2019–2020 MBA Essay Analysis: NYU Stern, Wharton, Yale SOM

How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With these thorough essay analyses, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out.
This week, we round up essay analyses for the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and The Yale School of Management (SOM).
2019–2020 MBA Essay Analysis: Duke Fuqua, MIT Sloan, Northwestern Kellogg

How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With these thorough essay analyses, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out.
This week, we round up essay analyses for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
2019–2020 MBA Essay Analysis: Berkeley Haas, Dartmouth Tuck, Stanford GSB

How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With these thorough essay analyses, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute so that your experiences truly stand out.
This week, we round up essay analyses for The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley; the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College; and the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB).
2019–2020 MBA Essay Analysis: Chicago Booth, Columbia, Harvard

How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With these thorough essay analyses, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute so that your experiences truly stand out.
This week, we round up essay analyses for The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Columbia Business School, and Harvard Business School.
Register for Our Upcoming Dream MBA Webinar Now!

Starting April 10, Manhattan Prep and mbaMission will be coming together for an invaluable series of free workshops titled “Maximize Your Potential: 5 Steps to Getting Your Dream MBA.” Senior consultants from mbaMission will address and explain various significant admissions issues, while experts from Manhattan Prep will help you tackle some of the toughest challenges GMAT test-takers face, offering insight, advice, and more. Read more
Dartmouth Tuck Essay Analysis, 2018-2019

How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With this thorough Dartmouth Tuck essay analysis, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out.
As the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College enters its second full admissions season with Luke Anthony Peña at the helm as executive director of admissions and financial aid, we are not surprised to see a major overhaul in the program’s essay questions. What was the school’s first essay last year—which covered candidates’ career goals, why an MBA is needed to achieve them, and their reasons for targeting Dartmouth Tuck—has been deconstructed and reformulated into a series of short-answer questions. Tuck’s new Essay 1 instead addresses applicants’ individuality and anticipated contributions to the school. The admissions committee keeps the focus on contribution in its second essay prompt, asking candidates to discuss a time when they helped facilitate another’s success. Clearly, Tuck is interested in identifying individuals who will be connected, cooperative, and supportive members of its community, both as students and as alumni, staying true to its reputation as having one of the closest-knit and most engaged networks among the top MBA programs. Read on for our detailed Dartmouth Tuck essay analysis. . . Read more
Top 20 Business Schools

If you’re trying for a great GMAT score, it’s probably because you have your eye on one of the top 20 business schools. Here’s the lowdown on how schools are ranked, which schools are at the top, and how that relates to your GMAT score. Read more
Should I Take the GMAT or GRE?

The “GMAT or GRE” decision seems more complicated than it really is. There are a few reasons you might strongly prefer one test over the other, but now that most MBA programs accept both tests, most of us are free to take whichever one is right for us. In this article, we’ll look at the differences between the GMAT and the GRE, and how those differences might change your decision. Read more
Wharton Essay Analysis, 2018-2019

How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With this thorough Wharton essay analysis, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out.
Often spurned at the last minute for Harvard Business School, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and, at times, Columbia Business School, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, possibly more than any other top MBA program, really wants to know that you want to earn your degree there. So we were not at all surprised to see that Wharton has maintained the prompt for its first essay, which requires applicants to explain their professional rationale for wanting to go to Wharton. (Note that by contrast, HBS does not ask candidates to spell out “Why HBS?”) Read more
Chicago Booth Essay Analysis, 2018-2019

How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With this thorough Chicago Booth essay analysis, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out.
After maintaining its somewhat unique “choose a photo” essay prompt for three years in a row, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has completely overhauled its application essays this season, transitioning from that single open-ended and creative option to two short, direct essay questions. And notably, the school has shifted from having no limits at all to having a minimum expectation with respect to word count. In some ways, the minimum sets a range that a lack of limit does not. We have often suggested 1,000 words as a guide for the unlimited Chicago Booth essay, but now, we suggest keeping responses to 500–600 words each. Approximately double the minimum seems to be a reasonable high-end target, though you will not be thrown from the applicant pool for going even higher. That said, we do think 1,000 words would be as high as one might go, and only in exceedingly rare cases. Read more