3 Costly Mistakes In Your Business School Essays

1. The number one mistake that people make is that generally we think that essay writing should be flowery, like a great prose article that you would write for the New Yorker or something. Flowery writing isn't what most business schools are looking for. A lot of us did that for undergraduate programs, and it worked really well for things like getting into the Ivy Leagues. It's almost corny at this point, though.

2. People often take on a business tone, which is very serious and formal, using big words. It's not as artsy and flowery but it's sort of stoic. That also can kill you. The better tone to take is to stop everything else that you might be doing stylistically and ask yourself, “Does this sound like me talking?” Your essay should sound like you, the way you would talk to your friends. You shouldn't be too informal, but it should sound like a real person talking. There are a lot of academic people who have done well in business, but business schools are mostly looking for real people.

3. Another big misconception that I see among friends who are applying, is that a lot of us stress the accomplishments we had at work, like “I built this killer model for a Fortune 100 client and the CEO loved it.” It's interesting to present, but most of the top five or six business schools are looking for real human beings. A lot of people have impressed a CEO or two here and there. I don't think that really sets you apart as a candidate. I had friends who I felt academically were shoe-ins to get into the top schools, and they didn't get in anywhere. Their whole essay, all their letters, were all about that great model they built. It was a waste of a lot of words, and it was really boring for a reader to read. It hurt them, it's going to hurt you.