(We think you know what guidance we’re going to give here. Don’t overthink, overcraft and overwrite. Just answer the question in clear language that those of us who don’t know your world can understand.)
Please don’t narrate your resume here. Plenty of applicants write about their entire journey and try to explain how great they are as a leader. Those applicants paint themselves in the best possible light just to highlight the fact that they are the best of the best. Such essays filled with platitudes are boring, lifeless and dull. These candidates have sailed through life always excelling in sports, music, management assignments or consulting projects. They have always exceeded the expectations of their managers or clients and got certificates of excellence. Well, such an essay may showcase you as a superman; but, it fails to connect with the audience. Have you ever seen a Hollywood classic in which the hero never fails?
Don’t rehash your resume as the Harvard MBA admission committee knows what IT Engineers or management consultants do in the office. They also know that MBA applicants who have launched nonprofits are passionate about various causes. Hence, don’t tell them things that are very obvious.
This is the secret recipe for a strong application. It has been repeated by admission committee members thousands of times. Yet, plenty of applicants fail to showcase their personal struggle and beliefs. They present a brand image that they believe Harvard would be interested in hearing. Hence, it lacks credibility.
Be yourself. Be authentic. Narrate your true stories. Connect the dots of your life and show them how you have matured as a human being and as a leader. Talk about setbacks and the lessons learnt and showcase how you have evolved. If you are never making mistakes, you aren’t working hard enough. Harvard admission committee members review thousands of applications every year. They can detect fakery from miles and feel in their bones when you are authentic. They review authentic applications with tremendous enthusiasm and ignore applicants who pretend a lot.
Which one is more interesting - watching a movie or just reading the story of the movie? When you watch a movie, you can see all the actions taken by the hero to overcome any challenge. But, when you read any story that just narrates few incidents, it fails to whet our appetite as it is pretty flat in its tone. Hence, in the process of storytelling, ‘showing’ your actions using appropriate words is more effective than just ‘telling’ your story using a flat tone.
To know more on this, please review this section and read the 'How to Narrate Compelling Stories in MBA Application Essays?' section in the Home page.
You should select a theme that will unify various aspects of your life and show the admission committee how you have matured as a leader. Don’t select a theme that is too narrow in scope. Connect the dots of your life that show the committee how you have navigated the twists and turns of your life. Narrate the story in such a fashion so that it retains the audience’s attention. It must uncover various facets of your life, showing the ups and the downs of your life and tie all of them in the conclusion paragraph just as a mighty river flows seamlessly across the mountains and valleys to unleash its water into the ocean.
You aren’t applying to the University of Oxford’s PhD program in English literature. You don’t need to project yourself as William Shakespeare. It’s not an essay writing contest! You are applying to a business school in order to study management and leadership. Just present your case to highlight that you are a young business leader who has the ability to become a top-notch leader in the corporate world. So, don’t write more than what is necessary. Corporate CEOs are always to the point, concise and tactful in their communication.
From my numerous consulting engagements with successful HBS applicants, I have observed that those who create a theme for the application essay and follow it up by narrating their stories by using proper examples easily outdo the rest.
The theme can be the way you define yourself. For instance, if you have the habit of challenging the status quo, you can choose the theme of “change agent” and then illustrate how you implemented changes. Or, you can adopt the theme of “innovator” to narrate your story in case you have devoted your life to creating innovative products. However, it isn’t a one-size-fit-all recommendation.
So now it’s time to talk about your ideas. What stories are you going to share that will set you apart from others and show Harvard that you will be a natural fit in their community? What theme are you going to choose? How do want to your story to unfold? These are the questions you should contemplate before you come up with your answers.
Read some of the sample essays that I have helped my clients create for their successful B-school applications. All of them have been written and rewritten multiple times to project the best possible case for the particular applicant. Read both the finalized essays and the basic write-ups given by the clients. Then only you can understand how much discussions and modifications were done to create the final pieces. Please don’t copy the ideas. I don’t mind if you do. But the chances are, they won’t suit your profile and it will jeopardize whatever odds you now have for HBS.
One final word: Don't even think of going it alone when it comes to HBS. Find a coach who’s an old hand at MBA admissions. It can be I or someone else. But I will advise you to get an expert so that you don’t have to reapply next year.
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Politicians have speech writers. Journalists use news editors. Famous writers and columnists have an army of professional editors. Don’t you think you also need to have one?