How To Write An EMBA Essay That Will Get You Accepted

You’ve spent the last many years going to college, participating in meaningful extracurricular activities, winning awards, and gaining valuable job experience. How will you put all these years of experiences into one cohesive essay?

When Accepted’s EMBA clients ask this question, Accepted tells them, “The short answer is that you won’t. And you shouldn’t even try.”

Attempting to include every experience will make your essay too long and chaotic. Your essay should focus on just two or three concepts or events which you then explore in-depth, explaining how they make you the best candidate for their EMBA program. Take time to consider all of your past experiences to determine which ones put you in the best light.

Here are three tips to writing an EMBA essay that will help you get accepted at your top-choice program.

1. Incorporate both what you WANT to say and what you NEED to include in your essay.

There are two categories of ideas or experiences that you’ll write about in your essay:

• Things that you want to include because they make a major impression and differentiate you from other EMBA candidates.
• Subjects that you need to write about because they are required parts of the essay question.

2. Ensure that your essays fit together and show off your strengths.

Make sure that all of the parts of each of your essays fit together so that the when seen together, they show a total picture of you. Each essay is independent of the others, but they should balance each other out. They should each address a different theme. Your essays should complement each other, and themes should not be repeated.

3. Use the most current information first.

Make sure that you use your latest experiences to paint a vibrant, strong picture of your current work position. You may include older material after this, enabling you to demonstrate your progress. While it’s appropriate to concentrate on current experiences, it is not acceptable to discuss only past occurrences. This may lead the adcom to think that your best years are behind you and that you have nothing more to give. Your essay should make them believe that you have much more to offer.

An extra hint: Less is more. Adcoms are not interested in reading flowery language. They want you to get to the point right away. Don’t be verbose. Using too much language can appear to be covering something up.

Following these tips will ensure that your essay shows the adcom clearly and concisely who you are and why they want you in their next EMBA cohort.

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Do you want to be sure your EMBA application impresses the adcom? Check out Accepted’s MBA/EMBA Admissions Consulting Services and get matched with your personal admissions coach who will guide you through the executive MBA application process to acceptance.

Linda Abraham is the founder of Accepted, the premier admissions consultancy. She has coached MBA applicants to acceptance for over 20 years. The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News, and Poets&Quants are among the media outlets that seek her admissions expertise.