Harvard MBA Essay Guide (2024 Entering Class)

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2023-24 Harvard MBA Essay: As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program? (900 Words)

Only 1 in 9 gains admission to Harvard MBA program. If you write your essay focused only on your achievements, post-MBA goals, and your pre-MBA experience, you will be among the rejected applicants.

ATTENTION is the secret ingredient. How will you get the attention of the essay reviewer?

You know why parables shared 1000 years ago are still shared among us?

Storytelling!

Yes, the art of storytelling has won presidency for Obama, transformed Apple from an unknown start-up to a brand synonymous with Quality, and gained admission for the average MBA Applicant.

F1GMAT's Harvard MBA Essay guide will teach you how to transform your essay to an epic life journey with trials and tribulations that will move the admission team.

Who Should Buy The Harvard MBA Essay Guide?

If your essay looks too bland, Harvard MBA Essay Guide will show you, with examples, on how to use the elements of Storytelling like Incorporating "The Struggle", Using Emotional connectors, narrating the Journey and the use of Chronology, Vividness and Active Verbs to transform your essays.

If you are stuck in the Writing process, Harvard MBA Essay Guide will show you how to silence the Analytic Mind and overcome mental blocks.

If you feel that the essays are not persuasive, Harvard MBA Essay Guide will teach you how to use the W-Pattern narrative, Contexts, Turning Points and "The Show Don't Tell Approach" to write a Winning MBA Essay.

If you don't have enough leadership experience, Harvard MBA Essay Guide will show you how to highlight non-obvious qualities like Trust, Focus, Listening Skills, Personal Responsibility, Humility, Self-Knowledge, and other secondary traits to prove your leadership.

If you don't know how to review your essays, Harvard MBA Essay Guide will demonstrate how to improve readability with the power of iteration, and maintain your original voice by removing review biases.

Pages: 412

Entering Class:  2024

Author: Atul Jose, Founding Consultant (F1GMAT)

Over the past 14 years, Atul Jose has helped MBA applicants gain admissions to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Haas, Yale, NYU Stern, and other top schools.

Through F1GMAT's Essay Guides, Atul is bringing the secrets of creating persuasive essays into an easy-to-read book format.

Harvard MBA Essay Guide Includes

20 Narratives for Harvard MBA Essay    

1) The Power of Community    
Theme: Values that transcend from personal to professional life.    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – The Power of Community (781 Words)    

2) Entrepreneurship as an Identify and Supporting Minority Entrepreneurs    
Theme: Entrepreneurship as an identity and failure as a guiding force to systemic change    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Entrepreneurship as an Identity and supporting minority Entrepreneurs (664 Words)    

3) Following Passion and consciously challenging oneself    
Theme: Starting in an Unconventional career before choosing traditional pre-MBA careers.    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Following Passion and consciously challenging oneself (711 Words)    

4) Life Starts at No    
Theme: ‘No’ as a motivator to Persist and overcome setbacks and weaknesses    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Life Starts at No (618 Words)    

5) Volunteering for a passion project    
Theme: Power of mentorship in overcoming systemic challenges and giving back to the community    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Establishing a Cooperative and Transforming Rural Telecom (695 Words)    

6) Small Business Values    
Theme: Small Business Relationships in a Digital World    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Small Business Values during COVID crisis (852 Words)    

7) Military and the search for IMPACT    
Theme: Legacy outside the Military    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Military and the search for IMPACT (826 Words)    

8) Numbers to Healthcare Entrepreneurship    
Theme: Risk Averseness to Accidental Entrepreneur    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Numbers to Healthcare Entrepreneurship (820 Words)    

9) The American Dream and Harvard’s Peers    
Theme: American culture of Risk-Taking and Harvard MBA    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – The American Dream and Harvard’s Peers (662 Words)    

10) Marketing in Volunteering    
Theme: Resourcefulness to maximize the reach of underfunded non-profits    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay - Volunteering (Marketing in Volunteering)  (758 Words)    

11) Stoic Disregard for Setbacks and value of Freedom    
Theme: Life’s unpredictability and the power of Freedom    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay - Stoic Disregard for Setbacks and value of Freedom (636 Words)    

12) Consulting vs. the Power of Data    
Theme: Safe Job in Consulting to the Lure of Technology    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Consulting vs. the Power of Data (535 Words)    

13) Guilt of working in the Oil and Gas industry    
Theme: Non-renewable to human’s biggest transition event    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Guilt of working in the Oil & Gas Industry (592 Words)    

14) Breaking Away from Family Business    
Theme: Learning from the family business and finding one’s voice    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Breaking Away from Family Business (607 Words)    

15) Trauma, Healing and Finding Authentic Self    
Theme: Trauma from War and sharing one’s peace with the underprivileged children    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Trauma, Healing and Finding Authentic Self (843 Words)    

16) Crypto – As a Tool for Good    
Theme: Crypto as a Tool for Good    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Crypto As a Tool for Good (687 Words)    

17) Finding Creative Solution to Scarcity    
Theme: Finding Creative Solutions in a resource-scarce educational ecosystem    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Finding Creative Solution in Scarcity (834 Words)    

18) Passion vs. Talent    
Theme: Passion vs. Talent – Finding true calling through Harvard MBA    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Passion vs. Talent (882 Words)    

19) War and Starting Over Again    
Theme: War and Starting Over Again    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Starting Over Again (861 Words)    

20) Gaming for Good    
Theme: Addiction, Gaming for Good and Transforming African American Communities    
Sample Harvard MBA Essay – Gaming for Good (840 Words)    

+ The Art of Storytelling
+ Leadership Narratives
+ Review Tips
+ Persuasion Strategies
+ The Secret to "unleashing" your unique voice

+ How to write about your Strengths
+ How to write about your Weaknesses

 

 

Reviews: 
"Recommended. Good advice from a writing sage. In this unique exploration of storytelling for Essays, the author demonstrates how the story is central to standing out from the competitors. The skill is powerful for Harvard MBA application. My favorites are essays where the setback element is strong. Atul goes into some dark places with his sample but doesn't linger too long to make the essay narrative about the setbacks. The switching techniques and the leadership lessons outside the cliches I have read in other consultants' books make the Sample Essays unique. " - Verified Purchase
 
"I loved this book. Mr. Jose writes in a digestible language that is engaging and easy to follow. Great for applicants who has a foundational command over writing. The book builds on the skills and goes into depth about storytelling and using patterns to engage readers. He outlines strategies that balance story with substance. I also liked the sample essays. Many I found moving and opened up to the possibility of highlighting certain vulnerable moments in my life. The transitions from personal to professional and back to personal through a seamless narrative is a learning I picked up from the book. "
- Verified Purchase
 
"Atul spends a good part of the book breaking down how to add the story to the essays, some of which is unconventional from any books on writing I have read. The book can get technical at times, but the examples reveal truths that hit a special emotional connection. The techniques he broke down in a logical way were an antithesis to the prose he uses in the essay. TBH, it made me forget about all the rules he demonstrated. And that is a skill of a master storyteller. It made me wonder about the broken persons quoted in the samples who fought against all odds to find a chance to be among the best at Harvard. At times, some lines made me think hard about my life, the hurtful comments, life's unpredictability, and the reserve I found to fight back. Inspiring!" - Verified Purchase
 
"Bottom line, this is the best book on writing Essays in the market. The book includes hundreds of brilliant, actionable techniques and strategies to expand applicants' storytelling skills. As a first-time writer who is used only to emails and reports, this book helped me with the tough decisions of designing the story. I planned to read some interesting sections from the index, but Atul's voice is so unique that he made me care about writing. I read the essay writing tips section of the book straight from beginning to end. Areas, where I feel the book helps are writing realistic event description, characters in your life that is relevant for the MBA application & essays, and the overall tone that is not too blog-like or too formal. " - Verified Purchase
 
"Despite being an Essay Guide for MBA application, the concepts discussed in the book are relevant for writing in general. The author masterfully explains why we connect with certain stories, from the use of chronology, the transitions, and the reveal in the 'middle' that breaks the expected structure of an essay. It's for anyone learning to write essays. While the examples are largely from profiles of applicants who had considerable struggles in their life, there were a couple of examples that looked similar to my profile - a typical IB professional from the East Coast. I found the book valuable as I could tell the best story for my application." - Verified Purchase