MBA Application Final Touches: Top Tips and Tricks

As admissions consultants, the Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC) team finds immense enjoyment in guiding our clients to capture their life journey across each of the MBA application touchpoints. One of the former HBS Admissions Officers (AdCom) on our SBC team shared with us, “I believe it’s true that all people, and therefore all admissions boards, love a great story. It’s a way to bring life to your application and show the realness of who you are during what can be a dry process.”

In addition to directly advising MBA applicants, our ex-AdCom consultants help with our Flight Test™ final application reviews for each of our clients, contribute their inside knowledge of the admissions process to our internal message boards (so that our entire team can benefit from their experience), and also weigh in on program-specific or client-specific questions when the need arises.

We asked these valuable AdCom resources on our team to share their insights with those of you who are currently working hard on finalizing your round one application materials. Here are five key facts to keep in mind:

The AdCom will spend about 20 minutes in total reading all of your application materials.
During the early part of the screening process in each round, AdCom members may review as many as 50 to 100 applications per day. Details and unique stories about your personal background can make you stand out from the crowd.
Each application is read by at least two individuals: either 2 AdCom members, or the first pass is done by a contract reader, followed by an AdCom member.
Admissions teams will often compare applicants from the same industry, the same firm, or even the same office location. Your toughest competition may be someone you work with.
The application questionnaire (or data form) is one of the most overlooked opportunities to highlight your accomplishments. Many candidates simply copy text from their resume into the application. It should instead be viewed as an opportunity to add rich details and expand on your limited resume bullet points.

With these facts in mind, the personalized parts of the application are make-or-break for your admissions chances. With round one deadlines nearing, we assume all of your candidacy development, brainstorming, and writing work is already complete, and it’s now just about finalizing.

SBC’s B-Schooled host Erika has done a deep dive into “final touches” on our podcast. Below, we’re sharing an overview of her MBA application final touches advice to help business school aspirants make their responses as high-impact as possible.

MBA Application Editing 101: Banish Overused Words and Phrases

Not every MBA applicant is a natural writer, so we call your attention to some tired words and phrases you should avoid. In general, remove adjectives and adverbs that add no value to your story and may weaken your message. A non-exhaustive list of examples you should take a red pen to include:

Key	Unique
Very	Really
Interesting	Important
Amazing	Bandwidth
Leverage	Synergize
Get the ball rolling	At the end of the day
Think outside the box	Hit the ground running

Another common pitfall for MBA applicants is writing flowery sentences overloaded with descriptions. Often, you can find shorter ways to say the same thing. For example, instead of saying, “My long-term career goal is to run an ed-tech firm,” you could say, “Eventually, I want to run an ed-tech firm.” Also, look out for the unnecessary “of.” Saying “I wanted to exceed the expectations of my client” could have been written as “I wanted to exceed my client’s expectations.”

These seemingly small deletions can significantly strengthen your response. By making simple tweaks like these, you can ensure that every word in your essay is impactful and contributes to your narrative.

Lastly, MBA applicants often wonder whether it’s OK to exceed the word or character count. Responses entered into a text box within the application typically have a hard cut-off. Some schools have applicants paste their essay responses into such fields, so you must stay within the prescribed limit.

While we caution applicants against exceeding the word count, you have some wiggle room with PDFs. Remember that admissions committee readers know what 500 words looks like. So, do your best to stick to the rules.

Curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.

Short Text Fields on the Data Form

We have an entire podcast episode about the MBA data form, so check that out for several helpful tips. Here, we’ll focus on the fields that ask you to describe your accomplishments, most significant challenges, or extracurricular activities. You often have no more than 200 characters available for these text fields.

So, the biggest takeaway is to not answer in complete sentences. If the field asks about your responsibilities, don’t write, “My responsibilities are…” or “I am responsible for…”. In fact, you don’t even need to begin your answer with “I.”

Here’s an example from an actual SBC client, which you’ll note are direct statements that begin with action verbs:

Oversee global finance and operations for youth development programs in 5 countries.
Manage organization-wide accounting matters, assist management with donor invoicing and reporting, monitor firm-wide cash flow and advise management on limitations.

Ideally, you will use wording that is different from what’s on your resume. Here is your chance to tell the AdCom something new or provide other details. Also, note that the number five is not spelled out. While grammar rules dictate you should spell numerals from one to nine, that doesn’t apply to situations where you’re constricted by character count.

You should use shortcuts like these whenever possible. So, for the words million, billion, or thousand, use capital M, B, or K instead. Rather than writing plus, use + if you can. Heavily used words such as startup and nonprofit don’t need hyphens, either.

Finally, we have thoughts about Oxford commas—the final comma between the last two items in a list. It’s OK to omit them throughout your MBA application materials, and it’s advantageous to do so when constrained by character count. Save those extra spaces for meatier content.

Make Thoughtful Topic Choices

Sometimes, MBA applicants want to share anecdotes that, while compelling, require a complicated or lengthy setup. When that happens, you may need to choose a different achievement or story. It’s best to pick a more straightforward example whose setup doesn’t require 80% of your word count.

Examine your essay with a critical eye, and ask yourself, “Is every single word in my response necessary to make my point and answer the question?” Am I showing—not telling—something that reveals what I would bring to the program to benefit my classmates? If the answer is no, find other stories where you can spend most of the word allotment describing your contributions and results.

When it comes to MBA application editing, we recommend setting aside your completed essay drafts for a few days. Afterward, you can revisit them with fresh eyes, and you’ll likely discover words or sentences that aren’t critical.

While editing might not become your newfound passion, we hope this article and its companion podcast have provided you with valuable strategies to streamline your MBA application editing process. Business schools value succinct communication. Trimming down unnecessary words and focusing on impactful storytelling will strengthen your application.

Remember, conveying your experiences and aspirations clearly and effectively ensures that every word contributes to a compelling narrative. If you need further assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out for personalized guidance from our expert consultants. Good luck!

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Stacy Blackman Consulting’s B-Schooled Podcast is hosted by Erika Olson, Harvard MBA, and Chandler Arnold, Stanford GSB MBA. B-Schooled now has more than a quarter million downloads and 200+ episodes. Search and sort through our 200 B-Schooled podcasts.

Stacy Blackman is the founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC). We are the only consulting firm in the industry that has a complete panel of former MBA Admissions Officers from the top US and European MBA programs. SBC holds the #1 ranking on MBAinsight, CollegeConsensus, ClearAdmit, BeattheGMAT, ExamStrategist and we are #1 out of 11 firms for the presence on our SBC team of former MBA Admissions Officers by PoetsandQuants. Sign up for SBC’s E-Newsletter for valuable insider intel culled from the former MBA Admissions Officers on our team and real-time learnings: stacyblackman.com/newsletter Request a free MBA Advising Session call: stacyblackman.com.