NYU Stern School of Business Fall 2019 MBA Application Essays

The NYU Stern School of Business has posted the following MBA essay prompts for the 2018-19 admissions cycle. This season, the school has expanded the EQ Endorsement requirement introduced last year and will now pose five questions to your endorsers.

Essay 1: Professional Aspirations

(500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)

• What are your short and long-term career goals?
• How will the MBA help you achieve them?

Essay 2: Personal Expression (a.k.a. “Pick Six”)

Describe yourself to the Admissions Committee and to your future classmates using six images and corresponding captions. Your uploaded PDF should contain all of the following elements:

• A brief introduction or overview of your “Pick Six” (no more than 3 sentences).
• Six images that help illustrate who you are.
• A one-sentence caption for each of the six images that helps explain why they were selected and are significant to you.

Note: Your visuals may include photos, infographics, drawings, or any other images that best describe you. Your document must be uploaded as a single PDF. The essay cannot be sent in physical form or be linked to a website.

Essay 3: Additional Information (Optional)

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

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, further explanation of your undergraduate record or self-reported academic transcript(s), plans to retake the GMAT, GRE, IELTS or TOEFL, or any other relevant information.

The EQ Endorsement 

NYU Stern calls IQ+EQ a core value of the school, and it seeks exceptional individuals who possess both intellectual and interpersonal strengths. Emotional intelligence (EQ) skills such as self-awareness, empathy, communication and self-management are at the core of our community of leaders.

• You are required to submit two EQ Endorsements with your application.
• One EQ Endorsement must come from your current supervisor. If you cannot include an endorsement from your current supervisor, you must provide an explanation in the online application.
• The second EQ Endorsement may come from someone who knows you professionally and/or personally.
• The endorsement must be from someone who knows you personally and/or professionally and can act as a persuasive advocate of your EQ strengths.
• Immediate family members should not write your EQ Endorsement.

EQ Endorsement Questions
Your EQ endorsers will be provided with a definition of IQ + EQ and why it is important at NYU Stern, and will be asked to respond to the following prompts:

• Please provide a brief description of your interaction with the applicant and, if applicable, the applicant’s role in your organization.
• How does the applicant’s performance compare to that of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles (if applicable)? Please provide specific examples. (E.g. what are the applicant’s principal strengths?)
• Describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant’s response.
• IQ+EQ is a core value of NYU Stern, and we seek exceptional individuals who possess both intellectual and interpersonal strengths. Emotional intelligence (EQ) skills such as self-awareness, empathy, communication and self-management are at the core of our community of leaders. Please provide one specific and compelling example to demonstrate the applicant’s emotional intelligence.
• (Optional) Is there anything else we should know?

When introduced last year, Associate Dean of MBA Admissions Isser Gallogly had this to say about the new requirement: “We believe these changes will help applicants more effectively communicate to the committee who they are as a person, which programs best suit their goals and how they demonstrate EQ.  Additionally, these changes are much more in keeping with the ‘social media’ style of communication of today’s applicant.”

“Applicants communicate with much more than words these days and visual elements now play a dominant role,” Gallogly said.

For more information on the this year’s NYU Stern MBA application, please visit the admissions website.