Harvard Business School Essay Topic Analysis 2011-2012

For the 2011-2012 admissions season, HBS applicants will need to respond to a total of four essay questions.  Unlike the past few years in which applicants had some choice about what essay questions to respond to, this year applicants must respond to all of the questions provided.  Similarly to prior years, meanwhile, applicants must be clear and concise to fit their essays within each of the essay’s 600- or 400-word limits.  Let’s take a look at the essay questions for this year:

1. Tell us about three of your accomplishments. (600 words)
This is a variation on an essay question that has been a hallmark of the HBS application for many years, downshifting its previous request for an applicant’s “three most substantial accomplishments” to a more laid-back formulation this season.  Due to its top billing, this question could be the first element of your file that the adcom reads, making this response a great opportunity to present the reader with three strong stories that introduce the major themes of your candidacy.  Each accomplishment can be presented as a stand-alone section here, so you needn’t be overly concerned about composing a seamless narrative.

HBS has traditionally been very impact-oriented in evaluating applicants’ credentials, so one way to determine which three accomplishments to describe in this essay is to think about the end results.  Experiences in which you made a lasting and quantifiable impact can lend themselves to concise, factual narratives, and considering that each accomplishment must be described in approximately 200 words, this can be an important consideration.  However, this isn’t to say that the process followed, skills gained, and lessons learned along the way aren’t important, too; highlighting an incident of personal or professional growth could offer a nice complement to some more straightforward accomplishment stories.

A final point to consider is that it’s also important to select stories with an eye to balance.  Harvard’s new wording takes the emphasis off maximum impressiveness, leaving prospective students with a bit more leeway to select examples that highlight a bit more range than he or she might have felt comfortable doing previously.  An applicant who describes two professional successes and one extra-curricular accomplishment, or perhaps one each from the professional, academic and activities realms, can show that he or she excels in a range of settings and situations.

2. Tell us three setbacks you have faced. (600 words)
Last season, HBS posed questions asking candidates to discuss a single mistake they had made and a single frustration they encountered, so this focus on things going less-than-well for the applicant isn’t too far afield from the adcom’s established interests.  The requirement that candidates discuss three distinct setbacks, meanwhile, is a new element of the HBS application.  With this new question, the adcom seems to acknowledge that disappointments are inevitable, and to signal an interest in applicants who are able to consistently regroup and forge ahead, learning lessons from negative experiences along the way.

Unlike a failure or a mistake, in which the fault typically lies with the applicant, the cause of a setback can be something external; for example, a serious illness or injury that took one off track in a graduate degree program, or an important client canceling a contract because of financial constraints on their end.  This opens up the realm of possible topics a bit, and saves applicants from writing an essay highlighting three blunders they’ve made in their careers.  Of course, more “classic” failure and mistake examples are fair game here as well; in fact, offering a mix of examples, selecting at least one example in which one is at fault for the setback, could highlight one’s willingness to accept accountability and learn from one’s mistakes.

As in any essay that introduces a failure, setback, or mistake, one’s maturity, self-reflection and insight are key qualities to communicate.  Towards that end, successful essays will describe the situation and the setback in a straightforward way, taking personal responsibility if applicable rather than making excuses.  The bulk of each example, however, should focus on the steps you took to overcome the setback, or the way you changed your course as a result.  Another important element to touch on is the growth or development you experienced as a result.  Effective essays will present this growth in terms of thoughts and feelings, while balancing comments about internal reflections with descriptions of more external actions and changes in behavior.

Like the previous question, applicants can respond to this prompt by presenting three stand-alone stories, keeping in mind the balance between sharing stories from one’s professional, academic, personal, and extracurricular experiences.  With only 200 words per topic, applicants must focus on concisely outlining each situation and discussing responses and reactions.

3. Why do you want an MBA? (400 words)
A variation of the standard career goals essay required by many business schools, this essay is actually a new addition for HBS this year.  While an inquiry about applicants’ “career visions” had been among the school’s essay options over the past few seasons, this is the first year in some time that candidates have been required to address the ‘why MBA’ subject.

While this question is fairly standard, Harvard’s 400 word limit is a bit tighter than that of many schools.  As HBS is an impact-oriented school that prides itself on shaping future leaders, applicants would be wise to focus this essay on how an MBA will help them gain the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their career goals.  In doing so, applicants will need to clearly state what their future plans are.  A quick mention of applicants’ interest in HBS’s MBA program, perhaps naming some key courses and clubs, will also help to clarify why they want to gain their business degree from Harvard specifically.

4. Answer a question you wish we’d asked. (400 words)
Making a return to the HBS application after a years-long absence, this question provides candidates a chance to explore an important aspect of their candidacy not mentioned in their data forms, resume, or other essay responses. For applicants from oversubscribed groups in the applicant pool, this essay could offer a great opportunity to truly stand out from the crowd by sharing an unusual hobby or an interesting anecdote.  Potential topics could be a time you demonstrated leadership, ethical behavior, entrepreneurial spirit, or persuasion skills, as these are all topics that have been of interest to HBS in the past.  Reapplicants, meanwhile, would do well to discuss how their candidacies have improved since they last applied to the school.  Whatever topic you select, it would be ideal to link this quality or fact to some element of your intended experience in the MBA program and/or future career.

Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis