Sandy On Harvard’s New MBA Application

BYRNE: What about saying something offensive or politically incorrect?

KREISBERG: That needs to be watched and I suppose it comes to mind first, and will be listed as first by others, but in reality, that is pretty rare.

It is rare for someone to say, “Gee, I want you know what a good job I did in planning Joey’s retirement party and arranging for those strippers and getting that Mormon guy drunk, and even the gals got a kick out of the fact that I also had a male stripper, because, you know, everyone loves strippers and booze and cigars . . .” I mean, you love to tell stories about essays like that, and you hope those stories are true, but gaffes like that are really rare. Although, yes, for the record, do not write about strippers, or how Islam is a religion that is hard to square with Western business practices, or how gay marriage could logically lead to plural marriage, or how your brilliant marketing scheme for that tobacco or beer company was so good because it appealed to kids.  But more importantly, because this is likely to happen more frequently, do not use a megaphone in any context.  And when you find yourself on an easy  roll, ask yourself if you are slipping into cliches and possibly offensive ideas.

Let me also add, most adcoms are liberal in general outlook. It may be unfair, but you can write a good essay about how you were effective in organizing a campaign to support gay marriage. It is taking a real risk to write about organizing a ballot initiative against gay marriage or in favor of banning abortions–don’t argue with me. Argue with the academy. Adcoms, will, of course, deny this, but don’t believe the denials. At bottom they will blame you, in their own minds, not for your political views, but for taking risks and a lack of judgment.  Not for being against gay marriage,  but for writing about it in this context.  Catch-22.

BYRNE: OK, how can this new and no-limit essay help an applicant?

KREISBERG: If you have powerful extra-currics or if you have an adversity story that is hard to fully ‘get’ in a shorter context, this essay can give you the  chance to flip a switch in the reader’s head that says, “I REALLY LIKE THIS KID.’  Keep in mind that you get a chance to list extra-currics on your resume and in some outline form in the body of the application, and most applicants do not realize how powerful  that list can be all by itself.  But beyond that, this essay, as with the famous Stanford essay, can give you a chance to talk about how those experiences helped form your values, who your mentors were, how you evolved as a thinker and doer, and also how that impacts your goals. That would actually be my “go to” advice if you don’t need to use this essay to explain bad grades, or too many jobs, etc.  Or even if you do.

BASICALLY THE TEMPLATE ANSWER FOR BOTH THIS ESSAY AND STANFORD ONE IS, I’D LIKE YOU TO KNOW, AS YOU CONSIDER MY APPLICATION, WHO I AM, WHERE I COME FROM, AND HOW MY VALUES AND GOALS WERE FORMED BY MENTORS, TEACHERS, PARENTS, AND EXPERIENCES. I mean, don’t say it that way,  but make that the content in whatever format works for you.

You can include work experiences in that, just focus on how you were effective, why that project was important to your larger development, how you convinced others, led, negotiated, made friends out of foes.

BYRNE: Sandy, do you think a lot of applicants will be retrofitting their Stanford “What Matters Most Essay” into this one?

KREISBERG: Ha, ha, good one.  Actually, given that the Round One HBS deadline is in mid-September  and Stanford’s Round One deadline is several weeks later, I can see the opposite. A lot of HBS essays fitted into Stanford, with some transitional material, of course.

BYRNE: Do you think HBS was copying Stanford?

KREISBERG: No. I think Dee was feeling her oats and wanted to do something new and fun and not too crazy, and this is what emerged.

It is, a perfectly logical question, in some ways,  the mother of all questions. “What else do you want to tell us that we don’ t

know?”  It is only after the essay consultants go to town on it that it emerges, through the iron of the essay writing process and the quirks of the application process, that a good way to answer this question is very similar to THE good way to answer Stanford.

BYRNE: Dee mentioned in my interview with her that it was possible that some applicants will not write anything at all. Do you think that is wise?

KREISBERG: Well, I salute anyone who does that, and gets away with it, and some peeps probably can.

I would advise against it, just on a risk/reward basis.  It puts into play your own cockiness and if there is other evidence to support that, you could be in trouble.

I can also see  a question during the last 5 minutes of your 30 minute HBS interview along the lines of, “Gee, now that we have found out all about why you attended school X, and what you learned from jobs 1, 2 and 3, and what advice you would give each of your bosses, and what industries besides yours you think are attractive, and how you work with others”–which are all classic HBS interview questions–“how come you did not think any of that was worth adding to your application to help us to get to know you better, or do you think this interview has been a waste of time??”

OK, there is an answer to that, but still…….