Essays, essays and more essays!

Last week I submitted my first application (the only one till now), that was four essays and since then I have jumped on to Sloan and Fuqua applications. I took a two day break - now that the first one was done with subsequent ones should be a piece of cake. Absolutely wrong!

The MIT essays require a totally different approach, not that I did not know of this, but I assumed that my experiences writing the Tuck essays will come good. That has not been the case, thoughts flow naturally and take decent shape in the form of words and sentences, but each time I read my essay after completing a draft – it’s like I am missing some piece of the puzzle. Then I go into that endless loop trying to fit everything from my story into a single page.

Word limit does not help too. Almost every time I write an essay, I feel 700 is the right count for me. Somehow, removing those extra 40% takes more time than actually coming up with the first draft itself. 

MBA Application Essays: Is it all about creative writing?

It’s that season! If you are reading this, you probably know that I am not talking about the ‘Fall’ season. Yep, I am talking about the approaching first/early round deadlines. Time to put those finishing touches to the essays and hit the Submit button. Talking about that, it’s really amazing how much strength it takes to finally hit that Submit button, it’s more than just a click!


Of late I have been reading about fellow applicants trying to get the opening of their essay right. My friend was talking about how he was struggling to bring his essay to a good ending – in his words “a good climax”.  To an outsider this might look like a bunch of people trying to get the next big script right, the next ‘Avatar’.  So is the MBA Application essay really about creative writing? 

There isn’t a unanimous answer to it. A member of the MBA Marketing team, from a top school, once told me “MBA essays are all about creative writing”. Some current students I have spoken to are also of this opinion. But some of the chat sessions that I have attended and blogs from admission committees don’t really concur with this. 


The best answer that I ever came across was during my Tuck visit. During the session with the admission committee, one of my fellow prospective students asked this question “I believe I am a strong candidate and have faith in my abilities. But my writing skills – it’s nowhere close to creative writing, to the point that I think I am a ‘dull writer’. Will that be held against me? ”. It was an honest and blunt question, and the answer matched it in those aspects. The response was “We don’t mind if you are a dull writer and will read it thoroughly irrespective of how dull it may be. But if, at the end of reading all your essays, you come out as an equally dull person, we will find it difficult to consider you. If not, we will treat you as just another competitive applicant”. 


I think that sums up what the ad-coms are looking for (mostly). Creativity or lack of it doesn't really matter. What matters is the ad-coms interpretation based on the essays, and it is your responsibility to make sure they interpret it right. If you can write creatively, it probably can have a better impact. If not, that is no reason to get worried about. Simple words and plain language is enough to convey that you are a strong fit. After all, you are not expected to churn out the next Pulitzer prize winning piece of literature after b-school (though you definitely can take that route!).

Creative thinking at 30,000 feet.

A colleague of mine, who is a frequent flyer, once mentioned that at great altitudes you tend to indulge in either extremely mundane activities or extremely creative ones and there is no middle ground. I am not sure how much of it is true, but based on my observation and personal tendency I would like to agree with him.

Yesterday when I flew from Boston to Omaha I tried to test this little theory. I have always spent my time during flights either sleeping or reading, nothing that I would call really creative, so this time I thought I would test out the creative aspect. Given that I am ‘supposed to’ be writing my essays now (I say so because I started my essays more than a month ago and have completed only the first draft of 2 essays!), what better than attempting the essays in flight.

I spent a good part of the time thinking about bullet points for 4 essays and I must admit it was highly productive. Hopefully I am not the only one who thinks so, only time and my contacts (once I send them my essays for review) can tell that. I have set myself a deadline of this Friday, to fit all these bullet points into nice essays. Maybe, I should use my return journey for some creative writing now!