4 Reasons to Write an Optional Business School Application Essay
When it comes to the optional business school application essay, MBA hopefuls often wonder if it is truly optional. Many applicants feel an obligation to write something and struggle with what that something should be. Some programs explicitly state that applicants should use this essay only to address extenuating circumstances. Meanwhile, others ask more broadly whether there is anything else about your candidacy you would like to share with the admissions committee.
Our advice regarding the optional essay is to first complete your entire application package, except for the optional essay. Don’t worry about that piece of the puzzle just yet. Once you have finished, review your application and see if there’s something extra you would like to communicate. Make sure that you cannot address the issue elsewhere in the application. However, if you feel something is missing, use the optional essay as an opportunity to add what you want to share.
Consider the following advice within the context of your overall strategy and the schools you are considering. These areas are prime material for the optional essay.
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Reasons to Write an Optional Business School Application Essay
Academic Weaknesses
If you have a C grade or below on your undergraduate transcript, the admissions committee will want to know why. Your task is to make them feel comfortable that the low grade is an outlier in your overall academic record. Strike an upbeat tone here and avoid excuses. Make sure to emphasize your improved performance later in your college career or subsequent work or classes since college.
Briefly explain the situation in the optional business school application essay and focus the balance of your essay on looking forward. Show what you have done recently to prove your skills and intelligence. For example, if you have a new, higher GMAT score or took classes in calculus or statistics, you have a solid case for improved academics.
If you had a disciplinary issue in college, you should spend most of the essay conveying what you learned from the experience. Show that you’ve been an ideal citizen ever since. If extenuating circumstances affected your academic performance, definitely explain what those were.
But if it was a simple immaturity, you must also own up to that. Though embarrassing to admit, if you don’t provide those details, the admissions committee will make assumptions that may not be in your favor.
Employment Gaps or Major Career Changes
You don’t have to explain a short gap between school and a secured job. But you should address any months-long gap between the two positions. Otherwise, the admissions team may assume you spent that time binge-watching Better Call Saul.
Did you use that time off to volunteer in Guatemala or care for an ailing parent? Perhaps you used the time away to focus on an entrepreneurial dream, unencumbered by the 9-to-5 grind. Ideally, you can point to additional education, training, volunteering, or traveling that you engaged in while unemployed.
If you recently switched careers, you may feel concerned that the admissions committee won’t see why an MBA would help further your new professional aspirations. In that case, use the optional business school application essay space to make an airtight argument for why you want to go into this new field. Show that the decision was not capricious but rather reasoned and well-thought-out.
Choice of Recommender
Business schools almost always ask for a letter of recommendation from a current supervisor. The reason? Typically, this is the best person to comment on your abilities and leadership skills as they stand today. However, not every applicant feels comfortable asking their employer for a recommendation letter.
Perhaps they aren’t ready to let their boss know of their MBA plans. Or, a personality conflict might not lead to the most glowing recommendation. Sometimes, the issue is that the applicant hasn’t worked with the supervisor long enough for them to comment meaningfully on the candidate’s performance.
Whatever the reason, you should briefly address your decision not to seek a recommendation from your current supervisor in the optional essay space. The admissions committee understands the various circumstances which may prevent it. But you still need to explain why to eliminate any doubts or wrong assumptions about the quality of your working relationship with your employer.
Listen to B-Schooled Podcast #78: Unique Recommender Situations
Information That Adds to Your Candidacy
This is where you can introduce information about yourself that you couldn’t find a way to incorporate elsewhere. If you are a reapplicant, the optional essay is the ideal place to explain what you have done to strengthen your case for admission since your last application. Think of things such as receiving a promotion, which would signal career development and leadership. Even if you don’t have a clear-cut story to describe, you can use this space to explain how you have improved your thinking, career goals, or fit.
Finally, if you don’t have a weakness to address and the school has an open-ended optional essay question, this is an opportunity to provide information you couldn’t work into the other required essays. For example, this is a chance to showcase your unique profile if you have an unusual background, hobby, or extracurricular experience to share.
Yes, the optional business school application essay truly is optional. So take advantage of it if necessary, but exercise good judgment and restraint.
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Ashley
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
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 ...
×Pauline
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
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
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
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
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 K.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 B.
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
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. ×