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You are here: Home / Snarchives for please don’t do this

($) Writing tip for authenticity: Handling memories accurately

September 27, 2022 by EssaySnark - Discusses Harvard, Yale SOM, Stanford GSB Leave a Comment

excerpt from Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker

You’ve probably heard that storytelling is an important part of writing good MBA essays, and you’ve also probably been stumped by what that even means. Pretty much the entirety of our writing tips and show, don’t tell posts here on the EssaySnark blahg is devoted to helping you build this skill, and it’s core to […]

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Filed Under: values, writing essays Tagged With: authenticity, please don't do this, storytelling Bschools: Harvard, Yale SOM, Stanford GSB

($) essay critique! Stanford “What matters most?” with pointers of what’s not helpful

September 6, 2022 by EssaySnark - Discusses Stanford GSB Leave a Comment

Some brave Brave Supplicant submitted an essay for consideration for a freebie review here on the blahg and we’ve got a few things to say about it! Here’s a snippet of a “What matters most to you and why?” essay — offered not as a sample essay, but as an opportunity to see what works […]

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Filed Under: essay critique Tagged With: please don't do this Bschools: Stanford GSB

How to get rejected from bschool.

August 15, 2022 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

Here’s a quick list of mistakes we see people making in their bschool apps All. The. Time. Underestimate the importance of Round 1. Toss out totally ambitious career goals – like saying you want to be CEO. Toss out totally ambiguous career goals – like saying you want to lead a company. Paper the country […]

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Filed Under: planning your strategy Tagged With: please don't do this

($) “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em, then tell ’em, then tell ’em what you told ’em”

July 21, 2022 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

No. Please don’t do this. Premium content starts here… ———–   ———– Premium content ends.  

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Filed Under: writing tips Tagged With: please don't do this

One more tip for authenticity in your MBA essays: Don’t read other people’s essays

June 6, 2022 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

When BSers get stuck on what they’re supposed to say in their essays, they frequently leave an exasperated comment asking for help. “Do you have a sample I can look at?” they ask plaintively, trying to keep the whine out of their words. If you read other people’s essays – even “successful” ones that got […]

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Filed Under: writing essays Tagged With: authenticity, please don't do this

($) 3 Innocent Mistakes MBA Applicants Make

May 6, 2022 by EssaySnark

(Besides not starting early enough. Which is the #1 mistake almost everyone makes, regardless of how much we warn about it. Pro Tip: It would be good to get started sometime soon!) While there are a near-infinite number of ways to muff up your MBA apps, there’s some common issues that we see crop up...


While much of the blahg is available completely for free, the content here is reserved for members with full blahg access only ($9.95/month for six months, cancel anytime). Please login to view this content or purchase a membership.

Filed Under: planning your strategy Tagged With: please don't do this

What if you miss the deadline by only a few minutes or an hour?

January 3, 2022 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

It would really suck if you’re still getting your application done at 11:15pm when the deadline is at midnight and you only then discover that the school has a hard cut-off for the word limit on their field that you’re trying to paste your essay into, and your essay is too long, and suddenly you […]

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Filed Under: application rounds Tagged With: EQ or lack thereof, please don't do this

Too much spin is a turnoff and becomes the opposite of an authentic presentation of yourself.

July 16, 2020 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

This is kind of general life advice which you already know, but we’ll issue this warning as you gear up for the months-long process of figuring out what to say in your essays to get into business school. Yes, you need to impress your reader. But there’s a fine line between writing about your achievements, […]

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Filed Under: general tips Tagged With: authenticity, please don't do this

Bad MBA essay typos (2019 edition)

February 7, 2020 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

This topic is a never-ending source of amusement / mortification / horror depending on who you are and what stage of the essay-writing process the typo was discovered in. If it’s EssaySnark discovering it in an essay review, it may be kinda funny, or for common mistakes like messing up when “it’s” needs an apostrophe […]

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Filed Under: app dataset Tagged With: please don't do this

($) Embroider it on a pillow.

November 28, 2018 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

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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Filed Under: "show don't tell", lessons learned, writing essays Tagged With: authenticity, please don't do this

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CLASS OF 2025 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

From a former BSer:
"love the guide books!"




    The 2022 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2025
   
    The 2022 Harvard MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
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SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with clear guidance for the 2022 essays!
   
  The 2022-2023 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2022-2023 applications
   
    The 2022 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video, plus the new optional short-answer question on "the world you come from" -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2025!
   
    The 2022 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values'
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - revised for 2022!
   
    The 2022 UVA Darden MBA Application Guide gives insights on the essays, Early Action, the possibility of a test waiver, and everything else going on here!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Darden MBA - updated for the Class of 2025 requirements!
   
   
The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2025 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2022
   
    The 2022 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2022-2023 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the essays, the EQ Endorsement and test strategies!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2025 essays!
       
   
   
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