What Harvard Business School Really Wants: How To Ace The HBS Essay

In the biggest change from Harvard Business School admissions in a decade, in late June the school released new essay questions for the 2024–25 MBA application. Gone is the longstanding wide-open prompt with a generous limit of 900 words. Applicants are now asked to respond to a series of three much shorter essays. 

As a Fortuna Admissions coach and former Associate Director at HBS, I’m thrilled with the new HBS essays. Over the years I have spent a lot of time putting the open-ended essay into context for anxious candidates, most of whom struggled to know where to begin. 

While some candidates wrote brilliant, meaningful and authentic essays told in a succinct and memorable way, others delivered the “kitchen sink.” Some even tried to fit an autobiography in 900 words. Essentially, the old HBS essay gave candidates enough rope to hang themselves with, and unfortunately some did. 

That’s why I warmly welcome this new set of essay questions with clearer signposts indicating the specific elements that HBS is seeking to learn in the process of evaluating its applicants (roughly 10,000 a year). As my colleague Judith Hodara commented, “some applicants will be very relieved to not face the old 900 word beast of an essay, and appreciate the opportunity to break their story into discrete, focused parts.” 

The school has also outlined new criteria for evaluating candidates. 

Fortuna’s Tips For The New HBS Essays

HBS Essay #1 – Business-Minded Essay

Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)

Here the school is looking for the logical thread that connects your career vision to key experiences that have triggered your professional passions. What are the factors and experiences that have shaped the professional you have become today? And how do they link to your future goals? However, keep the focus on the past or present and don’t dedicate too much of the precious word count to the future. As my colleague Rachel Erickson Hee says, “Asking about what kind of leader you want to become is a potential trap here; some candidates will waste word count articulating that in detail instead of giving past examples that the AdCom can extrapolate from.” Given the word count constraints, you also can’t cover too much ground here, so focus on one main story or point. There’s a lot at stake here, so being judicious about your choice of example to highlight is critical. 

HBS Essay #2 – Leadership-Focused Essay

What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)

Here the school is looking for evidence of demonstrated influence and impact. This is also based on the understanding (relating to HBS professor Frances Frei’s work) that the best leaders know how to inspire others. Here you want to lay out how you have inspired or mobilized change — and explain the result. It may be intangible (e.g., increased morale or shifting the strategy of a team). 

Your selected example does not have to be related to work (although it can be); some candidate’s best examples will relate to their extracurriculars or community engagement. And again, you need to link this to how you want to inspire people in future. 

As with the first Harvard MBA essay question, word count will be a challenge, as there are three parts to the essay prompt! The advice above for the business-minded essay applies again: provide a very focused answer, and keep your description of your future self very concise. 

HBS Essay #3 – Growth-Oriented Essay

Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words)

This essay is where you can be vulnerable. How have you taken a risk, stepped out of your comfort zone, and been changed by that experience? Where did this idea come from? What inspired this creative endeavor? 

Remember that curiosity is a critical quality to being a great MBA student. HBS is an extraordinarily interactive learning experience, so the school seeks students who are excited to engage in discussion and debate both inside and outside the classroom. 

Moreover, Harvard Business School’s famous case method is based on inquiry and debate. You need to show that you are open to new ideas, perspectives and experiences, and will embrace that opportunity (and have valuable insights to bring to the classroom). As my colleague and HBS MBA grad DeJeune Antoine states, “if an applicant can clearly convey curiosity, I can see that person as a value add to the classroom discussion and HBS case study method, highlighting perspectives, people, and issues that others may have overlooked.” 

What HBS Is Looking For

Beyond credentials, HBS is looking for character, and your essays are the most important vehicle for illuminating your character in your MBA application. 

My Fortuna colleagues and I have guided countless candidates through the process of developing great essays that won them admission to HBS. For a deeper dive into our advice, check out our blog, 5 Tips For Writing Powerful Harvard MBA Essays. 

Our key advice is this: remember that ultimately, HBS is looking for people who are ambitious and extraordinary, with a habit of leadership, a history of engaging the community, and the appetite and aptitude for success that separates them from the simply smart and hard working. 

Beyond a demonstrated professional track record and impressive credentials, they also want to see a proclivity for consistently exceeding goals. More than that, they’re seeking mission-driven doers who are motivated by a deeper purpose and poised to make the institution proud. 

Your challenge with your HBS essays — and opportunity –—is to fuse that with some captivating illustrations of who you are as an individual. If that feels daunting, keep in mind that no one else has lived your story but you, which makes you uniquely qualified to tell it.And if it still feels daunting, know that Fortuna’s expert coaches are especially gifted at working with you to tease out your individual strengths, formative experiences and unique story. Book a free 30-minute consultation to learn more about how we can assist you in your MBA application journey. 

 

---

Karla Cohen is an Expert Coach at MBA consulting firm Fortuna Admissions and former Associate Director at Harvard Business School For more free advice from Fortuna Admissions in partnership with Poets&Quants, check out these videos and articles. For a candid assessment of your chances of admission success at a top MBA program, sign up for a free consultation.