why stanford mba essay sample

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Essays help us learn about who you are rather than solely what you have done.

Other parts of the application give insight into your academic and professional accomplishments; the essays reveal the person behind those achievements.

Essay Questions

We request that you write two personal essays.

In each essay, we want to hear your genuine voice. Think carefully about your values, passions, aims, and dreams. There is no “right answer” to these questions — the best answer is the one that is truest for you.

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?

For this essay, we would like you to reflect deeply and write from the heart. Once you’ve identified what matters most to you, help us understand why. You might consider, for example, what makes this so important to you? What people, insights, or experiences have shaped your perspectives?

Essay B: Why Stanford?

Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. If you are applying to both the MBA and MSx programs, use Essay B to address your interest in both programs.

Both essays combined may not exceed 1,000 words. We recommend up to 650 words for Essay A and up to 350 words for Essay B. We often read effective essays that are written in fewer words.

Editing Your Essays

Begin work on the essays early to give yourself time to reflect, write, and edit.

Feel free to ask friends or family members for feedback, especially about whether the tone and voice sound like you. Your family and friends know you better than anyone. If they think the essays do not capture who you are, what you believe, and what you aspire to do, then surely we will be unable to recognize what is distinctive about you.

Feedback vs. Coaching

There is a big difference between “feedback” and “coaching.” You cross that line when any part of the application (excluding the letters of recommendation ) ceases to be exclusively yours in either thought or word.

Appropriate feedback occurs when others review your completed application — perhaps once or twice — and apprise you of omissions, errors, or inaccuracies that you later correct or address. After editing is complete, your thoughts, voice, and style remain intact. Inappropriate coaching occurs when you allow others to craft any part of your application for you and, as a result, your application or self-presentation is not authentic.

It is improper and a violation of the terms of this application process to have another person or tool write your essays. Such behavior will result in denial of your application or revocation of your admission.

Additional Information

If there is any information that is critical for us to know and is not captured elsewhere, include it in the Additional Information section of the application. Pertinent examples include:

• Extenuating circumstances affecting your candidacy, including academic, work, or test-taking experiences
• Academic experience (e.g., independent research) not noted elsewhere
• Explanation of why you are not using a current supervisor as a recommender

This section should not be used as an additional essay.

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50 MBA Essays That Got Applicants Admitted To Harvard & Stanford

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What Matters? and What More? is a collection of 50 application essays written by successful MBA candidates to Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business

I sat alone one Saturday night in a boardroom in Eastern Oregon, miles from home, my laptop lighting the room. I was painstakingly reviewing a complex spreadsheet of household energy consumption data, cell by cell. ‘Why am I doing this to myself? For remote transmission lines?’…I felt dejected. I’d felt that way before, during my summer at JP Morgan, standing alone in the printing room at 3 a.m., binding decks for a paper mill merger that wouldn’t affect my life in the least.

That’s how an analyst at an MBB firm started his MBA application essay to Stanford Graduate School of Business. His point: In a well-crafted essay, he confronts the challenge of finding meaning in his work and a place where he can make a meaningful difference. That is what really matters most to him, and his answer to Stanford’s iconic MBA application essay helped get him defy the formidable odds of acceptance and gain an admit to the school.

Getting into the prestigious MBA programs at either Stanford Graduate School of Business or Harvard Business School are among the most difficult journeys any young professional can make.

NEARLY 17,000 CANDIDATES APPLIED TO HARVARD & STANFORD LAST YEAR. 1,500 GOT IN

This collection of 50 successful HBS and GSB essays, with smart commentary, can be downloaded for $60

They are two of the most selective schools, routinely rejecting nine or more out of every ten applicants. Last year alone, 16,628 candidates applied to both schools; just 1,520 gained an acceptance, a mere 9.1% admit rate.

Business school admissions are holistic, meaning that while standardized test scores and undergraduate transcripts are a critical part of the admissions process, they aren’t the whole story. In fact, the stories that applicants tell the schools in the form of essays can be a critical component of a successful application.

So what kinds of stories are successful applicants to Harvard and Stanford telling their admission officers? For the first time ever, a newly published collection of 50 of these essays from current MBA students at these two schools has been published. In ten cases, applicants share the essays they wrote in applying to both schools so you can see whether they merely did a cut-and-paste job or approached the task anew. The 188-page book, What Matters? and What More?, gains its title from the two iconic essay prompts at Harvard and Stanford.

THOUGHTFUL CRITIQUES OF THE ESSAYS

Stanford can easily boast having the most difficult question posed to MBA applicants in any given year: In 650 words or less, candidates must tell the school what matters most to them and why. Harvard gives applicants ample room to hang themselves, providing no word limit at all, “What more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?”

One makes this unusual collection of essays powerful are the thoughtful critiques by the founders of two MBA admissions consulting firms, Jeremy Shinewald of mbaMission and Liza Weale of Gatehouse Admissions. They write overviews of each essay in the book and then tear apart portions by paragraphs to either underline a point or address a weakness. The book became available to download for $60 a pop.

As I note in a foreword to the collection, published in partnership with Poets&Quants, the essay portion of an application is where a person can give voice to who they are, what they have achieved so far, and what they imagine their future to be. Yet crafting a powerful and introspective essay can be incredibly daunting as you stare at a blank computer screen.

APPLICANTS OPEN UP WITH INTIMATE STORIES THAT SHOW VULNERABILITY

One successful applicant to Harvard Business School begins his essay by conveying a deeply personal story: The time his father was told that he had three months to live, with his only hope being a double lung transplant. had to undergo a lung transplant. His opening line: “Despite all we had been through in recent years, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I asked my mother one summer evening in Singapore, ‘What role did I play during those tough times?’”

For this candidate to Stanford Graduate School of Business, the essay provided a chance to creatively engage admission readers about what matters most to him–equality-by cleverly using zip codes as a hook.

60605, 60606, 60607.

These zip codes are just one digit apart, but the difference that digit makes in someone’s life is unfathomable. I realized this on my first day as a high school senior. Leafing through my out-of- date, stained, calculus textbook, I kept picturing the new books that my friend from a neighboring (more affluent) district had. As college acceptances came in, I saw educational inequality’s more lasting effects—my friends from affluent districts that better funded education were headed to prestigious universities, while most of my classmates were only accepted by the local junior college. I was unsettled that this divergence wasn’t the students’ doing, but rather institutionalized by the state’s education system. Since this experience, I realized that the fight for education equality will be won through equal opportunity. Overcoming inequality, to ensure that everyone has a fair shake at success, is what matters most to me.

HOW AN APPLICANT TO BOTH SCHOOLS ALTERED HIS ESSAYS

Yet another candidate, who applied to both Harvard and Stanford, writes about being at but not fully present at his friend’s wedding.

The morning after serving as my friend’s best man, I was waiting for my Uber to the airport and—as usual—scrolling through my phone,” he wrote. “I had taken seemingly hundreds of photos of the event, posting in real time to social media, but had not really looked through them. With growing unease, I noticed people and things that had not registered with me the night before and realized I had been so preoccupied with capturing the occasion on my phone that I had essentially missed the whole thing. I never learned the name of the woman beside me at the reception. I could not recall the wedding cake flavor. I never introduced myself to my friend’s grandfather from Edmonton. I was so mortified that before checking into my flight, I turned my phone off and stuffed it into my carry-on.

The Stanford version of his essay is more compact. In truth, it’s more succinctly written and more satisfying because it is to the point. By stripping away all but the most critical pieces of his narrative, the candidate focuses his essay entirely on his central point: the battle of man versus technology.

Even if you’re not applying to business school, the essays are entertaining and fun to read. Sure, precious few are New Yorker worthy. In fact, many are fairly straightforward tales, simply told. What the successful essays clearly show is that there is no cookie-cutter formula or paint-by-the-numbers approach. Some start bluntly and straightforwardly, without a compelling or even interesting opening. Some meander through different themes. Some betray real personality and passion. Others are frankly boring. If a pattern of any kind could be discerned, it is how genuine the essays read.

The greatest benefit of reading them? For obsessive applicants to two of the very best business schools, they’ll take a lot of pressure off of you because they are quite imperfect.

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“Why Stanford” MBA essay tips

W hy Stanford? Seems straightforward at first blush, right? Corralling the material you need to answer this classic MBA essay question is more challenging than you might think.

In this article, MBA Prep School delivers a fresh way to approach your “Why Stanford?” essay along with some practical advice on ways to make your essay stand out from other applicants’ essays.

Why Stanford?

Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them.

Where Do We Begin?

To get started, imagine structuring your essay like a documentary film with three acts.

The first act of the movie must introduce the audience to your sense of purpose: a deeper motivation that has directed your career thus far and will undoubtedly drive your future endeavors.

The second act presents your desired destination: your career goals.

The last act , which is the most important to your target audience of Stanford admissions officers, explains why you need a Stanford MBA to continue your quest and ultimately reach the pinnacle of your career.

Developing Your Essay

Taking a cinematic approach to developing your essay will energize your imagination and help you capture rich detail in your writing.

Expressing your hopes and dreams to an outsider is never easy. By visualizing yourself as a character in a film, you may be better able to take a step back and describe where you have been and where you want to go from a perspective that the Stanford admissions committee will understand and appreciate.

Another benefit of the cinematic approach is that it provides a workable structure for Stanford Essay B: a hero’s journey where we meet you (the hero), learn where you dream of going in your career, and then understand how Stanford is going to prepare you to get there.

Always keep in mind that a successful essay will convey a sense of passion and emotion, not only for attending Stanford but also for the exciting career that awaits you on the other side.

Self-Awareness, Honesty

Before taking on “Why Stanford?”, the heart of the essay, you must establish your career progress up to now, while providing a brief account of your professional strengths and weaknesses.

You’ll want to be upfront and honest about what you are missing for the journey ahead. Self-awareness denotes maturity, and a degree of humility is valued by the admissions office. Be assured that every applicant has some holes in their credentials—if not, there would be no reason for them to attend Stanford.

For example, MBA candidates typically lack leadership experience and their business exposure is often one-dimensional. GSB prides itself on expanding the horizons of its students and preparing aspiring leaders to become agents of change.

Due Diligence

Before you write a word about why you want to attend Stanford, do your homework about the unique areas in which Stanford GSB excels. Visit campus, sit in on classes, talk to students, meet with alumni, and sign up for informational blogs and emails. It’s not difficult to become well-informed about the place, but it does demand time and effort.

However, your “Why Stanford?” essay will collapse if all you do is name a few classes, clubs, and professors, and offer knee-jerk praise of the alumni network. Your objective is to clearly connect the opportunities you discuss to your developmental goals.

In addition to leadership training, three main themes stand out in Stanford’s self-profile: innovation, a global view, and improving the human condition. Sixteen percent of students start companies upon graduating, often in tech and often in Silicon Valley. Innovation includes teaching methods and quirky campus traditions (Take a Professor to Lunch). Grounding your discussion of what draws you to Stanford to one or more of these key themes may help you show your fit for the school.

Obviously, GSB has many strengths, and you cannot discuss them all. Focus your essay on the greatest benefits of attending Stanford to you personally. Don’t forget to logically connect the skills and knowledge Stanford will help you to gain with the gaps you revealed in your first paragraph.

The Stanford MBA program believes in thinking and dreaming big; the school’s motto is, “Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world.”

Kirsten Moss, the director of MBA admissions at Stanford, says that what remains constant at GSB is “our students’ commitment to becoming leaders who will transform their industries and communities.”

Your “documentary” will be a hit with Kirsten & Company if you keep our cinematic approach in mind while designing and writing your essay. You want your readers to be cheering for you to succeed and you must convince them that Stanford GSB is the perfect next step in your hero’s journey.

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Do you know how to make your MBA application essays stand out ? Talk with one of our MBA admissions experts today!

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How to Write the Stanford GSB Essays

Introduction ‍.

Now that you’ve decided you want to apply for an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (Stanford GSB), you need to craft an application that will demonstrate your professional skills, experience, and academic record. You will also need to showcase your skills as a writer, your aspirations, and your individuality. 

The Stanford GSB essays are a crucial component of your Stanford application; they will illuminate your voice and authentic self to the admissions committee. Although writing the Stanford GSB essays can seem like a daunting task, this guide will help you understand, execute, and perfect your essays.

What are the Stanford GSB Essays? ‍

The Stanford GSB essays are two personal essays you'll complete as part of your application to Stanford. The infamous ‘ essay A ’ asks applicants, “What matters most to you, and why?” 

Stanford’s website encourages applicants to “ write from the heart ” and be genuine about what matters most to you and to make an argument for why it is so important. 

Essay B , on the other hand, asks applicants, “Why Stanford?” 

This essay provides the opportunity to describe your personal aspirations and how Stanford fits around them. 

Stanford also allows you to submit several optional short answer essay questions . These questions are completely optional and provide you with more words to discuss topics you may not have been able to address elsewhere in your application. The first prompt reads: 

“Think about times 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?” 

This prompt allows you to provide up to three examples to discuss your resume further. 

The other optional short-answer Stanford GSB essay question asks you to:

“Tell us about a time within the last three years when your background influenced your participation in a situation, interaction, or project.”

This essay facilitates discussion about your background, like education, work, skills, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or gender identity. 

Stanford GSB Essay Length

Both Essay A and B together should not exceed 1,050 words. 

Stanford recommends writing no more than 650 words for essay A and no more than 400 words for essay B. Stanford asks that all essays are double-spaced and submitted in one document with numbered pages. 

For Stanford’s optional question A, you can provide up to three 200-word responses. You should write around 200 words for Stanford’s optional question B essay. 

This length constraint may seem restrictive, but being concise and adopting the “less is more” approach can make for a particularly effective essay. As Stanford notes, “We often find effective essays that are written in fewer words.” 

What Is the Purpose of the Stanford GSB Essays? 

The rest of your application includes everything you need to make a good impression: adequate work experience , high grades, a lengthy list of extracurriculars, and a stellar resume . 

Stanford understands that you are more than the sum of your total experiences and credentials laid out on these pages. The Stanford GSB essays humanize your application and demonstrate to the admissions committee what makes you unique. 

Stanford GSB Essay A

Essay A is a deeply personal and subjective essay. There is no such thing as a perfect topic to write about here. 

The question, “What matters to you most, and why?” is purposefully tricky to answer as it forces you to delve deep into yourself and choose something that is most important to you. That is easier said than done, especially when so many of us have many great things in our lives that are important to us, like our families, friends, and jobs. 

Some may take the route of writing about big-picture ideas like eliminating poverty, ending world hunger, or halting climate change. But essay A is not the space to write what you think Stanford wants to hear, and doing so would be doing yourself a disservice. 

Derrick Bolton, the former Stanford admissions director , said that your essay should “... be so personal that if you were working on it at 2 AM and accidentally printed a copy to your office printer, you would break out in a cold sweat, grab the keys, floor it and drive as fast as you could to the office to snatch the essay before anyone could read it.” 

Some applicants write about controversial or uncomfortable topics, whereas others write about how they want to impact the world, or how their weaknesses have helped cultivate their strengths. 

Ultimately, how you want to portray your individuality and what you choose to write about is entirely up to you. 

Stanford GSB Essay B

Essay B reflects your personal reasons for applying to Stanford. This writing demonstrates why Stanford is the best fit for you and how completing your Stanford MBA will help you achieve your goals. 

Although you have a tight word limit to explain why Stanford is the school for you, you want to be specific to show that you researched the school and program. You also need to explain how Stanford’s program is a significant stepping stone to achieving your career and personal goals. 

You should have an understanding of your industry and what your working life could look like post-MBA. The other purpose of this essay is to demonstrate how your admittance will enrich Stanford’s class. 

Stanford Optional Short Answer Question A 

The optional question A is focused on uncovering more about you beyond your resume. 

Specifically, Stanford is “... interested in learning about the things you have done that are most meaningful to you.” While you can write about your most impactful experiences in the Stanford GSB Essay A, this prompt allows you to go beyond your resume. 

Perhaps you didn’t have enough words to discuss your love of photography in Essay A. In that case, this optional essay allows you to discuss your contributions more fully. 

Of course, you shouldn’t use this essay to ramble on about why you love Stanford. Write about that in your “why Stanford essay.” Instead, answer the question’s main focus — what positive impact did you create, and what made it significant? 

Write about your impact on a situation and emphasize your skills and abilities that will help you achieve academic and professional success. If you can point to your stellar leadership skills, you will show you are ready for an MBA.  

Stanford Optional Short Answer Question B

Stanford’s optional short answer question B asks you to discuss your background. “Background” is purposefully defined broadly. So, you can write about almost anything, ranging from your socioeconomic status to gender identity. 

Perhaps you chose to pursue a part-time job in college because of your gender identity. In that case, explain how and why your background influenced your decision. Self-reflection is key here.

What Is Stanford GSB Looking for in the Essays?

Stanford’s admissions team uses your Stanford GSB application essays to get to know you beyond your academic achievements. 

Specifically, they want to read about your experiences and hear your “genuine voice.” Each Stanford MBA essay is designed to allow you to open up to the admissions committee. Being authentic is vital here; Stanford’s admissions officers can tell if you are not genuine in your responses. 

There is no “right” or “perfect” answer to Stanford’s prompts. As Stanford says, “... the best answer is the one that is truest for you.” 

Looking at Stanford example essays is helpful, as they show you how other applicants have written about their lives. But they are written by other applicants with different experiences. 

Reflect on your own experiences in your Stanford business school essay, and you’ll increase your chances of admission. 

Step-by-step Guide to Writing the Stanford GSB Essays

Writing the Stanford GSB essays can be a daunting task; you may be asking yourself, “How can I effectively convey all that I want to in so few words?” 

Writing an effective essay about yourself can feel challenging, especially with such a low word limit. These essays are quite different from essays you may have done as an undergrad, where long essays are part of the curriculum. 

Remember that these essays are designed to be challenging, and it’s OK to find them difficult. This step-by-step guide will help get you started and provide tips to write a great essay. 

1. Pick Your Topic 

The first step to any essay is to pick your topic. 

For the Stanford GSB essay A, the best course is to brainstorm; think about all the things that are important to you and why you consider them important. Also, think about your achievements and why you set out to achieve them. 

2. Create an Outline 

After you’ve compiled a list, you can narrow down your topic and begin writing. A bullet-pointed list outlining your Stanford MBA essay’s rough structure will help you develop an overall framework.

3. Start Writing 

You can build upon the points you want to touch on and use supporting points as the foundation of your essay. Your essay should be easily separated into three parts:

• Introduction 
• Body paragraphs
• Conclusion 

Your introduction will introduce the topic, the body paragraphs will provide evidence to support your writing, and your conclusion will wrap up your essay neatly. 

4. Create Your Introduction 

Your introduction should captivate the reader immediately. The introduction is often where candidates introduce a relevant anecdote. 

Many people find it helpful to complete their introduction after the main essay is complete. It’s suitable to begin with your introduction or dive right into the body of your essay.

5. Write the Body 

The body of your essay should provide specific examples related to your anecdote. You should discuss what you’ve learned or gained from your experience. 

6. Write Your Conclusion 

Your conclusion should summarize your main points and reference the future you want. It should also leave the reader feeling satisfied that Stanford will help you toward that future. 

1. Brainstorm Why You Want to Attend Stanford 

With the “why Stanford” MBA essay, because you already have your topic, you will want to work out your specific reasons for why Stanford is the school for you. 

Again, brainstorming reasons will help you develop the framework of your essay. Does the school culture excite you? Are you looking to make connections within Silicon Valley?

Jot down every reason you can think of to narrow down your argument. Similar to essay A, your essay should have an identifiable introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. 

3. Create Your Introduction

Your “why Stanford” essay introduction should immediately explain your interest in Stanford. Why is Stanford the school you want to go to? Alternatively, you can start writing the body of your essay first and return to the introduction after.

4. Write the Body 

The body of your essay should highlight some of your achievements and what you have learned from your experiences. You can also relate your background to classes offered in the program and how they would help you grow. 

5. Write Your Conclusion 

Your conclusion should leave the reader satisfied that Stanford is the only school for you. Be passionate, and be specific. 

For both essays, remember to revise, revise, revise. Your essays should be free of all grammar and spelling mistakes and should flow well. Be sure to read your writing aloud to see how it reads as this can help identify possible errors or substantive issues.

Stanford GSB Essay Examples and What Made Them Successful

Reviewing Stanford essay examples is a great way to understand how your writing should generally look, feel, and flow. Below are two compelling essay examples of Stanford GSB essays that worked. 

These are paragraphs taken from full examples of Stanford essays that worked and are not complete essays alone. To better understand the essays’ makeup, the introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs are labeled. 

Stanford What Matters Most to You and Why Essay Example

What matters most to you, and why?

Sample Introduction:

One evening during a winter break in college, I was driving home and saw my disabled neighbor on our street, slumped over in his driveway, sobbing. I jumped out of my car and ran. 

The ramp to his house was obstructed by a few recently dropped off packages, and he badly needed to use the restroom, having been stuck there for almost an hour. He was a husband, father, grandfather, and former breadwinner, dehumanized by his disability and utterly helpless in this moment. 

Sample Body Paragraph:

I’m driven by finding answers to the most complex, most challenging problems faced by humanity; the ones that are too daunting, or those that go unrecognized. I had to do something. 

So, I rallied a friend, and together we built a low-cost, AI-driven speech-recognition platform that enabled voice-activated control over electronic systems in a household, thus affording increased independence to individuals suffering from ALS and multiple sclerosis. 

It was an exercise in creativity and persistence, and quite daunting at the outset. But, in the end, our solution worked, and cost a fraction of a now commercially available solution like Alexa.

Sample Conclusion:

In the long run, by proving the benefits of AI-driven healthcare to the world, I want to build an enterprise that not only develops sophisticated technology that improves quality of life but also molds the underlying fabric of healthcare policy. 

Like Uber or Airbnb, I dream of leading an organization that fundamentally shifts the contemporary regulatory paradigm in healthcare to one that appropriately reflects both the medical and psychological needs of the modern patient.

We’re all companions on a journey through life; the same random forces that imbue me with good health compel countless others to live in a state of constant suffering. Humanity is a gift, and I have a social and moral responsibility to empower others to live life with passion, dignity, and hope. It is a mission I am dedicated to for the rest of my life.

What Made This Essay Effective?

• The beginning of this Stanford MBA essay sample immerses the reader immediately into the story the student is telling. The rich anecdote is an excellent starting point to lead the rest of their writing, and we instantly want to know more about their journey. 
• The student’s motivations and passions are illuminated and supported throughout the essay. 
• The student demonstrated how they have worked with their passions and motivations creatively to develop a tool to increase independence for individuals living with disabilities.
• The student’s conclusion articulates their long-term goal and restates their passion. The student explained how they plan to dedicate themselves to their cause and improve others’ quality of life.
• The essay leaves the reader satisfied due to its genuineness.

Why Stanford Essay Example

Why Stanford?

Example Introduction:

Silicon Valley is the cradle of global innovation, a melting pot of creators and visionaries. Its one-of-a-kind community paces the world in invention, creativity, and impact. Stanford is at the nucleus of this ecosystem. 

I dream of building a company that pushes the frontiers of AI to fundamentally reshape the global health paradigm, and the GSB MBA offers unparalleled opportunities to explore myself and my passions on that journey.

Example Body Paragraph:

One important lesson I have learned through my experiences as an inventor is the importance of creativity in navigating constraints and creating lasting impact. I once spent months in rural [Country], with limited materials and guidance, building a [medical device]. Only much later, following conversation with a colleague, did I realize I was intuitively applying design thinking and frugal innovation principles in solving challenges. 

I now want a structured education in accessible, cost-effective, and human-centric design through courses such as Design for Health, which will be invaluable in realizing my mission of improving the quality of life for the disabled.

Example Conclusion:

Steve Jobs once famously said that you can only connect the dots in hindsight. I plan to spend my future creating impactful, long-term change in healthcare. When I reflect on life down the road, I am confident I will see my time at Stanford GSB as the brightest dot along the journey.

What Made This Essay Effective? 

• The student immediately states why they’re interested in attending Stanford and discusses how they will fit into the school. 
• They discuss what they’ve learned in their experiences. This shows that they are mature, reflective, and self-aware. 
• They link their experiences to a specific course at Stanford. This shows that the student has researched the program and is excited about Stanford’s course offerings. 
• This is an exciting and confident conclusion. The student summarizes where they expect to be in the future and how Stanford will help propel them to that goal.

Top Tips for Crafting Memorable Essays 

You want to make sure that your essays stand out for their exceptional quality; it’s not enough to develop pieces that get your point across but come off as formulaic and uncreative. 

Below we have compiled a few top tips for Essay A and B to ensure your essays help you stand out in the best way possible. You can also use these tips if you are struggling to understand how to write the Stanford short essays.

Be a Storyteller

Stanford GSB admissions readers are looking for rich anecdotes and well-crafted stories in essay A . 

Your unique experience is important — and a story worth telling. These elements will entice the reader to want to know more about you and your passions. These stories can be emotional and humanize you and your aspirations to the admissions committee. 

Think about the central theme for your essay, and relay a supporting anecdote. Be sure to give context to help the reader understand why this topic is so important to you. Don’t be afraid to get personal . 

Watch the Length and Keep It Fairly Simple 

When you’re writing about yourself, it can be tempting to write pages and pages to make sure you’re getting your point across. After all, you’re the only expert on the subject! But keep things concise, easily digestible, and confident. 

This assignment is not the space to show off your long-winded creative writing skills and detailed description. It’s also not the space to impress the admissions committee by writing what you think they want to hear. 

Your writing shouldn’t have any frills that can dilute or muddle your answer. Remember to keep things simple, be genuine, and be confident — these are the best ways to set yourself up for success. 

Do Not Focus on Your Accomplishments 

Your essays are not meant to be an opportunity to expand or regurgitate your previous work experience. Your essays can highlight things that you haven’t already discussed. Your resume and letters of recommendation already summarize your professional experiences — this an assignment to show your vulnerability and thoughtfulness. 

If there is an accomplishment that encompasses your passions that you haven’t previously discussed, that is OK. Talk about a person, event, or place that has shaped you. Your essay should give the admissions committee a glimpse at the real person behind the accolades.

Do Your School Research 

Stanford GSB essay B calls for you to do adequate school research. Think about why Stanford is the perfect school for you, and let your research support you. Are there classes, clubs, events, or program elements that will help you realize your goals? 

Be as specific as you can to demonstrate that you have done more than casually surf the school’s website. Your research will help you craft a stellar essay. 

There are No ‘Right’ Answers 

There are no right or wrong ways to write both of your Stanford GSB essays. Your story is yours to tell in whatever way you see fit. If your writing honestly reflects your passions, motivations, and dreams, you are on the right track. 

If you feel yourself agonizing and poring over every line, your essays may not be your brand of “right” quite yet. It sounds a little scary to rely on your intuition and to open up, but you will reap the rewards. 

Stanford GSB Essay FAQs

Writing the Stanford GSB essays isn't easy. However, we’ve put together several questions and answers to help you write killer MBA essays. 

1. How do I submit my Stanford GSB essays? 

You should upload essays electronically in one document. Preview the document to make sure that the formatting of your writing does not change. 

2. What’s the best way to go about editing my essays? 

Beyond checking your essays for plagiarism issues and spelling and grammar mistakes, you should also reflect on your essays’ flow and voice. 

Read your essays aloud and see if they sound and feel right.  An unbiased professional opinion is the best way to polish your essays. The experience of a professional review of your essays would be priceless. 

3. What if I want to exceed the word limit on my essays to fit in everything I want to say?

Exceeding the word limit is not recommended. Stanford is looking for MBA candidates who can write concise and compelling essays about themselves and their aspirations. Try to stay within the recommended 650 words for essay A and 400 words for essay B. 

4. Am I allowed to receive feedback on my essays from consulting services? 

Yes. You are allowed to have your essays reviewed after completion — appropriate feedback is when omissions or errors are addressed and you correct them after. Your thoughts and voice should remain the same. 

Inappropriate coaching occurs when someone else has crafted any part of your essay for you. If this happens, your essays are no longer an accurate representation of you and violate terms. Your application will then either be denied or revoked. 

5. What are the optional essays? 

There are two additional optional essays that candidates can complete as part of their application. The first is, “Think about times 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?” This essay gives you the chance to discuss your resume further. You can provide up to three examples for a total of 600 words, or 200 words per example. 

The second optional essay asks, “Tell us about a time within the last three years when your background influenced your participation at work or school.” This essay facilitates discussion about your background, like education, work, skills, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or gender identity. The word limit for this essay is approximately 200 words. 

6. Will it hurt my chances if I do not write the optional essays? 

The optional essays are just that — optional. If you feel that you’ve already addressed these topics in your application, there is no need. 

But if you want to expand on something that you may not have discussed already, feel free to complete these optional essays. Stanford has accepted applicants who have not completed these additional essays and has not accepted applicants who have completed them.

Excel on the Stanford GSB Essays, Ace the Application

Writing the Stanford GSB essays can be an intimidating task, but this guide should help you polish your essays to perfection. Remember to keep the purpose of both essays in mind as you write. Make sure that your writing is answering the questions that Stanford is asking. 

The step-by-step guide above can help you to complete your essay. The sample Stanford essays that worked illustrated above will help give you an idea of what makes a great Stanford GSB essay. The tips shared in the article will assist you in the memorability of your essay. 

Remember to tell your stories authentically and be genuine in your Stanford GSB essays, and you will be on the path to success.

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How to Write the Stanford GSB Essays: Analysis, Examples and Strategies That Work

POSTED ON 06/27/2022 BY The Red Pen

The Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) looks for candidates with ambition, confidence and empathy to visualise outcomes that impact humanity and change the world. Ask yourself:

• Are these traits well represented in your application?
• How have you impacted communities or even countries?
• Do your interests and career trajectory demonstrate your intellectual curiosity?
• Does your resume reflect your demonstrated leadership qualities (whether through leading a team or enabling outcomes for organisations)?
• Do your personal qualities and achievements shine through during your diverse engagements with other individuals and society?

While applying, you need to speak of instances where you stood by your values, demonstrated a knack for building connections and made a lasting impact.

Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) Essay Analysis

A crucial part of the application process; Stanford GSB clearly defines what it expects from your essays . The essays section of the application page starts with a clear mission statement – “Essays help us learn about who you are rather than solely what you have done.”

Current Stanford GSB admission director Kirsten Moss once said, “The only common mistake I can think of is not taking the time to read the guidance we offer on our website and in the application.”

How to Tackle the Stanford GSB MBA Essays

Essay prompts – essay a.

“What matters most to you and why?” (Recommended Maximum Word Limit – 650 words)

Essay A is a challenge because it is open-ended. Unlike other schools, you are not expected to talk about what you will contribute to the school or why you want to pursue an MBA. In an interview , Kirsten Moss said that Essay A “…is the best assignment we could ever give as it will help you guide your trajectory from this moment forward”.

Tips on Brainstorming for the Essay:

1) Reflect deeply: John Dewey , the American philosopher and education reformist, said, “We do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience”. Writing this essay requires consistent and mindful reflection. A great habit to foster deep reflection is maintaining a journal where you note significant events, behaviours and values that have impacted your life. Start the process of reflection by thinking about positive and negative experiences in your life. Ask yourself:

• What was it like living that experience?
• Did it leave an impact on you?
• Did you learn a lesson that will stick with you for life?
• Did it result in a perspective shift for you?
• Think about the people involved – how has your relationship with them evolved?
• What impact did they leave on you and vice-versa?

For example, you may have experienced a pivotal moment as a child with the death of a beloved grandparent. While such an incident is bound to have an emotional impact, it may have also caused you to reflect back on the time you spent with the person and how you learned important life lessons that shaped your outlook and your core beliefs, thereby influencing how you interact with and interpret the world around you.

During such focussed self-reflection, carefully identify what matters the most to you. This is a tricky part. If you have not engaged in self-reflection for a while now – it is never too late. Making detailed notes of your journey will lead to the emergence of behaviour patterns and values that guide your actions and interactions. You now have the building blocks of your essay.

2) Write from the heart: Now that you have the essential elements to describe what matters to you – put pen to paper. The Stanford GSB admission committee’s advice is to write from the heart, which simply means that you need to be personal. Your self-reflection has shown you what values you hold dear and what matters to you. Now think about how it has shaped you and helped you evolve personally. Communicate what you are passionate about through examples and experiences and use them to illustrate your personality to the reader. By giving your thoughts direction, you will be able to write from your heart in a manner that gives your essay substance and a clear focus on the future.

3) Identify what matters most to you and tell them why: Think beyond the admission committee’s advice here. Now that you have identified what matters the most, you are ready to write from the heart. But, do not merely focus on TELLING the reader “why”. Rather, SHOW them why your essay subject matters to you. Instead of stating that you evaluate situations scientifically, you will be better served by providing an example of how you took your bicycle apart as a child, built simple periscopes in school and found solutions to a problem your peers were facing by breaking down the different elements of the problem. Building your narrative adds layers to the story with multiple examples that demonstrate the evolution of a core part of your personality. Examples from your life will bring immense depth to what matters most to you and make your assertions more personal and nuanced.

Suggested Essay Structure With Word Count Breakup:

For this essay, stating what matters to you should be around 50 words. To support your assertion, you need to use the rest of the allocated word count to provide examples from your life experiences. This is ample space to show an evolution of your thought with two or three critical examples. Use 50 words in your conclusion to indicate how you see the theme playing out for you in the future.

Essay Prompts – Essay B

“Why Stanford?” (Recommended Maximum Word Limit – 400 words)

1) Describe your aspirations: At this point, Stanford GSB knows you from Essay A; they now want to know your vision of the ‘future you’. In Essay B, talk about your career aspirations; what is your dream career? There should be a natural progression from the core value system you have described in Essay A to your post-MBA ambitions and why the school plays an integral part in this journey. Consider your aspirations from the lens of the impact you want to create. In a nutshell – be ambitious! For example, you may have spoken about how eradicating poverty is what matters most to you in Essay A. In Essay B, you should build on that thought to provide specific details of the impact you want to make – by finding a solution that provides employment to [X] million people in the Indian subcontinent and impacts the country’s GDP by [X] per cent.

2) State how the Stanford GSB experience will help you realise them: To answer this part of the essay, research the school to narrow down on what, for you, is the most compelling about the GSB experience. For example, researching the SEED programme may inform your ambition to participate and gain valuable insight into your vision of impact with your own long term entrepreneurial journey. Some key elements to keep in mind while researching the school are:

• What is the curriculum structure; what excites you about it?
• What specific classes appeal to you and how do they connect with your aspirations?
• Is the school involved in academic research in your area of interest?
• What other activities/clubs does the school offer that interests you?
• What did the alumni have to say about their experience at Stanford GSB?

If you are applying to both Stanford’s MBA programme and MSx (1-year master’s) programme, use Essay B to address your interests.

Use around 100-150 words to describe your ambition for the future and the rest of the available word count to describe specific resources in Stanford GSB that relate to specific elements of your post-MBA journey.

Finally, use the Additional Information section of the application or the three optional essays to:

• Explain extenuating circumstances affecting academic or work performance
• Expand on academic experience (e.g., independent research) not noted elsewhere
• Provide the admissions committee with additional examples of impact that could not be accommodated elsewhere. 

Do not mention these elements in Essays A and B. The two essays need to showcase you as a self-aware applicant willing to understand yourself better.

The Red Pen’s team-based approach will help you reflect meaningfully to present your case clearly to the Stanford GSB admission committee. Contact us here to begin your MBA admission journey.

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Stanford Graduate School of Business Application Essay Example

How many times have you thought about what truly matters most to you? Or what fuels your drive, or what guides your decisions above all else? There is a good chance that you have never thought deeply about your response to any of these questions. That makes the Stanford GSB’s main essay prompt—What matters most to you, and why?—surprisingly vexing. Answering it well requires a considerable amount of introspection and honesty, something we do not always give ourselves the time to do.

The following essay response to “What matters most to you, and why?”, along with its associated commentary, is one of fifty essays featured in  “What Matters?” and “What More?”: 50 Successful Essays for the Stanford GSB and HBS (and Why They Worked) ,  a book co-authored by our firm’s founder,  Liza Weale .

We have selected Jules’ essay to share here because it captures the reflection and authenticity that can make for a successful GSB essay, at least according to the Stanford GSB admissions committee! We also like the essay because of the absence of any single incredible story. Too often, people assume that the only people accepted by into GSB’s MBA program are those who are running a unicorn start-up or are, as the saying goes, “saving the world.” Yet, even more relatable stories can reveal a tremendously inspiring person worthy of attending the GSB!

Stand by Me, Stand by You – Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) Application Essay Written by Jules, GSB MBA

Pre-reading commentary from liza weale, founder of gatehouse admissions:.

Jules is a reapplicant to the Stanford GSB. Reapplicants have different strategies they can choose from for their new essay submission, and we reached out to Jules to learn how similar this essay was to the first one she submitted. She shared that in her first GSB application, she had focused on relaying what she wanted the GSB to know about her. Afterward, she realized that she had never actually answered the school’s question (for herself or for the admissions committee), and although she had presented a robust, multidimensional picture of who she was, her essay lacked the singular thrust the prompt demands. This time, rather than trying to control how the school might perceive her, she simply answered the question truthfully and sincerely. Kudos to Jules for recognizing the importance of being authentic in her essay!

In the essay, Jules makes no mention of her earlier application. Instead, she discusses three disparate situations—a classmate’s suicide, a difficult sibling relationship, and a company reorganization—and links them via what matters most to her: relationships. Her essay also conveys a strong sense of discovery and reflection, and each challenge better equips her for the next. Another thing Jules does well is openly admit her shortcomings (notably, her impatience with her brother). As we have said before and will undoubtedly say again, business schools are not expecting, or even seeking, perfection. Jules references her impatience matter-of-factly, with no sense of defensiveness or dramatization, thereby earning the reader’s compassion.

Some applicants might think Jules had the “good fortune” of finding herself in what was surely a very difficult work situation, rife with opportunities to demonstrate commitment, integrity, and empathy. Yet BigBoxCo would not likely have put Jules in the middle of this reorganization had she not already displayed these traits. Throughout her essay, Jules’s actions clearly underscore who she is, ultimately giving the GSB admissions committee compelling and sufficient evidence of its desired Demonstrated Leadership Potential.

What matters most to you, and why?

Stand by Me, Stand by You (written by Jules, GSB MBA)

My cell rings. Victoria. One of my co-mentors to a group of high school underclassmen. “Hi… I think you should sit down for this.” Victoria pauses, “Amit killed himself tonight.” [1]

Amit was one of our 40 freshmen mentees. A few times a week, we’d bring the mentees together, as one or in smaller groups, to provide a “safe space” in the school’s high-pressure environment. I’d only been involved in the program 9 months, but it had become integral to my high school experience.

The news of Amit’s suicide rocked me, and my grieving was intense. The school’s guidance counselors reached out, as did friends and family, but I didn’t know how to accept their help. The only people who I felt understood were other members of our group. With them, I could share my feelings of disbelief and guilt and listen to theirs. We used each other to figure out how to grieve and accept what happened. But we also channeled our pain towards action, organizing a Suicide Prevention gathering, visiting Amit’s family, and creating a field day to inspire some happiness.

These relationships saved me, and saved us, and while it took time, I ultimately got through the worst of this period. I was left with a profound appreciation for the power of relationships. I also gained resolve to fix an important one that I’d let languish.

My twin brother Johnny struggled with depression for much of my childhood. Anything set him off, resulting in hours of hysteria and cries for attention. I tried not to upset him, which essentially meant not interacting at all. In fact, Johnny was why I’d begun mentoring: I felt disconnected from him and ill-equipped to help, so I latched onto mentoring in school to build relationships and have an impact.

But after I’d processed much of my grieving for Amit, I started reevaluating my approach with Johnny. I realized I was angry at Johnny for the state of our relationship without taking any responsibility myself. I’d never tried to understand the reasons behind his outbursts and instead assumed ill-intent. I also realized I had never been upfront with him about how his actions impacted me.

Slowly, I got more comfortable dealing with Johnny when I felt he was irrational. I also tried harder to understand his feelings, and I asked him to be honest right back. This hasn’t been easy, and even now that Johnny is in a good place, we still have to intentionally work on our interactions. [2] But it has gotten us to what I gratefully have today—a relationship that is truly one of the most meaningful in my life.

More recently, the importance of relationships again showed itself. I joined BigBoxCo shortly before the company decided to dismantle a 30-person Product Development team. The tasks would be absorbed by folks in other groups, while the 30 people would be reallocated to different areas across BigBoxCo.

Over the next 18 months, I had to maintain absolute secrecy as I documented everything I could about the processes. Without letting on the reason behind my attendance at meetings or my line of questioning, I spent significant time with people who would be impacted by the reorg. I struggled internally, wondering if I could do my job with integrity, without feeling like I was betraying these people, many of whom I called “friend.” [3] I focused on my belief that the reorg was better for the company and those affected, and I hoped my involvement in the project would help me support them once they began their new roles.

After the changes were announced and we moved into implementation, I prioritized connecting with colleagues whom I couldn’t tell about the reorg. I reached out initially to clear the air about my involvement in the project but continued reaching out when I picked up on their eagerness to ask me for advice on navigating the new structure. Throughout this period, I’ve found no one holds anything against me. Instead, many of my relationships have actually gotten stronger—my colleagues seem to trust me and appreciate how committed I am to their success.

To this day I grieve for Amit and mourn the fact that I couldn’t help him more. But, I take solace in the fact that, since his death, I have realized what matters most to me: that I have and form strong relationships. They fulfill me and give meaning to my actions, and in turn, my actions give meaning back to them. [4]

Additional Commentary from Liza:

[1] Dealing with heavy topics such as suicide in a business school essay can be challenging. Stating the situation clearly and simply, with one or two salient details, will provide enough context for the admissions reader to be able to empathize without thinking you are “playing the sympathy card” (to quote candidates who worry the admissions committee might perceive such topics negatively).

[2] Sometimes, candidates are tempted to shout from the hilltops, “Look! I fixed the issue! Just like that!” The truth, of course, is that change takes time, and because Jules admits that the relationship can sometimes still be challenging, the reader is more likely to appreciate her efforts to improve it.

[3] Jules again reveals her struggles, reassuring the reader that she is like the rest of us—human!

[4] Jules chooses to clearly state what matters most to her at the very end of her essay, but by this point, her answer is a foregone conclusion. By laying out the evidence from the start, she has more than convinced us that relationships matter most to her, and as result, she needs very few words for her conclusion.

If you would like to see more examples of successful HBS and GSB essays, you can purchase the entire guide  here .

For strategies on crafting your response to “What matters most to you, and why?”, read our Essay Analysis for the Stanford GSB .

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MBA Essay Examples

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Stanford GSB MBA Essays: Prompts, Tips, & Examples

Craft compelling Stanford GSB MBA essays with our expert prompts, tips, and real-life examples.

Posted August 14, 2024

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Table of Contents

Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) is renowned for its rigorous and selective MBA program. As part of the application process, prospective students are required to submit essays that provide insights into their personal and professional backgrounds, as well as their aspirations. In this article, we will delve into the importance of Stanford GSB MBA essays , analyze the essay prompts, offer valuable tips for writing effective essays, and discuss common mistakes to avoid. Lastly, we will emphasize the significance of a final review and provide guidance on seeking feedback. Let's begin!

Stanford GSB MBA Essays Overview

Stanford GSB MBA essays provide a broader context for evaluating applicants by offering additional insights into their motivations, values, and goals. Admissions committees carefully review these essays to better understand an applicant's fit with the program, as well as their potential impact on the Stanford GSB community. Essays allow candidates to present their unique perspectives and highlight experiences that might not be evident through other parts of the application.

For example, imagine a candidate who has a strong academic background and impressive professional achievements. While these accomplishments are certainly noteworthy, they may not fully capture the candidate's personal journey, challenges faced, or the values that drive them. Essays provide an avenue for applicants to delve deeper into their stories, offering a more holistic view of their character and potential.

Moreover, essays give applicants the opportunity to demonstrate their writing skills , critical thinking abilities, and their capacity to articulate complex ideas. These are essential skills for success in business school and beyond. Admissions committees are not only interested in the content of the essays but also in the way candidates present their thoughts and ideas.

Essays play a crucial role in the Stanford GSB MBA application process. They offer applicants a unique opportunity to showcase their experiences, values, and aspirations to the admissions committee. Through essays, candidates can make a compelling case for their admission, supplementing the quantitative information present in their application form. Therefore, investing time and effort into crafting exceptional essays is of utmost importance.

What Stanford GSB Looks for in Essays

When evaluating essays, Stanford GSB seeks to assess an applicant's intellectual vitality, demonstrated leadership potential, and personal qualities such as authenticity and self-awareness. Admissions officers also explore how candidates have transformed their experiences into valuable insights, showcasing their ability to contribute meaningfully to the MBA cohort.

Intellectual vitality is a key aspect that Stanford GSB looks for in essays. The program values candidates who have a curiosity for learning, a passion for exploring new ideas, and a willingness to challenge the status quo. Through their essays, applicants have the opportunity to demonstrate their intellectual curiosity by discussing their academic pursuits, research interests, or innovative solutions to real-world problems.

Leadership potential is another important criterion that Stanford GSB evaluates in essays. The program seeks candidates who have the ability to inspire and motivate others, to navigate complex situations, and to make a positive impact on their organizations and communities. Essays provide a platform for applicants to showcase their leadership experiences, highlighting instances where they have taken initiative, influenced others, or led teams to achieve significant results.

Authenticity and self-awareness are highly valued qualities at Stanford GSB. Admissions officers are interested in understanding the genuine motivations and values that drive applicants. Through their essays, candidates can share personal anecdotes, reflect on their experiences, and provide insights into their core beliefs and principles. This level of self-awareness not only helps the admissions committee assess an applicant's fit with the program but also enables candidates to present a more authentic and compelling narrative.

In conclusion, Stanford GSB MBA essays play a vital role in the application process. They provide applicants with an opportunity to go beyond their academic and professional achievements, allowing them to present a more holistic view of their character, motivations, and potential. By investing time and effort into crafting exceptional essays, candidates can effectively communicate their unique perspectives and experiences, increasing their chances of securing admission to the Stanford GSB MBA program.

Breaking Down the Stanford GSB MBA Essay Prompts

Stanford GSB provides applicants with a set of essay prompts, designed to elicit thoughtful and reflective responses. Let's analyze each prompt to understand what the admissions committee is looking for:

Analyzing Each Prompt

1. Prompt 1: "What matters most to you, and why?" This prompt encourages applicants to reflect on their core values and motivations that have shaped their lives. It seeks to understand what truly drives and inspires them.

2. Prompt 2: "Why Stanford? Enlighten us on how earning your MBA at Stanford will enable you to realize your ambitions." This prompt aims to evaluate how well applicants understand the unique aspects of Stanford GSB and how they envision leveraging the program to achieve their goals.

4 Common Themes in Stanford GSB Prompts

Although the essay prompts may vary each year, there are recurring themes that tend to emerge:

• Self-reflection and personal values
• Leadership and impact
• Passion and authenticity
• Desire for growth and learning

Understanding these common themes can help applicants craft powerful and cohesive essays that align with Stanford GSB's values and philosophies.

Read : 3 Things You Need for Successful Stanford MBA Essays

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Tips for Writing Effective Stanford GSB MBA Essays

Writing standout essays requires careful planning and attention to detail. Here are some tips to help you create impactful narratives:

Structure Your Essay

Start with a captivating introduction that hooks the reader and clearly states your central theme. Develop the body of your essay coherently, using paragraphs to explore different aspects of your experiences and perspectives. Finally, end with a memorable conclusion that reinforces your main points and leaves a lasting impression.

Balance Personal and Professional Information

While it is important to provide insights into both your personal and professional life, strike a balance to ensure that your essays are holistic and reflective of your overall candidacy. Be mindful of not reiterating information already present in your resume or other parts of the application.

Avoiding Common Mistakes in Stanford GSB MBA Essays

As you compose your essays, watch out for these common pitfalls:

Overused Phrases to Avoid

Steer clear of clichés and generic phrases that fail to reveal your true character and unique perspective. Admissions officers seek authenticity, so express yourself in an original and genuine manner.

Pitfalls of Being Too Generic or Vague

Avoid being vague or overly general in your essays. Instead, focus on specific examples and provide concrete evidence to substantiate your assertions. Share stories that demonstrate your actions, impact, and growth.

The Final Review: Polishing Your Stanford GSB MBA Essay

Before submitting your essays, remember to give them a final review:

Importance of Proofreading

Read through your essays multiple times, meticulously checking for grammatical errors, typos, and inconsistencies. Ensure that your thoughts flow logically and that your essay maintains a consistent tone and style.

Seeking Feedback on Your Essay

Share your essays with trusted friends, mentors, or admissions consultants to gain valuable perspectives. Constructive feedback can help you refine your essays and ensure they resonate with the admissions committee.

In conclusion, Stanford GSB MBA essays offer applicants a priceless opportunity to express their unique attributes, motivations, and aspirations. By understanding the importance of these essays, analyzing the prompts, incorporating valuable tips, and avoiding common mistakes, you can craft persuasive essays that enhance your chances of being admitted to this prestigious program. Remember, a well-written essay can be the differentiating factor that sets you apart from other candidates and propels you towards your goals. Good luck!

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Stanford GSB Essays & Analysis 2024-2025

The following essay topic analysis examines Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (Stanford GSB) MBA admissions essays for the 2024-2025 admissions season . You can also review essay topic analyses for other leading MBA programs as well as general  Essay Tips  to further aid you in developing your admissions essays.

Stanford has asked applicants to respond to the same two questions it has asked the past several years. They have shortened the word limit from last year, with the recommendation of using 650 words for Essay A staying the same and Essay B being downsized from 400 to 350 words. Two optional essays regarding candidate’s impact and background are also included in the application and Clear Admit encourages applicants to address them.

S tanford GSB Essays & Analysis 2024-2025

Let’s take a closer look at each of the Stanford GSB essays.

Stanford GSB Essay A

What matters most to you, and why? (Suggested Word Count: 650 words)

For this essay, we would like you to reflect deeply and write from the heart. Once you’ve identified what matters most to you, help us understand why. You might consider, for example, what makes this so important to you? What people, insights, or experiences have shaped your perspectives? Stanford’s “What Matters Most” essay is one of the most challenging prompts from a top business school. An answer to this essay has the potential to be profound and reveal a side of an applicant that the admissions committee cannot find anywhere else in the application, which is why Stanford has asked this question for more than a dozen years. However, the question can be quite intimidating in the context of a strategic application.

Part of the reason that so many applicants struggle with this topic is because they opt to begin their brainstorming by searching for a direct answer to the question of “what matters most”–rifling through common themes like ‘helping others’, ‘the pursuit of knowledge’, ‘revolutionizing an industry’, and any number of textbook replies.  With each passing idea, candidates find themselves losing steam and fearful of getting lost in the shuffle of applicants who espouse similar views.  While starting with an answer to “what matters most” and working into the body of the essay does seem tempting (and even quite logical), our years of experience advising Stanford GSB candidates tell us that this is often a dead-end.  The good news is that we have another approach that has been wildly successful for more than 10 years.

The advice we are about to offer here may seem counterintuitive, but we actually encourage applicants to ‘work backwards’ when crafting this essay via a simple exercise (outlined below).  In short, since the purpose of this question is to let the admissions team get to know you better, you should start with who you are and all that you have experienced and accomplished, and then work backwards to find the overarching theme of “what matters most.”  Keep in mind that your direct ‘answer’ to the question here is NOT what is going to make you stand out (it may even be somewhat pedestrian), rather it is the series of anecdotes and supporting evidence you provide around that theme that will help you convey your unique candidacy to the admissions team.

So in short, if you find yourself struggling with how to answer this question, try this simple exercise:

• Write down the 15 to 20 most important events, accomplishments, interests, or experiences in your life. Include the good, the bad, the astounding, the ugly, etc.  Also, remember that no time frame is off limits–think of events from your early childhood to the present day.
• Look at the list you have generated and try to determine the themes that unify the important events, interests, and ideas in your life.
• Select a small number of diverse items from the list that best support a given theme and use them to define your approach and kick off the drafting process for the essay.

This exercise of working backwards allows you to not only arrive at a “what matters most” theme that really resonates with you, but also helps you find specific examples and anecdotes to help you show how you have explored what matters most to you in your life.

Stanford GSB Essay B

Why Stanford? (Suggested Word Count: 350 words)

Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. If you are applying to both the MBA and MSx programs, use Essay B to address your interest in both programs. Stanford’s second essay steps away from the philosophical to focus on the candidate’s career goals and reasons for going to Stanford. Although this essay is more specific than Essay A, the “Why Stanford?” prompt is far less specific than the career goals questions of other top business schools. Instead of mapping out a specific career path in this essay, applicants should focus on defining the broad impact they hope to make on a service, a sector, or society at large through their chosen career. Essay B is strongest when it connects with Essay A. Essay A is your opportunity to lay out a philosophical explanation of what matters most to you, while Essay B gives you the opportunity to show how you would use your time at Stanford and your career to further what matters most to you. In this essay, you need to show the admissions committee that Stanford offers you benefits you can’t find at any other schools. Talk about specific classes, programs, collaboration with other parts of the school, dual degree offerings, clubs, conferences, or other offerings that set Stanford apart from other top business schools. Learning about the school’s curriculum, special programs and extracurricular activities–whether through an online event or conversation with alumni–will help you craft a response to Essay B that really stands out.

Optional Short Answer 

In this section, we provide an optional opportunity for you to discuss some of your contributions more fully.

What do we mean by “optional”? We mean you have the opportunity to choose. In evaluating your application, we want to know about who you are and how you think Stanford will help you achieve your aspirations. We are also interested in learning about the things you have done that are most meaningful to you. If you feel that you’ve already addressed these questions well in other areas of the application, congratulations, you’re done!

If you would like to discuss your contributions more fully, this section is the place to do so. Perhaps you would like to expand upon a bullet item from your resume and tell us more about the “how” or “why” behind the “what.” Or maybe you have had an impact in a way that doesn’t fit neatly in another part of the application. You are welcome to share up to three examples (up to 1,200 characters, or approximately 200 words, for each example).

Question: Think about times 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? Unlike other optional essays, this Stanford GSB essay is clearly an opportunity to showcase your impact, and therefore should be completed. This question is a classic in terms of MBA essays; adcoms are interested in people who make an impact, whether at work, or in other avenues of their lives. They want to know you’ll make an impact while on campus at Stanford and as an alumni, as you pursue your career and life goals. That said, this is also an optional exercise. Given the preamble to the question, you will want to be selective and ensure that you are adding meaningful content beyond that already in your application.

Whether you choose an example (or examples) from your professional or personal life, it’s important to share all the background a reader will need to appreciate the story before clearly outlining the actions you took and the results you achieved. The more detail you’re able to provide about your role in achieving a positive outcome, the easier it will be for you to accurately demonstrate your leadership skills. It would also be worth commenting on why the impact was meaningful to you or others, as this could help you show how you value Stanford’s mission statement of “Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world.” Perhaps you are lucky enough to have a strong example for each—lives, organizations and world—but it would make sense to keep this mission statement in mind as you reflect on your impact.

Optional Additional Context

We know that each person is more than a list of facts or pre-defined categories. With this question we provide you with an  optional  opportunity to elaborate on how your background or life experiences have helped shape your recent actions or choices. (1,200 characters, maximum) This question appears in the Personal Information section of the application after applicants need to fill-in and check-off “facts and pre-defined categories.” With this question, the adcom is trying to understand how your background has shaped your perspective. In reflecting on what to potentially share, consider what you were able to cover in the required essays. Truly effective applications will find a way to make this response work in conjunction with Essays 1 and 2, reinforcing themes, complementing the ideas already presented, and completing the picture of who you are. With a limit of 200 words, it would behoove applicants to be concise about their motivation, touching on the defining category that Stanford mentioned in the preamble. Then, connect this background information to the recent situation, interaction or project. Be explicit about how your background influenced your recent actions.

Optional Additional Information

We are deliberate in the questions we ask. We believe that we get to know you well through all of the elements of your application. Complete this section only if you have critical information you could not convey elsewhere on your application (e.g., extenuating circumstances affecting academic or work performance). This section should not be used as an additional essay. The admissions committee provides some clear guidance about “allowable” topics for this Stanford MBA essay, indicating that it will be best used to address liabilities in one’s application. It’s possible that there are other elements of one’s background that would be appropriate and not covered elsewhere in one’s application—for example an anticipated promotion—though the wording of this prompt suggests that it should be used sparingly (i.e. that applicants should make an effort to fully represent their candidacies within the required elements of the application).

Clear Admit Resources

Thanks for reading our analysis of this year’s GSB MBA essay topics. As you work on your GSB MBA essays and application, we encourage you to consider all of Clear Admit’s Stanford offerings:

• Stanford GSB Profile  on the Clear Admit website: up-to-date advice and admissions information
• Clear Admit LiveWire : admissions updates submitted in real time by applicants to Stanford GSB
• Clear Admit DecisionWire : school selections in real-time by admits to Stanford GSB

MBA Applywire

GPA is 8.22/10, Top 15% of the class. GMAT Focus: 695, 98 percentile, which is equivalent to 740/750 classic. To brief you about my experience, I have a BBA from INDIA and 5.5 years of experience in operations and sales (2 years corporate(Edtech), 3.5 years family business - women's fabric retail). I would like to know my chances of getting into the selected schools and if it is possible to pivot from family business to consulting, which will help me in my long-term goal.

I spent 4 years as a college basketball coach, I achieved a lot of success garnering 3 promotions in my first three years, while also completing a Master’s in Education. I then transitioned to SaaS sales, being promoted three times, with my most recent promotion being international, going from our North American to our European team and working full time in London as an American. Due to my non traditional background (history major, basketball coach, sales), I have never had education on hard business skills. I am looking to gain the harder skills (finance, accounting, marketing) that I never have in school/work to transition to a strategy and ops role and out of sales. My biggest weakness is my lack of quantitative skills, I only scored 310 (156 quant) on the GRE and my undergrad and grad GPA’s were 3.1 and 3.2 in non quant areas.

MBA LiveWire

Financial operations manager at a fintech, 5+ years of WE ECs: Mentorship 4+ years Volunteering 3+years Post MBA Goals: Short Term Goal: Join Management consulting at MMB Long terms Goal: Start a social impact firm helping underprivileged teens in west africa.

Happy to get feedback on my profile and things to highlight to help my chances. Also should i aim for R1 or R2?

Applied 6/24 (R2) Interview Invite 7/31 (via Email) Interview 8/5 (with Alum) Offer 8/6 (call from AdCom) Offer Accepted 8/19

Even better! From USA, went to T30 uni (STEM major), and my college program is ranked T5. I was an undergrad trying to skip deferred enrollment. I successfully obtained test waivers for 8 different T25 MBA programs. I got rejected or waitlisted from 7 of them. Now, I was accepted off my last waitlist! With a generous merit-based scholarship! My strategy: submitted an email in mid-July giving urgency to my offer from WashU Olin with a scholarship. I reiterated my interest in the program, advancing Cornell's core mission, and who I was. I gently reminded them the deadline for accepting WashU's offer was in a few days and needed a quick response. I forwarded the email twice before they responded, saying they acknowledged receiving the email and would not expedite the decision. A few days later, on July 22nd, I got an email asking if I was still interested in remaining on the waitlist after the WashU deadline passed. I instantly responded by expressing my interest in staying. A few hours later, I received an acceptance email from Cornell! I guess my dream of getting the MBA program over with is not for nothing! I want to build startups, thus waiting to get one is not so important, and I am not interested in finance either. Thank you again ClearAdmit community for all the applicant tips and tricks!

2024-2025 Stanford MBA Essay Tips and Example Essays

Jun 24, 2024

• Who is Stanford GSB looking for?
• How should I answer the Stanford essay questions?
• Essay Length
• Make sure you get into Stanford GSB

UPDATE : This article was originally posted on August 20, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

With a mission to “ to create ideas that deepen and advance our understanding of management and with those ideas to develop innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change the world ,” Stanford Graduate School of Business is at the top of many applicants’ list of dream schools.  

However, with increasing competition over the small number of spots at this haven for innovative thinkers, securing a place at Stanford is more challenging than ever. 

That’s why we’ve prepared this guide to help you use your Stanford GSB admissions essays to stand out . We’ve rounded up our best tips and links to Stanford MBA sample essays to ensure you give your Stanford application your best shot. 

1. Who is Stanford GSB looking for?

“At Stanford, we strive to ensure that a diversity of cultures, races and ethnicities, genders, political and religious beliefs, physical and learning differences, sexual orientations and identities is thriving on campus. Such diversity will inspire new angles of inquiry, new modes of analysis, new discoveries and new solutions … Our diversity ensures our strength as an intellectual community. In today’s world, diversity represents the key to excellence and achievement.” – Persis Drell, Provost, Stanford University

Every year, Stanford GSB’s admissions team selects around 400 students from over 6,000 applications for the honor of joining their prestigious MBA program. Though what “fits” at Stanford is constantly evolving, they do tend to admit slightly younger applicants (with an average of 5.0 years of work experience). Stanford also works hard to admit a highly diverse group of students. 

Applicants offered admission also tend to have outstanding GMAT scores (the average for the Class of 2025 was 738) or exceptional GRE scores (the average for the Class of 2025 was 164Q and 164V) .  

Nonetheless, that does not mean that Stanford looks simply for good test-takers. Instead, they want a talented, principled group of leaders who will use business to positively impact the world. 

According to Stanford’s Admissions team: 

If this sounds like a community in which you’d be right at home, you’ll first have to prove you’ve got what it takes by successfully answering Stanford’s open-ended admissions essay questions. 

2. How should I answer the Stanford essay questions?

Writing any admissions essay is a tough task , however, Stanford raises the bar when it comes to presenting a highly challenging yet open-ended prompt. 

According to Stanford, here’s what they want to see in your admissions essays. 

Keep reading for a more in-depth look at how to turn this rather open-ended task into a standout essay! 

2.1. Essay A

Essay a: what matters most to you, and why.

For this essay, we would like you to reflect deeply and write from the heart. Once you’ve identified what matters most to you, help us understand why. You might consider, for example, what makes this so important to you? What people, insights, or experiences have shaped your perspectives?

Like most excellent admissions essays, this essay begins with in-depth brainstorming. 

Questions like “What matters most to you” are not questions we commonly ask ourselves on a daily basis, so the answer might not be readily apparent to you. 

During this brainstorming period, you should focus on retroactively connecting the dots and thinking about the future. What moments in your life did you feel most engaged or fulfilled? Have you overcome any challenges that marked your identity? What are your values ?

Regardless of which topic you choose, make sure it is genuine and that you can point to specific moments in your life during which you have acted on this value. This is not a purely philosophical essay in which you examine a core value. Instead, it is a picture of your motivations, intentions, and lessons as you have navigated your life’s many ups and downs. As I always tell clients, if you argue that what matters most to you is sustainability but you can’t provide a single example of acting to make your company or community more sustainable, perhaps you should go back to the drawing board or consider how to tweak your examples to tell a clearer, more compelling story.

If you’re having trouble getting started, or aren’t sure you’ve really identified the right path forward, family members and close friends can be an excellent resource to help you zero in on the best topic.

After you choose your theme, you must go about supporting it . This does not mean you should simply copy/paste examples from other essays. This simply won’t work for Stanford. 

Instead, carefully consider times when you clearly acted upon the core value you’ve presented. For example, if you state that being an independent thinker is what matters most, describe a time in your life when you went against the grain — and it paid off. 

In writing your examples, be sure not to lose your theme, as this essay must be a coherent exploration of how your life has centered around what matters most to you. 

TOP TIP : Striking upon a core value that GSB has never heard of before is almost impossible. The admissions committee has read thousands upon thousands of essays. Instead of standing out by choosing a unique (but perhaps under-supported) theme, choose the theme that genuinely demonstrates what you’re all about .

Lastly, be sure to make sure the essay includes you and your personality . The key to this is what we call voice . To help you demonstrate your voice, we suggest you keep the following tips in mind:

• While writing, imagine you were explaining what matters most to you to a good friend or family member. How would you explain it to them? Which words would you use?
• Explain the feelings and emotions you experienced during the events you are describing.
• Think about the tone you want to write in and how it reflects how you feel or felt about the experience you describe.
• Use sensory descriptors like how specific environments, events, people, or objects looked, smelled, tasted, felt, or sounded.
• It’s okay to use informal language (e.g. contractions, slang, exclamations, etc.) in this essay to reinforce your voice! While this is a formal essay, these elements are often a welcome addition.

2.2. Essay B

Essay b: why stanford.

Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. If you are applying to both the MBA and MSx programs, use Essay B to address your interest in both programs.

This question is essentially a goals essay , a common type of essay required of applicants at many elite business schools. 

In this essay, you have a big task. In around 350 words, you need to discuss:

• Any context from your past experience that helps underline your motivation for your goals
• Your specific-post MBA goals
• Why you believe an MBA is necessary to reach these goals
• How a Stanford MBA will help you reach these goals

Each of these elements must be included and must build off of each other.

We suggest beginning your essay with a hook or experience from your past that demonstrates your motivation or past experience with your target industry. For example, if you are looking to go into developing green technologies, you could write about your country’s current green energy capacity; your first experience with sustainability as a teenager; a past work project focused on applying technology effectively; or your experience with sustainable business practices. As long as the story underlines why you care about your goals, it can work as an effective introduction to your essay.

Second of all, many candidates think they do not need to specifically state their goals, or that it’s better to leave “their options open.” If you are applying to elite business schools, however, you must have and present absolutely clarity about your goals. 

Second, you should clearly demonstrate why you need an MBA . 

An MBA is not a catch-all degree that serves a purpose for all career paths. As such, you need to demonstrate that the goals you have set for yourself require the additional training an MBA can provide. 

Be thoughtful about this particular section. If you don’t need to improve in any meaningful way, you might be presenting the argument the admissions committee needs for why you can’t actually benefit from an MBA. 

Furthermore, if you show fluffy or unsupported reasons you need to hone your skills, you’ll also likely see your application tossed aside in favor of an applicant who was able to clearly demonstrate how they plan to leverage their time at business school. 

Third, show how Stanford can specifically help you grow in the areas you’ve identified. Mentioning that you want to go to Stanford because of its ranking or sunny California location will not cut it here. 

Instead, show that you understand the flexibility of Stanford’s curriculum and have done significant, thoughtful research into how the opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom can help you grow. You should also definitely mention how you can contribute to the community. 

Unlike other goals essays, however, you should also keep the theme you’ve presented in your first essay in mind. If you write a goals essay that is completely at odds with what you’ve shown is most important to you in life in your first essay, this inconsistency will likely end your Stanford application journey. However, it is okay if they are not explicitly related.

Finally, if you are applying for the Stanford MSx program , you are given an additional 50 words to also discuss your interest in this particular program. 

2.3. Optional Essays

In addition to the two main essays, Stanford also has four optional short essays. These essays give you additional space to show off different elements of your profile and highlight areas you might not have been able to include in your What Matters Most and Why Stanford essays. 

2.3.1 Optional Impact Essays

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?

If you would like to discuss your contributions more fully, this section is the place to do so. Perhaps you would like to expand upon a bullet item from your resume and tell us more about the “how” or “why” behind the “what.” Or maybe you have had an impact in a way that doesn’t fit neatly in another part of the application. You are welcome to share up to three examples (up to 1,200 characters, or approximately 200 words, for each example).

Though these responses are technically optional, we highly suggest using this space to highlight professional or extracurricular achievements that you may not have been able to address in your What Matters Most essay. In particular, try to show a variety of achievements that complement your stories in other parts of your application and work to include stories with clear outcomes. 

2.3.2 Additional Context Essay

Additional Context: We know that each person is more than a list of facts or pre-defined categories. With this question, we provide you with an optional opportunity to elaborate on how your background or life experiences have helped shape your recent actions or choices. (1,200 characters) 

Stanford GSB values applicants who can contribute to its greater community and the educational experience for all. This question tests how prepared, willing, and capable you are to draw on what you’ve experienced thus far in life to contribute to a project, class discussion, or community or interpersonal challenge. For that reason, it’s important to keep in mind that they are not asking you to show a time when you offered input — instead, they want to see when something about your personal or professional background proved to be the key to winning the day. 

For example, one of our clients, Fabrizio, had a brother who had been unemployed for a long period of time, and he personally witnessed how demoralizing the lack of support he received during this period was. Then, when tasked with working on a workforce transition project at his consulting firm, he made sure to design initiatives that took into consideration how layoffs affect real people. In your essay, similarly look for a time when your previous experience or core values inspired you to take action. 

Keep in mind you must limit yourself to 1,200 characters including spaces . 

2.3.3 Additional Information Essay

Additional Information: We are deliberate in the questions we ask. We believe that we get to know you well through all of the elements of your application. Complete this section only if you have critical information you could not convey elsewhere on your application (e.g., extenuating circumstances affecting academic or work performance). This section should not be used as an additional essay. (1,200 characters

Stanford, like most top business schools, gives you space to explain any gaps or weaknesses in your profile. This should not be a place to discuss why Stanford should admit you, who you know from Stanford, or who you know from Stanford. It most certainly should not be a continuation of your Why Stanford essay. 

Furthermore, just because there is no stated word limit does not mean you should write more than is absolutely necessary here. In my opinion, if you’re writing more than 200 words you might want to revisit your essay to ensure every part is needed. 

If you’d like to learn more about what topics justify an optional essay – and how to write these essays – check out our post on the topic here . 

3. Essay Length (Essays A and B)

Your answers for both essays A and B combined may not exceed 1,000 words.

Each of you has your own story to tell, so please allocate these words between the essays in the way that is most effective for you. In our experience, the recommended 650/350 word length suggestions works very well. 

Looking for Stanford GSB MBA essay examples? Check out our real sample essays that got our clients admitted here .

4. Make sure you get into Stanford GSB

One of the most common mistakes we see in MBA essays is that candidates fail to tell compelling stories . This is important because if your stories are not compelling, they will not be persuasive. At the same time, they must be backed by strong examples that establish a track record of success and prove to the admissions committees why you belong at their school. 

Striking this balance between content and creativity can be tough, however, as succeeding means not only choosing the right stories but ensuring they are told in an optimal manner. 

This is why our iterative developmental feedback process here at Ellin Lolis Consulting helps you mold your message through the application of our storytelling expertise until it reflects exactly what makes your profile stand out and show fit with your target program. 

That’s the approach we took with Giulia, who was admitted to Stanford. In her words, “I will never forget when I told Ellin I wasn’t applying for my dream school because I was sure I wouldn’t be accepted. She encouraged me to apply, and in the end, I was accepted. 

The team is so well prepared to help the applicants with their specific needs. Above all, I felt I invested in mentoring and coaching, more than just help with the MBA process. Ellin and her team balanced perfectly dreaming with having my feet on the ground!”

Not only can you take advantage of our editing expertise through multiple edits – you can also benefit from it after a single review! If your budget is tight, our editors will be happy to help polish your text as much as possible and leave “bonus comments” so you can keep working on it on your own!

No matter how long we work with you, we will always ensure your essays shine . Sign up to work with our team of storytelling experts and get accepted.

5. Deadlines

Here are the 2024-2025 deadlines. You can access the online application here .

Stanford Round 1 Deadlines

Application Deadline : September 10, 2024

Interview Notification : Ongoing

Decisions Released : December 5, 2024

Stanford Round 2 Deadlines

Application Deadline : January 8, 2025

Decisions Released : April 3, 2025

Stanford Round 3 Deadlines

Application Deadline : April 8, 2025

Decisions Released : May 29, 2025

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Stanford MBA & MSx Essay Analysis & Examples

Extensive analysis of stanford's mba essay a and essay b with several essay examples from past gsb applicants..

I Overview II Analysis Essay A III Analysis Essay B IV Stanford Essay A + B Example – M&A Associate V Stanford Essay A + B Example – Digital Marketing VI Stanford Essay A Example – Management Consultant VII Stanford Essay A Example – World Bank Analyst

This article offers general guidance for crafting your HBS MBA essay, complemented by examples from past applicants. While the essay examples may be enticing, I urge you to delve into the essay overview and analysis sections as well, as they provide valuable insights beyond generic advice. If you’re considering applying to several MBA programs, explore additional MBA essay examples and topic analyses available on mbaSTORY.builders for a comprehensive understanding.

I Overview HBS Essay

Stanford GSB has two core programs: the traditional 2-year MBA and its MSx program. While I’m sure you’re familiar with the MBA, if you have 7+ years of work experience, you may be interested in learning more about MSx and other full-time 1-year MBA programs for mid-career professionals and executives here . While MSx delivers a Master of Science degree, it’s Stanford’s equivalent of an EMBA program for candidates with at least eight years of work experience. If you’re applying in round one or two, you have the option of submitting a single application to both the MBA and MSx programs.

Whereas HBS relies equally on the written application and interview in making admission decisions, Stanford uses alumni interviewers and therefore places more weight on the written application. For that reason, I’d suggest putting as much effort as possible into Stanford’s written MBA application – making sure your resume, recommendations, and essays work together to convey a memorable story about you. A great written application doesn’t merely focus on achievements but leverages achievements to reveal the person behind them.

Stanford’s two core MBA essay questions have remained virtually unchanged for years (Essay A: What matters most to you and Essay B: Why Stanford?). The school eliminated a third, behavioral essay during the 2014-15 application season (below).

• Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations .
• Option B: Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization .
• Option C: Tell us about a time when you generated support from others for an idea or initiative .
• Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected.

In option B, the Stanford GSB wasn’t interested in just impact…they wanted to hear about lasting impact. They didn’t want to hear about a mere leadership or team-building experience from applicants….they wanted a story that ended with expectations being exceeded . Generally speaking, Stanford is looking for MBA and MSx applicants who are capable of exceptional performance…so exceptional that they’re redefining and then going beyond what mere mortals have ‘defined’, ‘established’ or ‘expected. It’s clear that Stanford was leveraging the third essay to hear about concrete examples of applicants engaging in behavior that aligned with the school’s mission statement:

To develop innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change the world. Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world.

The mission statement itself is very similar to MIT Sloan’s and like Sloan, Stanford is an entrepreneurial, hands-on, down-to-earth sort of place. The prompt ‘ Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? ‘ is a reference to the STAR or SHARE method that Sloan still uses in its easy questions and interviews.

One of my takeaways from essay three is that Stanford looks for MBA candidates who go beyond . Stanford is not looking for people who do their jobs. Nor are they looking for people who do their jobs exceedingly well (about 70% of applicants to Stanford fall into this category but only 7% are offered admission). Stanford is looking for people who demonstrate a natural inclination and talent for going above and beyond (in college, in their extra-curricular activities, and in their professional lives).

Although the aforementioned behavioral essay was eliminated in 2014-15, Stanford reintroduced it via the optional essay question:

Think about times 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 are welcome to share up to three examples.

Applicants can submit up to three (approximately 200-word) essays in response to the prompt. Stanford stresses that this is an optional essay (but all of my clients have felt obligated to complete this aspect of the application). So I consider it optional in the same way that a networking event your boss invites you to is ‘optional’. One approach to developing three short optional impact essays is to try responding to the OLD essay prompts rather than trying to think of something ‘impactful’ which is an abstract concept and can be more difficult to brainstorm.

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II Analysis Stanford Essay A

It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by Stanford GSB’s Essay A. No matter how candidates start out, as they sift through their thoughts, most conclude that it’s their family and friends that matter most. That’s great, but the adcom would quickly grow bored if every essay ended with  ‘and that’s why my family matters more to me than anything else in the world’ .

I’ve found that the definition a client associates with the term  matter  shapes their approach to Essay A.

Let’s analyze a common definition of ‘matter’ – something of importance ; something of consequence

Importance  is a relative term – one that’s rooted in  opinion . What I deem important you might see as unimportant (and vice versa).

Consequence is a slightly more objective term. Something consequential is likely something that has had a noticeable impact.

Instead of asking yourself what has been most important to you, look back on your life and try to identify the three most consequential turning points or influences – the ones which have shaped your life’s trajectory?  I bet that if we discussed the question, we would agree on the biggest two or three inflection points from your life’s story.

While the bulk of the essay writing I work I do with clients involves editing and revising copy, the most important part of the process centers around framing questions, listening, interpreting and being a sounding board for ideas.

Beyond framing the essay question, another hurdle candidates face centers on how to narrate their story. Here’s an example of how the same pivotal experience could come across depending on how the candidate presents it.

Let’s say a candidate wants to discuss living/volunteering/working abroad and how the experience transformed them. The issue is that 99% of candidates will simply make a superficial comparison between Country B with their own country or milieu of origin – Country A. They’ll point out that prior to living in Country B they had never been exposed to so many different sights, sounds or smells or they’ll say that they were shaken by the lack of resources/poverty in Country B. The problem is anybody and everybody could, would and will make similar observations. That’s because the baseline criteria in this case (Country A vs’ Country B) is external to you – it’s cultural (or socioeconomic).

Let’s try a different approach: Instead of using external criteria, use internal criteria: You need to make you the baseline criteria. Dig down and start with your deep-seeded ideas/feelings/thoughts about your own Country A and then juxtapose those ideas with what you perceived to be the deep-seeded ideas/feelings/thoughts held by people in Country B. Do you see how this might be a more interesting line of reasoning – one that reveals something about the way you frame the world and understand yourself and others?

Going further: While your experience abroad might have taken place in college, you’ll want to weave those early lessons into more recent events/milestones in your life as well. So take it a step further and write about how the observations you made through your experience in Country B impacted other aspects of your family/community/work life?

Below I’ve summarized some Stanford essays I’ve written for past clients.

• What matters most to you and why? Being multi-lingual and building cross-cultural bridges. Candidate built cross-cultural bridges in his personal and professional life by learning a number of foreign languages (a process that began in his childhood and continued through adulthood). He then discusses the influence that being uprooted into a new culture/country had on his worldview and how it continues to impact him to this day.
• What matters most to you and why?  The plight of the poor.  The integrity of the applicant’s father (who is a politician in a country renowned for corruption) and how that influenced the applicant’s own social advocacy work.
• What matters most to you and why?  Not resisting change but embracing it.  How an attitude of openness towards new ideas and experiences led the applicant to discover a sport and develop a competitive spirit. The candidate learned to speak with conviction and carry herself with confidence. She discusses spontaneity in decision making and reflects on how resisting change can be both beneficial and detrimental depending on the situation.
• What matters most to you and why?  Embracing cultural roots.  Growing up as a citizen of an African country in an affluent neighborhood in the U.S., the candidate felt like the odd man out. He took refuge in his African roots and identity and became active in mentoring youth from his community.
• What matters most to you and why?  How Budhist philosophy influenced mindset.  Early Influences: How the candidate’s mindset and attitudes have been shaped by her immigrant parents and Buddhist philosophy. Later Life: How sports helped the candidate become a leader at university and in the wider community and how those skills spilled over into a challenging situation in her professional life.

The answers to Essay A are not unique. What set these essays apart are the details and personal reflections. Stanford’s former Dead of Admissions published a great advice column on its essays in 2012. It’s since been removed from the Stanford website but I’ve reproduced it here (toggle the link below to view it).

Advice from Stanford’s former dean, Derrick Bolton. Originally published at: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/mba/admission/admissions-dean/effective-essays but no longer available on Stanford’s website.

Regardless of the outcome of the admission process, I believe strongly that you will benefit from the opportunity for structured reflection that the business school application provides. I hope that you will approach the application process as a way to learn about yourself — that’s the goal — with the byproduct being the application that you submit to us. Rarely during our lives are we asked to think deeply about what is most important to us. Stanford Professor Bill Damon’s book, The Moral Advantage: How to Succeed in Business by Doing the Right Thing, contains the following passages that might help you maintain the larger context as you delve into the essay writing process. “We are not always aware of the forces that ultimately move us. While focusing on the ‘how’ questions — how to survive, how to get ahead, how to make a name for ourselves — often we forget the ‘why’ questions that are more essential for finding and staying on the best course: Why pursue this objective? Why behave in this manner? Why aspire to this kind of life? Why become this type of person? “These ‘why’ questions help us realize our highest aspirations and our truest interests. To answer these questions well, we must decide what matters most to us, what we will be able to contribute to in our careers, what are the right (as opposed to the wrong) ways of behaving as we aim toward this end, and, ultimately, what kind of persons we want to become. Because everyone, everywhere, wants to live an admirable life, a life of consequence, the ‘why’ questions cannot be ignored for long without great peril to one’s personal stability and enduring success. It is like ignoring the rudder on a ship — no matter how much you look after all the boat’s other moving parts, you may end up lost at sea.” Your Stanford MBA Program essays provide you an opportunity to reflect on your own “truest interests” and “highest aspirations.” While the letters of reference are stories about you told by others, these essays enable you to tell your own story. Please think of your Stanford essays as conversations — when we read files, we feel that we meet people, also known as our “flat friends” — and tell us your story in a natural, genuine way. Our goal is to understand what motivates you and how you have become the person you are today. In addition, we’re interested in how the Stanford MBA Program can help you better yourself. Reflective, insightful essays help us envision the individual behind all of the experiences and accomplishments that we read about elsewhere in your application. The most important piece of advice on these essays is extremely simple: answer the questions — each component of each question. An additional suggestion for writing essays is equally straightforward: think a lot before you write. We want a holistic view of you as a person: your values, passions, ideas, experiences, and aspirations. In the first essay, tell a story — and tell a story that only you can tell. Tell this essay in a straightforward and sincere way. This probably sounds strange, since these are essays for business school, but we really don’t expect to hear about your business experience in this essay (though, of course, you are free to write about whatever you would like). Remember that we have your entire application — resume, work history, activities and interests, letters of reference, etc. — to learn what you have accomplished and the type of impact you have made. Your task in this first essay is to connect the people, situations, and events in your life with the values you adhere to and the choices you have made. This essay gives you a terrific opportunity to learn about yourself! Many essays describe the “what,” but good essays move beyond this and describe how and why these “whats” have influenced your life. The most common mistake applicants make is spending too much time describing the “what” at the expense of how and why these guiding forces have shaped your behavior, attitudes, and objectives. Please be assured that we do appreciate and reward thoughtful self-assessment and appropriate levels of self-disclosure. In the application form, we ask you what you aspire to do after your MBA. In this essay, we ask you “Why Stanford?” Given what you hope to achieve, how will your education and experiences at Stanford help you turn your dreams into reality? We give you broad license to envision your future; take advantage of it. The key here is that you should have ideas for your best self after Stanford, and related objectives for your Stanford education. How do you plan to take advantage of the incredible opportunities at Stanford? How do you envision yourself growing and learning here at Stanford GSB? And how will the Stanford experience help you become the person you aspire to be? You do not need to make up a path if you are uncertain, but a level of focused interests will enable you to make the most of your Stanford experience. Be honest with us, and especially with yourself, in addressing this question. Good People Can Give Bad Advice Moving beyond the specific essay questions, I’d like to address a couple of myths. Myth #1: Tell the Committee on Admissions “what makes you unique” in your essays. This often leads applicants to believe that you need to have accomplishments or feats that are unusual or different from your peers (e.g., traveling to an exotic place or talking about a tragic situation in your life). But how are you to know which of your experiences is unique when you know neither the backgrounds of the other applicants nor the topics they have chosen to share? What matters is not merely that you have had these experiences, but rather how and why your perspective has changed or been reinforced as a result of those and other everyday experiences. That is a story that only you can tell. If you concentrate your efforts on telling us who you are, differentiation will occur naturally; if your goal is to appear unique, you actually may achieve the opposite effect. Truly, the most impressive essays that we read each year are those that do not begin with the goal of impressing us. Myth #2: If you don’t have amazing essays, you won’t be admitted even if you are a compelling applicant. We constantly remind ourselves to focus on the applicant rather than the application. This means that we will admit you despite your application essays if we feel we’ve gotten a good sense of you overall. Yes, the essays are important. But they are neither our only avenue of understanding you nor are they disproportionately influential in the admission process. Alumnus Leo Linbeck, MBA ‘94 told me something on an alumni panel in Houston a few years ago that I have since appropriated. Leo said that, in management terms, the Stanford essays are not a marketing exercise but an accounting exercise. This is not an undertaking in which you look at an audience/customer (i.e., the Committee on Admissions) and then write what you believe we want to hear. It is quite the opposite. This is a process in which you look inside yourself and try to express most clearly what is there. We are trying to get a good sense of your perspectives, your thoughts on management and leadership, and how Stanford can help you realize your goals. As Professor Damon would say, we are helping you ensure that your rudder steers you to the right port.

III Analysis Stanford Essay B

Essay B is an opportunity for you to demonstrate to the adcom that you have a clear understanding of where you’ve been, where you’re going and the internal logic that unites your story’s point a with point b.  Why MBA? Why School X? Like every other admissions committee, Stanford’s adcom is focused on their job placement rate post-MBA. Don’t approach this essay thinking that an MBA or MSx degree is an opportunity to ‘explore’ career options. People are allowed to do that when they’re 18 or 20 and in undergrad. By the time you’re 26, 28, 30+ the expectation is that you have more direction.

This is a very straightforward Career Goals/Why MBA/Why Stanford essay. Candidates often ask me if their career goals should be in Essay A and overflow into or be restated in Essay B – yes, it’s possible but not obligatory. On the other hand, many candidates make no mention of their career goals until essay B. It all depends on your Essay A theme and writing style. In Stanford’s Essay B, be sure to highlight the following topics:

• What is your mission? (Not what you want to do as a job but the big picture thing you’d like to do or impact through your life’s work)
• Short-term goal/Long-term goal (This is your job…don’t forget to give a concrete example or two).
• What resources at Stanford will help you achieve that goal? (Think academic/experiential/social resources)
• How will you contribute at Stanford?

Your Past : Think about what factors have influenced/driven your decisions to date. Is there a common theme, interest, preference or passion that underlies any of the following: a) your decision to major in X at university? b) your decision to live in a particular area? c) the thought process behind choosing your first few professional roles or employers? d) personal qualities or interests that have been the driving force behind promotions or achievements at work?

Your Mission : How do you plan to leave an indelible mark on the world? Tell Stanford’s Adcom what you’d like to achieve or what issue you hope to tackle (not what you want to do from 9-5).

Why an MBA/MS? Have a good think about what might be keeping you from advancing to your short-term goal. You undoubtedly have a strong skill-set in certain areas…and perhaps a less developed skill-set in others.  Or you may have niche knowledge of a particular function/industry, but lack a more global exposure (within your industry/role or possibly across industries/roles).

Your Short-term Goal : What would you like to be doing professionally post-MBA or MSx? What about that role/industry  genuinely excites you or appeals to you? What would make you a valuable asset to your future employer compared to other MBAs or MSx graduates?

Here’s an example of how a past applicant to Stanford’s MBA program formulated his short-term career goal.

Your Long-term Goal : What do you see yourself doing in the long term? It’s best if your able to show an internal logic and continuity between your short and long-term goals in particular. You want to make this statement ambitious but not off-the-wall unrealistic. Stanford’s adcom won’t put much weight in this statement since they realize that no matter what a person predicts he’ll be doing 10+ years down the line – the reality is almost always otherwise.

Why Stanford : Basically Stanford’s Adcom wants to know that you’re familiar with the GSB and what its MBA or MSx program and community can offer you. How will its resources help you achieve your professional goals and how will you contribute to building a more vibrant community or set of resources at the school (now and in the future).

IV Example Stanford Essay A + B Example - M&A Associate

Stanford essay a: what matters most to you and why.

From the commencement stage in Dartmouth’s Vesper Hall I had a good view of Mom, Dad, and my brother. Mom said she felt like a VIP in the second row – a special area for family and friends that had been cordoned off with a rope and a sign that read Honors Seating . I reflected on all that had led me to this moment. What sprang to mind was the dedication, determination, and sacrifice – not just from me but from my parents as well. We’d emigrated from the Ukraine to Boston when I was fifteen. To provide me with educational opportunities they’d left behind lifelong friendships and their hard-won careers.

Arriving in the U.S. at fourteen I suddenly found myself attending ESL (English as a second language) courses in addition to my Sophomore course load at Appleton High School. Determined to attend university, when Grant High wouldn’t allow me to take AP courses, I found an alternate path – enrolling in night school at community college. It all added up to 14-hour days during the week and a mix of studying and part-time jobs at the weekend. During those years, time was tight, and finances were tighter. When I wanted to give up, I redirected my thoughts to my parents’ benevolence. The teenage years are often a time when young people try to differentiate themselves from their parents, but I never did. I felt indebted to them and in awe of their ability to not only articulate their values but also act on them.

In the spring of my Sophomore year I visited Dartmouth during a class field trip. Standing in the middle of the campus green I sensed that the heaviness of starting a new life in a foreign country would one day be offset by the lightness I felt sensing that this place would one day be ‘home’. My guidance counselor, Mr. Derba, had different ideas. “ It’s good to have a big goal Tara, but what about attending community college? You could transfer to a state school after a few years.” This was Mr. Derba’s nice American way of saying Tara, I don’t believe you can do it. When I knocked on Mr. Derba’s door, I’d planned on asking him to be my mentor, now, devastated, I thanked him and left.

A few years later when I showed Mr. Derba acceptance letters from not only Dartmouth but also Berkeley, he welled up with tears, said he was proud and apologized for discouraging me. The experience taught me to tread carefully near people’s dreams and to listen, rather than opine, when mentoring others. The opportunity to do so arises frequently – while coaching a recent immigrant as she navigates the U.S. educational system or hearing out a colleague who lacks confidence in her abilities or mentoring an intern.

When it comes to dreams, oftentimes we’re faced with tough choices between ambition and calculated risk, between an ideal that has taken root in our heart and the reality that bears down on us from outside. Many times, I have found myself in such situations. Through their example, my parents taught me that the right choice is one guided by our deepest values. Taking a values-based approach to navigating life is the thing that matters most to me because it is a prerequisite to positively impacting my own life, the lives of those around me, as well as the wider society. I value education but also family. In fact, I chose to attend Dartmouth instead of Berkeley to spend more time with my brother who had recently been reunited with the family. The road trips and family dinners together have been priceless. I value cultivating outside interests but also have a deep sense of duty towards others. The need to contribute to household finances meant holding down jobs in retail through high school and college and commuting to Dartmouth all four years. Still I found time to volunteer at physician clinics and work with underserved populations during most of my time in college.

Finding my calling in life has also been something I value as critical to my happiness. Entrepreneurship 101 at Dartmouth was all about identifying a problem – which it turns out, is the hardest part – and then coming up with a practical solution. As my student team worked to articulate a go-to-market plan for PSNGR, a social app for beleaguered Boston motorists, I found myself drawn to the sense of endless possibility that entrepreneurship offered. So much so, in fact, that I postponed graduating to enroll in a ninth semester dedicated entirely to business classes. Practically and financially the decision made no sense, but none of that mattered: after journeying from pre-med to economics and psychology, I’d finally found my calling in business. I was in love.

When I’m not at work you’ll find me volunteering my time and knowledge within the business and startup communities: guest lecturing Entrepreneurship and New Product Development with Professor Rostall at Dartmouth, advising startup incubator participants at Eastern International University in Kiev, or flying to San Francisco to promote Vibe Ventures, founded by Nina Asana, a partner at Wasp Ventures.

The only person we can ever wholeheartedly know is our own self. Only I will know if I’ve given my best, tried my hardest, run my race to its final mile and been honest about what that race should be in the first place. I’m ready for the next chapter, to cast light on the dreams rooted in my heart and write the next chapter in my story.

Stanford Essay B: Why Stanford?

After journeying from pre-med to a degree in psychology while attending Dartmouth, I found my true calling in entrepreneurship and business. My early passion hasn’t faded as I continue to feel excitement for my work. Today I’m a Senior Associate with the M&A Deals Team at PwC. The best part of my job is helping clients like Google, Microsoft or Francisco Partners assess a potential acquisition from all angles. I specialize in helping them negotiate price by framing and quantifying business risk. I also enjoy the close-knit culture in our team of 110 members spread out across the U.S. I’m getting to know each of them through the workshops I run sharing the custom analysis tools I’ve developed as an ‘intrapreneur’.

With the benefit of a Stanford MBA, I hope to leverage my background in M&A to transition to a post-MBA role as an associate role in a VC firm focused on technology-enabled startups. One such firm would be San Francisco-based Vibe Ventures which invests in healthcare startups such as Science Exchange (the world’s leading marketplace for scientific research), and digital health companies such as Health Cat, (a mobile behavioral therapy service provider). In the long-term my dream is to establish my own venture capital firm.

While speaking with several current MBA students and alumni from the Stanford GSB, including Kate Suidzinski MBA ‘XX and Pulkit Gupta MBA ‘XX, I was excited to learn about the global travel requirement. I’d love to organize a study trip to Kiev which is often called ‘the Silicon Valley of the East’.

I hope to be an active participant and student officer within the GSB’s Venture Capital Club and the E-Club where I can understand – from the perspective of an entrepreneur – what it takes to build a viable product or service, and secure venture funding. To take my public speaking skills to inject more spontaneity into my public speaking I hope to take to the stage with the Improvisational Theater Troupe.

I look forward to sharing more about myself with you and thank you for your time in reviewing my application.

V Example Stanford Essay A + B Example - Digital Marketing

The X-axis was for your GPA and the Y-axis was for your SAT score. My high school guidance counselor pointed to the scatter plot’s successful dots – those, like me, in the upper right quadrant – destined for happy lives and great careers after graduating from the best colleges. I stared at my dot. What should have been my crowning moment felt like a hollow victory. The success my parents and teachers wanted  from me  had to do with what they wanted  for me – and they’d had the best of intentions at heart. I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted or who I was but I needed to find out.

Sixty percent of my classmates attended just twelve colleges. I decided to leave Chicago for California where I enrolled at Santa Clara University, a small Jesuit college that attracted me with its emphasis on ‘educating the whole person.’ Leaving everyone I knew and loved seemed so definitive. Maybe that’s the way it has to be though, when you’re eighteen and grappling with big questions and grasping at answers – when you need the space to discover your truth. I didn’t know anybody in California, which was perfect. I was free to start over and  start for the first time.

My professor, James Sussex, and I shared a love of writing and through our conversations, he introduced me to Vipassana Meditation. My first silent retreat in the desert outside Joshua Tree lasted for ten days. I meditated for sixteen hours at a stretch with nothing to distract me from myself. I came to appreciate the value of acting both in and on my life from a place of clarity and intention. I made a conscious decision to surround myself with people who were living authentically. I also began to seek out situations that challenged me and forced me to be vulnerable, helping me connect with myself and others more deeply.

Annie Dillard, one of my favorite authors, writes, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” For me, a good day is one lived consciously. That means acting  on conviction and values rather than  reacting  out of uncertainty and fear. What I refer to jokingly as ‘my inner actuary’ sometimes worries that if I don’t, years from now I’ll look back with regret and wonder what happened. But I try to remind myself that even life’s foibles can be formative experiences.

In fact, the reason I began doing improv was to cultivate more spontaneity. Improv has taught me to trust my inner voice. There’s no time to acquiesce in an improvised scene. You do and say what comes honestly and naturally. Things rarely go as planned but your team is there to support you and keep you afloat. All I can do is trust in the process, own my character, and play him honestly.

The time I’ve spent with terminally ill patients as a Companion at Catholic Women’s Hospital has been intimate, honest, and thought-provoking. More often than not patients talk to me about what did  matter versus what  does  matter most in life. Many express regret for having focused more on money, fame, and power than family, friendship, and ‘being real.’ I get emotional even now thinking about all the patients who have left an indelible mark on me – but then I laugh out loud remembering one gentleman who suggested I ‘kiss as many pretty girls as possible.’ I’ll second that motion!

There’s comfort in the status quo but leadership belongs to those who reject it. In life, there are hard stops and for me, that means not compartmentalizing what I value in my personal life from what I’m willing to do in my professional one. The Stanford experience is a powerful tool that, in conjunction with a student’s inherent strengths and effort, can provide an individual with the skills to lead change in others’ lives, in organizations, and the world. But who can lead others before he leads himself? I think that every person has a desire deep down to be in touch with his or her real truth – sometimes getting there isn’t evident. It wasn’t for me although my story comes neatly packaged here.

What brings me joy isn’t down to being authentic, but being authentic in the service of others. In other words, what matters most to me isn’t who I am but what I can do with that knowledge and how that knowledge has empowered me to impact people’s lives whether that be at my current company, Melissa & Doug, Cali Improv, or Catholic Women’s Hospital.  I plan to carry on in the same vein at Stanford and in my future endeavors.

To address the looming environmental and healthcare crises we need to become custodians of two precious bodies of resources: our planet and ourselves. First as a digital strategist and later as an entrepreneur, I’d like to play a part in shaping a future I envisage, one where technology connects local food producers with consumers. In it people receive sustainable-sourced groceries at their door just hours after placing an order on their phones. What draws me to business models in the online space is how quickly they can be vetted, iterated and improved.

Today’s businesses require a digital strategy that integrates their online presence and organizational behavior. Post-MBA, I’d leverage what I’ve learned as Head of eCommerce & Digital Marketing at Melissa & Doug to pursue a Digital Strategy role at a food systems innovator like Amazon-Whole Foods or Good Eggs. To do that I’ll need a deeper understanding of how corporate finance, operations and business intelligence map onto a holistic digital strategy.

When I think about the Stanford GSB, what really excites me is the prospect of spending two years interacting with peers and professors who are as fiercely passionate about improving the world as I am. I’m keen to collaborate with the d.school’s FEED Collaborative which unites design thinking and food system innovation. Stanford’s Responsible Business Labs would help me glean insight from companies and thought leaders that are creating broadly shared value by aligning business interests with social needs. Coming from a big Italian family, there’s nothing I love more than good food and lively conversation. If admitted to Stanford I’d soon become a regular at Small Group Dinners where first and second year students can meet and mingle.

Drawing on my network in the water conservation and sustainability industries to I’d give back to the Stanford community by bringing in speakers and organizing off-campus visits.  I hope to share my passion for personal well being and the environment with the Stanford GSB community where everyone is extraordinarily accomplished and brings their own unique perspective to bear. I look forward to forging new and lasting friendships with all.

VI Example Stanford Essay A Example - Management Consultant

I was overweight for many of my teenage years, which in turn left me feeling unhappy and self-conscious about my body. I see now that low self-esteem caused me to lack any real desire to push the boundaries of my comfort zone either physically or emotionally. At the age of 18, my unhappiness finally spurred in me the desire and motivation to transform my physical well-being and, by extension, my life. Hard work marked the beginning of a physical transformation but it was not until I crossed the finish line of the London marathon, at the age of 22, that I realized my mind-set had also fundamentally changed.

When Amnesty International offered me a place in the marathon – a feat that as an overweight teenager I’d considered almost insurmountable – I saw it as an opportunity to consolidate my new habits and also give back to the community through fundraising. I had no doubt that the transition from novice jogger to marathon runner would mean enduring a great deal of physical and mental pain, but I was determined to prove to my younger self that I could do it. The experience marks a period of my life that I am immensely proud of. In total it took over four hours of blood, sweat, pain and relentless optimism on race day, not to mention five months of commitment and sacrifice, to reach my goal. Although the marathon may seem like just another long-distance run for some, to me it represents the pinnacle of a personal struggle with self-image. As an overweight teenager, I would never have believed I’d have the strength to commit myself to this mental challenge, let alone complete it.

The experience made me realize that, as people, we use our inner experiences to form mental models, which in turn shape our subjective experience in the wider world. The mental construct we have of ourselves informs our interactions with others. In short, our perception of the world starts with the way we see ourselves. Each of us has unique set of circumstances in life, yet we are defined not by the circumstances per se but instead by how we choose to approach them. Doing so with a positive attitude is what matters most to me.

In proving to myself that I could surmount what I saw as the hard limits of possibility, I’ve gained the confidence to tackle other obstacles and challenges. Self-confidence has overflowed into my personal and professional life by giving me the courage to pursue my passions, launch my own nonprofit, and take on my next race: an Olympic triathlon. I now look boldly to my future endeavors in the knowledge that I have the tools to apply my ‘mind over matter’ mentality to all aspects of my life.

The transition from a management consulting role at Bain to founding my own non-profit, has meant adapting from a highly matrixed environment to one of autonomy and total accountability. Succeeding in this endeavor has been my most significant professional accomplishment.

At Bain, a hierarchical and process-driven environment, I thrived as part of a team of twenty colleagues. The emphasis on collaboration fostered a deep sense of belonging and enabled me to build strong communication skills. Open door policies allowed me to freely access guidance from superiors. When I left Bain to focus on my start-up, that safety net vanished and I found myself accelerated into a leadership position. As I built my nonprofit’s team of four people, I became acutely aware that I was no longer on the receiving end of management validation and mentorship. The onus and accountability of decision-making is now entirely on me as I make dozens of judgments every day in an autonomous environment.

Although it was initially a culture shock, I’ve learnt to deal with my newfound responsibility and leadership role by becoming more resourceful and introspective, and by building my own support network. I’ve realized the value of self-reflection and how it empowers me to be a smarter leader; being self-aware has helped me understand what I have yet to learn and what to prioritize to run the business more successfully. I’ve learnt to tackle unfamiliar problems by breaking them down into approachable goals, engaging in training and consulting mentors – thereby equipping myself with the knowledge and confidence to make better decisions. Realizing that many entrepreneurs experience a sense of isolation when starting a business, I’ve established a network of ten female entrepreneurs as a forum through which to share experiences of ubiquitous challenges.

VII Example Stanford Essay A Example - World Bank Analyst

As a central figure in Turkey’s liberal opposition party, Dad would find himself embroiled in the aftermath of the country’s 1980 military coup. In and out of prison for the next ten years and barred from teaching, the family subsisted on proceeds – never enough – from Aegean cotton land. But whatever privation endured, it was offset by a household built on principles – freedom, equality and free speech – and brimming with love and happiness.

The difference between the poor and the rich, my father explained with wry humor, is that when the rich run out of money they still have some left over. I was twelve and Turkey was in the thick of the worst financial crisis in modern history. My friend Greta didn’t pass me notes anymore. She’d been removed from school to replace a former employee – too expensive to keep – in her mother’s pharmacy. Kemal Dervis was my hero. He’d come from the World Bank, saved Turkey from hunger, financial crisis and desperation.

“I’m going to join the World Bank like Kemal Dervis!” Dad laughed out loud. “But we don’t  know  anyone at the World Bank. Why not be a doctor?” In Turkey, succeeding in medicine hinged on individual talent rather than nepotism. From the two-bedroom apartment at the outer limits of Istanbul, flanked on either side by everyday people, it was better to be realistic.

But my dreams were unrelenting. I wanted to become a leader in the political economy. I remember an article I read a few years later. It was about a woman who took over the family business. All her male relatives were angry that she’d usurped their rightful position. She’d opened a new factory in a low-income area. It was an early example to me of private business serving both the needs of shareholders and the communities in which they are embedded. I wanted to  combine principle with power  like that woman. I still want that. And what was once a dream has become a self-assured, yet humble, certainty that I will achieve it. It’s what matters more to me that anything else.

My work with the World Bank has helped me appreciate the critical relationship between entrepreneurs’ access to capital and the overall economic well-being of a society. By disseminating equity financing in places like Egypt, Tukey, Ukraine and Cote d’Ivoire, a trickle-down effect is created which helps shape society, the economy, and improve the lives of everyday people. The main reason I want to help others achieve greater social and economic mobility, is that I know, through firsthand experience, what it’s like to be poor.

Being poor isn’t just about what one doesn’t have, but also about what one doesn’t know , namely how the system works. By extension, you don’t know what you’re up against either. That’s a blessing, because I think being a little naïve about the reality of our ambitions is what gives us the courage to pursue them.

In my own experience, I had no idea there were well over one-thousand qualified applicants vying to represent Turkey at the Y20 Summit. Like me these young people felt passionately about shaping national and international policy among G20 leaders. After four essays and two panel interviews, I learned that one of the two coveted spots would be mine. I didn’t know anyone on the committee. Similarly, when I was offered a role at the World Bank, I could never have imagined that just two candidates had been interviewed from a pool of ten-thousand.

Being poor means being an outsider.  You might not know how to go about doing something or who you might speak with (assuming they’d take your call if you did).

“We should commercialize this!” I declared after reading my brother’s PhD thesis laying out a new, more effective technique for sperm sorting within the in-vitro fertilization process. In the midst of completing my master’s degree and working part-time for an MIT professor to make ends meet on a $300 per month stipend, I’d taken on the business side of this new company. Finding investors and convincing them of the technology’s value was difficult and, at times extremely frustrating. Today I’ve secured financing from SOURCE and oversee all product promotion, pricing, sales and the company’s financials. In the five years since inception, we’ve managed to break even and reach $1.5M in annual revenue.

Going forward, I believe that these, and other, personal experiences will help me impact society with humility and empathy.

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Advice, tips and insights from the admissions dream team., table of contents, stanford gsb essays: tips & strategy on writing what matters most.

• By Matt Symonds

The Stanford GSB essays continue to present a formidable exercise in self-awareness.

The Stanford GSB application esssays include two required questions and two optional short-answer questions. From these questions, the GSB wants to understand why we do the things we do, why we make certain choices in life, and the opportunities and challenges we face. Take this on as a personal feat, not just a series of MBA essay questions.

Rather than providing a hard word limit for each essay, the school sets a combined limit for both Stanford GSB essays at 1,000 words. They recommend up to 650 words for the iconic “What matters most to you and why” Essay A and up to 350 words for the “Why Stanford GSB?” essay. They say that they often find effective essays written in far fewer words.

By offering not just one but two optional short answer essays, the GSB is inviting you to get more personal in the main essay A, providing another space for you to detail your professional accomplishments and contributions. The second optional question, under Personal Information, invites you to elaborate on how your background or life experiences have helped shape your recent actions or choices

Stanford GSB Essay A

“What matters most to you and why?” (approx. 650 words)

This notorious question has become emblematic of the Stanford GSB essays, and typically ties applicants in knots as they try to come up with an answer that they hope is clever, striking or profound. The school is looking not just for extremely bright and successful individuals, but also people who have strong values and want to have a positive impact in the world. Taking the time to really think about this question provides invaluable insight into your life purpose and values. The “true you” that emerges from this introspection helps the GSB to evaluate your fit and and potential contribution to the class, which helps them select students forming a diverse and dynamic community.

Stanford suggests aiming to write 650 words/ Maybe you feel that you can answer the first part of the question in one word, with things like love, family or chocolate. But the heart of the question, the part that reveals your life’s calling and uniquely personal journey to get there, requires deeper introspection. Why does that one thing matter more than any other?

If you’re staring in terror at the blank page, Fortuna’s Tatiana Nemo , a Stanford GSB alumna and former MBA admissions interviewer, advises: “Invest some effort in building a timeline of the influences, instances and moments that have shaped you. Dig deep, connecting the dots between what has shaped you and who you’ve become. Devote essay A to talk about the past and present; talk about the future in essay B. Both essays need to be coherent and connected, so they could read as a single story.”

To best tackle the structure of this Stanford GSB essay question, start with identifying a person, event or experience that greatly impacted you, and think about the morals, values and lessons you gained from this experience or interaction. How do you use these lessons today, and how do they impact your drive, your motivation, and your vision of the world? The best Stanford GSB essays that worked in the past delivered a narrative that’s both personal and courageous in answering this question. (Fortuna coaches have sample Stanford GSB essays that have proven effective in the past.)

Even though you might have to spend hours on this essay brainstorming, researching, talking with others, writing a draft, and then another (and then another), just remember that it’s all inside you. It’s your story, and you just have to find it and pull it out.

Kirsten Moss, Stanford GSB’s former assistant dean of MBA admissions & financial aid, explained to Fortuna’s Matt Symonds why the GSB has stuck with this question for so long: “One of the things that has been proven over and over in research is that highly inspirational leaders who get the highest level of performance from their organizations really know what drives them, and they are thinking beyond themselves to the problems they can make change and have an impact on,” Moss told Symonds at a CentreCourt MBA Festival in San Francisco. “Taking the time to understand what matters to you will be your true north as a leader, no matter what school you go to, in the rest of your life… You will be one step ahead of the game in terms of being able to motivate others.”

For more guidance on this question, view my analysis in Forbes .

Why Stanford GSB Essay B

“Why Stanford? Describe your aspirations and how Stanford and your GSB experience will help you realize them.”   (approx. 350 words)

If the first Stanford GSB essay is about your past and present, the second “ Why Stanford GSB ” essay is about your future. Stanford asks you to explain your decision to pursue graduate education in management and the distinctive opportunities you will pursue at Stanford. If you hope to create one of the best Stanford MBA essay examples , then your school research really needs to shine. What classes, clubs, events or other elements of the program and community will catalyze the impact you are aiming to make in the short, medium and long term? Dig deep and get specific; show Stanford that you’ve done more than just read about the different programs on the GSB website .

This is also where you should lay out career vision, in a highly focused and concise way. Beyond connecting the dots for your interviewer, you also really need to be specific to you. Fortuna’s Heidi Hillis , Stanford GSB alum and former alumni interviewer, advises her clients: “Look at every sentence and make sure no one else could have said it. Why do you need to be a better leader? In what way? How is the Stanford MBA and its offerings uniquely positioned to help? Consider specific aspects of your career vision when making the case to Stanford. If you have the room, potentially cite what kind of internship or post-MBA job you’re seeking.”

Optional Essay 1

“Think about times 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 are welcome to share up to three examples.” (200 words for each example)

Introduced for the first time in 2019, this short answer question is a valuable invitation to reveal where you’ve been most impactful. You’ll do well not to consider it optional, and respond with with both substance and specificity. Behind this question is Stanford GSB’s belief that past behavior is the best predictor of future potential. It’s very likely your examples will appear in other parts of the application: a bullet on the resume, a story used to support the recommendation — even on the application itself, which asks you to talk about your “most significant accomplishment” for each job. The best Stanford GSB essay examples all went  deeper with this question and didn’t repeat something that may be found elsewhere. Your responses should add value to your overall application. They should support the essays and the rest of the application, in highlighting why you find each circumstance to be impactful.

Stanford GSB Optional Essay 2

Tell us about a time within the last three years when your background influenced your participation in a situation, interaction, or project. (200 words)

This is a slight revision of a previously used Stanford GSB optional essau, which posed the question in the context of work or school. This wording invites you to draw upon a wider spectrum of situational examples or experiences. In this question, the GSB seeks to uncover the less visible forces that shape candidates’ lives, opportunities, decisions and achievements. This optional essay is a way for the admissions committee to recognize the challenges – or privileges ­– certain applicants face to get to where they are, even when students themselves may not see them as distinctive or noteworthy. Like the required essays, answering this question in an authentic and compelling way requires both substantial introspection and self-awareness. It’s a recognition that beyond your test scores, college  transcripts, and career achievements, prospective students come from different backgrounds that shape both their decisions and actions in invisible ways. Similar to this Berkeley Haas optional essay , it’s a signal that the GSB wants to support the admissions committee’s decision-making by supplying a full and rich understanding of who each applicant truly is.

This question has always been part of the GSB application but has been elevated from a short-answer field on the form to an optional essay. Think of it as a place to talk about an aspect of your life that hasn’t been addressed anywhere else. The good news is that it can also take a more lighthearted turn, touching on a sport you’re involved in, your side gig in improv comedy, your training as a concert pianist. Be sure to show how this has shaped your presence and impact in the workplace.

When you understand and articulate what matters most to you, along with the forces that shape you, you’re claiming a self-awareness and clarity of purpose that set you up for success not just at business school, but also with relationships and career. Stanford wants to know what matters most to you, and so should you.

Let’s Get You In

Fortuna Admissions is a dream team of former MBA admissions directors and officers from top business schools, including Wharton. With our unparalleled collective expertise, we can help you develop a clear vision of your goals for business school and beyond. We work closely with you throughout the application process and provide expert guidance at every stage to maximize your chances of admission to a top school.

Our free consultations are consistently rated as the best in the industry. To learn more about Fortuna and get a candid assessment of your chances of admission to Wharton and other top programs, book your consultation session now .

Want more free advice?

View related articles by Fortuna’s expert coaches on Stanford GSB:

• MBA Admissions Masterclass: How to Get Into Stanford GS B (video)
• MBA Interview Prep for Stanford GSB + Example Behavioral Questions
• MBA Letters of Recommendation: Strategy for Stanford GSB & HBS

You can also view one of our top resources , the MBA Admissions Essay Masterclass featuring   Stanford GSB, below.

All MBA Admissions Essay Masterclasses in our series, featuring insider advice from former gatekeepers of the world’s top business schools, are available on Fortuna’s YouTube channel .

• Posted on July 31, 2024

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Stanford Essays Examples

Stanford essays examples – introduction.

Located in sunny California, Stanford is a top choice school for many students. In this guide, we’ll look at the Stanford supplemental essays. Then, we’ll review some Stanford essays examples and discuss how they can help you write your own Stanford essay.

Stanford is ranked as one of the best colleges in the US , and for good reason. Students are in control of their learning, whether that means exploring STEM research opportunities or double majoring thanks to Stanford’s quarter system .

It’s no surprise that with Stanford’s popularity, it is a hard school to get into. According to US News, the Stanford acceptance rate is just 4%. The Stanford acceptance rate also ranks Stanford among the most selective schools, so receiving a Stanford acceptance letter is no small feat. 

As you begin the Stanford application process, it can be helpful to review Stanford essays that worked. Then, you can apply the tools from these Stanford essays examples to your own writing.

Our guide to the Stanford essays examples will include:

• The number of Stanford essays to expect on the application
• What matters to you and why Stanford essay examples
• Stanford roommate essay examples, and more!

How many essays does Stanford require?

There are eight required stanford supplemental essays for 2022-23 applicants ..

While eight Stanford essays may seem like a lot, remember that not all the Stanford essays are full-length essays, like the two-to-five-page essays you write for class or the 650-word personal statement you will write for the Common Application. Your Stanford essays help the admissions team get to know you. 

Before we dive into some Stanford supplemental essays examples, let’s think about the Stanford essay prompts. Unlike other schools that only require applicants to write one or two supplemental essays , Stanford requires students to answer multiple short answer and short essay prompts.

Put simply, your Stanford essays help the admissions team learn about you on your own terms.  Just wait until you read our Stanford roommate essay examples – how many college applications ask you to write a letter to your future roommate?

There are two types of Stanford essays: short answer and short essay. 

Stanford short answer.

Short answer Stanford essays can only be 50 words max , so they are only a few sentences long. As you’ll see in our Stanford supplemental essays examples, 50 words is not a lot of space. When answering the short answer Stanford essays, you’ll need to learn how to use your words carefully to make a clear and memorable impact on your reader.

Before you’ve read some Stanford essays examples, you may think these types of Stanford essays don’t allow students much room to express their thoughts and ideas. Later, when we look at Stanford essays that worked, you’ll see just how creative you can be when answering the short answer Stanford essays.

Stanford Short Essay

The short essays are slightly longer. These Stanford essays are between 100 and 250 words long , so you can expect these Stanford essays prompts to be more comprehensive than the short answer prompts. As you read our why Stanford essay examples, note that they fall into this category. Instead of being quick snapshots, the Stanford essays that worked will have more of a narrative , taking the reader through a beginning, middle, and end.

No matter if you are responding to the short essay or short answer Stanford essays, make sure you answer the prompts completely. As the admissions team reviews your Stanford essays, they’ll quickly notice whether you successfully answer the prompt . That means if there is a “what” and “why” section of the prompt, your Stanford essay should thoroughly address both.

By now, you’re probably ready to get into some Stanford essays that worked. First, let’s take a look at the prompts behind our Stanford supplemental essays examples.

What are the Stanford essay prompts?

Next up is the Stanford essay prompts. As previously mentioned, Stanford supplemental essays are two lengths: up to 50 words or 100-250 words. 

Since the Stanford essays are so short, you might think they matter less. However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Stanford is a prestigious and selective school. So, Stanford Admissions will expect your most thoughtful and well-executed responses to their questions.

Currently, there are three Stanford short essays (100-250 words) and five short answer Stanford essay prompts (50 words max). These prompts are subject to change each year, so make sure you’ve done your research and found the most up-to-date prompts on Stanford’s application and essays page for first-year applicants and transfer applicants .

Note that some of the Stanford essay examples in this guide are from previous admissions cycles. This means that your Stanford application may ask you to complete a slightly different prompt than you’ll see in our Stanford essays examples. While some of the examples included in this guide may not reflect the current Stanford essay prompts, they can still help you complete your Stanford application.

The short answer Stanford supplemental essay prompts (50 words max) include:

• What is the most significant challenge that society faces today?
• How did you spend your last two summers?
• What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?
• Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities, a job you hold, or responsibilities you have for your family.
• Name one thing you are looking forward to experiencing at Stanford.

The longer Stanford supplemental essay prompts (100-250 words) include:

• The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.
• Tell us about something that is meaningful to you and why.
• Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate – and us – know you better.

Before we dive into the Stanford essays examples we’ve provided below, let’s start thinking about what it takes to write a great Stanford essay.

How do I write a good Stanford essay?

Just like there is no easy answer to how to get into Stanford, there is no easy answer to how to write a good Stanford essay. Our Stanford supplemental essays examples are all as different and unique as the students that wrote them. You’ll especially notice this once we start looking at Stanford essays that worked (like our what matters to you and why Stanford essay examples). While these Stanford essay examples all respond to the same prompt, each is unique.

That being said, when you look at different Stanford essays examples, you’ll start to notice they have some things in common. All of our Stanford essays examples clearly and concisely answer all aspects of the prompt. They do so in an engaging and specific voice that reflects some element of the writer’s character. This may include their creativity, humor, intellect, or values.

Overall, good Stanford essays examples will reflect positively on who a student is and why they’d be a good fit for Stanford. Part of Stanford’s vision is making a difference, so don’t be afraid to keep that in mind when reviewing our Stanford essays examples.

Stanford Essay Examples

Now, let’s jump into our Stanford supplemental essays examples. Rather than showing you a random collection of Stanford essays, we are focusing on Stanford essays that worked. Each of these Stanford essay examples is well executed . Each of these Stanford essay examples takes a strong approach to the prompts and shows a clear sense of identity and perspective.

First, we’ll take a look at some short answer Stanford supplemental essays examples. Then, we’ll move on to the longer Stanford essay examples, including our Stanford roommate essay examples and our what matters to you and why Stanford essay examples. 

Stanford Essays Examples- Short Answers

What is the most significant challenge that society faces today (50 words), stanford essay examples #1:.

The deterioration of political and personal empathy. There’s been an aggressive devaluing of inclusive mindsets and common ground rules—the kind of solidarity of purpose necessary to accommodate divergent viewpoints, respect evidence, share burdens, and tackle national/international emergencies like climate change and immigration. We are fumbling—in backwards tribalism—while the world burns.

Stanford Essay Examples #2:

Where’s Waldo books. 

By searching for Waldo, we subconsciously teach children that certain people aren’t meant to belong–they are meant to be hunted. Our brains may be hardwired to notice people who are different, but we are instructed to treat those people differently. 

Searching for Waldo must be consciously unlearned. 

Stanford Essay Examples #3:

Ignorance poses a paradoxical issue: we can’t solve a problem that we don’t know exists.

For fifteen years, I heard gentrification and thought humanitarian. The Oxford English Dictionary had even taught me that gentrification means “positive change.” How can such atrocities become noticed when our perceptions are so skewed?

Stanford Essay Examples #4:

Greed. The root of all evil. To make momentous strides towards improving societal conditions, people and corporations must put aside their greed. Unfortunately, greed – the deep, dark desire for power and money – is the dominant force at work in many aspects of society, making it society’s most significant challenge.

These Stanford essays examples are powerful. Each of these Stanford essays examples is also unique. In each response, the writer uses the prompt to showcase their core values and beliefs. 

You might be surprised how much these Stanford essay examples are able to contain in just 50 words. While this prompt does not contain two separate parts asking “what” and “why,” the above Stanford essays that worked answered both parts anyway. All four Stanford essay examples start by clearly naming the challenge (“deterioration of political and personal empathy,” “Where’s Waldo books,” “ignorance,” and “greed”), then explaining why it is a challenge or what this challenge keeps us from.

Next, let’s look at more Stanford essays that worked for other short answer prompts.

How did you spend your last two summers? ( 50 words )

Stanford essays that worked #1.

Learned to drive; internship in Silicon Valley (learned to live alone and cook for myself!); a government Honors program; wrote articles for a publication; lobbied at the Capitol; attended a young writers’ program; read a whole lot.

Stanford Essays that Worked #2

My goal: Adventure

2015: Moved from North Carolina to Texas (mission trip to Birmingham, Alabama in between), vacationed in Orlando.

2016: Pre-college math program in Boston, engineering program at another university, Ann Arbor, mission trip to Laredo, Texas, vacation to northern California including the lovely Palo Alto.

These two Stanford essay examples are snapshots that capture your life outside of school . Both of these Stanford essay examples choose to forego typical sentence structures for a more abbreviated, list-type presentation. This can give you room to include more experiences from your summers.

While these two Stanford essays examples are good, these Stanford essays examples aren’t the end-all be-all for this type of prompt. To improve your response, you might sneak in a “why” element to your answer. 

You might not wish to just list what activities you did over the summer , as this may repeat the kind of information found in an extracurricular or resume portion of your application. So, try to touch on what you learned or how you grew from these activities.

The second of our Stanford essay examples does this well by framing up their experiences into a unified goal: adventure. We then learn more about this student by the fact that adventure to them means exploring STEM topics and giving back to their church community. 

What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed? ( 50 words )

Stanford essay examples #1.

Valentina Tereshkova’s 1963 spaceflight. Tereshkova’s skill, grit, and persistence carried her from working in a textile factory, through grueling tests and training, to becoming the first woman to fly solo in space. Her accomplishment remains symbolic of women’s empowerment and the expanded progress that’s possible with equity in STEM opportunities.

Stanford Essay Examples #2

In 2001, Egyptian authorities raided a gay nightclub, arresting 55 men. The prosecutors tried them under fujur laws—initially passed by Egyptian nationalists to counter British ‘immorality’ during colonization. 

Watching the prosecution construct homosexuality as un-Egyptian would illustrate the extent anti-Western sentiment drove homophobia and how similar anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric remains today. 

Stanford Essay Examples #3

Most definitely Paganini’s legendary one-stringed performance; one-by-one, his violin strings snapped mid-performance until he was left with only the G-string. Being Paganini, he simply continued to play flawlessly all on that single string!

Stanford Essay Examples #4

Change does not happen without courage. I wish I could have witnessed the courage it took for the four A&T students sit in at the Woolworth’s counter in my hometown. I want to see the light overcoming darkness that created a change to last forever.

These Stanford essays examples show what each writer cares about. They also illustrate how these students connect with the world around them. In each of the above Stanford essays examples, the reader learns more about what the writers are passionate about as well as what they value: perseverance, courage, justice, and beauty.

While these are not exactly why Stanford essay examples, they do showcase what kind of revolutionary or impactful work you might dream of accomplishing with your Stanford education. Never underestimate the opportunity to layer meaning into your essays. Each of these Stanford supplemental essays examples use an external event to show something about an individual student. 

What five words best describe you? (5 words)

Stanford essays #1.

Speak up. Take action. Together.

Stanford Essays #2

Peter Parker meets Atticus Finch

Stanford Essays #3

The light of the world

Although these are the shortest of the Stanford essays examples, they are perhaps the most difficult to write. Summing yourself up in five words is no easy task. Each of these Stanford essays examples takes a different approach, whether that is a few small sentences, a cross of characters, or a poetic line.

When the choice is yours, what do you read, listen to, or watch? (50 words)

Read: The New York Times, Vox, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Quora. Favorite authors include Siddhartha Mukherjee, Atul Gawande, Dushka Zapata, and Zora Neale Hurston. 

Listen: This American Life, The Daily, Radiolab, Invisibilia, U.S. and French pop. 

Watch: The Good Place, Brooklyn 99, YouTube science, baking, and fingerstyle guitar videos.

Read—an unhealthy number of self-help books, re-reading Just Kids by Patti Smith, every one of Audre Lorde’s books… 

Listen to—Danez Smith’s slam poetry (my personal favorite? Dinosaurs in the Hood), Still Woozy, Invisibilia… 

Watch—all the television I was forbidden from watching when I was twelve, POSE, ContraPoints, YouTubers criticizing ContraPoints… 

Read: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, The Wendigo, How To Write an Autobiographical Novel, Night Sky With Exit Wounds, Brainpickings.org weekly newsletter

Listen: Shostakovich, Lauv, Atlas, 20-hour-rain soundtrack on Spotify 

Watch: Avatar, Forrest Gump, Schindler’s List, Hachi (if in the mood to cry), any Marvel movie!

These Stanford essays examples showcase each writer’s interests and influences. They highlight intellectual media where appropriate, but they also remain honest. As you write your own Stanford essays, remember to stay authentic. 

Name your favorite books, authors, films, and/or artists. (50 words)

Stanford essay that worked.

I love literature and art that helps me explore my roots and learn to love myself. These works and authors include: The Color Purple, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Maya Angelou, Day of Tears, Hope for the Flowers, and Langston Hughes.

This essay is very similar to the Stanford essays examples above. It gives the reader a sense of this student’s interests and shows what they might engage with on Stanford’s campus. 

What newspapers, magazines, and/or websites do you enjoy? (50 words)

Stanford essays that worked.

I enjoy newspapers and magazines that enable me to learn something everyday. I like National Geographic because it lets me learn more about science. Once it even inspired me to do a self directed project on albatrosses. I also enjoy The Economist as it gives me a well rounded view of today’s politics and economics.

This essay is another of the “content” Stanford essays examples. This prompt, however, asks students to articulate the sites and sources where they turn to find content. 

Unlike our other Stanford supplemental essays examples, this example limits itself to two sources. Generally, we wouldn’t recommend essentially repeating the prompt, as this essay does in its first sentence. Instead, jump right into your details and specifics, and utilize that extra space to tie in something more valuable.

What were your favorite events (e.g., performances, exhibits, competitions, conferences, etc.) in recent years? (50 words)

“December 24th, 9pm, Eastern Standard time.” Rent began. I was sitting in between my best friends. We were losing circulation in our hands from holding on too tight and washing off our make-up with our tears. I felt an immense sense of harmony with the play and it was fantastic.

This is another variation of the above Stanford essays examples. This prompt, however, focuses on events. The narrative quality drops you right into the moment, which says so much about how this writer felt about the performance by showing an action rather than only explaining with words.

Name one thing you are looking forward to experiencing at Stanford. ( 50 words )

I live by my motto: “Dare!” in all instances of Truth or Dare.

Apparently, so do the students who brave Secret Snowflake. It spotlights what I love most, Truth or Dare minus the truth. Will I attempt to break the jalapeno eating record? Hop into The Claw in sub-zero temperatures? 

One of the reasons this “why Stanford essay example” works so well is its specificity. The level of detail included in this “why Stanford essay example” shows that this writer has done research into what Stanford has to offer. This highlights their enthusiasm and dedication to Stanford over another top college. 

If you aren’t able to take an in-person tour to visit the campus, there are plenty of ways to learn more about Stanford and its campus culture. We have countless webinars to help you get a sense of what life at Stanford is like. Check out our virtual college tour , Stanford University panel , and our How to get into Stanford: My Admissions Journey series to learn more about Stanford.

Imagine you had an extra hour in the day — how would you spend that time? (50 words)

I’d split my hour two ways, investing time in my own wellbeing and in others. Half I’d spend baking treats for friends, which would double as a personal gift, since I find baking—like running—relaxing and restorative. The second half I’d spend answering Quora questions—something I’ve been meaning to pay forward.

At eight, I dreamed of becoming a YouTuber, documenting life in rectangular video. Each year, this dream drew further from reach.

With extra time, I’d retrieve what time stole. Creating comedic skits or simply talking about my day, I’d pursue what I value most—making others laugh and capturing beautiful moments.

These Stanford essays examples show how some prompts are more open-ended than others. There’s an infinite number of possibilities you could explore with more time. However, both of these Stanford essays examples discuss something the writer values. Making others laugh, and giving to others—these are traits of people who will likely want to build community with their peers on campus.

Stanford Supplemental Essay Examples – Short Essays

The stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (250 words), stanford essays examples:.

From my earliest days, I have been a storyteller. I have imagined futuristic worlds where climate change has turned plants carnivorous, or where simulation technology has allowed us to learn history by experiencing it. But of all of these worlds that I write into stories, there is one in particular that captivates me:

“Which face should I get? I’m debating between these two, but I think I like the nasal bridge on this one more.”

In this futuristic world, people shop for faces that can be affixed with a head transplant. The people simply browse through a catalog and choose from the available options in the way we might shop for wedding cakes. Following the transplant procedure, one’s previous head is added to the catalog for purchase by the next buyer. 

The idea seems completely bizarre.

That is, until we begin to more carefully consider the present. On Earth, beauty sways society, leading to the emergence of cosmetic surgery as one of the fastest-growing industries. Here, rapid scientific advancement trumps every earthly limitation, and scientists have recently completed the first successful head transplant on a monkey. 

These considerations coalescing, my bizarre idea suddenly comes to life. What is to say that, in 100 years or so, we won’t break the barriers of cosmetic limitations and wear a head that we weren’t born with? The idea terrifies me, but perhaps that is why I am so drawn to it: Science eliminates limitations. It is already eliminating the “fiction” in my “science fiction.”

Many of our other Stanford essays examples explicitly answer the prompt in the opening line. This essay, however, begins by revealing a broader truth about the writer: that they are a storyteller. This is something they embody throughout their essay, allowing the reader to imagine what the writer was like as a child before plunging them into a futuristic idea of their own.

They then connect this with the real-world science that connects to this broader idea. This grounds their interest and imagination with something going on in our world. By the end of the first of our short Stanford supplemental essays examples, we understand that this individual has passions across multiple disciplines. This essay merges science and literature to create a vivid picture of who the writer is and how they’d contribute to Stanford’s campus. 

Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development. (250 words)

“Indefinita eres.” Latin for “you are limitless.” I believe that we are all limitless. That with passion, hard work, and resilience almost any dream can be accomplished. And I have a lot of dreams.

My entire life, except for the two years I wanted to be Hannah Montana, I have strived to help others. My dream is to be a leader in bioengineering, shaping and contributing to the forefront of bioengineering research, in order to make a positive impact on the lives of others. Through my endless passion for math, science, and engineering, combined with my resilience and collaborative abilities, I know I will be able to accomplish this.

I have countless other dreams and aspirations as well. I started Latin in 6th grade and I was terrible at it. I decided I would become a “Latin master” to lay a foundation for Spanish fluency in college. I studied hard for four years and by my sophomore year I was extremely honored to earn a silver medal in the Latin III National Latin Exam. I want to run a half marathon (after my sprint triathlon, of course). Through dedication and discipline I have worked from barely being able to run to morning 7 mile runs and will be at 13.1 by April 2nd for the Big D half marathon.

Like other Stanford supplemental essays examples, this piece showcases how much information and personality you can fit into a single essay. This writer chose to focus on an idea versus an experience, which allowed them to talk about multiple moments of growth and perseverance and their variety of passions.

Great Stanford supplemental essays examples will make the most of any prompt. So long as you answer the prompt completely, don’t be afraid to pull together different moments of your life. Just make sure you have a through line to keep everything focused and connected!

Stanford Roommate Essay Examples

Virtually all of stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate – and us – know you better. (250 words), stanford roommate essay examples #1.

In the spirit of inaugurating the life-long relationship I hope we’ll build this year, let me tell you a little about myself.

Hi, I’m Tom. I’m the second child of a comically over-optimistic refugee mother (my Vietnamese name translates, literally, to “celestial being”) and a proud Kentuckian with a deep passion for student-driven advocacy. I have two parents, two stepparents, a nineteen-year-old sister (a junior in Product Design, here, at Stanford), a three-year-old half-sister, two cats, one dog, and a complicated life that spans two households. So, I’m used to sharing space and managing shifting schedules.

I’ve also always been the “Mom” friend. To me, the little things—a chocolate chip cookie when I know a friend has a rough day ahead, words of encouragement before a big presentation, or staying up late to explain a tough physics problem—mean the most. I’ll be there when you need me—be it studying for tests or navigating personal challenges.

I recycle incessantly and am known to snatch cans out of the trash, wash them, and relocate them to neighboring blue bins. I keep a regular sleep schedule, rarely going to bed past midnight or waking up later than 8:30. I’m averse to gyms, opting instead to go for runs in the morning or follow along to a YouTube workout in the afternoon. 

I’m passionate, but also even-keeled. I think life is best taken in stride—worrying has never gotten me anywhere, but flexibility has taken me everywhere. I look forward to an awesome year!

Stanford Roommate Essay Examples #2

Dear Roomie, 

Some disclaimers before we room together: 

1. If I arrive before you, don’t be alarmed by the tissue boxes everywhere. My parents made the conscious decision to expand our cat population despite (or because of) my allergies, and my four cats probably ambushed my suitcase while I was packing. So don’t be surprised if I invite you to one-too-many games of Exploding Kittens. It’s me projecting my fantasies, so please indulge me.

2. Whenever you open a Google Doc around me, change the font to Georgia or Cambria (my personal favorites). If you’re a seasoned Arial user, you’re likely mindlessly going along with what everyone else is doing—I get it. But Arial is objectively a bad font; the only acceptable time to use Arial is if you’re being passive aggressive… and even then, just use comic sans… (Criticizing people’s font choices is only half my personality, I promise.) 

3. You’ll see me embarrassing myself around campus by flailing on the dance floor, doing improv, or in drag, and I hope to see the same from you. I want to get excited about everything you’re passionate about– interests I’ve probably never even thought about before. 

When I’m armed with a bottle of Zyrtec, being my roommate isn’t all bad. I’ll bring copious amounts of Peach Snapple bottles, probably enough to last the semester. You can take as many bottles as you want, so long as you leave me the Snapple “Facts”…. I’m an avid collector. 

Stanford Roommate Essay Examples #3

Hey Roomie! Yesterday was insane. I still can’t quite get over the energy in that stadium after that final play. I guess Berkeley couldn’t take back the axe to cut down these Trees!

I’m writing you this since I have an 8:30 Syntax and Morphology with Dr. Gribanov. I know, it’s early, but that class is honestly worth waking up for. Last Friday, he spent the entire period rambling about why regardless and irregardless are the same thing, but responsible and irresponsible aren’t. Just a fun little thought to start your day.

I’m also writing you this as a quick apology. I won’t be back from Mock Trial until late evening, and then I’ll be practicing for Stanford Symphony auditions. So, if you hear cacophonous noises in your sleep, it’s most likely me. Plus, it’s Mahler Symphony No. 1, so you might not sleep much anyway. Kidding.

These next few days are jam-packed, but I’m craving some much-needed bonding time! I have a proposal: how does a jam session this Friday at Terman Fountain sound? I’ll bring the guitar and plenty of oldies sheet music, you just gotta bring a snack and the desire to sing! I’ve sold a few people already. Join us?

Well, I’m headed to breakfast now. Text me if you want me to grab you anything.

Stanford Roommate Essay Examples #4

Dear Roomie,

Tupac Shakur is not dead. You might believe that he is, because yes, his body is buried somewhere. But many of his messages are still very much alive. So future roomie, if we are going to be as close as I hope (and if you see me rapping “Life Goes On” in my Star Wars pajamas), you should know this about me:

As a biracial person, I have felt extremely troubled for the past few years regarding the social inequalities and injustices in our society. 2PAC says in his song “Changes,” “I’m tired of bein’ poor and even worse I’m black.” He says “I see no changes.”

I want to change this. I want Tupac’s spirit to behold a United States in which everyone has equal access to education and to healthcare. A U.S. where no one is discriminated against based on their race, gender, sexuality, or religion. I have already begun working towards equality, through educational outreach and political volunteerism. I will continue this at Stanford, through participating in peaceful protests and spreading awareness of the issues at hand. This might mean you’ll notice me coming and going a lot or going on frustrated rants about the ignorance and injustices in our society and our world. However, I hope you’re a person who will not only understand my perspective but be willing to march towards equality with me.

I am so excited for this year and the many years to come!

As noted in our Stanford Essays Guide , the Stanford roommate essay shows up nearly every year. These Stanford roommate essay examples show how fun a prompt like this can be to answer. Each of our Stanford roommate essay examples takes a slightly different approach. Some students write from the perspective of already attending Stanford; others opt for a list of important need-to-know facts.

The Stanford roommate essay examples show how open-ended this prompt actually is. If, after reading our Stanford roommate essay examples, you feel like you have no idea what to write about, know that there is no perfect recipe for responding to this prompt. Each of our Stanford roommate essay examples has a unique quality and flair.

A good rule of thumb you can take from our Stanford roommate essay examples is to remember who your audience is. Some essays touch on classic roommate topics, like sleep schedules, activities, and sharing snacks. However, the writer only includes these facts as a means of showing who they are. 

What Matters to You and Why Stanford Essay Examples

What matters to you, and why (250 words), ‘what matters to you and why’ stanford essay examples:.

“You’re stupid!!” exclaimed James. “Well you’re ugly!” shouted Ethan. We were sitting around the dinner table and my brothers, as usual, were bickering. After about two minutes of this, my dad broke into song. He sang, in a mostly on pitch falsetto, “what the world needs now, is love sweet love.” My brothers, my mom and I all rolled our eyes, but of course we kept singing. Then we sang “All you need is love” and “I’ll be there.” After years of this constant playlist, during laundry, dinners, and hikes, I realized what truly matters to me: love.

Love is what makes my life worth living. Whether it be love of my family, of my friends, of my activities, or of my future it makes me excited to get up and start my day. The sense of harmony I feel when dancing in the car with my family, or painting with my friends, or working with my team on our solar car is indescribably fulfilling. Through playing ukelele and singing with my family to working diligently in a lab to create a process that will alleviate the pain of another person, I will have the love that is of utmost importance to me. I will fill my life and the lives of others with love and harmony.

The last of our Stanford supplemental essays examples shows just how honest and vulnerable you can be in your essays. This essay does a great job of showing rather than telling. It gives us a great example of what love looks like to this student and how love continues to be the most important thing in their life.

How to write Stanford Supplemental Essays: 5 Tips!

1. start early.

If you’re worried about getting your Stanford essays up to par with these Stanford essays examples, don’t leave them to the last second. Begin by familiarizing yourself with the Stanford prompts and reviewing our Stanford supplemental essays examples. This can be the first step in your writing process. Next, start brainstorming topics and ideas you can start incorporating into your drafts.

2. Keep an idea journal

Now that you’ve reviewed different Stanford supplemental essay examples and have read Stanford essays that worked, it’s time to get brainstorming. Try writing down the main topics of each Stanford essay prompt, like “roommates,” “important experiences,” or “content I like.” Have a place where you can write down all your ideas as soon as they come to you. That way, when it comes time to start drafting your Stanford essays, you’ll have plenty of ideas.

3. Think outside the box

If you’re having trouble coming up with an answer to one of the Stanford essay prompts, don’t worry. Remember our “what matters to you and why Stanford essay examples?” These questions are at the core of what Stanford admissions is looking for. You’ll include traces of them in every Stanford essay you write regardless of which prompt you answer.

4. Consider what Stanford Admissions will take away from your Stanford essays

For instance, think about the Stanford roommate essay examples. While the prompt asked students to direct their attention to their future roommate. Remember your reader will be coming in with the perspective of an admissions officer, not your potential future roommate. While this may seem like the space to offer up fun, random facts about yourself and your interests, consider how the characteristics you choose to highlight build upon other aspects of your application and Stanford essays.

5. Draft, edit, rewrite, edit, and edit again

These Stanford supplemental essays examples weren’t written overnight. You can’t expect to produce Stanford essays as engaging and effective as our Stanford essay examples unless you put in enough time and effort. Remember, our Stanford essays examples are final drafts. Make sure you get your first draft down on paper as soon as you can so you have plenty of time to edit, proofread, and finalize your essays.

Stanford Essay Examples- Final Thoughts

Applying to Stanford can feel overwhelming, especially given the low Stanford acceptance rate. If Stanford is your dream school , you should do all you can to ensure your Stanford essays shine.  

If you’re looking for answers on how to get into Stanford, think carefully about every aspect of the Stanford application. Knowing the requirements for the Stanford application will be much more helpful than worrying about the Stanford acceptance rate.

Focus on what you can control

So, focus on the parts of the Stanford admissions process you can control, like your responses to the Stanford essay prompts. Understanding the prompts, then looking at Stanford essays that worked, can give you a sense of what Stanford admissions looks for when reviewing applications. Then, you can take the lessons and learnings from Stanford essay examples and incorporate them into your own essays.

Take a look at our how to get into Stanford guide for more tips on the Stanford application process. We discuss how Stanford Admissions reviews applications, the Stanford acceptance rate, the interview process, and more strategies on how to get into Stanford.

As you begin working on your Stanford essays, feel free to look back on these Stanford essays examples. Rather than using them as a shining example you need to model your own Stanford essay after, think about why they worked, the impact they had on you, and how you can incorporate those techniques into your own essay. So remember, get started early, and good luck.

This article was written by Stefanie Tedards. Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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What matters most to you and why: Stanford GSB Essay

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Stanford GSB seeks outstanding and diverse people who seek a transformative experience at Stanford GSB and in turn, seek to transform lives, organizations and the world — that is, to make a significant impact. The GSB is looking for people who will make a big difference and have a better shot than most in being able to execute. Stanford GSB students often have an ‘unexpected’ trait, talent, or experience. The Stanford application essays are essential to showcasing character and experiences as well as the key evaluation criteria of leadership, intellectual vitality, and personal qualities.

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Associate Director MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School (CBS)

Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure.  Ashley  holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years,  Ashley  was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...

Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and  ...

A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally.  Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM.  For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...

Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).  In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds.  Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students.  In additio ...

Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years.  Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...

Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years.  In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School.  Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...

Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...

Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...

Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications.  She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...

Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford.   Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...

Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year.   Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...

Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...

Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team.  During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students.  She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...

Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS).  During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...

Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...

Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director.  Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants.

Respect is the one word that sums up my life’s passions. At first glance, this simple word may seem a bit vacuous to describe something so profound to my being. But respect has truly been the guiding principle in my life: the one that I learned at an early age, the one that has influenced my decisions, and the one that drives me today.

As the son of American expatriates, I was raised abroad in a sea of diversity. To foster our development, my parents immersed my brother and me in local culture. We attended bullfights and visited flea markets tucked into the hillsides of the Andes Mountains. Living and interacting with residents of these distant lands taught us to respect those different than us. Through active involvement with the local heritage and customs, we learned that people are people everywhere and that all initially deserve my consideration and respect.

As I matured, this worldview guided my social interactions and ultimately shaped my diverse group of friends. The lessons of respect, taught from my experiences abroad, have given me an open and accepting personality. When I meet new people, I consider their circumstances and try to appreciate their point of view. As we learn about each other, it’s those select occurrences when a new person treats me with the same regard – considers my feelings and returns the respect I bestow – that we initiate the bonds of true friendship. This dogma has helped me forge a diverse band of brothers that serves as a foundation in my life. I met one of my adopted brothers in high school. He was a Russian immigrant whose parents had forsaken him at age 16. He worked the night shift at McDonald’s to support himself, but was kind enough to buy me, a stranger, dinner. A man who would offer so much when he had so little, especially to a stranger, earned my respect. He represents a fraction of my extended family. While each of my companions holds different and important beliefs, our underlying respect ties us together.

My grandfather furthered my lessons on respect. Born in Russia in 1927, he immigrated to the United States at age 21 as the Communist Party planted its roots. As a displaced immigrant, he arrived without friends and knowing little English. Nevertheless, he held two jobs, attended night school and completed his mechanical engineering degree in nine years – all while supporting a growing family of five. My grandfather’s life story and his sacrifices have instilled a strong work ethic in me. More importantly, the admiration I have for his achievements has engendered my deepest respect. His accomplishments taught me to respect my past and seize opportunities to honor those who came before me. While not an explicit lesson, I have applied these values to the core of my decision-making process. To dismiss what was surrendered for my well-being is to disrespect my heritage.

Respect drove my decision to attend the University of Alabamaon a merit-based scholarship. Although I had other options, I felt that my family had worked very hard to support me, and the opportunity to earn my education at minimal cost would, in some small way, repay my family. I remembered my grandfather’s teachings as I earned my degree. Given my free tuition, I crammed my schedule with courses in biological engineering and finance. I joined a prominent fraternity and established a tutoring program for struggling members. Using my personal computer, I formed a small online business to generate revenue for personal expenses. Having the luxury of some free time, I invested myself in community service activities. Teachings of respect have guided my life. They influence the way I interact, the way I make decisions, and the way I want others to treat me. Respect is at the heart of my friendships, and it is respect that gives me my drive to succeed. I strive to respect myself and earn respect from my family, friends, and co-workers, as well as from those who I have yet to meet. My values of respect have shaped me and will continue to define me.

When I was a little girl, my dream was to grow up and marry the king of Morocco. Yes, I admit, I wanted to be a queen, wear beautiful clothes, and live in a marvelous palace. But deep inside of me, I think I also wanted to play a role in Morocco’s destiny, to help lead it into an era of modernity. For me, the king of Morocco represented the Moroccan people and, as such, was the person who could do the most for our country. To my young mind, he seemed like the ideal partner to accompany me in my crusade. Growing up, I became more realistic and gave up the marriage goal. (Both the king of Morocco and I are married, so there is not a big chance of it happening anyway!). However, I still maintain dreams of helping Morocco develop. Accepting responsibility for these dreams has meant accepting that the path that best enables me to accomplish them may actually require me to live outside Morocco for some time. What matters most to me is keeping in touch with my Moroccan roots and doing what I can to give back to where I came from.

?My first sixteen years in Morocco contributed to my deep love for its rich traditions, varied culture, and contradictions. The Moroccan people are very warm and friendly. Strangers are welcomed into private homes and invited to share meals from the same plate. The Moroccan idea of family is much broader than in the West: it encompasses parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neighbors, even friends. In fact, following custom, I call my mother’s girlfriends “aunt.” Since a typical family gathering may include 100 people, I usually bump into a lot of aunts. ?The Moroccan cuisine, cooked in terracotta containers, mirrors the country’s diverse origins. Spices from different origins–saffron, curcuma, cumin, cinnamon—are mixed into a savory blend that is often cited as one of the most appreciated in the world. Morocco’s unique geographical position, between the Western and oriental worlds, between the North and the South, also makes it a historical crossroads of cultures: the Berbers from the Atlas Mountains, the Spanish from Andalusia, and the Arabs from the Middle East. As a result, each region of the country possesses its own unique identity, which contributes to the national culture as well as its own legacy. For example, since I am from Rabat, the capital of Morocco, at my wedding I was proud to wear the wedding dress specific to the “Rabati’s bride.”

?At the same time, Morocco is a true melting pot of world religions. It is perhaps one of the few places on earth where Muslims and Jews live in perfect harmony. On his deathbed, King Mohamed the Fifth, who led Morocco to independence from France, told his son, the soon to be King Hassan the Second: “take care of my Jewish people.” I was educated to live among all religions, and my best friends were Christians, Jews, and Muslims. We respected their holidays, and they respected ours. We learned their principles as they learned ours. This multidimensional education taught me one of my most important principles, tolerance, especially essential for someone destined to live abroad. This principle has always helped me to understand others and respect their opinions even if it completely contradicted my own.

?As I grew up, I also became more aware of Morocco’s contradictions: the great differences between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” the illiteracy (50% of the population can’t read), the disturbing plight of many women (in rural areas, 90% of women are illiterate), and the weak economy. Yet, despite all this, I believe that Morocco can find growth and prosperity by investing in information technology, particularly since every year Morocco trains many high-quality engineers eager to be part of its economic development.

?Some of my optimism for Morocco stems from my pride in the accomplishments of my own family. During the 15th century, my ancestors, engineers and sailors from Spain, fled from religious persecution into Morocco (specifically, Fez and Rabat) where they became ship builders and traveled the seas. This heritage of travel fits well with my sense of myself today as a multicultural person–I too am driven to seek out challenging international experiences. As a young girl, for example, I traveled all over Europe, South Africa, and along the Mediterranean Sea. Later, I lived in France for seven years and have lived in the United States now for two.

?Naturally, I have inherited my family’s interests and skills. From my father I inherited quantitative strengths and the problem-solving temperament of an engineer. He is a reflective but independent man who owns his own carton manufacturing business. I spent many hours in his factory learning about operations and managing people (my father has 70 employees, from factory workers and engineers to salesmen and administrators). From my father I also inherited my love of nature. The country is still where we both go to find calm away from the pressures of life. Some of my favorite memories are the hours we spent discussing the hazards and pleasures of agriculture on the country property where he grew strawberries.

?My mother, however, has been my true role model, and it was from her that I inherited my drive and leadership skills. She is Morocco’s first dermatologist and first female professor of medicine. She has always been a great inspiration to me and a great source of emotional support. The grand lesson she taught me is that if a woman wants to be successful, she has to be the best, better than any male. This is a rule she has always applied to herself.

?Even my mother embodies Morocco’s contradictions. She is a very modern woman who assumes great responsibility in her professional and private lives, but a traditional woman as well. While she supports my loftiest ambitions she also insists that I learn how to cook and learn more housekeeping skills! So, during my vacations, at her insistence, I took cooking classes to become the more “perfect” housewife.

?Throughout my childhood, family conversations often focused on Morocco’s problems and ways to solve them. My mother’s concern for Morocco led to her election as director of the education and healthcare department of Forum 21, a not-for-profit organization that proposes situation analyses and makes recommendations to Morocco’s legislators. Like my mother, I also attend the Forum 21 sessions to discuss Morocco’s problems with other participants. Part of my patriotic impulse to help Morocco stems from my parents and the socially focused environment they created.

?I was educated in a French school in the capital of Morocco, Rabat. Not only did I have both French and Moroccan professors, but the French school also attracted all the foreigners living in Rabat. As a result, it has always seem perfectly natural to me to have classmates or co-workers from all over the world: Europe, Japan, China, Africa, the U.S.. ?At the French school, we were taught French history, French literature, French civilization, and even France’s civil rights and laws! It’s no wonder that I became eager to discover this country from the inside, and perhaps other challenges as well. I also wanted to study in the engineering field because I was not only attracted by quantitative disciplines but also because I knew Morocco needed all kinds of engineers (mechanical, chemistry, software…) to build its developing economy. After my high school graduation, my excellent grades enabled me to obtain my French high school diploma with the highest honors, ranking first among 300 senior students. In 1994, I was admitted to the most selective Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles, the preparatory classes for scientific and engineering French schools, at the Lycee Louis Le Grand in Paris. My peers were all the best students of their high schools, and the competition was tougher than anything I had known. The only things that mattered to me then were mastering math, physics, chemistry, philosophy, and the next subject so I could be among the 5 percent who made it into the best schools. At Lycee Louis Le Grand, students are called “taupes” (“moles” in English) because the study program is so intense you have to bury yourself in your books with little chance of ever seeing daylight. After a few months, many students feel like giving up and leaving the program (30% actually do after the first year). I found myself in a radically new environment, facing the additional challenge to adapt to a harsh competitive process. Fortunately, my determination saved me from becoming discouraged by the workload. At the end of these grueling preparatory classes, I took competitive exams for France’s scientific schools. I was admitted to all the best French Grandes Ecoles and joined Ecole Polytechnique (whose acceptance rate is around 3%) as the only female foreigner admitted out of 6,000 applicants!

?While I was a student at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, I met my husband, a Moroccan national who was born in France and has lived in France, Turkey, and the United States. This encounter was another kind of cross-cultural experience for me as my husband is a Moroccan expatriate who has never lived in Morocco. Our visions of Morocco are clearly different, and this has always put some spice in our relationship! He is also passionate about negotiation and psychological impacts of interpersonal relationships.

?After 4 more years in France, where I worked as a Business Analyst for Arthur D. Little, My husband and I decided to start from scratch and begin a new life on the west coast of the U.S. For him, it meant fulfilling an old dream, an academic career (in fact, he is now a third-year Ph.D. student in the Organizational Behavior Department of the Stanford Graduate School of Business). For me, it meant Silicon Valley, the “Mecca” of new technologies, start-ups, and entrepreneurs; the home of brilliant young technology “freaks” and billionaires; and a legendary place of advanced knowledge. In the Valley, I could learn even more about telecommunications and the Internet, my practice area at Deloitte and the industry in which I am determined to build my career. Three months after transferring to Deloitte’s Palo Alto office, I began to realize that staying in consulting, where one is by definition more an observer than an actor, would prevent me from being at the center of things. To be at the leading edge of technology advances, I decided instead to work in a research & development position and joined France Telecom R&D.

?Since 1994, then, I have lived the “expatriate’s life” outside Morocco for more than a third of my young life. It might seem natural for me to have distanced myself from my Moroccan preoccupations and my crusade for Morocco’s development. But my extended absence from my homeland has actually intensified my love for it, and I still return to Morocco four times a year (whether I am in France or in the U.S.).

?I express my love for Morocco in many ways. In my personal life, I have maintained most of my close friendships in Morocco, and visit each of them as much as I can when I return there. I also fast during the month of Ramadan and observe the same Ramadan traditions that I would if I were in Morocco (I cook the traditional soup, Harira, for example, and I gather with friends for the traditional breaking of the fast).

?I also express my love through community service. As a student at Ecole Polytechnique, I joined the AMGE, the Moroccan French Grandes Ecoles Students Association. In particular, I was in charge of organizing the annual job fair, which invited Moroccan companies operating in France to meet with and recruit Moroccan students studying in France. In 1998, I convinced ten of these companies to spend around $2,000 each to participate in the fair, and they eventually hired seven Moroccan students for entry and mid-level positions. ?In 1999, I also led the organization of a festival at Ecole Polytechnique that AMGE sponsored to help Paris-area French and European students discover Moroccan music and food. I arranged to have Moroccan belly dancers perform and served Moroccan specialties and mint tea. The event was a total success: more than 500 individuals attended, and since then, the Moroccan festival has become an annual institution organized every year by the AMGE in a different Grande Ecole.

?As an Ecole Polytechnique student, I also joined the humanitarian association, Action Sociale de la KES (ASK), which organized tutoring sessions in the poorer suburbs of Paris. Through ASK, I began tutoring Malika, a nine-year-old Moroccan girl who, knowing only Arabic, could not understand her classes. For a year and a half I tutored her in French and math for two hours every week. She opened up to me personally and told me stories about her life and her dreams. At her end of year party, I was happy to be able to meet her family and congratulate them in Arabic for their daughter’s accomplishment. She was admitted to the next grade.

?These first experiences at helping Morocco “from a distance” were intensely satisfying and inspired me to think of bigger, more ambitious ways to help. Two years ago, my father and my brother created a company called that promotes Moroccan handicrafts by selling them all over the world via a web site. I was closely involved from the beginning as a shareholder, and I was particularly responsible for selecting the pieces of Moroccan handicraft we sold and transforming part of them to make them more appealing for the western market, like changing colors and materials while keeping the original features. I spent my vacations traveling around Morocco, meeting with craftspeople and convincing 60 of them, representing more than 15 corporations, to become our partners in showing off the beauty of Moroccan crafts. My challenge was to have them agree to sign off on our “quality charter,” which requires them to respect copyright laws and satisfy Western quality standards. Today, it is a successful company with revenues of over $500,000 in 2004, mainly in Europe. At Stanford, I would like to work on a project to learn how to promote the company in the United States and write a business plan toward this goal.

?In Morocco, I am also one of the founders and since 1999 have been the president of a small association that is dedicated to improving Morocco’s educational system. We publish a quarterly journal on the status of education in Morocco, and we fund 20 scholarships a year for Moroccans aged 8 to 12 who lack family or resources, so they can study in Morocco’s best schools. From my own finances, I also personally sponsor two of these scholarships (amount in Moroccan currency : 15,000 DH, which represents $1,500) and meet with my two young scholars every time I return to Morocco. At Stanford I would to give this association an international dimension by building new relationships with similar U.S. associations, either through a summer internship or through the Africa Business Club. We would ask for support from U.S. companies that deal directly with Morocco. With these funds, we would also organize immersion trips to Morocco for U.S. high school students and to the U.S. for Moroccan high school students.

?I have also integrated my love for Morocco into my professional life. I am the project manager in San Francisco for Studio Creatif, France Telecom R&D’s futurist lab for thinking imaginatively about the future of the organization. I am in charge of designing new concepts of telecommunication services to be offered by France Telecom to CEOs in 2012. In 2002, I interviewed 30 CEOs and would-be CEOs in France and in the United States to understand how they picture themselves in the future. To enrich the study and give it a stronger international dimension, I decided to include Moroccan CEOs in my sample since it is important to me to look at the other, developing world side of the “globalization” coin. So, during one of my vacations in Morocco I interviewed five leading Moroccan CEOs. Finally, I have also integrated my love for Morocco into my professional long-term goals. As I elaborate in essay B, I plan to take advantage of my position at the international division of a global telecommunications company to contribute to help North African countries develop telecommunications and Internet industries.

?My ability to deepen my contribution to Morocco’s future will not rely only on my professional experiences and skills, however. My broad international experiences—in France, Europe, Africa, and the U.S.–have given me interpersonal skills and a sense of perspective that will be essential as I implement my ambitious my dreams of helping Morocco.

?Seeking out multicultural experiences is one of my joys. When I was a Research Assistant at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, in 1999, I had an American roommate and an Indian roommate. Though I considered myself, as a Parisian and Moroccan, to be a cosmopolitan person, Anuradha was the first Indian I had ever met. We quickly began sharing our stories and experiences about our countries, and exchanging our favorite dishes. We both realized that though Morocco and India are distant geographically, our cultures and traditions were very similar. For example, we both had a henna ceremony in our weddings. This instinct to share and learn will help me build partnerships as I work toward Morocco’s brighter future.

?Today, as a Product Manager at France Telecom Research & Development, I am in charge of pitching eBusiness-related R&D project proposals to internal sponsors in France in order to win budgets for our research and manage these R&D projects. This requires me to play the role of intermediary between ours labs in France and San Francisco. As such, I often have to switch fluently from one culture to the other. Because of the time difference, the American team frequently uses email to send proposals, exchange comments, and obtain approvals. Even though I was not a huge fan of emails in France, I quickly adopted it as a primary means of communication since the San Francisco office prefers written to oral exchanges. In fact, I became so immersed in American office culture that I almost forgot that the French still prefer direct, phone-based exchanges for in-depth discussions. Learning how to work comfortably and well in the style that is most appropriate for a given culture has helped me to obtain the research budgets I need to achieve our goals.. These intercultural skills will also help me help Morocco.

?Though it looks like I may never have the chance to become Queen of Morocco, I will gladly settle for having a big impact on the future of Morocco.

Sharing a makeshift cake with strangers at the Charlotte airport as the clock strikes midnight on my birthday. Meeting with a Partner on the mountains of Park City, so breathless by the elevation I can barely get a word in. Dashing from an anniversary dinner to catch an impromptu flight to London for a project kick-off. My resume will have detailed my professional experiences to-date, but underneath each of the bullets are dozens of memories like the above. Upon reflection of these memories, one thing I know for sure is that I am not the typical Consultant. I have chosen adaptability to define me above other characteristics that may have hindered me from pursuing this path.

My favorite personality test will tell you that I am introverted, intuitive, a thinker, and a planner. Growing up, I was markedly different from my sisters, and you could typically find me reading in the clothing racks as my mother took us shopping, or out loud in the back seat of our family car while my sisters tried to listen to their favorite N*Sync song. As I considered my future career, my instinct told me that an introverted bookworm should not pursue a client-facing, heavily social and unpredictable career filled with endless experiences like the above.

Three years later, I am thankful that I overcame these fears and insecurities and adapted myself to the life of a Consultant, fully embracing these experiences. For others, adaptability might mean something else, but everyone will have to embrace some version of adaptability in the near future. At X, my focus has been building a market around the Future of Work – how technology, demographics, and globalization will change the nature of work. I have become a leader in this space, crafting our response to clients’ questions for dozens of discussions, pursuits, and conferences. I have succeeded at developing compelling thought leadership, but the fundamental challenge of driving this point of view in market is similar to the fears I once held as I embarked on my career.

I believe the central theme of the Future of Work is the concept of adaptability – the need for companies and individuals alike to be agile and willing to engage in lifelong learning to keep up with today’s constant rate of change. In the same way that I overcame my fears to pursue my passions, millions of workers (and their leaders) will have to overcome theirs in order to succeed in a future that is increasingly uncertain and irrevocably different – and that is a difficult pill to swallow.

Adapting to uncomfortable situations does not come naturally to many. Fortunately, my personal journey and background has accelerated this skill for me. I am the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and the daughter of a failed small business owner who reinvented himself at 50. The epitome of strength and adaptability, my grandparents came to America after being liberated from the camps, started a family in Queens and opened a small Jewish bakery that was eventually passed on to my father. By the time I was born, the business was being overrun by supermarkets and my father’s lack of passion became its downfall. I grew up in an environment of uncertainty, but also with a role model who learned an entirely new trade after a 25-year career and found a job that excites him every day.

The time came for me to embrace the strength and adaptability of my forefathers this past November, when my mother suffered a sudden and fatal heart attack. Moving forward seemed inconceivable, but the following year turned out to be the highlight of my career to-date. The same week that my mother passed, I was offered a role directly supporting a Human Capital Partner in building a new practice grounded in the thought leadership I helped to develop in the Future of Work space. Despite my personal hardships, I could not pass up the opportunity to be involved in transforming the face of Human Capital. I took on the role, and was immediately immersed in setting the strategy for the new business that will deliver large-scale transformations following Future of Work discussions. This has meant gaining experience with cognitive technologies, considering how they will fundamentally change jobs, and developing new ways to transform the workforce for the future. It has been a fast-paced role, vastly different from traditional Consulting client work. Adaptability has revealed itself not only in the wake of life’s hardest moments, but also during exciting times like these, pushing me to take on ambiguous and advanced roles at X.

My insight into adaptability has been a personal journey that impacted not only my professional focus, but also my community work. Much of the struggle my father experienced in changing his career path came from not having a college degree. As a first generation college graduate, my passion for literacy and education access has steered me to become a leader in my community as a founding Board member of X and a volunteer high school mentor. I try to instill adaptability in the students I mentor and the non-profit leaders and school administrators I have the pleasure of working with, sharing the opportunities afforded by the same disruption my clients face such as rethinking the skills we teach our students, crowdsourcing global expertise to the classroom, and augmenting the physical classroom with digital tools. Adaptability in this context does not only mean prevailing over hardship to pursue your passions, but also fundamentally changing the way we think about delivering education in the future.

Grounded in the concept of adaptability, my personal, professional and community experiences have informed my dream of becoming an eminent strategist on transitioning Fortune 500s to the Future of Work and a Board member of innovative education NPOs transforming how we develop the future workforce. In pursuing an MBA from HBS, I will be able to bring my own unique perspectives and ability to adapt to the unparalleled case method, peer and alumni network and global community. This will accelerate and broaden my thinking on how to instill adaptability into organizations and our future workforce, ultimately deepening my ability to lead through the transition to the Future of “X”– work, education – you fill in the blank.

Being a part of the growth story for both my nation and my family’s business is what matters most to me. My experiences have led to my strong attachment to home and family, and I feel a strong responsibility to develop a legacy for Brasil and for Mendonca Propriedades, our family real estate development firm.

In retrospect, growing up in Sao Paulo was an experience of tremendous exposure to both wealth and poverty. Through our family business I interacted often with both middle class people like my own family, and those who had trouble paying their rent. This was just life as I knew it, and the culture and vitality of the city was what I focused on as I enjoyed international cuisine and celebrated Carnaval every year. My mother and father enjoyed art and culture and often took us to museums and events. My experience of Sao Paulo and Brasil was one of excitement and color.

When I attended University in the United States I was exposed to the stark contrast between my colorful, tropical city and what life was like in the US. While I was accustomed to the visual contrast between rich and poor in Sao Paulo, Ithaca New York was a city where most people lived a similar life. When I hosted friends in my home in Brasil they were shocked by the favelas (slums) visible through my high rise apartment windows. I was able to see my city with new eyes, and I wanted to do something about it.

Brasil is poised to be the economic powerhouse of South America, and I want to be part of this development and be a force for greater economic equality. The new opportunities in Brasil should be available to everyone – and the key is both access to sanitary dwellings and education. Since college I have volunteered to spend a few weeks a year teaching soccer to children in favelas, along with tutoring. I also run a fundraising effort every year for education in Brasil and have encouraged many of my friends to join my volunteer vacations.

In the long-term I plan to orient my career around developing our family business to have both a for-profit and pro-bono element. As I assist my father in growing our development activities in Sao Paulo and other cities in Brasil I will also set up a program where our employees may donate their time to help non-profit development organizations build affordable housing for the poorest residents of our city.

The economic renaissance in Brasil must lead us both to stronger development and to help those who are less fortunate. I plan to develop this legacy both for the city I love and for my family. I hope to see my children take over our business someday, and I want them to be proud of what we have accomplished.

SBC’s star-studded consultant team is unparalleled. Our clients benefit from current intelligence that we receive from the former MBA Admissions Officers from Harvard HBS, Stanford GSB and every elite business program in the US and Europe.  These MBA Admissions Officers have chosen to work exclusively with SBC.

Just two of the many superstars on the SBC team: Meet Erin , who was Assistant Director of MBA Admissions at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) and Director of MBA Admissions at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Meet Andrea , who served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years.

Tap into this inside knowledge for your MBA applications by requesting a consultation .

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Why Stanford MBA Sample Essay (Consulting)(399 words)

Essay b: why stanford.

Why Stanford Essay Section 1: You have to explain the tradeoff in the number of years to gain leadership experience vs. the 2-year MBA, and preferably quote the example of one of the Alumni, who made the transition, with the Stanford MBA program.

Why Stanford Essay Section 2: Go to the specifics by quoting Stanford MBA core courses. Mention one of the courses: Leadership Labs, Managing Groups and Teams and Strategic Leadership - and explain how it will help you acquire a new life skill.

Why Stanford Essay Section 3: Cover the experiential learning program in Stanford MBA. Explain how you will leverage the Global Management Immersion Experience (GMIX) experience to work in one of the industries as diverse as energy, international development, finance, healthcare, consumer products, media and entertainment, technology, and telecommunications, and broaden your understanding of how government, non-profits, and corporates operate.

Why Stanford Essay Section 4: Conclude by explaining your interest in Stanford GSB Clubs. Highlight one hobby-based club and one professional club.

For Consultants, working for the Big Cs , the narrative has to be slightly tuned. Top 10 percentile of the Analyst is offered Associate role without an MBA. The admission team is aware of it. If you are in the 10-20 percentile, the future value of Stanford MBA (mid-term) goal will be a better approach.

To show a clear learning path with Stanford MBA, select four courses - two from the core and two from electives. Demonstrate how you understand the curriculum and its value for your post-MBA role.

Sample Why Stanford MBA Essay (Consulting)(399 words)

Earning the consultant of the month - 5 months in a row in 2017, encouraged me to take on the most challenging projects in Healthcare and Technology. MBA was not in any realms of my imagination until I met <y> - Stanford 2011 MBA and our Project Leader. He drew a quadrant and mapped short-term, mid-term, long-term and personal goals and chartered two paths - with and without an MBA.

"A Stanford MBA is like learning about 10 industries in 2 years."

That reflection from the Alumnus stuck with me.

Even though I had the opportunity to serve multiple industries, the experience is sequential - taking up 3-5 months for one project and another similar period for a new industry. I expect promotion to an Associate level in the next two months. However,

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Winning MBA Essay Guide  = Harvard + Stanford + Wharton + Columbia + Booth + MIT + Kellogg + Darden + Yale + NYU Stern + Haas + Ross + Duke Fuqua + INSEAD + LBS + Tuck  Essay Tips and 245+ Sample Essays + Leadership Narratives + Editing Techniques + Storytelling Tips + Video Essay Scripts + Curriculum Analysis of each MBA program for the Why MBA Question  

If you write your essay focused only on your achievements, post-MBA goals, and your pre-MBA experience, you will be among the rejected applicants.

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• Winning MBA Essay Guide (Harvard + Stanford + Wharton + Columbia + Booth + MIT + Kellogg + Darden + Yale + NYU Stern + Haas + Ross + Duke Fuqua + INSEAD + LBS + Tuck) (245+ Sample Essays) (New!)

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Stanford Graduate School of Business – MBA Essay Samples

Stanford MBA Essay Sample 1: What matters most to you, and why?

Early-on as a student, the attitude of excelling in academic and extra-curricular activities was cultivated and brought in a sense of achievement. I have been a meritorious student right from school and undergraduate engineering years to the M.B.A. My final year score during…

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Stanford MBA Essay Sample 2: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal that was challenging or frustrating.  

I can relate to a high-value deal made during my first job right after my M.B.A. I was handling modular office furniture sales at ABC Inc. As a part of the pitch for a large-scale project at ABC, an enterprise customer, we had installed a workstation (product) demo unit at the company’s bid office.

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Essay Sample 3: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established or expected.

I can relate to my tenure at ABC Inc. where my initial responsibility was that of a new product development manager. The exciting opportunity of conceptualizing and positioning the ABC brand (known more in the institutional-investor segment) in the retail investor space (B2C) brought in tremendous enthusiasm.

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