Winning Essays Of Harvard MBA Applicants

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The Inquisitive Mentor, from an admit with a background in engineering:

 

The most fun I have ever had professionally was when I was learning from [Engineer’s

Name (E.N.)], a 65-year-old engineer. I was a new engineer and [E.N.] volunteered to take me under his wing. We would spend our days walking the factory floor, solving various problems and sometimes experimenting late into the evening long after the time he told his wife he’d be home. He would constantly quiz me on various engineering principles and theories, and give me advice on my career and life in general. I learned more from [E.N.] than anyone else in my professional or academic career.

The Boxer, an admit with an engineering background:

 

“In the right corner, coming from [African City/Country], weighing 180 pounds, standing 5 feet 10 inches tall, here’s [Author’s Name]!” I imagine an announcer introducing me whenever I meet a challenge. I view life as a boxing match; each challenge is an opponent that I must defeat. In a boxing match, you have a choice if you have been beaten down. You can either muster everything in your being to get back up, or you can lose all hope and remain on the ground. I always choose the former. When my high school physics teacher, [Teacher’s Name], publicly declared I did not possess the ability to study engineering because I did not perform well on a test, it was a crushing blow to my dreams. The statement reinforced the negative messages I had received from my elementary school teachers – it left me devoid of self-confidence and motivation. Fortunately, I had parents who stood in my corner of the ring.

HOW THEY GOT INTO HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL

Asked if they know what got them accepted into Harvard Business School, Hind and Eshete believe that their essays had something to do with it in as much as those written statements portrayed their life experiences–aside from such obvious elements as a strong academic record, recommenders who can attest to one’s aptitude and character, and a competitive GMAT score. “I think it was two things that got me here,” says Hind, “growing up in a relatively remote part of Australia I have a different background, plus getting an MBA wasn’t the sole driving force and ambition in my life. Even during the application process, I thought it would be cool and I would learn some stuff. To some extent playing hard to get kind of helps because it demonstrates what you can bring to the class as opposed to what you can take from it.”

For Eshete, who until May of this year was a commercial analyst for General Electric in Ethiopia. it was the uniqueness of his experiences. “No one really had my story,” he thinks. “You are forced to look at the big picture because you are drawing from all the parts of your life and it gives you a good idea of who you have become to this point and who you will grow to be.”

His essay dove into his background, the fact that “I worked across five different divisions of a healthcare company and what I was doing outside of work. I performed improv at Second City when I lived in Chicago and am the co-founder of a mentor program for a nonprofit charter school for boys from economically disadvantaged households. Plus, I worked in emerging markets for nine months on a commercial team and talked about the good, bad and ugly about working in an emerging economy.”

ADVICE? BEGIN WITH HONEST REFLECTION ABOUT YOUR MOTIVATIONS & CHOICES

Advice for this year’s applicants? Both Hind and Esthete say that candidates should begin the writing process with a period of “honest reflection about your motivations, goals and choices to date.” Secondly, they say, applicants should “seek out feedback on drafts of your essay from people who know you well. Others can tell you whether your essay makes sense, but only people who know you well can tell you whether your essay really brings out you.”

Hind believes that the essay guide “helps super talented interesting people come up with a way to tell their unique stories. A lot of other products out there give them a paint-by-numbers approach which doesn’t give people credit for how smart they are. If you are applying to HBS, you can look at these essays and draw your own insights into how to best present yourself. It is a high-level roadmap and will give you confidence to tell your unique story.”

DON’T MISS: THE 10 TOUGHEST QUESTIONS HBS ASKS APPLICANTS & HOW TO ANSWER THEM

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