Tuesday Tips: Kellogg MBA Essay Tips 2024-2025
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management is an engaged and collaborative community that emphasizes student involvement. Is Kellogg the right fit for you? According to our insiders, candidates with “Kellogg DNA” exhibit a compelling balance of high-impact leadership and humility. If you plan to apply to this respected M7 business school, our Kellogg MBA essay tips will help you knock it out of the park.
The Kellogg School is a close-knit community that values a diverse community and philanthropy. To craft successful Kellogg MBA essays, first do your research. For example, what are the activities, clubs, events, classes, and professors you are most excited about? While talking to students and alums, look for ways you will jump in and contribute to the Kellogg community.
“We develop leaders who are empathetic and innovative and who harness the power of diverse teams to meet complex challenges.”—Kellogg School of Management
Advice From One of SBC’s Resident Kellogg Experts
SBC Principal Consultant Caryn Altman previously served as an admissions officer at Kellogg and holds an MBA from the school. For these Kellogg MBA essay tips, Caryn describes the importance of “unique points of difference” throughout your application. It can be challenging to distinguish yourself from other applicants of similar backgrounds.
“This is especially the case for those coming from oversubscribed professional backgrounds such as consulting and banking, along with oversubscribed populations from particular areas of the world,” Caryn notes.
Curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.
With the rise of generative AI tools, Kellogg has included directions to cite any use:
Generative AI can be a powerful aid in crafting an essay, but it should be used as a supplementary tool rather than a replacement for your own effort and creativity. If you choose to use generative AI in your essays, do so with integrity to ensure you provide genuine insights and reflections. You should also cite the use of generative AI by referencing the tool at the conclusion of your essay (Name of Tool, URL).
If you choose to use AI for this set of essays, be sure to fact-check any information gathered. These essays should reflect your ideas and personal details to be persuasive.
Kellogg MBA Essay Tips
Essay One: Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words)
This broad question focuses on why you are pursuing an MBA, why now, what your professional aspirations are, and how Kellogg will help you achieve them. Kellogg refers to this as “your journey.” Note the term “intentionality,” which indicates that you are in charge of your career and future direction. Professionals with clear and realistic goals are most successful.
The overarching narrative of this essay should provide insight into your decision to pursue an MBA. You may wish to reflect on your career to date or explain specific steps that they see on your resume. As you consider your MBA, what is motivating that choice? Think about your post-MBA career goals and what you will learn in the Kellogg MBA program as inputs to this decision.
This question has many parts, and one to consider is why now is the right time for your MBA. For some candidates, an MBA might be the obvious next step and not require extensive explanation. For others, there may be several possible career routes to choose from. If that’s the case, this essay is an opportunity to describe why pursuing an MBA is the right choice.
Finally, demonstrate that you’ve researched and determined that Kellogg is the ideal place to pursue your MBA. What classes, opportunities, or internships will accelerate your goals? What skill or knowledge gaps do you hope to address at Kellogg? Think about the areas where you need to develop to continue your post-MBA journey. Ideally, you will connect with the Kellogg community as part of your research and visit campus or attend in-person information sessions.
Learn more about this program on B-Schooled Podcast #86: Spotlight on Kellogg School of Management
Essay Two: Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. (450 words)
This new question from Kellogg wants to learn about a challenging professional situation you’ve faced. Ideally, you were leading a team or coordinating an initiative since the essay asks you to conclude by reflecting on the development of your leadership style. Alternatively, you may have contributed to a team effort and learned something positive or negative about leadership that has impacted your own style.
This open-ended question requires you to briefly outline the situation, including when, where, and who was involved. A few well-placed specifics will add color and individuality without adding length to the essay. You’ll want to provide an overview of the professional problem or challenge, crystallizing for the reader what the decision was that you had to make.
Use most of the space to illustrate several values or factors you considered regarding the decision. Was it a sensitive subject? Did it test your ethical standards? What was at stake? Just like a behavioral interview, describe your thought process to the reader.
After sharing the values that guided your decision, indicate the choice you ultimately made and the result. Was it the best alternative? Important lessons can still be learned from mistakes or bad outcomes. As you conclude the essay, be sure to specify how this impacted your leadership style, as requested in the prompt. Have you used this leadership lesson since making the decision? Or, perhaps you will bring the lesson learned or your refined leadership style to the Kellogg community.
Career Goals Short Answer Questions: Please tell us about your career goals. You’ll also have the opportunity to expand on this in other parts of the evaluation process.
Short-answer question #1: Share with us the motivations behind your desired industry/function after graduating from Kellogg. (500 characters)
First, consider intentionality when describing your motivations to pursue your industry and function. Second, what have past experiences and research taught you about this career path? Third, be specific and brief in your response.
Short-answer question #2: What does a successful career look like five years after you graduate from Kellogg? (500 characters)
Each person defines success differently. What does a successful career look like after some time in your industry and function? It may be a promotion to the next level, making an impact on your organization, or accomplishing a specific career milestone. Again, intentionality will lead you to your longer-term goal and help you define success for yourself.
The Video Essay
The Kellogg admissions team advises the following in regards to the video essay: We’ve read your essays, we’ve read your resume — now we want you to bring all that to life in a video. Show us the person behind all those carefully crafted words.
The video will be comprised of three questions, each designed to help you showcase your personality and share some of the experiences that brought you here today.
Here are some things to keep in mind as you prepare to complete this section:
- Video essays are due 96 hours after the application deadline.
- A video essay link will appear on your application status page after you submit your application and payment.
- You will need an internet-connected computer with a webcam and microphone
- The video should take about 20-25 minutes to complete, which includes time for setup.
Watching a video essay gives the admissions committee a more authentic sense of who you are. Therefore, the Kellogg admissions committee advises: “Be yourself. We don’t want scripted answers — we want to get to know you and learn something new. Please do not try to reuse an example from an essay that might, in some roundabout way, answer the video essay question asked. We already read that essay, so why tell us that story again?”
Kellogg’s video essays should reveal your personality. Preparation will help you be comfortable and be yourself when you are recording the video. That said, it’s essential not to sound like you are “acting.”
Recruit a friend or family member to ask you common interview questions and record your answers. Think of a few personal stories about your background that may be good examples for the video questions you encounter.
Reapplicant Essay: How have you grown or changed personally and professionally since you previously applied and what steps have you taken to become the strongest candidate you can be? (approximately 250 words)
Provide tangible evidence that you have improved your candidacy in this answer. Some visible improvements could be a higher GMAT score or earning an A in any new college quant classes you have taken.
In addition, you could describe a promotion at work or new volunteer activities. Another area could be increased responsibility at work or in your extracurriculars. Finally, you could focus on how you have refined your personal goals or discuss how your career goals have changed since you last applied to Kellogg.
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Now that you’ve seen these Kellogg MBA essay tips, would you like personalized help with your MBA applications? Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your needs, from our All-In Partnership to test prep to hourly help with targeted tasks. Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
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. ×
