This year’s MBA application prompts are out, which means it’s time to start brainstorming what your topics will be. Wondering where to start, what to write? No worries, we have all the tips you need to get a nice start on writing a quality essay for Emory Goizueta School of Business.
At Menlo Coaching, we noticed that most MBA essays will fall into one of a number of categories: personal essays, career goals essays, behavioral essays, etc. Read ahead for our expert guide on approaching these essays for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.
In this MBA program, students are encouraged “to take risks and make mistakes.” They are looking for students who are moved to create. Through the story you relate in your essay, the admissions council is looking to see if you reflect the same values that the school does. Emory is looking for students who are looking to develop their emotional intelligence and eager to use rigorous analysis. The best way to represent that you possess those qualities is through the type of essay you choose to write.
It’s crucial to pick the right experience to discuss in your essay, and the different types of prompts help narrow that down for you. Keep reading for a closer look at the different types of essays, and how best to utilize them in order to write a stand-out essay for Emory Goizueta.
You’re not the only one hoping you’ll have a job after you’ve graduated with your MBA. Admissions committees are looking for students who are motivated and clear in their intentions so that when they get a job post-grad, they’ll be more willing to speak positively of their experience in the program. And, of course, in the hopes that their alumni will earn enough money to become a donor to the school one day.
There are three aspects to the career goals essay:
Your aspirations need to be convincing, ambitious, and realistic. Emory Goizueta is looking for applicants who have meaningful goals grounded in their past experiences, and it’s important that you relate that notion in your essay, however it applies to your experience in life.
To make it simple: the behavioral essay is meant to show the team at Emory Goizueta that you have developed some sort of leadership skills, what your values are as a leader, and how you are going to most benefit from their development programs.
The admissions committee is looking for applicants that are self-reflective. Whether it’s through a setback you’ve experienced, or how you dealt with situations that have gone awry, the school is looking for students who are resilient and able to learn from their mistakes.
Do not overexaggerate (or underexaggerate!) the situations you decide to write about. Be honest about what happened; Emory is looking for genuine people to join their campus community, and they are less likely to admit an applicant who has overinflated their prior experiences.
Last but not least, make sure to describe what you learned and how you implemented this in a subsequent situation. This is an expected element of the behavioral essay, even if it’s not directly written in the prompt. The school is looking for applicants who will act with humility, and have confidence without attitude. Prompts that deal with these topics can be daunting, especially when they require you to write about a weakness you have or a failure you’ve experienced.
Now, here’s where all that practice stuffing extra-curriculars into your resume comes in handy. Emory University is looking for MBA applicants who are going to get involved on campus. Being an active participant in campus culture is essential to the experience of Goizueta’s graduate business program, and this university is looking for students who will not only enrich their own lives, but that of the school as well. Many of the programs on campus rely on students to run them, which is your golden ticket in.
When writing this kind of essay, it’s important to keep in mind what your specific interests are—which clubs do you want to join, which conferences do you wish to attend? Figuring out where you most want to be involved and writing how you will thus benefit the school in that position is the key to writing a strong participation essay. Spend some time researching and thinking through your options before diving into the writing process.
When it comes to video essays, we have some advice:
The content of your video essay should be very personal, but if you apply the above advice to an authentic, relaxed video essay, you should swim through the Goizueta video essay!
Once you’ve completed your application, the optional Tepper essay gives you an additional opportunity to provide the AdCom with any additional information or clarity that you feel would enhance your application.
One trap that MBA applicants fall into is using the additional space provided by this essay to write on a whole new topic. However, this is not always the best idea.
You should only make use of this essay if you what you write will provide context to an element of your application to improve your candidacy—you don’t want to jeopardize your chances by adding unnecessary noise to your application.
Writing strong, coherent, genuine stories is an essential part of your MBA application. These essays are meant to help you stand out among many other applicants, so it is worth your time to do the work and write about situations unique to your life and that you truly learned from.
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