For Some MBA aspirants, this is the unfortunate time of the year when rejection letters start rolling in, delaying their MBA dreams for atleast one year before they can reapply.
Some of these applicants have stellar stats and rock-solid profiles. Why do they still fail to make it?
As is common knowledge, the application evaluation process is holistic and based on multiple factors, some of which can work against deserving applicants. Having conducted hundreds of ding analyses, I have found one recurring factor that most often leads to rejection- sub-standard essays!
Below, I discuss five of the most common essay mistakes that land applications in the ding pile.
- Unimpressive Storytelling: When Your Essay Fails to Make an Impact
MBA essays don’t require Pulitzer-prize winners, but regular people who can tell their stories in a clear, engaging and structured manner. Yet, applicants make some common mistakes:
a. Overloading with description. Some applicants get so engrossed in describing the setting or irrelevant background that they lose focus on the most relevant elements of their story.
With tight word limits and essay prompts having multiple parts, there isn’t any real estate to waste on unnecessary details while compromising on the meaty details.
You need to be objective while editing your drafts. You may love a particular sentence or an idea, but if it does not add to your main essay plot, just snip it. Keep asking yourself- “Why am I telling this this information; is it relevant for my candidature?”
An example of description overload: October 20XX: By chance I overheard a conversation between two of our office boys. One was telling the other about his sister facing persistent domestic abuse. She had been denied her own savings by her husband who had usurped the entire sum. She had to give up because the village head, was neither a police officer nor a lawyer had ignored her plight. As he told this gut-wrenching story……..(69 words over, and we don’t know where this story is headed)
b. Assuming the reader knows what you know: You may be intimately familiar with your story, but the admissions committee will understand only what you explicitly tell them. Essays that lack essential context dilute the impact of an otherwise compelling experience.
The admissions committee will read your essays only once, with no opportunity to ask for clarifications. Don’t waste your chance by submitting a half-baked story that lacks clarity. To avoid this, have friends or family read your essays. If they don’t understand your story because of lack of details, neither will the admissions team.
c. Not following the STAR method correctly: For behavioural essays (achievements, failure, most difficult decision, stressful situation etc.) the STAR approach (Situation, Task, Actions, Results) is a universally accepted framework. Each component of the STAR format is important for writing a complete story. However, many applicants dedicate too much space to the situation and challenges, only to scurry past the actions. Some applicants completely skip the actions. Without actions, the essays sound lacklustre, something like this example:
“I faced resistance from senior team members after I came up a with a feasibility analysis to improve a legacy credit balance refund process at my bank. The process framework helped in lowering the turnaround time for customers, increasing customer satisfaction by X%. My recommendations helped in sustainable savings of $ MM” – the applicant needed to explain why resistance was there and what did they do to overcome it”.
When you explain your actions, your thought process and the results, the adcom will truly appreciate your ability to deal with challenging situations and your leadership abilities. A nice ending would be to mention your learnings and takeaways from the situation.
c. Making success sound too easy: Some essays make challenges seem too easy to overcome, even when the reality was far more complex. Admissions committees don’t expect you to have all the answers from the start, so there’s no need to present your story as if everything fell into place effortlessly. Instead, showcase the hurdles you faced, the uncertainties you navigated, and how you tackled adversity. Highlighting the process of overcoming challenges adds depth to your story and provides a more authentic narrative.
d. Not answering the question properly: It’s surprising how often applicants get carried away with a story they love, even though it doesn’t fully answer the essay prompt. Worse, some ignore sub-questions altogether.
To avoid this, read the prompt carefully—multiple times if needed—and ensure your response directly answers every part of it. A useful strategy is to break down the question into numbered sub-points, helping you stay on track and cover all aspects comprehensively.
2. Weak Story Selection: Choosing the Wrong Anecdotes
Not every professional success or personal milestone makes for a strong MBA essay. This reminds of essay prompts like “Tell us who you are” (Tuck), “Give a candid description of your strengths and weaknesses” (INSEAD), or “What makes you feel alive by doing it?” (Haas), which are purposed to understand your background, values, skills and leadership potential.
I have very often read essays where applicants select anecdotes that are either outdated or not significant enough in the context of an MBA application. For example, writing about how you took a gap year after high school to prepare for an college entrance examinations might have been a defining moment then, but does it truly reflect your leadership or decision-making abilities today? Recent, high-impact experiences from the past 3-4 years best reflect your current day capabilities, which are more important for your evaluation. This doesn’t mean that you should not use stories from your growing up years, but you should also add more recent examples to make your point.
3. Not demonstrating Leadership
Business schools are obsessed with leadership—and for a good reason. Their goal is to admit future business leaders who can influence, inspire, and drive change. Yet, many applicants focus solely many on how they ‘single handedly’ solved a problem or their largest challenges were related to managing technicalities and processes.
Leadership is always in respect with other people, so highlight situations where you had to use soft skills like influence and persuasion, negotiation, conflict-management, motivation, mentorship, collaboration among others, to drive impact.
Admissions committees want to see how you work with and lead others—not just how smart you are.
Example: When I had joined ABC, three of my distributors were newly appointed and had limited knowledge about our products. Their formal training was planned but …….was leading to a delayed training schedule. In collaboration with my colleagues, I organised a preliminary semi-formal training. This experience was immensely helpful to the engineers from the channel partners who were able to interact with customers with greater confidence. (where are the leadership skills in this example? Arranging for a training does not demonstrate leadership)
4. A Generic or Uninspiring Goals essay
Your goals essay is the most critical part of your application. Yet, applicants make fundamental mistakes: Not stating clear goals – I recently read a goals essay where the applicant did not mention the career goals at all. If the admissions committee has to guess, you’re in trouble.
Being vague or generic – Saying, “I want to work in consulting” is not enough. Admissions teams want to know why, what industry you’ll focus on, and how you’ll make an impact.
Sounding robotic or AI-generated – I’ve seen a rise in ChatGPT-generated career goals essays that may sound polished but lack passion. Your goals should feel authentic. If the inner voice does not come out, they are not strong enough.
The best goals essays are deeply personal and convey a strong sense of purpose. They must mention
what is the passion behind your goals, how will an MBA bridge the gap, what problem do you want to solve and what path will you follow in the short term and the long term to achieve this?5. Recycling Essays Without Proper Adaptation -Many applicants reuse essay stories across applications even though the essay prompt is asking for something else. Admissions team that read thousands of essays every year, can immediately spot essays that don’t fully align with their prompts or values.
While there is no harm in recycling essay stories, but you must customize it for each school. Instead of forcing a pre-written essay to fit, refine and tailor it to ensure it aligns with the school’s specific question and values.
If you’ve received rejection letters, don’t be discouraged. Your MBA dream isn’t over. It’s just delayed. Use this time wisely to reassess your essays, refine your application strategy, and come back stronger next year.