submission instead of letting the reader focus only on the content, so they can serve as a distraction.
Lots of admissions readers also struggle with remembering when to use a quote or a capital letter, so many will sympathize if you have a non-standard use. Sweating the details BEFORE you submit is worth your time and energy — but don’t sweat it AFTERWARDS if you’ve discovered such issues in your app after it’s in.
The content of your application and how you answer the questions is far and away the most important aspect that will determine your fate in this process.
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