MBA Business School Application Essays: How much time should you invest in them?
The B-School essays should be considered a surrogate to an interview. They should reflect your past accomplishments, your future goals, and your motivations. More importantly, they should reflect who you are and the events in your life that have led to your personal and professional growth. Sounds profound? Well, B-School essays are meant to be profound and thought provoking. They should tell a story about you that only you can tell. Sure, not many of us have thought about our lives in such depth. In fact it is not even easy to recollect events that have had significant impact on our lives. Because, more often than not, these are day-to-day events which teach us important lessons but don’t always register in our minds as events. Invariably, we would draw a blank when we are asked for a failure or a defining moment in our life. This is because most of us have never really thought about these questions, and have not been trained to think on these lines. If the answers don’t come easily, the only solution is to spend more time on the essay questions. Put the questions in your mind and wait for the answers to come. Give yourself time to ponder, to reflect, to introspect, and to think about what is important to you. We guarantee you, you will come up with situations that are unique to you and that will help you answer the questions with passion and depth. The essays are unequivocally the most important element of your application package. All things being equal, the essays will be decisive in your admission. You ideally ought to be spending about 30 to 45 days to write your essays. To write the essays well you need clarity. The clearer you are, the better and more convincing your essays will sound. Think about them, jot down points, go through three to four drafts, and share them with people who can provide you good feedback. Last but not the least, always check them for grammatical errors and flow problems. If you feel you are unable to bring out your best in the essays, you can always use professional help in the form of business school counseling services and application essay editing services. There are many organizations on the web offering various essay editing services. Give the essays the attention they deserve and you will be surprised at the results. If you would like to discuss your personal profile and case with other MBA aspirants, you can use the MBA section of the Infozee discussion forums. Your post would be seen not just by counsellors and existing students, but also by many MBA aspirants just like you: