Lowdown on MBA Application Short Answers

The MBA application short answers may seem like something to breeze through and submit. However, experts say there’s a strategic way to approach this section – and a not-so-strategic way.

“The questions are so brief and explicit that you might feel tempted to just power through them in one sitting and hit ‘submit,’” Brooke Wheelan, master consultant at The MBA Exchange and former associate director of MBA admissions at Harvard Business School, writes. “There’s far more importance here than you may realize.”

Wheelan says admissions committees typically use the short answer process to verify information, test for authenticity, and get to know more about a candidate.

Verifying Information

It’s important for applicants to ensure they are being truthful in every aspect of their application. When it comes to the short answer section, admissions will typically ask specific details regarding your employment, academics, extracurriculars, and awards.

“Schools also aggregate this information for macro-level reporting on their class profile re: GMAT scores, GPAs, undergrad majors, employer industries, etc.,” Wheelan writes.

An Authentic Voice

But the short answers also offer admissions an opportunity to see if your “voice” is authentic and not a hired consultant writing your essay for you.

“Adcoms are aware that many applicants receive some degree of help on their essays,” Whelan writes. “So, short answers are used to reveal over-involvement from third parties by helping schools confirm the same ‘voice’ is used throughout the application.”

Authenticity is something many say is crucial when it comes to the short answer section.

In an interview with US News, Ben Strickhouser, an incoming second-year MBA student at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, says it’s important to stay true to yourself when answering the short-answer questions.

“You want to be authentic in the way that you answer the question, so most likely the first thing that comes to mind whenever you read this question is what you want to put, and then you just need to spend a little bit of time to make sure that it’s put in an eloquent way,” Strickhouser tells US News.

Painting The Full Picture

Your numbers, essays, and recommendations can only tell so much about you, but the short answer section, Wheelan says, will help the admissions committee get to know you more.

“Schools also want to understand other aspects such as the depth of commitment to community service, apparent gaps in employment, self-assessment of greatest achievements and challenges, and so on,” she writes.

Sources: MBA Exchange, US News