Essays
Welcome to the MBA Essay Resource Hub
Are you beginning to brainstorm ideas for your MBA admissions essays? Looking to get some tips on polishing essays? We have gathered together all of our MBA essay prep resources in one place to help you craft your MBA essays.
The essay portion of the MBA application is one of the most crucial and time-consuming aspects of the MBA application process. These essays are designed for MBA admissions committee members to learn about an MBA candidate and to determine if the candidate is a good fit for the program. While ‘career goals’ essays are common across many top programs, other essays seek to explore a candidate’s personality, accomplishments, weaknesses, or ethical code, to name just a few attributes that are interesting to business schools.
Given the importance of the essay in the MBA admissions process, it is essential for you to prepare. On this page you will find a list of key Clear Admit MBA admissions essay tips, advice and resources that will help you craft compelling MBA admissions essays.
MBA Essay Writing Tips
Here is a group of articles that can help you prepare to draft your MBA admissions essays.
Drafting Essays
Revising and Finalizing Essays
More Admissions Essay Writing Tips
Clear Admit MBA Essay Topic Analysis
Updated for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle.
Clear Admit MBA Essay Strategy Videos
Be sure to review Clear Admit’s essay strategy videos where we review different essay topics and questions in the Clear Admit+ Admissions Academy Series.
Watch the rest of our Admissions Academy Essay Strategy Videos at the links below:
Clear Admit MBA Essay Podcasts
The following podcasts provide in-depth guidance on key strategies you can use to start drafting your essays. Be sure to give them a listen.
10 Tips for Tackling the MBA Written Application
Former Harvard Business School (HBS) Admissions Director Chad Losee Dishes on Interviews, Essays, Financial Aid, and More
MBA Applywire
Indian Male Engineer (28)
It would be great if you could evaluate my profile. I am a reapplicant. I applied to Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Rice & Minnesota with a 640 GMAT and got rejected by all. I recently took the GRE and scored well. I want to apply to Insead and US MBA programs for Fall 2025.
Education:
UG Degree: B-Tech-Chemical Engineering
College: Anna University
CGPA: 7.51/10
GRE: 332 (Q166 & V166) (1st attempt)
(I also have an MBA math certificate)
Work experience:
1st Job: Spent close to 3 years in an Indian Multinational Construction company where I was involved in Operations and Supply chain. I had the opportunity to work with top Indian Oil & Gas Industry clients for high value projects in Water treatment Industry. Had 1 promotion and was rated top performer by management.
2nd Job: Spent around 5 months in marketing my Family's solar rooftop solutions business (Small size) through social media and exhibitions. I was able to double the revenue of the company in a short span.
3rd Job (Current role): I got an opportunity to join a niche multinational Oil & Gas industry solutions company where I have been engaged for 7 months. Here, I work in Supply chain support for an International internal client.
I am planning to go back to the family solar business as I feel that I can make a bigger impact than at my current role.
Extracurricular activities:
Toastmasters: I served as an executive committee member of a Toastmasters club for 2 terms and won various awards for speeches.
I also volunteered as a teacher for an NGO that is involved in educating rural kids.
Post MBA goals: I would like to pivot to Consulting but my second option would be consumer goods.
Gap: Between my 1st and 2nd company, I had a gap of close to 2 years because of a health issue and surgery that severely impacted my mobility.
I want to apply in early decision/R1 for my target schools.
Thanks in advance!
Applied and rejected from LBS this year, shocked by the outcome. Had a very well written application, demonstrated tremendous interest in the school, solid interview, and an alumni recommendation - felt I did everything I possibly could've. Plan to apply to additional schools this fall and reapply to LBS.
My goal is to move from being a PM in Finance to either being a PM at a tech company with a healthcare division, or to switch to consulting with the goal of doing HealthTech strategy afterwards. I'm involved in Pro Bono projects at work and mentoring outside of work. Main areas of concern for my application are that PM's at banks aren't too flashy (vs MBB/IB/PM at tech etc) and that I'll only have one promotion when I apply
I have a few spikes in my profile which might be helpful:
1. Currently working as Strategy and Business lead at Sarvam AI, one of India's leading GenAI startups with funding from Sequioa, Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed VP.
2. Worked at McKinsey for 2.5 years - worked in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Europe and India on exciting topics like Drones, AI and EVs
3. In college, I pursued 2 successful startups. One startup, ICG is still running successfully and has 200+ members. It is an AI for Social Good startup, and we have worked with WHO when COVID hit, Ministry of Environment in India, Prime Ministers Office, Noora Health on impactful AI4SG projects.
4. Worked with Google AI for a year as an external project lead on 2 AI for Social Good projects in India and Africa
5. Worked on 2 impactful projects in Africa on deforestation reduction with the UNDP and Google AI
6. I have 1 patent and 7 publications in leading AI journals under my name, including 2 by McKinsey publications (only BA to publish an article on behalf of McKinsey as a first author)
7. Received best freshman of the year and most promising leader award from my undergrad institute (IIT)
8. Worked in Japan for 2 months towards a fully funded scholarship program (only 2 students from India are selected every year)
Background:
- Asian, first-gen, international
- Junior at T25 applying to deferred programs next year
- 745 on GMAT FE, 3.76 gpa for now - might drop to 3.68
- Work Experience so far: 3 months as a product manager intern at a startup, 8 months as a business operations intern at a local company, 3 months as SWE intern at a large start-up
- Incoming SWE intern at a big digital bank and aiming for SWE at big tech post-grad
Extra-curriculars:
- Project lead in a consulting club for 1.5 years, treasurer at two student clubs for 3 years, some volunteering here and there
- Club soccer and some other sports
- Mentoring at my old high school (starting this year)
Post-MBA goals:
- Want to move towards strategy/ops, maybe vc? Want to stay within tech for sure and eventually want to do something entrepreneurial
Need a reality check on whether my list is realistic - and would love some feedback on what to work on for my app, thanks!
MBA LiveWire
Received an interview invite back in mid-March, scheduled for mid-April. Let's see how this goes!
would love to hear how to convert the waitlist into acceptance
disappointed since Cornell was my number 1 choice