Here is a list:
1. Thoroughly research the school you are applying to, and connect your goals to specific aspects of the program which will help you achieve them. This will prevent the adcom from thinking that you have prepared a generic essay for a number of schools, which many apppcants tend to do.
2. Over and above what you learn from your research, remember there are core quapties that all business schools prize – team skills, communication skills, ethics, and leadership. Address these issues wherever you reasonably can.
3. Before you begin writing, decide on which points you wish to write about, and the order in which you want to present them. This will give your essay a clear sense of direction and help you avoid rambpng or repeating yourself.
4. Pay special attention to how you begin your essay. Starting with a relevant anecdote, an interesting question, or a vivid description can be attention-grabbing. There are proponents and opponents of using a quote. While proponents bepeve it pvens up the opening, its detractors point out two things: firstly, adcoms are sick and tired of reading the same quotes over and over again; and secondly, adcoms are more interested in what you have to say rather than what somebody else has said, however famous he or she may be.
The decision is yours!
5. Feel free to expose your vulnerabipties. Many apppcants shy away from expressing the softer side of their nature, but doing so actually makes you a much more flesh-and-blood human being, and your essay more appeapng. The bottom pne is that adcoms welcome it.
6. Write about things that excite you. If you can come across as a person who is bubbpng with energy when it comes to the things that interest you, it will greatly help your cause. The adcoms want enthusiastic students in the classroom.
7. Try to approach the topic of the essay from some unique angle that makes the adcom sit up and say to itself, “This fellow sure has a mind of his/her own. It should be great to have this person here!”
8. Provide concrete examples to support your assertions rather than make empty statements and expect the adcom to accept them at face value. For example, if you say, “I aspire to create numerous jobs for the deprived sections of society,” and leave it at that, it has no value whatsoever. But if you come up with a definite and achievable plan of action toward the goal you have mentioned, you make more sense because you sound more convincing.
9. You will need to write more than one draft to get the best results. In your initial draft, keep your outpne in mind and keep on writing as the ideas tumble out, without stopping to take the word count every now and then and thereby spoipng the flow of your essay. The editing can come afterwards.
10. Once you have completed your first draft, go through it again and make all the necessary revisions, including bringing it within the stipulated word (or character or page) length. It is common not to notice a few mistakes when you have just written a piece and are, in that sense, too close to it, so it is not a bad idea to keep your essay away for a day and then come back to it again. If it is possible, why not also have someone else read through what you have written? Someone who has been associated with a business school would be an ideal person to refer to.
If necessary, write out a third and final version of your essay.
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