We’ve invited mbaMission to share their Business School Essays Analyses as they’re released for the 2014-2015 application season. Here is their analysis for University of Michigan (Ross). 

The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan has refashioned its essay questions, going “smaller” with its requirements, as have several other schools this application season. Ross’s broadly worded essay prompts give you ample breadth—if not an overabundance of words—in which to tell your story. As always, think carefully about what you want to say and the impression you want to make before you start writing, because more opportunity lurks here than you might realize at first.

Essay 1: What are you most proud of professionally and why? What did you learn from that experience? (400 words)
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Our good friends at mbaMission have released their 2012 Essay Analyses for Columbia Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wharton, Stern School of Business, Yale School of Management, and the Ross School of Business. We’ve compiled these six analyses into one handy 2012 Essay Analysis Resource for you. Enjoy!

Columbia Business School Essay Analysis, 2012-2013

Applicants to Columbia Business School (CBS) this year must complete one short-answer question and two essays. Perhaps CBS is returning to the mind-set that less is more by getting rid of the third full essay from last year and adding a 200-character, career goal mini essay instead.

Stanford Graduate School of Business Essay Analysis, 2012-2013

The Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) has tweaked its essay questions and word limits this year, moving from an 1,800 word count across four essays to a 1,600 word count across three. Some quick math will reveal that you have more words per essay now”maybe the admissions committee felt it was not getting the true depth of candidate experiences previously? The most important broad advice we can give you is to be sure that you keep the reader learning. Keep your audience in mind”your admissions reader will be going through hundreds of essays this application season. If he/she gets to your essay three and has to read about the same theme yet again, he/she will be bored or frustrated or both. So as you write, be sure that you are introducing new experiences and dimensions of your profile. This will greatly improve the likelihood that you will be able to hold your reader’s attention throughout.

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It’s application season, and our partners at mbaMission have been working hard to give you the best chance at your MBA applications. As essay questions come out, they have been systematically writing analyses of each question for each school. You can find more on their blog, and you can see the latest essays they have analyzed below. Just click on the name of the school for the analysis:

• University of Michigan (Ross) Essay Analysis, 2011“2012: questions include, “introduce yourself,” “what are your career goals” and “what are you most passionate about?”
• Duke University (Fuqua) Essay Analysis, 2011-2012: questions include “what inspired you to take your career path,” “how will your background and values enhance other Duke students’ experience” and “why Duke?”
• Dartmouth University (Tuck) Essay Analysis, 2011“2012: questions include “why are you getting an MBA,” “discuss a meaningful leadership experience,” and “describe a failure you have experienced.”
• University of California Los Angeles (Anderson) Essay Analysis, 2011“2012: questions include “what event/experience has shaped your character,” and “what are your career goals?”