Essays are always a key component of the ISB application. Essays reveal a candidate’s strengths, aspirations, and motivations beyond what the test scores and the resume reveal.
In this post, we discuss some of the best practices that candidates should observe, while drafting their essays.
Treat essays as a Critical Reasoning question
We have all done critical reasoning as part of our GMAT/GRE/CAT preparation. Remember how the correct answer in critical reasoning ties everything together, removing the weakness of the argument, demonstrating clear cause & effect, and explicitly mentioning the inherent assumptions. Treat the ISB essays as a critical reasoning question, especially taking the following points into consideration:
Use evidence, not assertions: For instance, rather than just unsubstantiated claims like “I am a strong leader” or “I am passionate about impact”, prove each claim with concrete examples.
Ensure logical flow and relevance: Ensure that your examples logically support your main point. For instance, we received the following writeup from an applicant:
As VP at AIESEC, I was responsible for enabling college students to go abroad for six-week international exchanges. I created support teams, redesigned structures, and talked to stakeholders, thereby nurturing future leaders.
This is a logically flawed argument, since points such as creating support teams, redesigning structures, and talking to stakeholders do not sufficiently demonstrate how this candidate nurtures future leaders.
Show causality, not just chronology: Do not just narrate what happened; explain why you acted the way you did. Wherever possible, narrate the impact of your actions as well.
Stick to the prompt
Every essay prompt has a specific theme. Candidates must stick to that theme, while framing their response. For instance, we worked with a candidate who served as the captain of his school football team. The candidate considered this an accomplishment significant enough to be mentioned in the essays. Since he ran out of space in the other essays, he insisted that this accomplishment be included in the goals essay (the Why MBA essay). Only after significant deliberation did the candidate realize that the goals essay was just not the theme appropriate to mention this accomplishment, since such facts come across as completely out of place, diluting the impact of the entire essay. Mentioning several disjointed pieces of information in an essay makes the essay feel scattered rather than coherent.
Provide context
Let’s look at an except from an essay:
I had a very challenging project to execute. Many aspects of the project made it challenging: stringent timelines, limited resources, and demanding stakeholders. I exhibited mature stakeholder management skills and steered my way through the limited resources at my disposal, ultimately delivering the project on time.
Look at how generic the above narration is; the evaluator of the essay does not get any sense of what the project was, what made it challenging, and which specific resources were constrained.
Similarly, let us look at another excerpt from an essay:
Within six months of starting my professional life, I got an opportunity to lead the team.
How can a person with just six months of total professional experience be given a lead role? If the evaluator of the essay finds such claims of leadership incredible and unconvincing, the credibility of the entire essay comes under a cloud of doubt. Hence, provide context to your claim. For instance:
I joined a newly formed team in my company as a fresher. Within six months of starting my professional life, however, my team-lead resigned, temporarily thrusting me into the position of team-lead until the company hired a new lead.
This sounds so much more credible and realistic.
Avoid using cliches
The usage of cliches depicts lack of originality of thought and poor articulation skills. Cliches make the essay uninformative and undifferentiated. Hence, the usage of cliches should be avoided. Some of the commonly used cliches that should be avoided are: second to none, change is the only constant, last but not the least, sky is the limit, needless to say, think outside the box, all said and done.
Avoid using very complicated jargon
Some candidates mistakenly believe that using complicated words reflects mature writing skills. The truth, however, is that complex language often masks thinking rather than revealing it. If an idea is sound, it should survive in plain, direct English. Appropriateness of words, rather than their complexity, should determine the language of an essay.
An essay evaluator who has to use a dictionary to interpret your language is unlikely to give your essay a high grade; remember that your essay evaluator has the task to perhaps evaluate scores of essays every day. Hence, your essays should be clear and intelligible so evaluators can assess them easily.
Avoid AI
AI typically uses safe phrasing and balanced tone in crafting essays. In doing so, it robs the essay of an authentic voice, making the essay indistinguishable. Further, while AI can generate essays based upon the content you provide, it often falls short of providing recommendations on whether the content itself is the most appropriate.
Hope that the above best practices help you in articulating impactful essays. Refer to our posts on ISB PGP essays, ISB YL essays, and ISB PGPPro essays for more specific suggestions.