MBA Essay Questions by Business School

The EssaySnark blahg is a veritable treasure trove for learning to write MBA essays. We have essay critiques for you to study, and dos and don’ts on how to approach this task. This directory of all the top U.S. business schools links to their dedicated page of essay questions and discussions which also includes the examples we’ve collected over the years. And the snark. Definitely the snark.

= using one or another version of standardized recommender questions in 2020
= using semi-standardized recommender questions in 2020
= doing their own thing with recommender questions in 2020
= a 2020 SnarkStrategies Guide has been released for this school

If you subscribe to the online version of a guide here on essaysnark.com, you get a 90-day subscription, and if the 2020 version is released during that subscription period then you will get free access to the update at no additional charge. Please note: Because of the impacts of coronavirus on admissions, all of our essay guides are going through a fairly involved update process — and it’s taking awhile to complete this task this season. Many schools did not change essay questions, so you can still pick up the 2019 version and get started; the 2020 version will speak more to guidance on talking about coronavirus specifically and cases where that may be advisable, or not. Because of the added workload, it’s unlikely we’ll be updating the Cornell guide this year; other guides are being tackled in order of popularity. We appreciate your patience as we work to get you the best information possible for your 2020 applications!

We also have an application guide for European MBA programs that covers strategies for INSEAD, LBS, HEC-Paris, and more. This guide was updated in 2019. It does not go in-depth on all of these schools’ specific essay questions, with the exception of INSEAD which is covered in greater detail. You’ll get a full discussion of what’s different with the European schools as a category, since they do many aspects of admissions differently than U.S. schools do, and their trending is not identical. You’ll learn how to angle your strategy to show these schools the aspects they’re looking for you, so you can better put together a winning pitch.

EssaySnark’s Top 19
Our ranking of schools based on how “easy” it was to get in as of 2017 (yes dated, but still directionally accurate!).

Also a note that the MBA essay materials we post throughout this site are not “samples.” We don’t publish samples. It’s because reading sample essays won’t help you be authentic in your pitch to the schools. We only publish essays that are flawed… then we tell you why. These pages list out the schools’ questions, and we provide guidance on how to tackle them. Our essay reviews are of drafts that people tried earnestly at, but came up short. Navigate these waters carefully, Brave Supplicant.