NYU Stern Released a New Essay. Here’s How to Approach It

New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business, which ranked number 15 in P&Q’s Top Business Schools ranking, seeks students who are authentic and have high self-awareness.

This year, the B-school announced its Class of 2024 MBA essay prompts, which includes a new essay requiring applicants to create a personal tagline. Trisha Nussbaum, an MBA Admissions coach at Fortuna Admissions and NYU Stern alumna, recently offered tips on how applicants should approach the Stern essays as well as create a strategy for success.

THE NEW ESSAY

This year features a brand-new essay from Stern that asks applicants to respond to the following:

In today’s global business environment, the only constant is change. Using NYU Stern’s brand call to action, we want to know how you view change. Change: _____ it. Fill in the blank with a word of your choice. Why does this word resonate with you? How will you embrace your own personal tagline while at Stern? Examples:

Change: Dare it.

Change: Dream it.

Change: Drive it.

Change: Empower it.

Change: Manifest it.

Change: [Any word of your choice.]

Context, according to Nussbaum, is key with this essay. For one, the essay alludes to Stern’s own rebrand back in 2019 when it announced its new slogan: Change. Dare it. Dream it. Drive it.

Taking that into consideration, applicants should think about their own values and goals and convey them in a creative, forward-thinking manner.

“No matter your background, Stern wants to see that you are agile, flexible and progressively thinking beyond your industry’s traditional definitions,” Nussbaum writes. “But when you sit down to write, take the opportunity to reflect on your life and values and what is really important for you. Allow yourself to play with possibilities and to get creative. What words, values, or themes feel symbolic of your relationship to change, your thought process, and what makes you tick?”

ESSAY 2

The second essay at Sterns asks applicants the following:

Describe yourself to the Admissions Committee and to your future classmates using six images and corresponding captions. Your uploaded PDF should contain all of the following elements:

• A brief introduction or overview of your “Pick Six” (no more than 3 sentences).
• Six images that help illustrate who you are.
• A one-sentence caption for each of the six images that helps explain why they were selected and are significant to you.

Essay two, Nussbaum says, is all about who you are.

“In addition to considering a candidate’s academic and professional background in the admissions process, Stern places a strong emphasis on personal characteristics and is looking for students who will be involved in the school and community,” Nussbaum writes. “The Pick Six is a place to let your personality shine. You can utilize a diverse set of images, as long as they have significance in your life and, if possible, tie into the characteristics that Stern is looking for.”

ESSAY 3

The final Stern essay asks applicants the following:

Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, further e explanation of your undergraduate record or self-reported academic transcript(s), plans to retake the GMAT, GRE, IELTS or TOEFL, or any other relevant information.

Similar to the optional essay at UCLA’s Anderson, Stern’s final essay provides a space for applicants to add context to weak areas in their application. The key is to not only add the context but to show how you are improving.

“This is also an opportunity to provide more context if you did not provide a recommendation from your direct supervisor,” Nussbaum writes. “It is a personal decision whether or not to make use of this essay, but it can be useful to express to the admissions committee that you recognize that there may be a gap, but you have taken steps to address it.”

Sources: Fortuna Admissions, P&Q