Addressing Issues With Your Essays

by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Nov 30, 2010

Beyond expressing failures and weaknesses, business school application essays are an outlet to provide explanations for parts of your background that may require clarification. You will have to decide which parts warrant an explanation, but you should never assume that an MBA admissions committee will ignore some aspect of your background, or that other parts of your application will make up for weaker parts. If an obvious weakness is showing, an admissions committee will see it. The following are examples of such areas:

Number of career changes

If you have had a number of company changes on your resume, you may appear to lack commitment and focus. You will most likely need to justify the reason for your company changes and help the admissions committee to understand the reasoning behind your choices. Its important in this situation to refrain from only referring to your resume. You will want to explain the motivation behind your decision. There is no right number of companies, or a right amount of time at a job. What is most important is that you describe why each step is the right one in your path to business school and longer term goals. If there was a mistake that you made, you can write what occurred, how you corrected your action and what you learned.

Deficient career progression

Some business school candidates have difficulty showing professional growth when their job title has not changed in many years. However, a formal promotion is just one way to demonstrate that you have developed your capabilities. In this situation, you and your recommenders will have to work even harder to show that your responsibilities have improved within your position. You will need to write in detail projects that show advancement, and discuss ways that your role has evolved over time. Your recommenders can support this by writing on your growth, and discussing ways that you have grown personally. Additionally, you can highlight different areas of a job, even within the same job title, by mentioning responsibilities under a different set of years on your resume.

Being fired

Business school applicants can be fired from companies for poor performance. More frequently, however, we see candidates who are let go because of company downsizing. This frequently occurs early on in a job, before the candidate has the opportunity to prove him or herself. As with other hard situations, this is a time for honesty. If you have made a mistake, this is the time you must write about what happened and take responsibility for a poor decision. If you were caught by surprise early on in a job, you can write about what was learned, and show how you came back from the setback.

For more robust guidance on your MBA application essays, check out the Stacy Blackman Consulting Essay Guide Series school specific guides with essay tips, sample essays, information on what your target schools value and more.

Visit http://www.stacyblackman.com/essay-guides/ to learn more.

View Stacy Blackman Consulting videos on Beat The GMAT:

• Breakdown of Stanford GSB Essays for 2010-2011
• Breakdown of Haas Berkeley Essays for 2010-2011