Winning Essays Of Harvard MBA Applicants

Sample openings of our favorites in the 51-page Essay Guide:

The Trailblazer, with an engineering background:

 

The only thing I know about my paternal grandfather is that an irate mistress killed him on New Year’s Day 1988 – the year I was born. My father never attended college, was divorced by my mother, and hasn’t done much for his family or community. Ironically, I share a very distinguishing trait with these two gentlemen. We are all named [Author’s Name]. This is pretty much the only thing I have received from either of them, and I honestly want to make something of it. I want to redefine my name through notable actions in hope of passing it on without reserve should I one day have a son.

The Simpson, from an admit with a consulting and media background:

 

I have been fortunate to find something I love that gives my life meaning both inside and outside the office. The journey that led me to this application process was not one of ambition and natural career progression but of passion and inspiration. 

What does happiness mean? Is there a God? What is the American dream? Given our short time in the world, why do we do the things we do? For better or worse, these were the sorts of questions that occupied my thoughts at age 9. The fact that I wrestled with such existential concepts at a young age is attributable to a more practical question that loomed largest in my head: will I get home early enough to watch The Simpsons?

The Author, with a background in finance and media:

 

In 2012, I realized a life ambition – I completed my first novel, all while working full time at [Top U.S. Investment Bank]. I could not wait to share it with the world and eagerly went in search of a literary agent. But each agent I contacted declined to represent my novel.

Nevertheless, I was passionate about my work and was determined to put it into readers’ hands. In true entrepreneurial fashion, I self-published my novel through the digital platforms Smashwords and Createspace. I worked with a promotional expert to organize a month-long book tour to promote the book to prominent book bloggers and their readers. The result? My novel has received multiple 5-star reader reviews, from Amazon to Goodreads, and was a semifinalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Storytelling is my lifelong passion; it saw me through a difficult childhood. After my father left, my mother raised me as a single parent in [U.S. City/State], a rural Bible Belt town two hours south of [U.S. State]. We did not have much money and that coupled with my bookishness made me a target for bullies. Books and writing were an escape; they gave me an avenue to articulate the feelings of abandonment and powerlessness I otherwise did not want to express. Writing made me happy and the more I wrote, the more my talent blossomed. I began to win awards and my work was published in youth literary journals.

These experiences made me more confident, a key part of my success later in life. It allstarted with a pen, a notebook, and my imagination.

The Activist Consultant:

 

Standing inside Auschwitz as a 16-year old [South American Nationality] Jew filled me with intense emotions that included pain, resolute determination, anger, and grief. The words of the Jewish scholar Hillel gave a voice and purpose to these emotions. “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

These words resonate in me the importance of channeling one’s emotions toward growth and development that both include and go beyond myself. From that moment on, Hillel’s wisdom has invited me to use all I have learned to impact positively on the lives of others, while appreciating the urgency to make the best of the time I have. These words have given me clarity of purpose that I had not felt before, and they have defined the path I’ve taken since.

The Army Man, who served in the U.S. Army:

 

It was the night I almost gave up. My team was patrolling through the mountains of Georgia on a cold, February evening when it started to downpour. All of us wandering in and out of consciousness, the instructor allowed us thirty minutes to sleep. Laying on a steep incline and shivering, I knew I would get no sleep. Why was I putting my body through this, what was the point? I began working through scenarios in my head wherein I could quit and my team could still thrive. This struck me as odd: at one of the lowest points of my life, my decision calculus revolved around my soldiers’ success. Laying there, obsessing over the warmth and the comfort quitting would bring, I was finally beginning to understand true love and leadership—sacrificing and devoting everything you have to help others grow and succeed.

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