How To Make Your MBA Essays More Conversational

What we call the ‘second interview’ tone is markedly different from that of a first interview or a third one. Ask yourself: in your experience, what is distinct about that second interview?

A second interview is distinct from a first interview in at least one important sense: by then you know they like you. After all, they invited you back, so the first interview must have gone well.  It’s also different from a ‘late’ (think 3^rd or 4th) interview in that you still probably feel conservative about following the rules (such as topics that are off-limits!).

Finding this voice of yours within an MBA essay is similar.  Writing in a warm conversational tone will allow you to connect emotionally with the admissions reader, while still respecting the formality of the process. Striking this balance leaves the reader wanting to reciprocate, and thinking ‘I haven’t quite heard this voice before, we need it here on this campus’.

How to find this tone?  Practice with someone who will provide feedback just like a second interviewer would.  Perhaps an uncle, an acquaintance, an admissions consultant.  But not someone you’re ‘too’ close with, because that won’t feel like the conversation you’re having with someone you’ve never met, i.e. the admissions reader.

You’ll probably find yourself choosing simple everyday words more often than fancy multi-syllabic ones, and using understatement more so than overstatement.  You’ll also directly address that prompt, leaving the reader with no doubt that you respect their process.

You can practice this in any setting you would call your comfort zone — i.e. zoom, phone, or on a couch next to your audience. And you want feedback.  What kind of experience is your reader having?  If you and your audience agree that the goal is to strike the tone of the ‘second interview’, you will get valuable feedback that empowers you to strike that same tone in another medium: the written word.

Then you’ll have novel things to write about your path and the school’s program.  You’ll sprinkle creative expression into business writing, bringing it to life.  This is a ‘risk’ many applicants worry about, having never met that admissions reader, not knowing how she will take a new perspective on an old program or non-traditional career.

But striking this balance is what tells a business school you have the emotional intelligence to make tough choices and also be liked, which is how they will choose tomorrow’s business leaders.

Mark Friedman is a graduate of the Wharton Business School and Stanford Law School. He prides himself on crafting novel messages out of seemingly ordinary backgrounds, mastering the details and the big picture of the application process, and helping clients overachieve. He is the founder of Admissions Ace.