MBA Essay Questions That Put Applicants in the Spotlight

In an effort to better determine which applicants will best fit in on campus, business schools are turning to nontraditional MBA admissions essay questions. The purpose is to garner information beyond the usual résumé, work experience, and leadership potential featured in the rest of the application. And it doesn’t hurt that these more personal questions call for more interesting and creative responses that capture the attention of the admissions committee members reading them.

Ultimately, schools want to enroll students who are a good fit for their offerings and culture, and this is one of the ways they are attempting to find their perfect matches. Each business school has crafted its own unique question—from the Columbia Business School option of writing about an outrageous business plan to the New York University’s Stern School of Business “personal expression” question, which has applicants sharing their passions about everything from music CDs to recipes. The majority of these nontraditional essay questions are meant to unearth personal characteristics, style, and attitude as a means of understanding the type of contribution an applicant would make to his or her class and the campus community as a whole.