As Admissions Committee members, we are often asked, “What makes an application memorable?” There are many answers to this question, but don’t overlook the impact of well-crafted short answer responses.
For many on our Committee, the short answer questions are our favorite part of the application. Why? For one, these questions are our first opportunity to get a sense of your voice and personality. What role will you have on a Learning Team? Who will you be in a classroom? How will you relate to your peers? The answers to these questions largely begin with our short answer questions. We choose to ask multiple questions, rather than one long essay, in order to get a broader sense of just who you are and who you will be in our community.
Applicants often worry about choosing the “right” example or story when crafting their short answer responses. This tends to lead to fairly neutral, largely unmemorable writing. Consider this: There is no “right” example, but there is definitely a “best” example. And just what is the “best” example? It’s the one that aligns with the personal narrative you’re advancing through your application materials.
While you could choose to think of the application process as a data dump, we encourage you to think of it as a story-telling exercise. As we’ve noted before, evaluate your application as our Committee will: Holistically. How do all the pieces fit together? What are the key takeways? What would someone think of you based upon the information provided here? An effective application is one that leaves our Admissions Committee thinking: “This is someone we want to learn more about,” which, of course, is where our interview comes in.
Our short answer questions are an opportunity for you to begin to define and distinguish yourself from the broader applicant pool. Make the most of it. When drafting your answers, don’t think about us – Think about YOU. What do you want us to know about you? Given our word limits (all of our short answer questions are 200 words or less), you can’t share everything, but you can prioritize what’s most important.
While there is a tendency for MBA applicants to focus their emotional energy on test scores and transcripts, don’t dismiss the short answer questions. Give yourself the time to craft great responses. Brainstorm. Prewrite. Ask a friend to read your drafts. Be authentic. Be bold. But most importantly, be YOU.
