2019–2020 MBA Essay Analysis: INSEAD, UCLA Anderson, UVA Darden
How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? With these thorough essay analyses, our friends at mbaMission help you conceptualize your essay ideas and understand how to execute, so that your experiences truly stand out.
This week, we round up essay analyses for INSEAD, the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and the University of Virginia’s Darden School.
INSEAD ESSAY ANALYSIS
2019-2020
We noted no adjustments in INSEAD’s MBA application essay prompts this year. This season’s candidates must respond to four short career-focused queries and provide three motivation essays that together total 1,200 words. Applicants are also tasked with completing a video component for which they answer four questions as four separate video recordings. Given the sheer number of prompts, tasks, and questions involved, some candidates may find INSEAD’s essay gauntlet a bit intimidating, if not outright punishing. Read on for our full analysis of the school’s prompts, which we hope will make the process a little easier to manage.
UCLA ANDERSON ESSAY ANALYSIS
2019-2020
The UCLA Anderson School of Management appears to be embracing a kind of “less is more” approach with its application essay prompts this year, having cut its total word count for its essays from 800—which we already considered rather sparse—to just 550. What was previously its first required essay (500 words) about applicants’ short- and long-term professional aspirations and why Anderson is the right school for them has been broken down into two mini-essays (150 words each) that cover essentially the same information but now in a more succinct and direct way. Meanwhile, its 300-word “short answer” question from last year about candidates’ passions has been replaced with a 250-word submission on a characteristic applicants share with Anderson’s student community. Even the school’s reapplicants must contend with a stricter limit on what they can share with the admissions committee, now that that essay has been cut from 750 words to 500. All this minimization might tempt more candidates to consider taking advantage of the school’s optional essay, but Anderson specifies that this submission is for “extenuating circumstances” only, so applicants need to be prudent about doing so. Read on for our full analysis of the school’s essay questions for 2019–2020.
UVA DARDEN ESSAY ANALYSIS
2019-2020
After completely reworking its MBA application essay questions last season, the admissions committee at the University of Virginia’s Darden School has done just a little fine-tuning this year. Candidates must still respond to five prompts and do so within a 700-word limit, but a new query has been added, while two previous ones have been combined into a single question. As a whole, the prompts again cover applicants’ personal, educational, and career objectives while touching on aspects of Darden’s particular character and ethos—notably, its learning teams, vast international reach, and (now) diversity. In this analysis, we offer our best essay advice for all of the school’s 2019–2020 questions.
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Insider’s Guides:
For a thorough exploration of each business school’s academic program, unique offerings, social life, and other key characteristics and resources, we recommend downloading a complimentary copy of our school-specific Insider’s Guides. Informed by firsthand insight from students, alumni, program representatives, and admissions officers, our Insider’s Guides offer a detailed look at each business school’s most defining characteristics. According to Poets & Quants, “A more thorough analysis of a school will not be found elsewhere on the web.”
- Insider’s Guide to INSEAD
- Insider’s Guide to UCLA Anderson School of Management
- Insider’s Guide to UVA Darden School of Business Administration
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