How To Answer Harvard’s New Essays

Then, there’s the question pretty much every business school asks applicants, if not on the application, then during the interview: ‘Why do you want an MBA?’ Obviously, the real answer is ‘I want to make more money.’ But you can’t write that.

This is a question where you should talk about your long-term goals and why you need an MBA to reach those goals. You should actually answer last year’s question: ‘What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?’ Now, a lot of people think that his is a question where you can score a home run and distinguish yourself. Get that idea out of your head.

This is a question that can damage people. There are no great answers but there are a lot of bad answers. The really bad answer is you want an MBA to be a great real estate agent. Another bad answer is ‘education is important to you even though I don’t need it for my job.’ That is a damaging answer.

‘I want an MBA because I’m a doctor and I should know a lot about business as well.’ That’s a dumb answer. It can also be damaging if you list goals that do not emerge from your work experience.

Another damaging answer is to give them a business plan. In other words, ‘I want an MBA because I’ve invented a new procedure to cure gout and the MBA will help me exploit this and get patents and build a company around my gout treatment.’ They don’t like business plans. They want career vision. Not a business plan. As a rule, they don’t like people who want to start their own businesses. I don’t care what they say elsewhere on their website. The HBS admissions committee does not want people to start their own business.

How come?

Because they don’t think they can help you do that. That is a damaging thing to say, and it can never do you any good.

So what are some good answers?

A good model is ‘My two years in private equity have shown me the impact that helping small companies grow can have. I want to be a private equity leader in an X field to make more of that happen.’ Or just take out private equity and put in anything that you have experience in. Give examples of things you have been involved in which do that. Say you need an MBA to be a leader in this industry, to understand global trends, and to manage others.

Alright, what about that last throwaway question: ‘Answer a question you wish we’d ask.’

The biggest piece of advice here is think value added. Don’t think about a question you’d wish they asked. Think about a question that allows you to tell them what you think they need to know. Put it in the form of a question. Do an Alex Trebek.

In some cases, this question can serve a practical purpose. ‘I wish you asked me how come I couldn’t get my GMAT scores over a certain number. Or how come my GPA is 3.2 and why I think I can attend Harvard with that GPA. This is a perfectly legitimate place to discuss interruptions in work experience or the time you spent in jail or low GPAs or GMATs.

If you don’t have problems like that, you can talk about passions, hobbies, etc., especially playing the piano allowed you to raise money for a non-profit. If you haven’t been able to discuss your family background and that background is interesting, this is a good place to do it.

‘I wish you asked me how my family has influenced me.’ That is totally legitimate.

‘I wish you asked me who my mentors have been and what role they’ve played in my life.’

This question is not worth pulling your hair out over. In fact, this question is another example of one which could probably only do you damage. By that I mean, f you are marginal and say something stupid. You are not going to tilt your app from a ding to an admit with this answer. By the time they get to it, your race is basically run. If you are very, very close, a bad answer can damage you, and a great answer might maintain your very, very close position.

Sandy, the other change has to do with recommendations. Harvard is now asking recommenders to write up to 1,000 words, from the 750-word limit last year. And there’s a new question to boot.

Yes, there are three exact questions from last year and a new one. The new question is, ‘How does the candidate’s performance compare to other well-qualified individuals in similar roles?” They always wanted recommenders to address this issue. This makes it a little difficult for investment banks and PE shops that write a lot of recommendations. It’s hard to write five recommendations year and year and say this guy is the best guy I have ever seen, year after year. But for most recommenders, this is an issue which should have been addressed last year, anyway. They are just making it explicit to help out international recommenders who often would never compare applicants to others or American writers or just don’t know how to really write recs.

DON’T MISS: THE REBEL SAVANT OF MBA ADMISSIONS CONSULTING or THE MBA WORLD ACCORDING TO HBS GURU