The Villanova School of Business takes a rather traditional approach with the essay portion of its application, posing just one question that covers several main elements of a standard personal statement. The school wants to understand why you feel you need an MBA to progress professionally, how you intend to apply what you learn at Villanova to your career, and what steps you have taken to learn more about the school’s MBA experience. As a first step, we encourage you to download a free copy of the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide, which outlines in detail how to approach such topics in an application essay (and includes illustrative examples), and we offer Villanova-specific advice in our analysis, which follows.
Villanova 2024–2025 Essay Tips
Please limit the essay response to two-pages double-spaced.
Please discuss how this degree will impact your short and long-term career plans and address the following questions:
– Why pursue a Professional MBA at this point in your career?
– In what ways do you plan to utilize what you gain from the curriculum to meet your professional goals?
– What actions have you taken to determine that Villanova’s coursework is the best fit for your experience?
For the first two portions (bullet points) of this essay prompt, you need to explain to the Villanova admissions committee why now is the right, or even best, time for you to be pursuing an MBA and why you feel you need the MBA experience in the first place. Although the school never directly asks you what your career goals are (instead asking merely how the degree will “impact” them), you will obviously need to share those as a foundation for the other points you will be making. Simply put, the fact that you are applying to business school indicates that you have some reason to believe the experience and the degree are important factors in taking you from where you are now to where you want to be in your career, so in this essay, you simply need to convey that information and your motivations. Keep in mind that your professional objectives need to make sense within the context of your career thus far and that your long-term aspiration is a logical extension of your short-term goal. If you are planning to switch careers entirely or pivot in some way, you must ensure that the admissions committee understands why you believe you can make such a change, based on the skills and experience you have gained from your work thus far—and bolstered by what you will gain as an MBA student.
Because “why now?” and “why do you need an MBA?” are key elements of a traditional personal statement, we again encourage you to download a free copy of the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide, which discusses in depth how to approach and write these types of submissions and presents numerous annotated examples.
Many business schools ask candidates some version of the “why our school?” question, thereby requiring applicants to research the program in depth, including connecting with members of its community (typically, its students and alumni). Candidates then “show” the admissions committee that they have done this research by naming resources at the school that interest them and that they look forward to taking advantage of. The third bulleted query in this prompt takes this all a step further by asking you to actually explain how you have conducted that research. Perhaps you have spoken with students, professors, alumni, and/or admissions representative. Maybe you have viewed all of the program’s 2024 YouTube videos. You might have read the school’s recent press releases, perused discussion boards, or caught up with several student blogs. Without being overly verbose, mention every means you have taken advantage of to familiarize yourself with the Villanova program and community. This is a clear way to indicate your level of interest in the Villanova MBA program, so you must do more than the minimum.
Question #2: There are many factors present in the Villanova School of Business (VBS) community, which can also provide insight into the type of students who would flourish at VSB. Some of those qualities include intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, global awareness, an open mind and a creative spirit. Thinking about your research into our program and community, why do you feel Villanova is the best fit for your MBA experience? (Essay responses are limited to two-pages double-spaced.)
To effectively answer this question, as with the previous one, you will need to research all aspects of Villanova and the MBA experience it offers, from its resources and community to its extracurriculars and location. Generic claims and empty pandering have no place at all in this essay. The admissions committee wants to know that you are enthusiastic about what Villanova has to offer and that you understand exactly how and why it would fulfill your needs better than any other school. Note that the prompt mentions fit with its overall “MBA experience,” not just its academic or professional components, so be sure to explore and discuss extracurricular opportunities and characteristics as well. The elements of Villanova that you reference must be specific to your particular interests, character, style, and goals (both personal and career related), and the connections between them must be made very clear. Be authentic about what draws you to the school, and explain how you expect to gain and grow through the opportunities available there and benefit from the overall experience.
Supplemental Essay(s): You will also have the opportunity to upload any supplemental essays you wish to include as part of your application
Interestingly, Villanova allows, if not invites, you to submit additional essays of any kind, if you would like. And not just an essay, singular, but essays, plural. We caution you, however, against seeing this as an opportunity to upload every strong essay you wrote for a different program here. Admissions officers are extremely busy people, and asking them to spend time doing additional work to assess your application is not something you should do without serious thought and a very good reason. Show that you have good judgment and be thoughtful about how (and whether) you take advantage of this option.
That said, if you have anything in your profile that could be considered confusing or problematic, such as a gap in your academic transcript or work experience, a low GPA or GMAT/GRE score, an unusual choice of recommender, or a disciplinary or legal incident, this would be the perfect place to address it. Clarify for the admissions committee the story behind the issue. For help doing so, we encourage you to download a free copy of our mbaMission Optional Essays Guide, in which we offer detailed advice on how to approach and write this kind of optional essay, including multiple examples.
The other condition under which you might want to upload an additional essay here is if you have something in your candidacy that would help you stand out and/or contribute in a special way to the Villanova community—perhaps a unique background, skill, experience, or accomplishment—especially if you have already discussed this effectively in an essay for another school and can therefore easily provide it. (Before rushing to do this, though, make sure to remove any references to the other program!) If you do not feel that Villanova’s two required essays allow you to share enough about yourself and your story for the admissions committee to evaluate you fully and fairly, this would be your chance to fill in the missing pieces. But focus on being direct and succinct so that you convey your intended information without placing undue burden on the admissions readers.
