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This year, Harvard Business School (HBS) revamped its essay prompts. It has replaced its previous, open-ended question about what else you would like to share with the admissions committee with three shorter, more defined essay prompts: a Business-Minded Essay, a Leadership-Focused Essay, and a Growth-Oriented Essay. With Round 2 application deadlines just around the corner, many applicants are no doubt starting (or continuing) to rack their brains over how to tackle these new HBS essay prompts, as well as the always challenging Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) essay question “What matters most to you, and why?” 

To help you write these essays, we at mbaMission have identified the top questions that candidates applying to these business schools tend to ask us. We hope our ideas will provide food for thought and help you kick-start your HBS and Stanford GSB essays.

“Which one should I write first?”

If you are applying to both HBS and the Stanford GSB, you might be wondering whether writing the HBS essays first would be easier or whether starting with the Stanford GSB essay would be the better option. The answer is that neither will necessarily be easier than the other, so you can begin with either one. Try starting with an essay that you find more instinctive to write. Because the new HBS essay questions are more defined and shorter, many applicants might find them less challenging to start with. That said, some candidates already have a topic in mind for their Stanford GSB essay and therefore might find that one easier to work on first. Whichever one you choose, the important thing is just to start writing!

“How long should the essays be?”

HBS has a limit of 300 words for its Business-Minded Essay and of 250 words for both its Leadership-Focused Essay and its Growth-Oriented Essay. 

As for the Stanford GSB’s essays, the school’s admissions committee suggests writing no more than 650 words for Essay A (“What matters most to you, and why?”) and no more than 350 words for Essay B (“Why Stanford?”). The total word count for both essays combined cannot exceed 1,000 words. Although you might be tempted to write more than 650 words for Essay A, doing so could be detrimental to your Essay B. In our experience, 350 words is already a tight space in which to respond to the Essay B prompt, so we recommend sticking close to the suggested word count for each essay.

“Should the essays be personal, professional, or a mix of the two?”

Yes, yes, and yes. We have seen successful HBS and Stanford GSB essays that use a mix of personal and professional stories, successful essays that use only personal stories, and successful essays that use only professional stories. The admissions committee is not looking for a specific mix. They are looking to learn more about you. So whatever stories you choose, just make sure that they are woven into your narrative coherently and compellingly.

“Is the Stanford GSB’s optional short-answer question really optional?”

Generally speaking, you will not be penalized for skipping any question that is marked as “optional.” That said, optional questions provide an opportunity for you to share stories or additional context that you might not have been able to fit into your two required essays. So, we encourage you to answer the school’s optional short-answer question: “Think about a time in the last few years when you’ve created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others?” You can share up to three examples, so seize this chance to share more of your achievements! 

Although these are some of the most common questions we receive about the HBS and Stanford GSB essays, applicants undoubtedly have many more that we have not addressed here. If you would like additional targeted guidance on approaching and writing your Stanford GSB essay, along with annotated essays from actual past applicants, check out our book “What Matters?” and “What More?”: 50 Successful Essays for the Stanford GSB and HBS (and Why They Worked). Be aware that this book also includes and analyzes past HBS essays, but they are based on the school’s previous prompt and not the current ones.

What does a 3.8 GPA + a 670 GMAT Classic score + four years of work experience + three years of community service equal? It could equal a letter of admission or rejection. However, knowing with absolute certainty is impossible because admissions is not a science. If it were, the Admissions Office would just do away with the entire time- and resource-consuming admissions process and use a simple formula. Why not make life that much easier for everyone?

In some countries, simple tests are used to establish benchmarks—a candidate gets into a top MBA program with a score of X but not with Y. Some U.S.-based graduate programs have cutoffs for GRE scores or situations in which GMAT/LSAT scores and grades are definitive. Plainly put, no clear-cut criteria exist with top global MBA programs. Instead, the admissions committee reads a file holistically and seeks evidence of the applicant’s ability to contribute in class and perform at the highest levels post-graduation.

Although trying to reduce the MBA admissions process to a science can be tempting, doing so would be unwise. By listening to chatter on message boards or blogs about the “right GMAT score” or the “right amount of work experience”—rather than keeping in mind that the process is holistic in nature, meaning that the admissions committees evaluate all criteria with no particular scorecard—you are wasting valuable time and energy. Simply be your best candidate and present your full story, rather than focusing on stats.

Although informal letters of recommendation or endorsement are not an essential part of the MBA application, if used strategically and appropriately, they can help you stand out among the applicant pool at your target business schools and differentiate you from similar candidates. If you do not have an informal recommendation to submit, though, do not worry. They are nice to have, but again, business schools do not require them. And some MBA programs explicitly discourage them, so make sure to carefully read and follow any instructions on your target schools’ websites and applications.

Here are our top tips for effectively managing this unique element of your application to positively supplement your candidacy:

1. Assess your personal and professional networks to identify individuals who could advocate for you. Your informal recommender should have a meaningful relationship with you and has had the opportunity to observe you in a leadership role and/or can speak to your initiative or interpersonal skills. The following are possible candidates to be an informal recommender:

• Students at the target school
• Alumni of the target school
• Someone with a significant connection with the school and who knows you (e.g., a senior executive at your company)
• Someone associated with a meaningful time commitment in your life (e.g., the executive of a nonprofit organization to which you have dedicated a significant number of hours volunteering)

Ensure that this person can add something substantial and, of course, positive to your overall profile and that reading their letter of endorsement would be worth the admissions reader’s time in evaluating your candidacy.

2. Rather than directly asking someone for an informal recommendation, start by connecting with them in person or over the phone, expressing your excitement for the target school and asking their advice about applying to and attending the program. Ideally, after your conversation, they will be inspired to volunteer to write a letter of endorsement for you.

3. Limit your use of informal recommendations to only your top one or two programs. Most likely, your recommender will ask you whether the school they are writing the recommendation for is your first choice, and you want to be able to genuinely answer, “Yes!” Remember that the school has not requested the letter and that your recommender is putting their reputation on the line in supporting you. Should you be admitted to the program and decline, this could reflect negatively on your recommender and damage your relationship with them.

4. Do not ask your recommender to replicate the format of the school’s official letter of recommendation. The informal recommendation is a bit different in nature. Think of it more as a way to spotlight your application, drawing special attention to it via a credible third party.

5. The informal recommendation letter should be relatively short and concise and include a brief introduction of the person writing it, an explanation of their connection to the school, a description of their relationship with you, and the reasons they think you would be an invaluable addition to the class, urging consideration of your application. Ideally, your recommender will also offer to be available to the admissions committee for any follow-up questions.

6. Have the letter sent to the school prior to the application deadline, if possible, and ensure that it is addressed very specifically to the appropriate person, using their exact name and title. Also, it should be sent to a school email address, never a personal one! Check to see whether your target program provides a formal means of submitting a letter of support, such as Northwestern Kellogg’s referral form.

7. If you are waitlisted at one of your top schools and did not have an informal recommendation sent on your behalf before you submitted your application, consider obtaining such a letter now to help advance your chances of ultimately securing acceptance. Be aware that many schools have a formal way for people to submit an additional recommendation (e.g., MIT Sloan has a Letter of Support form, and NYU Stern accepts supplemental recommendation letters via email) and will provide instructions on how to do so in their communication to waitlisted applicants.

If you would like to discuss your specific situation with an experienced admissions consultant and receive tailored application advice, simply sign up for a free 30-minute consultation with one of mbaMission’s experts.

One of Canada’s top-ranked business schools for finance—the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management—was ranked second among Canadian MBA programs by the Financial Times in 2024. Rotman underwent significant growth under the six-year deanship of Tiff Macklem, a foremost figure in the nation’s financial sector, whose tenure saw a prominent rise in Rotman’s academic profile and its reputation for financial education. Macklem announced his plan to step down from his position in 2020 to take over as the governor of the Bank of Canada. However, his successor, Dean Susan Christoffersen, is no stranger to the field of finance herself. Before stepping in as dean, she helped build three finance-related programs at the school and the TD Management Data Analytics Lab, for which she also served as co-academic director.

In addition to its finance-related strengths, Rotman offers a rather unique approach to core business pedagogy. Relying on what it terms “integrative thinking,” Rotman’s teaching model challenges the compartmentalization of traditional functional areas. Students complete a series of core courses in their first year that emphasize generalized business skills and the ability to think across functional disciplines. The Rotman Self-Developmental Lab, which offers feedback on the students’ communication style and behavioral performance via group workshops and personalized sessions with psychologists and management consultants, is also part of the first year of studies. The mission of the lab program, according to the school’s site, is “developing and nurturing in all students the communicative, interactive and interpersonal skills essential to the high-value added collaborative problem solver and decision maker in contemporary organizations.”

In their second year, students are given the option to choose from among 13 different major areas, including Global Management; Sustainability and Society; Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Business Design; and Finance, while supplementing their focus with a broader array of more than 100 elective courses.

Approximately 125 miles from Rotman, at the University of Western Ontario, stands Ivey Business School, which Bloomberg Businessweek ranked as the fourth best Canadian MBA program in 2024. The Ivey MBA program runs over the course of one year and is, according to the school’s website, designed for “high-achieving leaders who are ready to accelerate their career success.”

At Ivey, MBA students take part in real-world projects and can benefit from optional global learning opportunities and career management guidance, in addition to taking such core courses as “Leading People and Organizations,” “Managing Operations,” and “Communicating Effectively.” Study trips are available to Costa Rica, Portugal, and Silicon Valley during the electives period, while the Ivey Field Project allows students to form teams and work with real companies to find a solution for an issue or an opportunity before presenting their findings to the company. Students also have the option of developing an idea for a New Venture Ivey Field Project, creating a business plan for the idea, and presenting the pitch to a panel of external reviewers.

We believe that asking MBA candidates about their goals is plainly absurd, because so many students change their goals while they are in business school. Further, the pursuit of an MBA is supposed to be about career development and exploration, right? Regardless of how we feel regarding the subject, though, you must ensure that if a school asks about your goals in its essay questions or an interview, you have a compelling story about where you believe your MBA will take you. Several years ago, getting a banking job may have sounded compelling to you—are you really capable of making that transition today? Certainly, fewer jobs are available now in the real estate world—is this a likely next step for you during a prolonged real estate drought? Venture capital and private equity jobs are challenging to land even during the best of times—are you able to compete with the elite during a downturn?

These are just a few examples of questions you should honestly ask yourself. Keep in mind that not only are the admissions committees examining your story to determine what attributes you might bring to the next class, but if you are a borderline case, they may also send your profile to the career services office to help confirm whether your stated goals are realistic and if you will be difficult to place by or after graduation (i.e., whether you will hinder the school’s employment stats and thereby negatively affect its standing in the rankings). So, pay special attention to your goal statements and make sure that you can credibly stand behind them—and, as we have written in the past, even consider being prepared to discuss some alternate goals.