Five Ways to Ruin an Application Essay

Admissions officers at top business schools like to say they've seen it all when it comes to B-school application essays. Still, they sometimes come across an essay that surprises them—and not in a good way. One of these landed on the desk of Isser Gallogly, the admissions director of New York University's Stern School of Business a few years back. The applicant used the school's essay question on creativity as a platform to explain his penchant for writing and posting fake ads on Craigslist, which included an excerpt of an ad he had written for Valentine's Day.

"You start reading it, and it gets worse and worse and worse," Gallogly said, referring to the post's derogatory tone toward women and dating. "You finish it and sort of ask yourself: 'What is this person thinking who writes something like this, thinks it is funny, and also thinks it is appropriate to send to a business school?"