2012 NYU Stern Langone MBA Essay Advice

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2012 NYU Stern Langone MBA Essay Tips The NYU Stern Langone essay questions reflect two seemingly contradictory qualities: on one hand, short and focused; on the other hand, comprehensive and broad.  One key challenge they present is to portray your career and current work vividly and engagingly given their brevity.  This picture of your work is important because the part-time Langone program is intended for people who are employed full time, and therefore your work is a significant part of what you “bring to the table.”  Your work is one important way to demonstrate simultaneously your readiness for the program and your potential contribution to it.

However, the questions don’t give you a ready avenue to expand on your work.   A second key challenge is simply the brevity of the first two essay questions – that brevity makes it easy to do an okay job.  But okay isn’t good enough for this program, among the most competitive and acclaimed of part-time MBA programs – and it’s no cinch to do a truly compelling 250-word essay.  Finally, read the questions as a whole – the Langone adcom clearly values sharp, focused career goals – from applicants who have the ability and inclination to reflect, engage, and probe creatively and/or intellectually.

Langone Part-Time MBA Essay Questions and Tips

Question 1

Professional Aspirations (250 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)

What are your short-term and long-term career goals?

First, don’t even think about how to get everything you want into this MBA essay.  You can’t. Rather, ask yourself, “What are the few, key points I must have in this essay to both answer the question effectively and stand out?”  First, you need the details of your short- and long-term goals: positions and titles, company, industry, a sample of likely responsibilities you’ll hold.  Beyond that, to make the essay compelling, in one or two sentences convey your vision for your goals (the broader impact you’ll have) and your motivation for your goals – these elements are often intertwined.

One way you can fit in pertinent career information is to start the essay with your current position and weave it into your short-term goals.  After all, you will have goals within your current position while you’re earning your MBA – it doesn’t require a promotion or change of position to have a goal.

A simple structure works best: the first paragraph covering your short-term goals (possibly starting with where you are now); second paragraph long-term goals.  With this short essay you don’t need intro and concluding paragraphs, intro and concluding sentences will do.

Question 2

Fit with Stern (250 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font) (a) Why have you chosen to pursue your MBA on a part-time basis? (b) Earlier in your application, you indicated your Langone program preferences in rank order from among the choices below.

Please explain the preferences you selected.

• Manhattan – Weeknights

• Manhattan – Weekends

• Westchester – Weeknights

I suggest more depth and content for part A, and a straightforward, factual explanation for part B.

Part A probes your decision-making regarding the part-time option.  The adcom wants to know that the reasons are affirmative and that the part-time program is your program of choice.  This section also gives you a chance to further elaborate on your current work and its distinguishing aspects – presumably one reason you are pursuing the part-time program is because you are engaged in your work.  In this section, focus on the key 2-3 reasons for a part-time MBA and discuss each briefly but thoughtfully.  Don’t worry about having “unique” reasons – you won’t – it’s your specific work and the insights you’ll bring from it that are unique.  Caution: state positive, affirmative reasons; avoid reasons like can’t afford a full-time MBA, afraid to leave job, can’t get into a top-tier full-time program, etc.  Positive reasons include wanting to stay in fascinating job/industry, excitement about applying learning in real-time, valuing studying alongside peers who are immersed in diverse industries and functions, etc.

Part B should be short and sweet; a couple of sentences will suffice, simply explaining in concrete, practical terms why you are choosing the particular program.

Question 3

Personal Expression

Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use almost any method to convey your message. Feel free to be creative.

Please note the following guidelines and restrictions:

• Your submission becomes the property of NYU Stern and cannot be returned for any reason.
• If you submit a written essay, it should be 500 words maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font.
• If you submit a non-written piece (i.e., artwork or multimedia), please provide a brief written description of your submission and its relevance to your MBA application.
• If you prepare a multimedia submission, you may mail a CD, DVD or USB flash drive to the Admissions Office. Please do not submit a link to a webpage.
• Mailed materials must be postmarked by the application deadline date. Please follow our mail and labeling instructions.
• The Admissions Committee reserves the right to request an alternate Essay 3 if we are unable to view your submission.
• Do not submit anything perishable (e.g. food), or any item that has been worn (e.g. clothing).

First, a comment about “feel free to be creative”: don’t strain to do something you think represents “creative” if it doesn’t flow naturally.  Plenty, perhaps most, of admitted applicants write an essay.  If you are inspired and have a great idea, fine, go with it.  If not, write the absolute best essay you can.  The key here is to help the adcom get to know you in ways that are relevant to Langone, that distinguish you, and that reflect your life beyond your job in some way.  Langone, and more broadly NYU, relish involvement with the community, intellectual and/or artistic engagement, a sharp ability to self-reflect on one’s life and circumstances, a willingness to assert and/or question one’s values, a willingness and ability to ask questions that you don’t have answers to…  There are many inviting avenues to consider in selecting a topic for this essay – and that selection is the key to hitting a home run with it.  There really isn’t a formula.  I have seen successful essays that focus solely on the applicant’s passionate hobby, that discuss some aspect of one’s family life, one’s regional culture, one’s religious or political evolution… And I’ve also seen successful essays that discuss a couple of things.  With the 500-word limit, you can’t really do justice to more than two points though.

Don’t worry about discussing things that are “impressive” or about finding things that are unusual – this essay’s effectiveness rests on how vividly you present your topic(s), how you personalize it with anecdote and detail. A discussion about something as common as cooking or learning a language or playing basketball can become a memorable statement if done vividly with stories and experiences.

Optional essay

Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, your undergraduate record, plans to retake the GMAT, GRE and/or TOEFL, or any other relevant information. If you are unable to submit a recommendation from a current supervisor, you must explain your reason in this essay. If you are a reapplicant from last term/year, please explain how your candidacy has improved since your last application.

This doesn’t explicitly limit the essay to extenuating circumstances or application-specific issues, but the topics it suggests are such issues.  Moreover the phrase “bring to the attention of” doesn’t really invite you to continue marketing yourself with any new material that you think might enhance your application.  I therefore suggest addressing the types of issues the question presents, or other information that has a direct bearing on the adcom’s ability to understand your candidacy.  There is no word limit, but given the other word limits, keeping it short will align with the other essays.

Deadline for fall 2012:  May 15, 2012 (notification by August 15, 2012)

By Cindy Tokumitsu, co-author of The EMBA Edge, and author of the  free special report, “Ace the EMBA.”