How can you write a compelling MBA essay? We get asked this question quite often, and the reason is that your MBA essay is more of an elevator pitch – a short description of your credentials that you will share with others who will make the most important decision of your life.
As a result, you want to give it your best and explain your thoughts in an easy-to-understand format that will grab their attention and create a powerful impact. However, since there are thousands of other applicants submitting their applications for an MBA degree program, how can you make your essay stand out from the rest?
6 Tips That Will Help You to Write and Format an Essay for Business School
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Understand What You Want to Accomplish
This process is a time to reflect on your project and future before writing the essay. You want to consider your objectives, which might be personal goals and career. Where do you want to see yourself after graduation? Many have the goal of working as an entrepreneur after graduating from college, while several others want to work for a reputable company.
Thus, what would you want to be? Outline your objectives; that is both career goals and personal targets. However, if you are struggling to come up with a solid plan, it would be ideal to speak to a friend or to those you look up to as your role models, who perhaps graduated from the same school where you want to apply.
Get the best advice, and plan your essay accordingly. Hence, with special preparation, you will be able to write a persuasive MBA essay that will appeal to your readers.
Know the Essay Prompts
Essay applications for many universities or colleges have similar prompts. But an MBA application is more or less different from the others. A business college may demand that you write many shorter essays or that you write one extended essay that covers everything about you.
Yes, they want to know everything concerning you.
These include:
- Your academic potentials
- Plans for the future after graduation
- Your life history
- Previous academic performance
- Leadership abilities
- Communication skills
- Etc.
The admission committee strives to pick the best students for the schools. For this reason, they take extraordinary measures to find outstanding candidates for admission into their MBA programs.
Therefore, it is best that you carefully read and understand the prompt before you write your essay. Familiarize yourself with the essay questions and provide a satisfactory perceptiveness that will tackle those questions accordingly.
For example, when asked about your background or merits, do not only write a list of them. Instead, provide important details about individual values and also give evidence of your leadership capabilities. These involve extracurricular activities where you acted in a leadership role. It will help to strengthen your essay and make it irresistible.
Avoid Spelling and Grammar Errors
Do you take the time to proofread your essay to make sure there are no spelling and grammatical errors in your content before submission? Do you double-check the admission officer’s name to make sure you spelled it correctly?
How about a plagiarism check? Does your essay contain plagiarized materials? The list goes on, and several college students continue to make these essay writing mistakes.
They fail to understand that their application introduces them to the admission officer as outstanding students with exceptional life experiences. However, when you fill your essay with spelling and grammar errors, your claims become less effective.
Nonetheless, spelling and grammar blunders are not the only mistakes I see them making. Some use technical terms and other forms of jargon in their essays. These are a NO-NO for an MBA essay. Instead, use simple words and keep your content concise and straightforward.
Here’s what to do:
- Avoid complex words
- Proofread your content
- Check for spelling and grammar errors
- Use simple words
- Check for plagiarized content
- Comply With Word Count
As stated earlier, one of the criteria for writing a compelling MBA application is to understand the prompt. The school may require a specific word count for your essay. But without reading the MBA essay requirements, you will be at a loss.
In other words, you are not serious with your essay because you’re not keeping according to their terms. That’s a red flag for you since it is a serious matter for the officers in charge and the school. As a consequence, comply with the word count limit.
For instance, your essay may demand a 1,000-word or a single-page article. Rather than create a 1,500-word or two-page material, obey the simple rule and maintain the stipulated word count. Despite that, you can conveniently extend your content only if there is no specified word count.
*Important word of caution* In a situation where there is no established number of words for your essay, it is advisable not to overextend your material. Try to limit the length since shorter pieces are more precise and better than longer essays.
Some people may say a slight addition or variation is okay. But the rule of thumb is for you to observe the word limit and make the most of it. You don’t have to write a book to impress the admission officers. Instead, use the available space to your advantage. Thus, cut out redundant words to create more writing space.
Apply the Fundamental Formatting Guidelines
Although there are no specified formats for MBA essays, college students should apply the fundamental advice for thesis format when formatting an MBA essay. For instance, additional spaces between paragraphs are not advisable. Consequently, in keeping with the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines, there should be a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of your content to create white spaces.
The upper right corner on each page of your thesis is where your last name and page number should appear. Furthermore, use easy-to-read fonts; in this case, Georgia and Times New Roman fonts are ordinarily the best set to use. And in some cases, you hardly even know the differences.
Therefore, as a rule of thumb, avoid anything that will complicate your essay. Make sure your font size is set at 11-point for Georgia or 12-point for Times New Roman fonts. No extra spaces between paragraphs.
Enter or type your full name and other relevant information in the upper left corner of your essay, including the date. Your title for the thesis would be at the center of your document above the first line of the document.
Write Your Essay in the Five-Paragraph Format
Typically, you write essays in the five-paragraph format. And each of the five paragraphs will have three to six, or even seven sentences at most.
Hence, the best practice here is to produce sets of paragraphs that complement each other throughout the entire material. Use enough transition words to allow the reader to move quickly or crossover to another section with ease and still maintain the unity of the content.
Strangely enough, in all kinds of writing, including business writing, consistency is paramount to creating an engaging essay and setting yourself up as an expert.
Conclude Your Essay With A Strong Declaration
The order of your thesis conclusion needs to be transparent, stating the vital points you want the admission team to take home. Put differently, it should not be complicated and confusing. Give them a reason to choose you for their MBA program.
As a result, you can split your essay into bite-sized segments or a recap of your thesis where you make the main points stand out. Thus, concentrate on developing an outstanding essay with a firm conclusion statement that the admission officers cannot resist.
This step will let them see that you are a good fit for their MBA program.
Conclusion
From this article, I believe you now have a profound understanding of how to craft a persuasive MBA essay that will help you stand out from the others. However, one of the best pieces of advice to take home is for you to create time to write your essay.
Applications for business schools must be well-written and formatted to enable you to get noticed. Therefore, if you make time for it, you will be doing yourself a lot of good. Do not resolve that your essay is only 250 words or 500 words, and recline to yourself.
Whether it is 250-word or 1000-word, ensure to give it your all so that the admissions committee members will have no choice but to choose you above others for their MBA program.
Last edit at Mar 13 2023
Written by
Moss Clement
