More MBA applications have added an MBA video essay component to the application process. Schools like Yale and Kellogg ask you to complete several video questions after submitting your application, while others, like Haas, asks candidates to do video essays instead of a traditional personal interview.
Schools are smart to include an MBA video essay. It tests basic English skills (particularly for international applicants), poise and presence, candidate consistency throughout their application, and how well you can concisely tell your why MBA story and highlight a school’s fit for your career needs. An admissions consultant can help prep you, but ultimately, you must complete this portion independently, and schools know that.
How to ace your MBA video essay
Here are some tips for acing your MBA video essay:
- Practice: Schools provide practice environments for this application step, so spend time getting used to the format. Many schools even provide some prompts beforehand, and their other questions will be more spontaneous.
- Don’t Expect Perfection: Almost all my clients feel they do well, but nobody feels they did perfectly. This is a staged environment, and you are speaking in a vacuum with no live person. Though this can feel awkward, smile, do your best, be likeable, and not heavy or withdrawn.
- Once You Go Down a Road, Go Down that Road: Don’t second-guess your answers while you are giving them! Once you choose a topic or approach, stay committed to that path. Generally, you will get 30 or 45 seconds to prepare your topic and then one minute or several minutes to answer. Take that allotted prep time to get committed to your basic answer versus trying to be too detailed with your notes.
- Don’t Memorize a Script: MBA classrooms require spontaneous thinking and communication. Don’t recite answers to questions you know you will get like a robot. After delivering many prep sessions for these video essays, I can easily tell when talk tracks have been memorized. Adcoms can as well.
- Background Environment Helps: Make sure your lighting is ample, dress well and consider having plants or some art in the background vs a stark white wall. Perception is reality.
