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($) Embroider it on a pillow.

by EssaySnark

But please don’t write it in an MBA essay. We originally started this blahg because we saw too many earnest MBA applicants (aka BSers) saying earnest MBA applicant things in their essays. That was nine years ago (and we’d already been reading MBA essays for many years before then). Alas, not much has changed. :-(…

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($) Another “show, don’t tell” post

by EssaySnark

Often when doing an Essay Decimator essay critique, we come upon a story that the BSer is trying to use to support their application and, well, we just can’t figure it out. Frequently it’s a question of alignment: The story starts off in one direction, emphasizing how the BSer did certain things to bring something…

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($) “no other school has…”

by EssaySnark

Over the summer we did a two-part series about “compare and contrast” in your MBA essays and it’s worth revisiting, since this comes up a lot in what BSers submit in their apps. This is another component that seems innocent enough (and it is) but it’s a style of communicating that doesn’t actually help you…

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($) Being a “thought leader” is not a career goal.

by EssaySnark

https://twitter.com/adweak/status/1039759735879290885     Sometimes people tell us that their long-term post-MBA career goal is to be a “thought leader.” (Apparently in Washington, DC, people say this on first dates , too.) This is not a career goal for so many reasons – and even worse, it just sounds, ohidunno, maybe the word is cocky?? We…

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($) Compare and Contrast (Part 2)

by EssaySnark

Recently we laid out two techniques that applicants often use in essays: 1) Talks about how the school they’re applying to is “the best at blah blah” or is “world renowned” or something about how it’s so set apart from its peers 2) Talks about THEMSELVES in similar language, saying that they were the only…

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($) Do not overpromote!

by EssaySnark

Given our fraught public dialogue these days, the adcoms are becoming ever more sensitive to hype and propaganda in MBA apps. You don’t want to risk your candidacy by taking liberties with language! We don’t mean our standard exhortation about lying. Instead, we’re talking about hype. We have seen BSers inadvertently step in it when…

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($) Taking credit

by EssaySnark

Like our recent posts on tone in essays, today’s may be another one of those you want to mark with that little Favorites button at the bottom, so you can find it again in a week or so, when you’re panicking and beating your head against the desk and trying to figure out how to…

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($) essay critique! Tuck short and long-term goals / why MBA / why Tuck

by EssaySnark - Discusses

About a month ago, this essay was submitted for consideration for a freebie blahg review by an Indian BSer who’s applying to Tuck (or possibly he already submitted in their November round? Not sure; if so, we got it much too late to turn it around that quickly 🙁 ). This BSer is in investment…

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($) The need for specifics

by EssaySnark

As you can see from some of the posts this week, we’re moving into Round 2 mode! We’ll be talking more and more about essay execution in the coming days — and pricing is going up soon! We’re starting to get busy, which means that if you want to use us to the greatest advantage,…

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($) Here is a great example of “showing”

by EssaySnark

Show, don’t tell. Show, don’t tell. If you’ve gotten your essays decimated, you’ve likely heard that by now. Here is literally what we mean: From article Lessons Learned Scaling Airbnb 100X by former Airbnb product manager Jonathan Golden. His advice statement: When competition appears, move faster than you think you possibly can. That’s pretty descriptive…

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