Perhaps
in anticipation of another increase in application volume, Harvard has
again reduced the number of essay questions that candidates must answer
- from 5 last year to 4 this season, down from 6 or 7 essays a few
seasons ago. Further, at just 1800 words total, Harvard’s has become
one of the shorter b-school applications. This underscores the
importance of choosing among essay options judiciously, and using the
limited words in each essay as beneficially as possible. That said,
let’s take a look at the questions for this year:
Essay 1: What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)
This essay question has been a hallmark of the HBS application for many
years. Due to its top billing, this question could be the first element
of your file that the adcom reads, making this response a great
opportunity to present the reader with three strong stories that
introduce the major themes of your candidacy. Each accomplishment can
be presented as a stand-alone section here, so you needn’t be overly
concerned about composing a seamless narrative.
HBS has traditionally been very impact-oriented in evaluating
applicants’ credentials, so one way to determine which three
accomplishments to describe in this essay is to think about the end
results. Experiences in which you made a lasting and quantifiable
impact can lend themselves to concise, factual narratives, and
considering that each accomplishment must be described in approximately
200 words, this can be an important consideration. However, this isn’t
to say that the process followed, skills gained, and lessons learned
along the way aren’t important, too; these factors could be a great way
to address the second half of the question: why you view these
accomplishments as your most significant to date.
A final point is that it’s also important to select stories with an
eye to balance. An applicant who describes two professional successes
and one extra-curricular accomplishment, or perhaps one each from the
professional, academic and activities realms, can show that he or she
excels in any environment.
Essay 2: What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)
This question makes an appearance for a second consecutive year. The
subject of failure or setback is a popular one for business school
essays in general, and there are a few important elements to consider
in addressing this and similar prompts. Firstly, professional maturity,
self-reflection and insight are key qualities to communicate. Towards
that end, successful essays will describe the mistake in
straightforward, step-by-step detail, and will also own the misstep
rather than making excuses.
Another important element to touch on is that you’ve experienced
some growth or development since the initial mistake. While applicants
should not ‘gloss over’ their mistakes, it is important to emphasize
positive growth and the learning experience that can come from missing
the mark. An effective essay will present this growth in terms of
thoughts and feelings, while balancing comments about internal
reflections with descriptions of more external actions and changes in
behavior.
Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):
Essay 3.1: What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?
While MBA applicants often draw upon their extracurricular experiences
during college as topics for essays, it’s rare that they get a chance
to talk about their more intellectual interests and achievements. This
is your chance to go into some detail about why you chose your school
and major, and tell the admissions committee about your academic
interests and educational milestones. A great essay will underscore an
applicant’s intelligence and work ethic, as well as incorporate some
element of leadership (especially if the applicant had a significant
impact on the department or school as a whole).
Essay 3.2: Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.
This is the first of two new prompts for HBS this season, and opens a
wide range of topics for discussion and skills and qualities that an
applicant can highlight. While the “organization” component clearly
lends itself to coverage of an extracurricular involvement or
leadership at work or at school, the “community” side could just as
easily apply to international experience or immersion in a new team or
demographic - essentially focusing just on the positive conclusion of a
“culture shock” or “outsider” essay. Harvard’s selection of this prompt
suggests a strong interests in applicants who are proactive in making
connections and building relationships, perhaps toward some specific
cause or goal. The interpersonal elements of this experience will
therefore be of just as much interest and your reasons and the results
of this engagement. Though this essays lends itself nicely to a
discussion of a long-term or ongoing involvement with the community or
organization in question, centering the essay on a single meaningful
anecdote will also be a viable strategy for showing your skills in
action.
Essay 3.3: What area of the world are you most curious about and why?
This is another new question for this season, also with a broad reach.
A literal interpretation of this question might focus on geographic
region, but it also invites discussion of an area of knowledge or
inquiry - anything one might explore or investigate.
This question could be an excellent choice for joint or concurrent
degree applicants as a substitute for the “career vision” essay; an
MBA/JD applicant might elect to discuss his or her deep interest in the
intersection of business and law, for example. For the vast majority
of applicants, though, there are a number of strategic considerations
that go along with this prompt. Because the adcom hopes to get to know
its applicants better through the essays, it’s natural for them to
wonder what most interests them. It doesn’t seem extremely likely,
though, that one would have a passion worth covering in this essay that
wouldn’t be more constructively discussed in response to one of the
school’s other prompts. Because it doesn’t make sense to write an
essay about what one doesn’t know, the subject of this response should
ideally be an area of curiosity that one has already explored to some
extent. One might therefore find that an academic interest is more
naturally covered in “undergraduate experience” option, that a
professional or regional interest fits better with the “career vision”
essay, and that a hobby or cause shared with others works best with the
response about engaging a community or organization.
This essay does lend itself well to covering a solo activity or
interest (making it a good platform for World War I buffs and amateur
astrologers to discuss this aspect of their lives), but these are
seldom crucial elements of one’s candidacy. We don’t mean to say that
there’s no way for the average applicant to answer this question well,
only that he or she should take a good look at this year’s other
options before proceeding.
Essay 3.4: What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?
Always unique among b-schools, HBS not only frames its essay about the
applicant’s professional future in terms of a broad vision rather than
concrete goals, but also makes it optional.
Harvard’s adcom tries to identify future business leaders, so
applicants presenting a directed vision will make a positive
impression. Because this essay is about your career vision,
you might summarize your past experiences in a very concise manner
(i.e. just a few sentences) before moving on to a detailed discussion
of your future plans and the reasons that these plans are meaningful to
you. Whereas many schools request a clear description of the candidates
immediate post-MBA program, this particular question lends itself to a
long-term, big picture outlook. Of course, you might also touch on the
ways in which HBS will help you achieve your vision. Think about how
Harvard’s program (specific classes, classmates and clubs) would
prepare you for your future.
Conclusion
While each of these topics require a careful approach, one of the more
challenging aspects of the HBS application is assembling the right mix
of anecdotes across essays so as to provide the committee with the most
complete (and strategic) view of your candidacy. This is compounded by
the fact that HBS allows for several choices in the final two essay
topics. As such, we recommend that our readers be sure to take a step
back and consider their essays holistically as they move through the
process of topic selection and writing.
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发表于 2008-5-15 23:59:00
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