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How to approach the HBS essay

Alex HBS Essay Video

Getting ready to tackle the HBS essay? Alex has practical guidance on how and where to start thinking about this challenging essay prompt.

Video Transcript

Hi everybody – so you’re thinking about writing your HBS essay?

The first thing that comes to mind, like most, is to write a career narrative. Because after all, this is for an MBA program; it feels the most comfortable.

But, in fact, I’ve studied different archetypes of successful essays, and that’s only one of six options. If you write a career essay, you run the risk sometimes of writing a cliched essay or running into the pack.

There are other options, as I’ve mentioned. Let me give you an example of a good choice for a career essay. Someone’s working at a major consulting firm but they suffer from severe food allergies. So they’re writing about how they dedicate a lot of time to research a venture to help people with severe food allergies; a social networking site. This can create a lot of emotional interest in your candidacy.

Conversely, I had a client from Singapore who was working in transaction services and his dream was to be an investment banker. Terrific goal; won’t moisten a lot of eyes for HBS so that person would be better served to choose a more personal essay outside of the career narrative.

So don’t just go for the easy answer — really think about what will connect emotionally with your audience.

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HBS Essay Tips

Getting ready to tackle the HBS essay? Alex has some guidance on how and where to start.

 

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