The best MBA essays, the most readable ones, are often written in the form of a story. It is a form you could use to tremendous advantage. However, this is more easily said than done. You can try to tell your story and botch it all up. Story-telling does not come naturally to everyone. It is an art that has to be learned. As an MBA admission consultant, I have spent a significant portion of my life to perfect this art.

Leveraging my vast experience in MBA admission consulting, I will discuss some basic ways of creating a compelling story in your MBA Essays:

1. Well begun is half done: make a dramatic opening in your MBA essays

You must hook your readers right at the start, or else they might find their attention wavering even before getting into your story. Good story-tellers often employ a non-linear narrative, that is, they choose not to begin at the beginning, but somewhere in the middle.

Consider the following openings:

• I was seated at my desk that day when my boss called me up to say that he wanted to see me. I had successfully completed a project a few days earlier, for which he had congratulated me heartily, and I suspected that he was calling me in the same connection. Therefore, I entered his office optimistically. He was not alone – the head of HR was seated by his side.
• I entered my boss’s office with a smile on my face, and why not? Just a few days earlier he had congratulated me heartily for some fine work that I had done, and I knew I was in his good books. But he looked sombre now, and he was not alone. The head of HR sat grimly by his side, and I wondered what on earth he was doing there.

While both the openings introduce you to the setting of the story, I would prefer the second option as an MBA admission consultant. The first version follows a chronological order and, hence, fails to infuse any real tension. In the second version, questions arise in your mind straightaway: why is the boss sombre? Why is he not alone? What’s the head of HR doing with him, and why is this man also looking so grim?

You have created tension. You can’t make a story grip without it.

2. Create sympathy as you build up the suspense in your MBA essays.

Once he sat me down, this was what my boss said: “We’d like you to know that this is a business decision and not a personal one. We appreciate the work you have done here, but we have called you to discuss the termination of your employment with us.”

At once, the reader knows what you stand to lose, and he/she is on your side. Losing a job is no joke, and especially the fact that your boss is clearly appreciative of your work makes the sudden development of your termination meeting all the more traumatic.

Add the sympathy you have gained to the element of mystery your account has created so far. The reader will naturally want to know why, out of the blue, the management took such a drastic step, as well as how you will cope with the situation.

3. Demonstrate character in your MBA essays.

• I couldn’t believe my ears. My jaw dropped. But I quickly gathered myself to ask, “Could I know the reason, sir?”
• There was an envelope lying in front of my boss. He picked it up and, offering it to me, remarked, “You are being terminated without cause, but we would be glad to give you four weeks’ severance pay.”
• I held the envelope in my hand and resolved not to ask again, not to whine. I would cope, I told myself.

Demonstrating your strength helps the reader identify with you and makes him more eager to read on. In the above extract, the writer has revealed a few noteworthy qualities – the ability to quickly recover from a shock, the self-esteem evident in his decision not to plead for a reason once it became clear that the boss was not interested in providing one, and the writer’s confidence that he had it in him to deal with the situation.

4. Speak of the lessons learned.

I came out of the office and thought long and hard. Had I unknowingly committed some mistake? As much as I reviewed the past since the time my boss had profusely praised me a few days ago, I just couldn’t figure out where I might have gone wrong. And I thought, had I really gone wrong, wouldn’t he have spelt it out to me?

I returned home and went into deep thoughts. It occurred to me that, no matter how good the going might seem at a particular moment, you were always at another’s mercy when you were working for somebody else. Therefore, I reasoned, why don’t I start my own business? Why don’t I become my own boss?

His setback has made him introspect, and his introspection has opened up new possibilities in his life. As an MBA admission consultant, I believe that when you speak of the lessons you have learned from a crisis in your life or career, you are in effect, telling the school that you are a positive thinker, and that you have the capacity to grow.

5. Describe the process in your MBA essays.

Drawing on my savings, and with the help of a few friends, I opened up a courier service in my hometown Chicago.

Assuming you are writing this essay, you could, begin with this statement, give an insider account of all the steps you took to in the process of starting your business, the problems you encountered, the contacts you made, and the new things you came to know.

6. The Story’s Resolution: how were the lessons implemented?

Over the next three years, I opened three more branches in the city, and today I am poised to expand my business to New York and Florida. In the long run, I plan to set up shop in Singapore and Dubai as well.

I often thank my lucky stars that I was fired!

Incidentally, I learned that, a week after my sacking, my boss’s nephew took my place in the company. That tells its own story, doesn’t it?

The resolution releases the tension in the story and rounds it off.

Remember, a story needs a main character (you, where the essay is concerned); this character enters into a crisis and need to cross obstacles. The greater the obstacles, the more gripping the story usually becomes. For example, in the story given here, you could add twists even towards the end, with new problems entering the scene when the writer is trying to establish his courier service. But once the protagonist surmounts the challenges based on the strength of his character and abilities, the story comes to a close.

As an MBA admission consultant, I believe that your story needs to focus on some additional elements. Firstly, you have to show what lessons the crisis taught you; and secondly, you have to demonstrate that you not only learnt your lessons, but were also able to put them into practice in a real-life situation.