Optional MBA Application Essay can be categorized into two types:
“If your standardized test scores are low or if you have not had coursework in core business subjects (i.e. calculus, microeconomics, statistics, financial accounting), please tell us how you plan to prepare yourself for the quantitative rigor of the MBA curriculum”
“If you have additional information or feel there are extenuating circumstances which you would like to share with the MBA Admissions Committee (i.e. unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, academic performance issues, areas of weakness in MBA application)”
“Please provide any additional information to the Admissions Committee that will help your candidacy”
“Answer a question you wish we’d asked”
“Is there any other information that you believe would be helpful to the MBA Admission Committee in evaluating your application?”
If you belong to the 1st category, i.e. your GMAT score is less, or you haven’t had quantitative subjects, or you have gaps in work experience, or your immediate supervisor is not a recommender and so on, you need to provide suitable justification. The objective here is to reduce the skepticism of ADCOM as much as possible. You don’t have much choice to consider whether to attempt the optional essay or not.
If you fall in the 2nd category i.e. you don’t have any of the above mentioned problems in your MBA application, then should you attempt the optional essay? What will happen if other applicants submit the optional essay and you don’t? And moreover, after writing about your achievements, success, failures, and so on in other essays, you might think what more is left behind to write in an optional essay?
Most of the applicants in the 2nd category do not attempt the optional essay. And out of those who do so, a majority uses it to give explanations for academic non-performance, poor GMAT, less involvement in extracurricular, below average professional career and so on. This invariably drives the attention of the Admissions committee to weaknesses of the applicant. While such explanations can be genuine, sometimes they come across as excuses for non performance and that really makes the admission officers skeptical. Successful applicants crack the deal despite having weaknesses. So the key is to focus on strengths and not on weaknesses.
Keep in mind that attempting the Optional MBA Application Essay demonstrates your seriousness. In a cut-throat globally competitive B-Schools admission process, seriousness of the applicants is one of the most important factors. Moreover, the optional essay is another chance to portray your uniqueness. Painting another dimension of your professional or personal accomplishment and thereby projecting you as a budding global leader must be the sole objective of the optional essay. Highlight an aspect of your leadership that has not been covered in other essays. But be sure to avoid repetition.
Certain schools give you an essay where you have to write about a setback in your life, but not all do. In that case, if you have ever been fired from your job, the optional essay is the place to give your account of what happened. Your attitude should be rational rather than accusatory and emotional – you should provide the backdrop to the happening, and describe it from your perspective. In case you feel that you were in the wrong, discuss it frankly, and say how it was a great learning experience because of which you are all the wiser now.
It is good to be honest, because the school has ways of finding out.
Being fired might not be the only reason why there is a gap in your employment record. You are young and foot-loose, and it is quite possible that you were bitten by the travelling bug, for instance, and decided to take time off to see more of the world and have new experiences.
Perhaps you have worked with only one employer, or maybe you were involved in a family business, and getting references is a problem for you and, therefore, you have submitted an academic reference. While b-schools have recommended that academic references should be used only as a last resort, you may have a legitimate reason for doing so. In this is so, the optional essay is where you can explain your situation.
Young adults often like to experiment, and to switch jobs which don’t meet their creative, financial, or other needs. However, if you have held more than three jobs in a five-year career, this might call for some justification. After all, you wouldn’t want to give the impression that you are a restless person, or that you find it difficult to get along with others.
Use the optional essay to say what you have to. If you couldn’t put up with an overbearing boss, be candid about it but, at the same time, be careful to moderate your tone and not get too worked up or critical.
Most top b-schools require you to have at least three to five years of experience. If you fall below this mark, you need to show that you have relevant competencies that make up for this lack. These could relate to community leadership, volunteer work, or undergraduate academics and extracurricular activities.
If your GPA is unsatisfactory, there is nothing you can now do to improve it. However, maybe there were extenuating circumstances that you would like to bring to the adcom’s attention – you were so immersed in extracurricular engagements that your academics suffered, or you fell ill. In the event of a physical disability, though, be careful not to overstate your case, or else you might create doubt as to your capacity to undertake the rigours of the program you are applying to.
You will, of course, want to compensate for what you missed out on: earn A’s in a few business-related courses at a local college, and ace the GMAT. If you don’t get the required score in your first attempt at the GMAT, you can hire a GMAT tutor or sign up for a prep course. B-schools take a favourable view of applicants who re-take the GMAT.
If your target b-school wants you to use the optional essay only to address your weaknesses, and you don’t have any specific weakness to talk about, then you needn’t write the essay at all.
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