By Kirsten Wells, Senior Global Recruitment Manager, MBA & Masters in Finance
Essays are a mainstay of any business school’s MBA application process. Every business school will be looking for slightly different things, so it can feel quite daunting as a prospective applicant with where to start. Find out more within this blog about why we ask for essays, and some best practices when it comes to preparing the essays for your MBA or One-year MBA application!
Why do business schools ask for essays?
Business schools across the world will really vary in why they have essays and particularly what they ask as their question(s). Some might ask about your motivations for applying to that particular school, others might be more interested in your career goals. Generally, an essay component is included in an application to help Admissions Committees find out more about a candidate, beyond the black and white of the application form!
A lot of business schools will have set questions they ask but some might have a couple of set questions and one optional question (like LBS does!), so it’s important to know exactly what the essay questions are asking before you start preparing.
What are the questions LBS asks for the MBA and One-year MBA application process?
Both the MBA and One-year MBA application ask the same questions and there are 3 essay questions in total.
The first is ‘What are your post-MBA goals and how will your prior experience and the London Business School programme contribute towards these’ (500 words)
The second is ‘What makes you unique?’ (200 words)
Our third question is completely open. It is ‘Is there any other information you believe the Admissions Committee should know about you and your application to London Business School?’ (500 words)
If you are a reapplicant to either programme, you will also be required to fill out our additional reapplicant essay: ‘How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please comment on how you have grown personally and professionally’ (300 words)
What advice do you give for answering the essay questions?
First and foremost – make sure you answer the question asked of you! Read the question, spend some time drafting and tailoring your essays to LBS.
For our prospective MBA (15-21 month duration) candidates, when it comes to answering the question regarding your aspirations, you might not have them specifically set in stone or you might be using the MBA to explore. This is fine! However, it is always good to include a focus to your career goals, i.e. you know the sector you would like to go into and potential steps to get there. It’s never a bad thing to consider any alternative plans too.
For our One-year MBA candidates, with the shorter programme duration in mind, you will need to have a bit more clarity on your career goals and be focused on them from the get-go. The programme will go by much quicker, so the Admissions Committee will be on the lookout for well-defined career goals for this programme in particular.
My next piece of advice with what to include – research! You’ve likely spent a lot of time researching the School, maybe even spoken to students and alumni or attended events, so make sure you include evidence of your research. Is there a particular elective you’d like to take because it’s applicable to your career aspirations? Tell us! Do you already know how you want to contribute to the LBS community? Let us know!
Finally, show us a bit of your personality! The essays should be written in your true, authentic voice. Be open and transparent with us and show us more of who you are. This should come out the most in your answer for our second question ‘What make you unique?’.
With the rise of generative AI tools, it can be tempting to use that as a starting point for your essays. Whilst we acknowledge that many might use AI to finetune their essays, I would always advise the starting point comes from you. Remember that the Admissions Committee are trying to get to know you as an individual through the application process, so please make the starting point authentic (and if you do use generative AI in any way, make sure to reference it!)
Is the optional essay truly optional?
In short, it really is. Every year, many candidates will choose to fill it in, and many will opt not to. It’s entirely up to you.
Whilst the essay is optional, I do encourage candidates to view it as an opportunity! We include our optional essay to give you the space to tell the Admissions Committee anything you haven’t had chance to tell us yet in the application. It shouldn’t be a rehash of your first essay, or a regurgitation of your application form – it should be information that is new, or something particularly relevant to you as a person that you haven’t yet informed us of.
You might then be thinking, what could I write about? The Admissions Committee have truly seen it all! Some examples of optional essays I’ve seen in applications include: how they plan to get involved in the LBS community, impactful volunteering experiences, more on their leadership roles they hold outside of work (i.e. sports teams, or professional networks), hobbies that have shaped their lives, and even quite personal stories! There really aren’t any restrictions on what you could choose to write about!
What are some best practice tips when it comes to writing the essays?
As explored above, the essays are really your chance to tell us your story, so it’s good to allocate plenty of time on them. Be prepared to draft, redraft and maybe even redraft some more!
Remember to tailor your essays to the specific business school. There is nothing worse than the Admissions Committee coming across generic essays that have been used for multiple schools. Avoid the copy and paste, and make sure to make them individual to LBS.
Finally, it can be a good idea to get another set of eyes on your essays – at the very least to check for any typos. Some ideas on who you can show it to – a family member or friend might be good option as they’d be able to advise you on whether your true character is reflected in the essay! Another person to show it too, might be someone who has limited knowledge on what your job responsibilities are – to make sure that you’re being clear in your messaging.
There is however a fine line with just how many people you share your essays with. You still want to make sure it’s your voice coming across, rather than someone else’s. There is a risk of too many cooks in the kitchen if you show it to every single friend and family member! 2-3 should be more than enough!
Happy writing!