Begin Writing That Essay

by Stacy Blackman Consulting, Jan 11, 2011

Once you have identified your business school deadlines and have determined the best timeline, you will finally have to face the fact that you need to begin writing your essays. This is often the most difficult step that individuals have.

As my clients begin writing their initial MBA essay drafts, many of them contact me about the word limits being forced on them. They insist that they are not even 50% finished with their essay, however they are not able to use any more words. Its just not possible to explain my three most important experiences in only 600 words!

My suggestion is to forget about word count and just write the essay. Make it a priority to get your information together and make sure that it is very solid. I feel that too much scrutiny leads to work not being completed. I push clients to force themselves to start writing, and to not worry about everything at first and not let them stop until they have answered a question. Once your information is on paper, you would be surprised at how painless it can be to eliminate words.

You can often keep every important part of an essay, but just articulate with fewer words. You also may be forced to consider which parts of your story are truly important to answering the question. It is very easy to start telling your story and then continue off topic. Carefully examine each part of your business school essay and make sure that it is all very relevant, as opposed to unimportant background information.

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.