how to write an essay about kellogg

Kellogg Essay Examples (23-24): Cracking The Code to Win

Are you an applicant trying to crack the code of Kellogg’s MBA admissions process? Crafting a stellar application essay can be daunting for many, but with our helpful tips and tricks as well as detail-oriented Kellogg essay examples, you’re sure to create an effective piece of writing that will set your candidacy apart. Whether it is through illustrating growth in professional experiences or leveraging diversity stories – we’ll show you how to tell the story of who you are and why Kellogg should say yes! We understand that the road to MBA admission can seem murky—but fear not! With this post focused on 2023-2024 Kellogg essay examples, get ready to take ownership of your story and begin your journey toward achieving your business school dreams.

Introducing Kellogg and Its Application Process

Kellogg School of Management , a part of the esteemed Northwestern University, is renowned for its emphasis on global and experiential learning. The application process at Kellogg is designed to assess not just the academic prowess of potential candidates, but also their leadership attributes, team skills, and potential to make an impact. The process typically involves multiple essays, recommendation letters , and an in-person or virtual interview . These components strive to give the admissions team a holistic view of each applicant, ensuring that those accepted will not only thrive in the academic environment but also contribute meaningfully to the Kellogg community.

Why studying Kellogg essay examples is key to success

Studying Kellogg essay examples is key to success for several reasons. These examples provide invaluable insight into what the admissions committee values and is looking for in potential candidates. They offer a blueprint for effective storytelling – showcasing not just the what, but the how and why of your experiences, aspirations, and values. Examining these essays can help applicants understand how to balance between personal anecdotes and professional accomplishments, demonstrating both competence and character. Understanding the structure, tone, and content of successful essays also allows applicants to avoid common pitfalls, craft compelling narratives, and ultimately stand out in a highly competitive applicant pool.

How to read and analyze Kellogg essay examples for improved application essays

When reviewing Kellogg essay examples, it’s vital to approach them analytically rather than imitatively. The goal is not to replicate another applicant’s story but to glean insights on structure, tone, and content. Start by examining how the essay begins – does it grab your attention, and how does it do so? Take note of the balance between personal anecdotes and professional aspirations; a compelling essay seamlessly weaves these elements together. Look at how the writer demonstrates their understanding of Kellogg’s culture and values. Do they make clear connections between their goals and what Kellogg can offer? Pay attention to the language and style – is the tone formal or conversational? Does the writer use complex sentence structures or keep it simple? These considerations can help in honing your own unique narrative that is compelling and authentic.

Tips for writing an effective Kellogg essay

In crafting an effective Kellogg essay, it’s crucial to be clear, concise, and authentic. First off, start with a compelling introduction that hooks the reader’s attention. Draw on experiences that have shaped your professional aspirations, ensuring to tie these elements back to Kellogg’s values and offerings. Remember, specificity is key. Instead of writing in broad strokes, detail precisely how Kellogg’s resources or programs align with your goals. Finally, maintain a balance in tone – while professionalism is essential, a bit of conversational flair can inject personality into your essay. Keep the language simple and clear, and always proofread for grammar and punctuation errors. A well-crafted essay not only communicates your suitability for Kellogg but also reflects your ability to communicate effectively and thoughtfully.

Question 1: Analysis and Tips

Kellogg Leaders are primed to tackle today’s pressing concerns everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Tell us about a time in your life where you’ve needed a combination of skills to solve a problem or overcome a challenge. Which skills did you use? What did you accomplish? (450 words)

Analyzing the Question

This question from Kellogg is seeking to understand your problem-solving skills, leadership ability, and flexibility to use a combination of skills. It’s looking for evidence of how you’ve navigated complex situations to achieve a desired outcome. Your response should demonstrate your ability to think critically, adapt, collaborate, and lead, tying into the overall theme of leadership that Kellogg emphasizes.

The mention of boardrooms and neighborhoods suggests a consideration for community. Therefore, it is important to select leadership examples that not only demonstrate your ability to rally and guide others toward a common goal but also showcase your innovative approach.

This essay question allows for a wide range of recent examples, both personal and professional. Instead of solely measuring the importance of an experience based on monetary value or percentages, the focus should be on the challenges faced and the lessons learned. These challenges can range from logistical hurdles, such as coordinating internal teams while managing client expectations, to interpersonal obstacles, such as building a positive working relationship with a difficult colleague. Effective responses will highlight transferable skills that were developed or strengthened throughout the process, with the result being a lasting and positive impact.

When it comes to structure, we highly recommend using the STAR approach for crafting your response. Begin by setting the stage with a detailed description of the situation, including the key players and stakeholders involved. Then, transition smoothly into discussing the task at hand—clearly outlining the specific goals you needed to accomplish. Furthermore, it is imperative to recognize the challenges faced, highlighting the multitude of factors and complexities that were overcome to achieve victory. As you move forward, provide a cohesive and chronological account of the actions you took throughout the project or process. To maintain narrative flow, integrate the challenges you encountered and how you overcame them within this section, rather than separating them into distinct segments.

Finally, wrap up your response by commenting on the positive outcome of your efforts and how the story resolved. Conclude with a reflective note, discussing the valuable lessons learned and how they continue to shape your ability to bring significant value to the Kellogg community.

Tips for Convincing Response

• Choose an impactful story: Select a situation from your past experiences that had a significant impact on your professional or personal life. This could be a challenging project at work, a community initiative, or an unexpected crisis that required quick thinking and action.
• Detail your skills: Explicitly mention the skills you employed to address the situation. This could range from technical skills to soft skills like communication, team management, strategic thinking, or negotiation skills.
• Showcase problem-solving ability: Illustrate your problem-solving process clearly – how you assessed the situation, identified the problem, considered various solutions, and decided on the most effective one.
• Highlight your achievements: Conclude your response by discussing the outcome of the situation. What did you accomplish? How did the situation improve as a result of your actions? This should ideally tie back to the skills you employed.
• Connect with Kellogg: Finally, subtly highlight how this experience has prepared you for Kellogg’s leadership-focused environment. Show how this instance has honed your abilities and how you intend to further develop these skills at Kellogg

During my tenure as a Project Manager at XYZ Corp, we were faced with a complex challenge. A high-stakes project we were handling for an important client was falling behind schedule due to unforeseen technical issues. As the leader of the team, it was my responsibility to navigate this situation and deliver the project as promised.

I utilized a combination of technical, analytical, and interpersonal skills to tackle this problem. First, I applied project management and technical skills to understand the nature of the technical issues and assess their impact on the project timeline. I collaborated with the technical team to explore potential solutions, and we decided to implement a more efficient algorithm that could speed up our processing time.

Simultaneously, I leveraged my communication and negotiation skills to manage the client’s expectations. I clearly communicated the issues we were facing, and the steps we were taking to resolve them, and negotiated a slight extension for the project delivery.

To ensure that the team was motivated and focused, I employed leadership and team management skills. I arranged daily stand-ups to track our progress, identified and addressed any concerns team members had and fostered a positive and collaborative work environment.

Despite the odds, we managed to complete and deliver the project within the extended deadline. The client was satisfied with our transparency and the quality of our work. As a result, we not only retained the client but also secured a new project from them.

This experience was instrumental in enhancing my problem-solving, leadership, and communication skills. I also learned the importance of agility and adaptability in managing unexpected challenges. I believe the skills and experiences I have gained align well with Kellogg’s focus on cultivating versatile leaders who can navigate complex situations effectively. I am excited about the prospect of further developing these skills and leveraging them to tackle pressing issues in the Kellogg community and beyond.

Question 2: Analysis and Tips

At Kellogg, our values are based on research that concludes organizations comprised of leaders with varied backgrounds and perspectives outperform homogeneous ones. How do you believe your personal and professional experiences to date will help to enrich the Kellogg community? (450 words)

Analyzing this question, it becomes apparent that Kellogg is seeking individuals who contribute diversity and richness to their community. Therefore, your response should demonstrate how your unique personal and professional experiences can add value to the Kellogg community.

In essence, since the aim of this Kellogg MBA essay question is to provide the admissions team with greater insight into who you are, it’s beneficial to begin with some reflections on your personal journey, experiences, and accomplishments, and then work backwards to uncover the prevailing qualities. Remember that it’s not your direct “answer” to the question that will set you apart (which may even be somewhat ordinary), but rather the series of anecdotes and supporting evidence you provide that will effectively convey your unique candidacy to the admissions team.

The admissions committee is eager to learn how your background, perspective, and experiences can contribute to the Kellogg community. To conclude your essay effectively, it would be prudent to establish connections with Kellogg’s offerings. Gaining insights into the school’s curriculum, special programs, and extracurricular activities—whether through a campus visit or conversations with alumni—will enable you to craft a standout response.

To address this convincingly, focus on the following areas:

• Professional Experiences: Share specific examples of how your professional experiences have shaped you as a leader and how you can bring these insights to Kellogg. Discuss the skills and competencies you have developed, such as problem-solving, leadership, communication, etc.
• Personal Experiences: Talk about your personal background and experiences that have influenced your values, beliefs, and perspectives. Relate how these elements will enhance the diversity of the Kellogg community.
• Contribution to the Kellogg Community: Clearly articulate how you plan to use your experiences and skills to enrich the Kellogg community. This could involve discussing your plans to participate in specific clubs, initiatives, or programs, and how your unique perspective would contribute to these activities.
• Alignment with Kellogg’s Values: Highlight how your experiences and perspective align with Kellogg’s values of leadership, diversity, and community.

Remember to keep your response authentic and personal. The readers should get a sense of who you are as an individual and what you can bring to the table, so make sure your personality shines through in your response.

Throughout my professional journey and personal life, I have sought to embrace diversity, thrive in leadership roles, and contribute positively to my community. These experiences, I believe, align remarkably with Kellogg’s values and will enable me to enrich your esteemed community.

Professionally, as a project lead in a multinational tech firm, I have had the privilege of working with and leading diverse teams spread across different continents. This exposure to various cultures, work ethics, and perspectives has honed my problem-solving and leadership skills. I have learned to appreciate the power of diverse ideas and have seen firsthand how a multifaceted team outperforms a homogeneous one. At Kellogg, I intend to share these experiences and insights, potentially influencing my peers’ understanding of creating and managing diverse teams.

On the personal front, I come from a small town in Asia with a unique cultural heritage. My upbringing in a multicultural environment has instilled in me a deep appreciation for diversity and an understanding of different perspectives. I believe my background will add a unique flavor to the Kellogg community, broadening its cultural and experiential diversity.

Beyond just adding to the diversity at Kellogg, I plan to contribute actively to the community. Particularly, I am interested in the Technology Club and Entrepreneurship Club. As someone who has worked in the tech industry and harbors entrepreneurial ambitions, I can bring a unique, ground-level perspective to these clubs. I would love to organize workshops and seminars to share industry insights and foster a culture of technological innovation and entrepreneurial thinking.

Lastly, my experiences have reinforced my belief in the power of community and collaboration. Throughout my academic and professional life, I have always prioritized contributing to my community, be it through mentorship roles or voluntary services. At Kellogg, I intend to continue this trend, using my experiences to contribute to the community positively and constructively.

In conclusion, I believe my professional experiences, personal background, commitment to community service, and alignment with Kellogg’s values equip me to make a significant contribution to the Kellogg community. I look forward to enriching and being enriched by this diverse community of future leaders.

Mastering your MBA essays for Kellogg

Considering the high caliber and diversity of candidates applying for the Kellogg MBA program, it’s undoubtedly a daunting task to stand out from the crowd. The admissions committee seeks applicants who not only excel academically and professionally, but also demonstrate distinct personal experiences, unique perspectives, and a strong commitment to the community. The scrutiny and attention to detail in their evaluation process can be intimidating, as even minor shortcomings or inconsistencies in your application or essays can potentially impact your chances of admission. Therefore, it is essential to critically assess the quality of your essays to ensure they effectively highlight your strengths, uniqueness, and alignment with Kellogg’s values.

The Kellogg essay examples provided above should serve merely as sources of inspiration, and by no means as templates to emulate. Each candidate brings a unique set of experiences and perspectives, hence, it is paramount to reflect this uniqueness in your essays. Instead of replicating these examples, let them inspire you to weave your own narrative that genuinely encapsulates your individuality. Remember, the objective is to distinguish yourself from other applicants, so strive to imbue your essays with personal experiences, distinctive insights, and an authentic voice that resonates with the ethos of Kellogg. Your essays should unequivocally reflect who you are, what you value, and how you envision contributing to the Kellogg community.

Final thoughts on cracking the code with Kellogg essay examples

In conclusion, cracking the code with Kellogg essay examples comes down to understanding your personal narrative and how it intersects with Kellogg’s values. The essay should be a window into your professional aspirations and how Kellogg’s unique resources and culture can help you realize these goals. While showcasing your proficiency in clear and effective communication, also embrace your uniqueness and authenticity.

You have what it takes to craft a great Kellogg application essay; you just need the know-how of how to do it. What sets The Admit Lab apart is our focus on delivering a portfolio-driven approach that helps applicants craft narratives to stand out from the competition. With our unique approach, you can create an eloquent portrayal of your journey thus far —and why you deserve a seat at the world’s greatest business school, Kellogg! So if you’re ready to join the Kellogg community take ownership of your story and don’t hesitate to reach out to us for advice and guidance every step of the way. We’ll be more than happy to guide you in any way we can. And if writing powerful essays just isn’t your strong suit, remember that we offer top-notch MBA admissions consulting services so that you can stay ahead of the competition. So grab hold of this golden opportunity and plan for success – let the journey begin!

With a Master’s from McGill University and a Ph.D. from New York University, Philippe Barr is a former professor and assistant director of MBA admissions at Kenan-Flagler Business School. With more than seven years of experience as a graduate school admissions consultant, Dr. Barr has stewarded the candidate journey across multiple MBA programs and helped hundreds of students get admitted to top-tier graduate programs all over the world .

Follow Dr. Barr on YouTub e for tips and tricks on navigating the MBA application process and life as an MBA student.

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How to Nail Your Kellogg MBA Application Essays

Tips and tricks that will help you craft the best application essays possible and get admitted into Kellogg.

Posted January 9, 2024

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Table of Contents

Introduction.

The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is consistently ranked high and is one of the top seven business schools (“M7”) in the United States. The essay portion of the Kellogg MBA application is unique because it comes in two parts: a written essay and a video essay portion.

The written essays are due along with the application while the video essays are due 96 hours after the application deadline. Once the application and fee have been uploaded, a link will appear on the application portal that will give the applicant access to the video portion.

2022-2023 Kellogg Application Deadlines

Round 1: September 14, 2022

Round 2: January 10, 2023

Round 3: April 5, 2023

To read more about the MBA program at Northwestern, visit The Kellogg School of Management–MBA Program and Application Overview .

Written Essays

The written essay portion is a great place to highlight the skills and experience that can’t be found on your resume or any other part of your MBA application. Your essays should present a compelling, concise, and clear story of your path to business school generally as well as Kellogg specifically. Kellogg requires two essays for all its applicants and a third for certain kinds of applicants (JD-MBA, reapplicants, etc). See the additional questions here .

2022-2023 Prompts

Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)

Reading this prompt closely provides several insights. Firstly, Kellogg asks for an example, not examples. Choose one that makes the most compelling case. Secondly, in asking about challenges, Kellogg acknowledges that leadership comes with difficulties. Talk about the trials you faced throughout the story, don’t just throw them in at the end. Lead the adcom through the ups and downs of the example and make sure that the lessons learned tie into the overall narrative and aren’t tangential.

Values are what guide us in our life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)

This question is purposefully left broad to allow you the space to craft a response that is genuine to your story. A good way to start brainstorming your response is to work backward. Make a list of the major decisions you’ve made in your life and identify why you made them. Then, see if there are any reasons that come up often. Going through the process like this will help you write your response to the second part of the question as well, as how the values have influenced you. You don’t have very many words so stick to one or two of the most important ones and choose examples that concretely show them.

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Video Essays

The video essays are your chance to bring your candidacy to life in a way that is impossible to do on paper. Instead of seeing numbers and credentials, the admissions committee will see a person. The video essay is optional, however, it is definitely strongly preferred that you complete it.

Kellogg says that the video should take about 20-25 minutes to complete, including time for setup. You’ll need to have a stable internet connection as well as a computer with a webcam and microphone. For each question, you’ll have up to one minute to respond.

There are three video essay prompts, all designed to help you make your case for admission. They are as follows:

• Please introduce yourself to the admissions committee. – What do you want your future classmates and the adcom to know about you? What makes you, you?
• What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you? – Answer honestly and meaningfully, why are you pursuing an MBA and why are you choosing the Kellogg full-time program?
• One question will be based on a challenge you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from it.

Kellogg MBA Essay Tips

For each written essay, you are only given 450 words, and for the video you only have a minute for each prompt, both are not a lot. For this reason, make sure that every part of your answer is directly relevant to the question at hand. Here are several tips for acing your essays and making your application that much more competitive.

Use unique stories and anecdotes that aren’t found in other parts of your application.

Essays are a way for you to further expound on your candidacy and provide information that can’t be found elsewhere, whether that be on your resume, letters of recommendation, etc. Be intentional about where you choose to include certain information. If you have an important example that’s a bit lengthier, put it in your written essay. Have a funny or entertaining story? Talk about it in your video essay to add character.

Build Kellogg values into your answers.

After reading your essays and watching your video, the adcom should know exactly why you want to go to Kellogg specifically. You could go to any M7 and be successful and if you can get into one, you can get probably get into another. Even if Kellogg isn’t your top choice, showing that you understand what’s important to the institution will prove to the admissions committee that you care enough to have done some research.

You can do this by reading articles online–both on the school’s official site and third-party publications–taking tours of the campus, talking to alumni, contacting admissions for specific questions, and more. Get creative and work the values into your goals and plans.

Get specific.

When you talk about your strengths and the attributes you portray, make sure you’re providing concrete and specific examples. It’s easy to list off different things; it is much harder to prove how you’ve demonstrated them in the past. They should also be directly and obviously relevant to your overall narrative.

Remember: the admissions committee will not know any information that you don’t explicitly tell them. You have limited space to present a compelling reason that they should give you a seat in the class. Make that more likely by clearly demonstrating what you bring to the table.

Build a cohesive narrative.

At the end of the day, your entire application is basically one long story. Each part of the story should be related to the overall idea. Your candidacy is the culmination of the different parts of you that you’re choosing to present to the adcom.

As you write and film your essays, keep this in mind. Is the example you’re providing directly relevant to the narrative? If not, consider whether it should be there. There is a fine line between trying to portray as much of yourself as you can, in order to show your wide variety of strengths, and focusing on a set of core values. The right balance is usually somewhere in the middle.

Start early!

Start as early as you possibly can on your written essays. Usually, it takes a lot more time than you think it will to write multiple drafts, revise, receive feedback, and polish. For many people, it’s helpful to have a rough idea of your story before you start writing. Working with a coach can be really beneficial for this.

After writing your first draft, put it aside for a few days so that when you go back to it, you’re reading with a fresh perspective. Several drafts later after receiving feedback, read your essay out loud. Doing so will give you an idea of what it will sound like to an admissions committee member.

For the video essays, you should also start early. Practice your responses several times until you feel very comfortable giving them in a smooth manner. The last thing you want is to stumble over your words or be constantly “uhhh” and “umm”-ing your way through the answer. Talk to yourself in the mirror, practice recording yourself on Zoom, or role-play it with a friend.

Hopefully, you find these tips helpful as you put together your Kellogg MBA application. We know that it can be a very stressful process. For personalized, one-on-one advice and guidance, work with a Leland coach . We have lots who are Kellogg alumni who will be able to help you find the right narrative to tell. Here are some of our highest-rated MBA admissions coaches:

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2024-2025 Kellogg MBA Essay Tips

Once again this year, the Kellogg School of Management has revised its MBA essay questions. While the new prompts are certainly on-brand for this M7 program , they are more dense and multidimensional than in past years. What this means for applicants is they will need to pay extra close attention to every piece of the question and first ensure they understand what is being asked. Then the hard work of addressing each part of the prompt in a cohesive response begins.

To help, we’ve broken down and analyzed each of the Kellogg MBA essay questions. By the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how to get started.

What Kellogg Is Looking For

Despite the changes, what Kellogg looks for in its students remains constant. Kellogg shares that they value individuals who:

• Approach business problems with a mix of hard and soft skills.
• Seek to adapt to the evolving business world with open curiosity and innovation.
• Believe in strong, empathetic collaboration as a way to strengthen work, perspectives and outcomes.
• Embrace the power of diversity in your teams and networks.

This list of desired perspectives and behaviors show that Kellogg is looking for people who care as much about how they work as the work they do itself. Think about how much you embrace empathy, curiosity, and diversity in your work and how these qualities have influenced you in different projects and settings. Some of them may be aspirational. Perhaps you haven’t fully embraced them yet, but you hope to through an MBA at Kellogg. This is a good starting point from which to approach Kellogg’s essays.

Kellogg MBA Essay Question 1

1. Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words)

Kellogg’s first essay asks you to answer five different questions:

• What do you want to achieve?
• Why do you need an MBA to achieve it?

Why Kellogg?

• What will you contribute to Kellogg?

To address all five questions effectively in only 450 words means that there is no room for flowery words or extraneous information that does not directly address one of the questions. As the essay states, intentionality is key. The Admissions Committee wants to know that you have clarity on the why, when, how, and what of an MBA.

Let’s break down each question:

What Do You Want To Achieve?

Here the Admissions Committee is looking to understand your short and long-term career goals . In addition to stating what they are, you should provide enough context from your background and work experience to explain why your long-term career goal is motivating to you. Your short-term goal should be a steppingstone to your long-term goal. Both goals should be realistic and achievable given your background and a Kellogg MBA.

Why Do You Want An MBA?

In answering this question, most people fall under one or more of the categories below:

• People looking to switch their career : Those who are looking to make a hard pivot in their career (i.e. engineers, educators, scientists, health professionals, writers, government workers) will need to discuss why an MBA is necessary for them to transition into business. The answer is more obvious here so there is no need to overexplain.
• People who want to learn the theory behind their practice : Those who have been working in business but never formally studied business (i.e. family business operators, humanities majors in college) will need to discuss how gaining a formal business education will help them fill gaps in their skillsets to achieve their career goals.
• People looking to better develop and differentiate themselves as leaders : Perhaps you have reached a point in your career where, to be promoted and competitive for better career opportunities, you need to develop your leadership skills and expand your network in a particular industry. You will need to discuss what specific leadership traits you want to develop and why. Later, in discussing “Why Kellogg”, you will want to explain specific aspects of Kellogg’s resources and people that will help you develop into the leader you aspire to be.

Here the Admissions Committee wants to understand what makes you ready for an MBA. Your “ readiness ” should be demonstrated in two ways:

• That you have learned enough to meaningfully contribute to a class of MBA students
• You have identified gaps in your knowledge and skillsets that you can address in business school. Not having either of these could result in the Admissions Committee determining that this is not the right time for you.

Here is where all your diligent research on Kellogg – through attending Admissions events , visiting campus, and talking to alumni and students – comes in handy. If you haven’t done this level of research (and only looked through Kellogg’s website), you may want to reconsider writing this essay until you have.

Kellogg is looking for specific and personalized reasons for why its values, culture, and resources (classes, professors, clubs, conferences, trips, alumni) will help you achieve your goals and develop into the person you want to be. In this essay, feel free to reference insights from your interactions and conversations with alumni, students, and Admissions members.

What Will You Contribute To The Kellogg Community?

Like “Why Kellogg?” it’s important that your answer is as specific and personalized as possible. Imagine yourself at Kellogg and paint a picture of how you will participate and contribute. Think about what expertise and insights you will bring to classroom discussions. What clubs and experiences will you join and likely lead? What initiatives might you start? How you will support your fellow students? How will you affect Kellogg for the better in a way that is truly your own?

Since the question specifies “during your time here,” be sure to focus your discussion on activities during your time at Kellogg rather than what you will contribute as part of the alumni community.

Kellogg MBA Essay Question 2

2. Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. (450 words)

The first step to approaching this essay is considering what experience you want to write about. Think carefully about this one. You may be tempted to pick an experience that portrays you in the best light, but we encourage you to not let this be your top consideration. Instead, focus on choosing an experience that you truly learned and grew from – even if that means you didn’t make the best decision.  The Admissions Committee is looking for genuine responses, not what you think they want to hear. As such, it is more important that the experience taught you an important leadership lesson than it is that you were the hero.

Some questions to help you decide on what story to choose:

• What is the professional experience that most impacted your leadership style?
• What was a difficult decision that had to be made during that experience?
• What was at stake (i.e. what did you have to lose?)
• How did you weigh your options?
• What did the experience teach you about leadership and what you would like to improve on as a leader?

We encourage them to pick an experience where you have meaningful things to say about each of these questions. Be sure that the decision that had to be made was actually difficult – as in you had to really think about it because there was something meaningful at stake. Not only would choosing an experience where the right decision was obvious not make for an interesting story, but it will feel forced and unauthentic to the reader.

The Outcome Does Not Have To Be Perfect

If you find that the best story to tell is one where you made a decision where the outcome wasn’t ideal, keep in mind that that is okay. As long as you can articulate your thought process, what you learned, what you would do differently, and how the incident impacted you, your essay will be successful even if the outcome wasn’t. The Admissions Committee will appreciate learning more about who you truly are.

Answer Every Part Of The Question

If you are using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result/Learning) framework, you should be spending much of your discussion on the Action and Learning. The ‘Situation’ and ‘Task’ together should give enough context for the reader to understand why the decision was difficult and what was at stake. The ‘Action’ should cover how you weighed your options (including who you may have consulted for advice), the values that guided your decision, and what you decided to do. Finally, the ‘Result/Learning’ should cover what you learned from the outcome, what you would’ve done differently (if anything) and how the experience has impacted your leadership style.

See Also: MBA Application Deadlines and Essays for 2024-2025

Understanding the Kellogg MBA essay prompts and what Kellogg is really looking for will help you put your best foot forward during the admissions process. Best of luck on your journey! If we can be of assistance, reach out to  request an initial consultation .  

I am most engaged when leveraging my coaching skills to help individuals discover their purpose and potential.

I believe that long-term happiness and success is achieved when we discover and find peace with who we are. Through the process of recognizing our gifts, values, and passions, we can make better decisions, find intrinsic motivation to reach our goals, design our lives, and lead others.

A JD-MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, I have over 10 years of industry experience in consulting, healthcare, and nonprofit. I empathize with the struggles of my clients because I’ve been there myself, having pivoted multiple times before finding a career that is aligned with my values and unique gifts. I help individuals launch and grow careers that are aligned to their purpose and values, continue education and learning in ways that will help reach their goals, and find a path to long-term fulfillment.

2024-2025 Columbia MBA Essay Tips

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Kellogg School Guide: Everything You Need To Know To Get Accepted

Mar 10, 2023

School and Program Overview

Employment information, is kellogg right for you, academics at kellogg, networking and extracurricular activities.

• What Makes Kellogg Special?

Kellogg Resources & Templates To Get You Accepted

Additional mba resources to help you secure your spot, get expert help.

This in-depth Kellogg school guide is designed to help you make a decision about whether Kellogg is a good fit for you. In it, we give an overview of the school and its MBA program, including location, information about the MBA community, and ranking. We then give you a detailed look into the MBA course, including program offerings, extracurricular activities, and post-MBA opportunities. 

This guide also includes a wealth of resources that will strengthen your Kellogg application, including essay guidelines, interview advice, and letter of recommendation planning support.

We know this guide will be helpful for you and your MBA journey, and we wish you the best in your decision and application process! If you have any questions after reading, please feel free to contact us .

Location: Evanston, Illinois

Located 30 minutes north of Chicago, the US’s third-largest city, Evanston is a university town that has an array of culture and amenities alongside plenty of natural scenery. With a population of 75,000, you will have a good balance between urban opportunities and a quaint lifestyle while being surrounded by other bright students attending Northwestern.

Evanston is full of charming neighborhoods, hip stores and cafes, award-winning restaurants, and beautiful parks and beaches. Because it is small, however, everything is walkable or bikeable. There are also multiple public transportation options to get around the city, including trains and buses into Chicago.

Because it is outside of the big city, accommodation is relatively affordable. Off-campus apartments average $1200 (one-bedroom). Kellogg also provides on-campus housing options, with apartments costing anywhere from $1,100 to $2,000 per month.

Overall, Kellogg’s location is one full of opportunities and unique experiences, but you will have to reflect on whether a suburban, university-town experience matches your needs and desires.

Kellogg’s Community

With its Global Hub , Kellogg of Management at Northwestern University has reinforced itself as a haven for collaboratively minded leaders.

Kellogg’s community is defined by forward-thinking approaches to business and an appreciation for diversity. Growth is also a key principle at Kellogg. According to Kellogg’s Admissions Team , “Growth is a challenge every leader and organization confronts – across sectors, markets, countries and economies. At Kellogg, we develop brave leaders who inspire growth in people, organizations and markets.”

Thus, Kellogg admits students who can prove a desire to challenge the status quo, motivate teams to drive impact, seek and appreciate diversity, and are collaboratively minded. 

Class Size and Demographics

Out of thousands of applicants for the Class of 2024 , 503 were admitted and accepted spots at Kellogg. 

48% of Kellogg’s Class of 2024 are women, and 37% are underrepresented minorities. The demographics of American students are listed in the chart below:

38% of Kellogg’s Class of 2024 is made up of international students. 

Most students came in from consulting (24%) or finance (19%) backgrounds, although a wide range of industries are represented, as illustrated in the chart below:

Photo courtesy of kellogg.northwestern.edu 

The average GMAT score for the Class of 2024 was 729 and the median GRE was 163Q, 162V. 

Currently, annual tuition at Kellogg is $78,276 for the two-year MBA and $108,016 for the one-year MBA. 

With living expenses included (assuming a moderate lifestyle), that number goes up to just over $117,259 for an individual attending the full-time program annually and $157,578 for the one-year MBA.

Note that Kellogg has a range of merit-based scholarships . Additionally, their financial aid office can advise admitted students on ways to finance their education.

Costs and Financing

Kellogg offers both merit- and need-based scholarships , which are given at the same time that candidates receive their admission letters. Kellogg’s financial support is available for both international and American students. Learn more about Kellogg’s financial aid opportunities here .

For information on how to get company MBA sponsorship, see our guide or visit this page . 

To search for third-party scholarships available for MBA candidates, click here .

For US nationals seeking federal loans, visit the US government website for financial aid. For private loans, see this list to see what firms are offering the best rates.

For international students interested in loans, we recommend the following institutions: Mpower Financing , Juno , or Discover .

Program Length

Kellogg has multiple MBA options available. The full-time MBA is two years long. There is also a part-time/evening MBA program and one-year MBA program for students with time-related constraints. 

Across multiple ranking sources, Kellogg is consistently placed at the top. Financial Times has Kellogg at #5 globally for all MBA programs, while it is ranked in 3rd place by US News.

Another important consideration to make when deciding whether any business school is right for you is the MBA’s ROI – where graduates go and how well they succeed. You want to ensure that the investment you make in your MBA, both in terms of time and money, gets you the career boost you’re aiming for!

The first key indicator of the school’s preparation and reputation is how many students receive job offers immediately after graduation (this is usually within three months). Secondly is the median base salary, which shows the value that employers see in candidates as a combination of their previous experience and skills and knowledge gained during the MBA. Employers are willing to pay candidates more when they can trust that the MBA has provided them with solid leadership skills. We provide the median base salary for all MBA graduates, but we also recommend looking at Kellogg’s latest employment report to see detailed post-MBA salary information for your industry.

You will also want to consider each school’s career services and any resources they offer to support your post-MBA success. Part of the investment you make towards your MBA includes ensuring that you are getting the help you need to prepare for interviews, salary negotiations, and network-building. We include information about Kellogg’s career services below.

Key Statistics

Of those that sought employment after completing their MBAs in 2021, the top two functions that graduates pursued were consulting (33.7%, median base salary of $165,000) and finance (18.8%, median base salary of $150,000). 

The median base salary for all graduates was $158,400, and the median signing bonus was $30,000. 

92% of graduates received jobs in the United States, and 34% of them ended up on the West Coast. 

Employment Services and Resources

Kellogg’s Career Management Center supports students and alumni in their post-MBA journeys. The center provides one-on-one coaching, a private job board, and resources and workshops on topics like interviewing and salary negotiation.

Now you’ve got the basics of what Kellogg is all about. Before you read on to the details of Kellogg’s MBA program, you may be wondering if the school is really right for you and your situation.

Our team here at Ellin Lolis Consulting is always excited to support our clients in deciding which MBA is right for you . From mapping out your business school brand and objectives to planning your visit to your top-choice schools, we get to know you so we can offer you the best support along each step of the decision-making process.

Learn more about our all-in consulting services here !

Considering the fact that you can only do one MBA, choosing where to apply is the most important decision you will make during your application process. 

Though there are many components to a successful business school application, it’s important to know what you want out of your MBA. One of the most important aspects of an MBA program is academics. After all, you’ll spend most of your time in the classroom, preparing for class, or studying for exams!

In this section, we go into depth about just what you can expect during your Kellogg MBA. 

Kellogg’s MBA curriculum is focused on the fundamentals of growth and providing a foundation for students’ specialized interests. Although it is not required, students also have the option to pursue majors or pathways to further specialize their degrees.

The core of Kellogg’s full-time program consists of nine courses in areas like accounting, management and organizations, marketing, finance, managerial economics, decision sciences, operations, and management and strategy. The one-year program focuses less on core courses and instead allocates more room for electives aligned with students’ areas of specialization.

All full-time students must also complete a 6-12 week period of relevant work between the first and second years of the MBA. Students are then required to complete a Leadership and Crisis Management course during the pre-term orientation of year two. Electives, which students pursue in year two, are in areas such as Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Management and Organizations, Marketing, and Strategy. These courses are taken during the second year of the program.

Students who decide to specialize in a major can choose among the following areas: Economics , Finance , Marketing , Operations , Strategy , Managing Organizations , and Management Science . ( Note : If you choose not to elect a major, “General Management” will be noted on your transcript.)

In addition to majors, Kellogg provides “pathways,” which are sequences of courses designed to address particularly relevant and high-demand skill sets or industries. Some of the current pathways offered include Data Analytics , Diversity, Equity and Inclusion , Entrepreneurship , Growth and Scaling , Healthcare at Kellogg , Real Estate , Social Impact , and Venture Capital & Private Equity . Students have the flexibility to pursue any number of pathways.

Joint Programs

For students interested in studying at the intersection of business and other fields, there are four joint programs available: the MBAi program , in partnership with McCormick School of Engineering; the MMM program , which provides an MBA from Kellogg and an M.S. in Design Innovation from the Segal Design Institute; the JD/MBA program in conjunction with the Northwestern School of Law; and the MD/MBA program with the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. 

Notable Faculty

As one of the best business schools in the world, Kellogg has a number of stellar professors. Here are just a few of them.

Mohanbir Sawhney is a globally recognized scholar, teacher, consultant and speaker in business innovation, modern marketing, and Artificial Intelligence applications in business. He has published multiple bestselling books and articles for reputed journals like Management Science and the Journal of Interactive Marketing.

Victoria Medvec is a globally renowned expert in negotiations and consults multiple Fortune 500 companies. She is also known for her dynamic teaching style, bringing multiple examples from real-life business cases into the classroom. 

Florian Zettelmeyer is an award-winning professor of marketing at Kellogg. He also founded and directs the Program on Data Analytics at Kellogg , the school’s Big Data and Analytics initiative. 

Instruction Style

In general, there are three primary teaching styles : case studies, experiential learning, and lectures. Kellogg’s MBA combines all three. In fact, coursework is divided approximately as follows: case method (30%), lectures (30%), team projects (30%), and experiential learning (10%).

There are eight experiential learning opportunities and courses available to Kellogg students. This includes the Asset Management Practicum, Analytical Consulting Lab, and Kellogg Board Fellows Program.

Kellogg has a number of labs that allow students to expose themselves to relevant business challenges and collaborate with others to solve problems. We describe these labs below.

The Analytical Consulting Lab (ACL) offers students the chance to work with actual company data, develop meaningful analytical models for managerial decision-making, and present results and recommendations to company executives. Next, the Asset Management Lab places students in a quarter-long internship with a local or national asset management firm, developing their capacities in deal selection, due diligence, and/or investment efforts. 

The Education Consulting Lab provides students interested in consulting, the education sector, or both the opportunity to work with school districts, charter school networks, and other educational organizations on projects of strategic importance to the schools and organizations. Next, the Healthcare Strategy Consulting Lab brings students in direct contact with leaders across the healthcare industry to analyze their problems and present recommendations to the client. The Private Equity Lab and Venture Lab place quarter-long internships with leading private equity and venture capital firms. Real Estate Lab allows students to work in a research and advisory role on a real estate project for a sponsor firm or organization. 

Lastly, Kellogg’s Global Lab (G-Lab) connects students with international companies to help solve a pressing business or management challenge. During this twelve-week experiential learning course, students closely interact with the faculty advisor. Teams of four students spend the first ten weeks on campus conducting research, analysis, and interviews in line with the work plan they develop with their clients. After a mid-term progress review and completing their on-campus activities, the teams travel to the client sites to spend the final two weeks completing their research, presenting final recommendations, and working with management on implementation plans.

International Study Programs

Apart from the Global Lab mentioned above, there are a few other global study opportunities available.

First is the Global Initiatives in Management program, a course that exposes students to business and market dynamics within a specific region or global industry. The course combines in-class lectures, discussions, and cases with ten days of international field research. During the GIM’s travel period, students will meet with local business and government leaders, conduct research, and experience the local culture. 

Next, there are the Kellogg Worldwide Exploration Student Trips (KWEST). KWEST is planned by students for students: second-year students spend nearly a year planning experience, then lead first-year students to different locations around the world for week-long, non-academic experiences. The main purposes of KWEST are to create interpersonal bonds and gain international exposure.

Lastly, for students who are interested in spending longer periods of time abroad, there are full-time exchange opportunities available as well. Through Kellogg’s 25 partner schools, students have a wide array of opportunities to learn about business from a different cultural perspective, be immersed in a foreign culture, and broaden global networks.

The quality and extent of any business school’s community and network are key to assessing how the MBA will support your goals and objectives. While the MBA’s academic offerings are certainly one of the most important considerations, the influence and support of others connected to the school are one of the most influential aspects of getting an MBA. 

In clubs and extracurricular activities, you will meet others who can expand your perspectives, give you innovative ideas, and potentially become future business partners. When exploring each school’s extracurricular opportunities, see whether there are activities that align with your goals, values, skill gaps, or general interests.

As for the school’s networks and alumni community, some programs have stronger connections than others. You will want to consider whether the school has good connections to the regions and/or industries that you are aiming for and whether or not alumni networks exist where you are headed post-MBA. Not only will this be a chance for you to stay connected after graduation, but it can also get you lifelong career support and opportunities.

With plenty of student-led clubs and extracurricular activities available at Kellogg, there are many ways to refine leadership, networks, and skills during the MBA.

Whether you are interested in networking with others from your region or social group (e.g., Africa Club , Chinese Business Club , Women’s Business Association ), exploring your industry/background further (e.g., Entrepreneurship Business Club , Kellogg Tech Club , Kellogg Impact Consulting Club ), or simply finding others with similar personal interests (e.g., Groupwerk: Kellogg’s Dance Crew , Habitat for Humanity Club ), there are certainly a number of clubs that fit your profile and objectives.

Networking and Alumni Opportunities

In addition to experiencing Kellogg’s tight-knit student community, MBA students and grads have access to the school’s one-of-a-kind alumni community . Kellogg’s alumni network has more than 65,000 members present in most major cities and regions around the globe, as well as several affinity networks tailored to specific interests. 

There are also regular events , both in-person and virtual, for alumni to connect and learn about key issues related to business. 

Summary: What Makes Kellogg Special?

Apart from being a consistently well-ranked school, there are a few key aspects that make Kellogg unique:

• Many degree options : Unlike many other M7 business schools, Kellogg offers a wide range of degree options to fit students’ schedules and interests. Whether you need to continue working and, thus, pursue a part-time degree, or are interested in pursuing a major, joint degree, or pathway to specialize your degree, Kellogg has many options that can adapt to you.
• Student leadership : Kellogg has a number of opportunities to practice leadership on campus, whether it’s in the wide range of experiential learning courses and labs, global treks, or student-led clubs.
• Collaborative culture : Kellogg is known for its integration of collaboration into its community, coursework, and activities. Most academic deliverables must be done in groups, and students must rate one another on their contributions. And with a strong emphasis on networking through opportunities like KWEST and a ton of extracurricular activities, students form tight bonds that go well beyond the MBA.

Now that you know just about everything there is to know about Kellogg and its opportunities, you may be considering applying. Luckily, our expert team at Ellin Lolis Consulting has a wealth of Kellogg-specific resources to make your application stand out and succeed. We’ve compiled them below:

Kellogg Essay Analysis

With an acceptance rate of around 20%, Kellogg is a highly selective MBA program. 

This guide, which includes tips from our expert essay editing team, will help you use your Kellogg admissions essays to stand out. You’ll find an analysis of who Kellogg is looking for, the essay questions, and what to (and not to!) do. We’ve also included sample essays. All in all, using this guide will ensure you give your Kellogg application your best shot.

Access the guide here .

Kellogg Interview Prep

The Kellogg interview is one of the most sought-after – and most difficult – interviews to land in the business school world. Luckily, we’ve created this exclusive guide to help you prepare for a Kellogg interview that stands out among the competition.

In this guide, we’ve rounded up not only our best tips from our interview team but have also included sample Kellogg interview questions.

Additional Kellogg Resources

Looking for even more resources to ensure you get into Kellogg?

Our MBA Resource Center is the perfect tool to start – or improve! – your Kellogg application. In our MBA Resource Center, you get access to:

• Dozens more successful Kellogg essays
• An exclusive essay brainstorming guide
• Letter of recommendation guides and templates
• Résumé templates 
• Additional resources like interview mocks and sample interview essays 

Our MBA Resource Center is the tool you need to turn an average application into an outstanding application that earns you a spot at Kellogg ! 

Our clients get admitted to Kellogg

If your eyes are set on Kellogg, you may be wondering about how you’ll prepare and execute a successful application. As one of the most selective MBA programs out there, getting admitted to Kellogg is no easy task. Luckily, Ellin Lolis Consulting is here to offer our comprehensive expertise to you.

From brainstorming your ideas for your essays to negotiating your scholarships , our all-star team ensures that you get exactly the support and guidance you need along every step of the application process .

Don’t just take our word for it – take a look at the following testimonials from some of our clients who were admitted to Kellogg:

Landing a spot at Kellogg is no easy task. Now is the time to make sure your accomplishments truly shine. 

Ellin Lolis Consulting began with one mission: provide the best possible service to our clients and get them the best possible results . We know that applying for an MBA can be a difficult, long process, but our goal is to take away as much of the stress as possible by acting as your ally in the process. 

So if you need much more than just a few comments on your essay but instead want focused help shaping how you present your life’s greatest hits to one of the world’s toughest critics, you can count on us. 

That’s why we have a 98.9% success rate. We love digging deep into your story, finding what makes you unique, and sharing your accomplishments and why you belong at Kellogg, all without losing your voice.

If you want our one-of-a-kind, expert support in getting admitted to Kellogg, apply to work with us and let our award-winning team help you make an unforgettable first impression on Kellogg’s admissions committee.

While preparing your MBA application, the following resources created by Ellin Lolis Consulting will help you ensure you are not just doing everything right, but developing an outstanding and competitive application.

Deciding and Planning 

• How to Decide Where to Apply to Business School
• Your Complete Timeline for MBA Application Success
• How to Create Your Business School Brand
• When Should You Start Preparing Your MBA Application?
• MBA Application Rounds: When Should You Apply?
• 3 Key Ways MBA Consultants Help You Build a Better Application Strategy

Writing your Essays and Résumé

• Your Complete Guide to Writing Winning MBA Essays
• How to Choose Your MBA Essay Stories (webinar)
• How to Write an MBA Goals Essay that Lands You an Interview
• 3 Reasons MBA Consultants Are Critical When Identifying and Telling MBA Essay Stories
• How to Use Storytelling to Write Standout MBA Essays
• How to Highlight Uniqueness in Your MBA Essays
• How to Discuss Failures and Weaknesses in Your MBA Essays
• How to Write an MBA CV

Letters of Recommendation

• How to Choose the Best Recommenders for Your Application
• How MBA Consultants Can Help you Obtain Better Letters of Recommendation
• How to Secure MBA Letters of Recommendation

MBA Interview Prep

• How to Be an Interview Rockstar and Leave a Great Impression
• The 5 Toughest MBA Interview Questions and How to Ace Them
• 5 Critical MBA Interview Mistakes Non-native English Speakers Make (And How to Stop Making Them)
• Ask These Questions During Your MBA Interview
• 3 Key Ways MBA Consultants Can Help You Prepare for Your MBA Interviews
• The 3 Most Common MBA Interview Mistakes (and How to Avoid Making Them) (webinar)

After Getting Accepted

• You’ve Just Been Accepted to Business School! Now What?
• MBA Application Fundamentals: What To Do After You’re Admitted

We hope you have enjoyed this guide to the Kellogg MBA.

I know that applying for an MBA can be a difficult, long process, but arming yourself with information about your top-choice programs, planning ahead, and finding your application ally can take away as much of the stress as possible in the process. 

So, whether you need help developing your Kellogg essay or guidance shaping how you present your greatest hits to one of the world’s toughest critics, you can count on my amazing team and me. 

Real MBA Essays That Got People In

School-specific sample essays that got our clients accepted

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With our expertise and 98.9% success rate in placing our consulting clients in at least one of their target schools, we can add more value to your application than you ever thought possible.

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Homepage > MBA Admissions > Business Schools > How to write Kellogg MBA essays for 2023 intake – Video essay tips included

How to write Kellogg MBA essays for 2023 intake – Video essay tips included

Posted by Suheb Hussain | Mar 10, 2023 | Business Schools , GMAT Focus Edition , MBA Admissions , MBA Application Process

Getting into Kellogg MBA is a dream for most candidates. To do that you’ll have to convince Kellogg’s admissions officers that you’re the one they’re looking for. One of the ways you can do that is by writing a spectacular MBA essay for their 2023 intake. In this article, Prashant Tibrewal, an admissions consultant who has helped numerous students with their MBA application, shares his analysis and tips on the Kellogg MBA essay for 2023 intake. He also shares his first-hand experience of visiting the Kellogg School of Management. Here is what he has to say.

Sitting inside the White Auditorium, listening to Kate Smith, Assistant Dean, Admissions and Financial Aid at Kellogg School of Management , address a select group of AIGAC members, I cannot resist getting distracted by the picturesque views of Lake Michigan, right beside the Global Hub, the spectacular new home to the Kellogg MBA. The Global Hub represents not only the transformational impact that Kellogg is set to bring about in management education but also the future-focused and global vision of the school.

Entering the building, you cannot miss the grand 34-foot-wide stairway inspired by the famed Spanish Steps in Rome, running up from the ground to the first and second floors. With collaboration oozing out of this architectural marvel, the 6000-square-foot central atrium is aptly named the Collaboration Plaza. If you are an MBA aspirant, there is no way you can visit the new campus and not make Kellogg your most cherished aspiration.

Kellogg Presents an exciting portfolio of full-time MBA programs, including the Two-Year MBA, One-Year MBA, MMM, and the JD-MBA. As you research the option most suitable for you, it may be a good idea to connect with the school to understand the pre-requisites for each of the options. Should you find yourself prepared to apply in the 2020-2021 intake, the application is now open, with the following deadlines:

Kellogg MBA Application Deadlines

Kellogg MBA Application Essays 2022-2023

There are 2 compulsory essays for the 2023 admissions of Kellogg MBA program. Here are the Kellogg MBA essay topics for the 2023 intake:

• Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn?  (450 words)
• Values are what guide us in our life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)

Certain applicants will respond to additional questions:

One-Year applicants : Please discuss your post-MBA career goal, the current experience you will leverage to support the transition, and the Kellogg One-Year MBA opportunities that will help you reach this goal. (250 words)

MBAi applicants: The Kellogg McCormick MBAi Program is designed to train the next generation of leaders who can help businesses deliver successful outcomes through AI-driven technology. Tell us about your firsthand experience with this disconnect between business and technology and how MBAi will prepare you to successfully lead businesses at the intersection. (450 words)

MMM applicants : The five core values of the MMM Program are curiosity, creativity, empathy, open-mindedness and a learning mindset. Describe a situation in which you demonstrated one of these values. Why is this value an important part of the MMM experience for you? (250 words)

JD-MBA applicants : Please discuss your post-JD-MBA career goals and why the JD-MBA Program is the right program to help you reach those goals. (250 words)

Reapplicants : Since your previous application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? (250 words)

All applicants have the opportunity to provide explanations or clarification in  Additional Information . Use this section if you think the person reviewing your application might have a few questions about one or more of your responses. This could include:

• Unexplained gaps in work experience
• Academic, GMAT, or GRE performance
• Extenuating circumstances that we should be aware of when reviewing your application

Kellogg MBA Essay 1 Analysis

Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip, and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)

The first essay for Kellogg has remained the same as that of last year. “We’re looking for those individuals who have found or plan to find unique ways to demonstrate the Kellogg purpose in their careers.

As you consider leadership, in particular, keep in mind that Kellogg was the school that pioneered the team-based learning model that is now ubiquitous among the top business schools.

If you are planning to take the GMAT, we can help you with a personalized study plan and give you access to quality online content to prepare. Write to us at  [email protected] . We are the  most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 2500 reviews. Why don’t you take a free trial  and judge for yourself?

We want all of our students to be able to step up when their teams need them”, suggests Kate Smith in the Kellogg admissions blog. As you strive to match your demonstrated aptitude and skills with the Kellogg purpose, it is advisable to understand the traits that the school is looking for in its students. These include:

• The ability to motivate a team, to drive impact
• The courage to question the status quo and to seek unconventional solutions
• Creativity and talent that is rooted in self-awareness
• Robust diversity in their networks and teams
• Eagerness to pitch in and collaborate with an engaged, ambitious community of peers

Effectively, leadership and teamwork come across as the underlying traits that Kellogg values the most. This essay, in very explicit terms, asks for one , recent example. Let’s break the question into smaller parts to understand what it seeks:

“A recent example…” – How recent is recent? Clearly, you cannot afford to bring in college stories here. Post-college, you have probably worked with one or more organizations.

If you have worked with multiple organizations, it will be important to choose an example from your current organization (unless you joined, let’s say, only three months ago).

While we routinely recommend this to applicants, Kellogg cuts the chase by explicitly mentioning it. On the other hand, If you have worked with just one organization throughout your career, present an example from your current role.

As individuals, and as professionals, we continuously evolve – and the recency of the example serves as valid corroboration of how much you may have evolved through your career.

“… where you have demonstrated leadership and created value” is a prompt that hints at the fact that leadership and the creation of value often go together.

Your example, therefore, shouldn’t focus solely on activities related to leading teams or projects or budgets; rather, it should establish how, in each instance, you succeeded in creating value for your organization, your team, and/or even for yourself.

While you have had good training in presenting quantifiable impact and high dollar savings, creating value goes beyond that.

As you narrate your story, it will be interesting to ask yourself if you went beyond the deliverables of the project to build and influence teams, demonstrated innovation and creativity, and put in conscious effort to deliver lasting impact.

“What challenges did you face…” – An achievement devoid of challenges is akin to playing tennis without nets.

It is important to establish why your achievement makes you proud. Explain what made this initiative or exercise so challenging and how you shaped your response to those challenges.

“… and what did you learn” – indeed! Learning is often associated with failure, but a leader is someone who is forward-looking and continues to learn even from achievements.

You probably learned something about team dynamics or working with multi-cultural teams, or inspiring people to work towards a common goal, or even discovered the extent of your own capabilities.

Kellogg MBA Essay 2 Analysis

Values are what guide you in your life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)

This essay replaced the “how have you grown in the past and how do you intend to grow at Kellogg” essay that Kellogg asked two years ago.

It is often insightful to compare an old essay prompt with the new one to draw deeper messages and gauge what the admissions teams may be looking for.

If you compare the current and the previous essay prompts, what is clearly common is the school’s intent to understand you beyond your professional achievements, and your ability to contribute to the class at Kellogg.

This further gets established through Kate Smith’s statement, “Our goal this year is to uncover what motivates and inspires you. What drives you? How will this make you a meaningful member of the Kellogg community?”

While the question does not insist on isolating a single value; it may be wise to identify just two or three strongest values that you can back with examples, instead of spreading yourself too thin by presenting a range of values.

Further, this is one of those questions that require reading well between the lines. The prompt starts with the statement that values guide you in your “life” and “work”, suggesting that you may want to present examples from both the fronts.

If a certain set of values are important to you, you are likely to have strong examples to show how these values have influenced you and your decisions in the past.

The essay wouldn’t be complete without presenting how these values will continue to drive your aspirations and plans – at Kellogg, in your professional career, and in the larger scheme of things.

In other words, it may be a good idea to present how you may be equipped to contribute to the Kellogg community in specific ways, how your long terms goals are influenced by your values and how this may impact your career choice post-MBA.

450 words isn’t a lot of space to communicate all of this, but it is often useful to start with a larger perspective and then narrow it down through multiple reiterations.

Kellogg MBA Reapplicant Essay Analysis

Since your previous application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? (250 words)

This is the best opportunity to convince the school that you have indulged in introspection to evolve a fresh perspective and enhanced your eligibility by upskilling or retooling.

If you applied in R1 last year and are applying in R1 again, you have had almost a year to plan afresh. Recapitulate the entire effort you may have expended to improve your profile.

If you applied in R2 last year and are now applying in R1, you have had just about 8 months, and this span may not reflect significant changes in your profile.

Did you still create opportunities to enhance your skills? You presented certain career goals in your last application. Did you take up professional initiatives and self-learning opportunities to move towards your professional career goals? Did you assess what might have gone wrong, talk to alumni and industry experts and attempt to position yourself better this year? If your GMAT score was not good enough, were you willing to push yourself and retake the test?

If you ended up scoring the same again – the school will still appreciate your intent and your commitment to the goal of pursuing an MBA.

Talk about the new projects, new learnings from these projects, things that you got to do for the first time, interactions you have had that had an impact on you and your career plans.

Do not forget to include the experiences that helped you refine your core and soft skills further.

If you presented a goal or a career plan last year that you failed to justify in the interview; or if, after more thorough research, you have decided to opt for an alternative plan that you can validate, do not hesitate to make a statement.

Feel free to present the specifics of the research you engaged in to arrive at a more rational career plan. For all logical purposes, this is a better approach than presenting the same career plans again, when you are not too confident about being able to substantiate them.

Kellogg MBA Additional Essay Analysis

All applicants have the opportunity to provide explanations or clarification in Additional Information. Use this section if you think the person reviewing your application might have a few questions about one or more of your responses. This could include:

• Academic, GMAT or GRE performance

As straightforward as it looks, candidates often end up overdoing the additional essay by presenting things that may not be required.

It is important to value the reader’s time and adhere to the instructions. While some schools keep the additional essay open-ended, Kellogg has presented clear guidelines that suggest that you should this space only to explain any inconsistencies or extenuating circumstances.

While this looks like a place where you are likely to touch upon the aspects of your profile that aren’t obviously your strengths, it is important to not get too defensive and to not list excuses that look immature.

Go ahead and present specific reasons why you may not have the best college GPAs or a high GMAT score, but don’t blame it on a particular committee you were a part of during college or an office project deadline that coincided with your GMAT date.

Instead, show through external certifications or course, how you are academically capable, despite not having done so well in the college first year, even with your grades improving in the subsequent years.

You may touch upon the quantitative tasks that you may have taken at work to alleviate concerns about your quantitative ability because of a low GMAT Quant score.

Above all, remain cognizant of the fact that schools are looking for reasons to select you and not to reject you. You may not need to justify everything where you think you fall short; as long as you are giving the school enough reasons to believe that you are a deserving candidate.

Kellogg 1-Year MBA Essay 2023

Please discuss your post-MBA career goal, the current experience you will leverage to support the transition, and the Kellogg 1Y opportunities that will help you reach this goal. (250 words)

The Kellogg 1-Year MBA, unlike most other 1-year MBAs in the US, has a class profile that’s pretty similar to that of its 2-year version.

The 1-year MBA is just an accelerated format, meant for a small group of about 90-100 participants with a good business background. Applicants to the Kellogg 1-Year MBA, therefore, have to write this career goal essay, in addition to the other required essays.

While it’s a standard career goal essay, it is different in that it requires you to present a higher level of goal clarity than a typical applicant to a two-year program.

A one-year program moves ahead at a significantly higher pace, and if you do not know exactly what you want to do post MBA, the kind of recruiters you would target, and the kind of roles you would like to apply to, you may not be in a position to make the best use of the opportunity.

Further, an important ask of the essay is “the current experience you will leverage to support the transition”.

It is important to relate your current skill set and industry / functional exposure to your future plans if you are hoping to make a smooth career transition through the one-year degree.

This essay isn’t as elaborate as the other ones, with just 250 words to communicate all that you would like to – but you will need to work well to pack a punch even with specific courses and opportunities at Kellogg that will enable you to achieve the desired career transition.

Clearly, if you have decided to apply to the Kellogg 1-Year MBA, you better have the right experience, goal-clarity, and academic background to fit in.

Kellogg invites its 1-Year MBA applicants to fill in an Eligibility form before you start working on the application – something that you may certainly want to make use of.

Kellogg Video Essays – 2023 admissions

Following are the instructions for the Kellogg Video Essay:

After submitting your application and payment, you will be able to access the video essay through your application status page.

You will be asked to answer three questions:

• Video Essay 1: Please introduce yourself to the admissions committee. Consider this your opportunity to share what you would want your future Kellogg classmates and our admissions committee to know about you. What makes you, you?
• Video Essay 2: What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you?

This is an intentionally broad question so you can answer honestly and meaningfully. We want to know why you’re pursuing an MBA and why you’re choosing a particular Kellogg Full-Time Program.

• Video Essay 3: The third question will ask about a challenge you’ve faced and what you have learned from it.

There are practice questions that you may complete as many times as you like to get comfortable with the format and technology. The practice questions and experience will simulate the actual video essay experience, so this is meant to be a useful tool to help you feel prepared.

You will have 20 seconds to think about the question and up to one minute to give your response.

We estimate the video essays will take 20-25 minutes to complete — which includes time for set-up and answering all the practice questions. You will need an internet-connected computer with a webcam, microphone, and an updated version of Adobe Flash in order to complete the video essay.

Kellogg Video Essay 1

Please introduce yourself to the admissions committee.

Consider this your opportunity to share what you would want your future Kellogg classmates and our admissions committee to know about you. What makes you, you?

Is this supposed to be your Elevator Pitch? Probably yes, albeit a more personal one. Having presented most of your information through your resume and application essays, this should be your space to “connect” with your future classmates as well as the admissions committee.

While the video will allow the admissions committee to see you and hear you, it is your passion and your story that will invite them to feel your presence and personality. Prepare a story that is authentic, exciting, and enchanting. Above all, sound fluent, but not rehearsed!

Kellogg Video Essay 2

What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you?

This is an intentionally broad question so you can answer honestly and meaningfully. We want to know why you are pursuing an MBA and why you’re choosing a particular Kellogg Full-Time Program.

While the first question was about you, the second question is about you and Kellogg. What leads you to Kellogg?

What are the opportunities and platforms you seek to leverage at Kellogg to achieve your career plans? What research have you done to discover and explore the most relevant opportunities and activities that you plan to participate in once you are on campus?

These are all obvious extensions to the second question. As you articulate your thoughts to answer these questions, it may be a good idea to present your plans for taking any initiatives at Kellogg that will further help you, and hopefully your peers, interested in pursuing a similar career path.

Kellogg Video Essay 3

The third question will ask about a challenge you’ve faced and what you have learned from it.

This is one question that you wouldn’t know in advance, but the prompt suggests classic behavioral interview questions that require you to draw examples from your professional or personal life.

Possibilities are immense and varied, ranging from challenges within a team to challenges while working with a client.

The key is to go prepared with a set of diverse stories that you can leverage in varied situations. An instance or example may involve multiple challenges, and if you are well prepared, you will be able to summon the one that’s asked in the essay.

Do not forget, of course, to follow the Challenge-Action-Result framework by not only discussing the challenging situation itself but also delineating the action you took to counter that challenge and the results that you were able to achieve or deliver.

You will have just about 20 seconds to think about the question before you start answering – important, therefore, to not start your video session unprepared.

Here are a few Sample Video Essays for Kellogg Essay 3 that you may want to practice:

• Describe a challenging time when you had a difference of opinion with a teammate.
• Describe a time when you took an initiative that wasn’t successful.
• Describe a time when you had a conflict with your senior/manager.
• Tell us about a time when you had to make a split-second decision.
• Tell us about a time when you were forced to make an unpopular decision.
• Discuss a challenging project where you couldn’t meet the deadline.
• Discuss an instance when you were misunderstood.
• Discuss a challenging time when you had to convince or negotiate with a colleague/superior.

I hope this analysis of Kellogg MBA essays for the 2021 intake will help you make a very strong application and the gatekeepers at Kellogg will gladly give you your place at Kellogg; your new home for the next 2 years.

Applying to Wharton? Read our detailed Wharton Essay Analysis

About the Author

Prashant Tibrewal is the founder of Admit Square Consulting and has mentored 1000+ MBA aspirants to get into top global universities such as Harvard, Stanford, INSEAD, Oxford, HEC, ISB, etc. Prashant has also served on the Board of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) and led the AIGAC Conference 2020, attended by admissions officers from 25+ top-ranked MBA programs.

Admit Square Consulting has mentored applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply to top MBA programs. With a proven track record of 10+ years, and admits to universities such as Stanford, MIT, Kellogg, Cambridge, INSEAD, etc., Admit Square was awarded the Most Successful International MBA Consulting Company in India at the India Education Awards, 2019. With a team of Consultants from top business schools such as MIT, Yale, LBS and Oxford, Admit Square offers 100% Money-back Assurance on its services. You may send your details to  [email protected]  for a free profile evaluation.

About The Author

Suheb Hussain

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Kellogg MBA Essays: Tips for 2024-2025

This year’s MBA application prompts have been released, so it’s time to start brainstorming what your topics will be. Wondering where to start, what to write? No worries, we have all the tips you need to get a nice start on writing a quality essay for the Kellogg School of Management.  

At Menlo Coaching, we noticed that most MBA essays will fall into one of a number of categories: personal essays, career goals essays, and behavioral essays etc. Read ahead for our expert guide on approaching these essays for Northwestern Kellogg. 

The Behavioral Essay

• Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. (Text box, 450 words)

The Personal Statement Essay

• Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (Text box, 450 words)

Optional Video Essay

We’ve read your essays, we’ve read your resume — now we want you to bring all that to life in a video. Show us the person behind all those carefully crafted words. The video will be comprised of three questions, each designed to help you showcase your personality and share some of the experiences that brought you here today.

We find these videos to be a great opportunity for you to tell us more about your story, experiences and why Kellogg is the right place for you.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you prepare to complete this section:

• Video essays are due 96 hours after the application deadline.
• A video essay link will appear on your application status page after you submit your application and payment.
• You will need an internet-connected computer with a webcam and microphone
• The video should take about 20-25 minutes to complete, which includes time for setup.

After submitting your application and payment, you will be able to access the video essay through your application status page.

Here are some additional tips:

• There are practice questions that you may complete as many times as you like to get comfortable with the format and technology. The practice questions and experience will simulate the actual video essay experience, so this is meant to be a useful tool to help you feel prepared.
• We encourage you to practice so you are comfortable with the format once it is time to complete the official questions. You will not have an opportunity to re-do the answer to the official video essay questions.
• You will have 20 seconds to think about the question and up to one minute to give your response.

You’ll complete video essays after you submit your application and payment. This is a great opportunity to tell us more about you and explain why Kellogg is the right place for you.

Source: Northwestern Kellogg MBA Application

Applying to Northwestern Kellogg

Student life at Kellogg is very active in the surrounding Evanston area, and the school frequently participates in philanthropic events, such as the Charity Auction Ball held in the winter, for example. Through the story you relate in your essay, the admissions council is looking to see if you reflect the same values that the school does. Kellogg is looking for students who are ready to be fully immersed in the programs, eager for group study spaces, and excited to collaborate with their fellow students. The best way to represent that you possess those qualities is through the type of essay you choose to write. 

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Like we touched on earlier, schools are looking for the right fit for their campus community, just as you are searching for the school that aligns best with your goals. In the personal essay, this is your chance to show Kellogg the values that drive you both as a person and as a student. These values tell the admissions council what you prioritize, the moral code you live by, and, most importantly, who you are as a person. 

Kellogg is looking for applicants who are willing to be vulnerable. Doing this allows you to more fully understand the concepts you are learning, especially when the lessons deal with situations in your real life. Being vulnerable also enables students to relate to one another, thus creating a comfortable, encouraging learning environment. 

In these essays, you can talk about almost anything; typically, applicants will write about relationships in their lives, or times when there was a hardship they had to overcome. Be warned, though: there are some topics to avoid, and we have outlined a few things to watch out for in this article . 

To make it simple: the behavioral essay is meant to show the Kellogg admissions team that you have developed some sort of leadership skills, what your values are as a leader, and how you are going to most benefit from their development programs. 

The admissions committee is looking for applicants that are self-reflective. Whether it’s through a setback you’ve experienced, or how you dealt with situations that have gone awry, the school is looking for students who are resilient and able to learn from their mistakes.

Do not overexaggerate (or underexaggerate!) the situations you decide to write about. Be honest about what happened; Kellogg is looking for genuine people to join their campus community, and they are less likely to admit an applicant who has overinflated their prior experiences. 

Last but not least, make sure to describe what you learned and how you implemented this in a subsequent situation. This is an expected element of the behavioral essay, even if it’s not directly written in the prompt. Kellogg utilizes case studies and experiential activities to help leaders realize their full potential, and they want to see that you have that ability already within you. Prompts that deal with these topics can be daunting, especially when they require you to write about a weakness you have or a failure you’ve experienced. 

The Optional Video Essay

Northwestern Kellogg also invites applicants to record an optional video essay, after submitting their application.

When it comes to  video essays  specifically, we have some advice:

• Practice—but don’t memorize:  it’s always clear if someone has memorized what they intend to say in a video essay verbatim, and this can make your content seem staged and inauthentic. If you find that you’re repeating the same speech over and over again, change the first sentence. You’ll be surprised at how this will throw you off!
• Make sure that your setting is appropriate:  you want to make sure that your lighting is good and that there are no empty tequila bottles in the background.
• Speak slowly and clearly:  clear diction can make a big difference when it comes to reviewing your video essay.

If you are interested to know more about the use of video essays in the admissions process at Northwestern Kellog, you can head to our page on Kellogg admissions basics .

Writing strong, coherent, genuine stories is an essential part of your MBA application. These essays are meant to help you stand out among many other applicants, so it is worth your time to do the work and write about situations unique to your life and that you truly learned from.

Trust our proven MBA application consultant expertise to navigate the Kellogg MBA essay prompts and optimize your chances of admission.

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• Northwestern Kellogg MBA Program Overview
• MBA Essay Tips From 3 Top Admissions Consultants
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Kellogg MBA Essay Examples

Looking for Kellogg MBA essay examples? You’ve come to the right place. The Kellogg School of Management is considered one of the best MBA programs in the world , and is also home to one of the best part-time MBA programs in the US. Getting accepted is extremely competitive, but you can help your application stand out and win the hearts of the admissions committee through your Kellogg MBA essays. In this blog, we’ll look at how to write an MBA essay for Kellogg and some MBA essay examples!

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Article Contents 8 min read

How to write an mba essay for kellogg.

Getting accepted to Kellogg Business School is very competitive, seeing as it is among the top of MBA rankings not only in the US but worldwide, and globally known for its business education excellence. Kellogg takes a holistic approach to admissions, which essentially means that the admissions committee will look at every aspect of your application materials closely to determine if you’re a good fit. In other words, having a high GPA or impressive GMAT score is not enough to get you into Kellogg. You need to come armed with a stellar MBA resume , strong MBA extracurriculars and, most importantly, nail your Kellogg MBA essays.

Kellogg’s MBA program emphasizes a strong sense of purpose. Moreso, the school has a strong inclination for social impact, diversity, creativity, empathy and innovation in business. The statement of purpose for the Kellogg School of Management is: “To educate, equip and inspire leaders who build strong organizations and wisely leverage the power of markets to create lasting value.”

Kellogg’s MBA program has two MBA essay questions you will be required to respond to in short essay form. Like many MBA programs, Kellogg’s MBA essay topics are focused on leadership and the value you can bring to their program.

Kellogg’s admissions committee is looking for “leaders who possess a blend of analytical, creative and social intelligence and who can uplift teams to their full potential” in their candidates. Brainstorm on these qualities a bit after you read the Kellogg MBA essay prompts and start jotting down some experiences or ideas you can explore in your essay.

The prompts for Kellogg MBA programs two required written essays are:

• Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? 
• Values are what guide us in our life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you?

Kellogg gives a word count limit of 450 words for both essays. Of course, keep in mind that the quality of your writing matters more than the quantity, so don’t focus too much on the word count when you’re drafting your essay. Once you’re ready to start revising your essay, eliminate anything unnecessary or irrelevant, and be sure to ask a friend of MBA essay consultant to serve as a second set of eyes for you.

Reapplicants: Since your previous application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? (250 words) ","label":"IMPORTANT","title":"IMPORTANT"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

Kellogg has also introduced new, optional MBA video essays . While you can choose not to submit a video essay as part of your application, this is another opportunity to help your application stand out, share more about yourself with the admissions committee and generally put a face and personality to your application package.

The MBA essay questions for the Kellogg video submissions are:

• Introduce yourself to the admissions committee.
• What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you?
• Tell us about a challenge you've faced and what you've learned from it.

To complete your Kellogg MBA video essay, you’ll be provided with a link to on your online application once you’ve completed your initial application to Kellogg and provided payment. Your MBA essay is due 96 hours after you complete your application, so be sure you’re prepared to complete the video essay in that time frame!

Once you’ve clicked on the link, you’ll be able to set up your computer’s webcam and microphone and record your answers to the 3 questions. You’ll be provided 20 seconds to think about the question once you’ve read the prompt, and then 1 minute to record your answer. Your video essay will take an estimated 20-25 minutes to complete, including setup.

Kellogg provides practice video essay questions, which simulate the video essay recording experience and allow you to practice giving your answers as many times as you want. This is similar to an MBA mock interview , so we highly encourage you to use the practice questions to get comfortable and rehearse your responses! ","label":"TIP","title":"TIP"}]" code="tab2" template="BlogArticle">

Brainstorming Questions

If you’ve started brainstorming for your Kellogg MBA essays, ask yourself some questions to get your creative juices flowing:

• When have I acted as leader professionally or personally? How did I create value for myself, my team or others?
• What has been my biggest challenge as a leader? What did I take away from it?
• What leadership qualities do I possess? How do they create value for myself or others?
• What are the 3 most important values for me? Why are they important?
• Which values define me personally? Which values define me professionally?
• How do Kellogg’s values align with my own?
• Why am I choosing Kellogg?
• What are my short-term and long-term career goals?
• How will a Kellogg MBA benefit me or help me achieve my goals?

Here are some Kellogg MBA essay examples to help inspire you when writing your own! If you’re looking for more examples from top business schools, read some Chicago Booth MBA essay examples , Stanford MBA personal statement examples , Wharton MBA essay examples or Harvard MBA personal statements .

Kellogg MBA Essay Example #1

Prompt: Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? 

Recently, I was appointed as the team leader for a major project at my workplace with [company]. The project involved implementing an innovative digital solution to streamline internal communication processes, aiming to enhance efficiency and collaboration within the organization. Because of the company’s move to a hybrid work environment, where employees would be working from home half the week and in-office the rest of the time, there was a need to transition to implement new digital communication processes. As an experienced digital communications and computer technology expert, I was asked to lead the transition. The project was critical to our company's long-term success, and I recognized the opportunity to exhibit leadership and create value for the entire team and the organization.

As the team leader, I initiated the project by carefully studying the existing communication challenges and identifying potential solutions. I independently evaluated which digital options would be most beneficial and feasible for our new hybrid team. Then I organized a series of brainstorming sessions where team members were encouraged to contribute their ideas, fostering a sense of ownership and collaboration. Through active listening and effective communication, I ensured that every team member felt valued and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and skills. I presented the potential solutions I had vetted and accepted ideas for other solutions so we could debate their value as a team.

To create lasting value, I emphasized the importance of a well-defined project plan and assigned clear roles and responsibilities to each team member. By assigning tasks to key team members, we were able to test our potential digital solutions, identify weaknesses and gaps in communication and assess the overall level of comfort with the transition before implementing it fully. I also prioritized open and transparent communication, providing regular updates to the entire team and addressing any concerns or challenges promptly.

During the project's execution, there was a challenge as some team members were hesitant to adopt the new digital solutions. It required active listening, careful persuasion and showcasing the potential benefits to overcome this resistance. It also required me to work with team members to address their concerns and help them get comfortable with unfamiliar technologies and digital platforms.

Through this experience, I learned the importance of patience and empathy when dealing with resistance to change. Recognizing that people have different comfort levels and motivations allowed me to tailor my approach, fostering a positive environment for collaboration and engagement. By embracing these lessons, I am confident in my ability to lead and create lasting value, aligning with Kellogg's purpose of developing leaders who drive positive change.

Kellogg MBA Essay Example #2

Prompt: Values are what guide us in our life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you?

The three values that have intersected in both my personal and professional life have been empathy, social responsibility and a commitment to learning. In my professional life, I have strived to lead both myself and others with empathy and honesty, to demonstrate and encourage social responsibility and to devote myself to continuous development. In my personal life, these values have remained important to me as well, and I believe these values are indivisible from one another.

These values have influenced me to actively participate in community service initiatives, volunteer work, and sustainability efforts. It has also shaped my career choices, leading me to seek opportunities where I can make a meaningful difference in people's lives and address pressing societal challenges. Currently, I work for an international NGO, which has allowed me to express these personal core values in my professional sphere. I believe that knowledge is a lifelong pursuit and that embracing learning opportunities leads to self-improvement and success. This value has influenced me to seek out new challenges, take risks, and push beyond my comfort zone in my work by accepting new roles and taking on new projects.

By remaining open to new ideas and experiences, I was able to participate in a two-year long project in Haiti, to help provide disaster relief. I have gained a broader perspective and developed adaptability, resourcefulness and deepened my empathy for others. My experiences in Haiti also allowed me to reaffirm my commitment to social responsibility, as I lived and worked alongside good, hardworking people everyday and saw the value of giving back to a community and the healing that comes from rebuilding. Working and living in Haiti allowed me to learn incredible new skills, from well-building to first aid to creative engineering. It taught me that continuous learning doesn’t just involve technical skills but also the development of personal qualities such as resilience, patience and fortitude.

These values of empathy, social responsibility and lifelong learning have guided me through amazing professional growth and opportunities, but they have contributed to deep personal development and improvement, too. I know they will continue to guide me and push me further in both my career and my personal life.

As a top business school, not just in the US but globally, getting accepted to Kellogg is quite competitive. However, the school also has a relatively high acceptance rate among top b-schools, of around 20%, making it one of the easiest MBA programs to get into among the top-ranked business schools.

Yes, the Kellogg MBA essays are an important part of your overall application. Kellogg uses a holistic admissions approach, so any writing example you submit as part of your application will be scrutinized, and it is your chance to distinguish yourself from other qualified applicants.

Kellogg’s MBA program values leadership, social impact, diversity, empathy, creativity and innovation.

No. Kellogg has two required written essays and one optional MBA video essay submission. There are no optional written essay questions.

Although it is optional the video essay is an essential part of your application. It not only allows the admissions committee to put a face to your application, they also want to know your communication style, personality and determine how you fit with the Kellogg community.

Kellogg provides practice questions you can rehearse with as many times as you like, to get comfortable with the video essay format and questions. We highly recommend you treat these practice questions as a sort of mock interview before submitting your official video!

Kellogg provides a word count limit of 450 words for both its required, written MBA essays. 

Yes. Although the MBA video essay is optional, it’s still an excellent chance to expand on your application, share more about your background with the admissions committee and help your application stand out. 

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August 15, 2022

Kellogg EMBA Application Essay Tips and Deadlines [2022 – 2023]

Kellogg’s two required EMBA application essay questions present a paradox: they’re straightforward and complex. Together, they draw out a fully rounded view of you as a person and as a professional, what you’ve done and how you think and perceive the world. To the extent possible, ground your essays in detail and concrete experience, and use reflection as the thread weaving those details and experiences into a vivid whole.

Essays 1 and 2 together should amplify and resonate with each other. They should be neither redundant nor discordant. Before or while drafting them, consider them as a whole. While they must each succeed as a separate statement, to do you the most justice they also should work together as parts of a dynamic whole.

Kellogg EMBA 2022-23 Application Essays

Kellogg emba essay #1.

What are your short-term and long-term career goals? What have you already done to get there and how do you think Kellogg can help you? ( 450 word maximum )

In presenting your goals, frame them with “why” you want to pursue that path and the impact you hope to have. Clarifying this motivation will animate the essay and engage the reader. Also, of course, support this vision by describing your goals in specific terms: likely positions, which company or industry, desired location, and some related context, e.g. anticipated challenges you or your organization may face, your take on industry trends and how they affect your goals, and so forth. Then connect the dots: explain how this stated path will enable you to deliver the desired impact.

In asking what you have already done to pursue these goals, the adcom is essentially seeking evidence that you are truly committed to this career path. Answering this part allows you to show that you are proactive, strategic, and resourceful. Don’t cite everything you’ve done in this regard, but rather identify the 2-3 most important experiences – and what you gained from them. In explaining why Kellogg must be the next step on that path, link the resources of the Kellogg EMBA to the specific learning and professional needs arising from your planned path.

Kellogg EMBA essay #2

Define what community means to you. Share an example of how you contribute to a community and how that contribution is impacting that community. ( 450 word maximum )

This question aims right at the heart of what Kellogg cares about (and always has). Kellogg’s sense of community is a central value of the business school and reflects its core identity. To define what community means to you, be concrete. There are many communities in your life, and probably they overlap. Your work, your neighborhood and the broader region, your friends from various areas of your life, any organizations or groups you belong to or participate in, cultural or religious groups, etc. When you describe what community means to you, give examples referencing your communities — your definition should encompass different communities.  

To address the “contribute” part, present a straightforward story about one of your community contributions. Identify and describe what community you are referring to. Clarify why it’s meaningful to you, and briefly summarize your history with and roles in the community. Next, action: what did you do to contribute. I.e., what need did you recognize and what did you do in response? What was the outcome of your action(s), what changed as a result?

Kellogg EMBA essay #3 (Optional)

If needed, use this section to briefly describe any extenuating circumstances (e.g. unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, etc.).

This question explicitly limits the potential topics to extenuating circumstances, so don’t use it to further market yourself by presenting new material to enhance your application. If you do not have extenuating circumstances, do not write the essay. If you do need to provide such information, do it succinctly and straightforwardly.

You’ve worked so hard to get to this point in your journey. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your Kellogg EMBA application. Get a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you.  Check out our flexible consulting packages today!

Kellogg Executive MBA application deadlines for January 2023 and September 2023 start dates

Source:  Kellogg website

Related Resources:

• Ace the EMBA: Expert Advice for the Rising Executive , a free guide
• EMBA: The Ultimate Guide for Applicants
• Program-specific EMBA application essay tips

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Kellogg MBA Application Essay Writing Guide And Samples

EssayEdge > Blog > Kellogg MBA Application Essay Writing Guide And Samples

Application to the MBA program requires great preparation for the process. The applicant has to be aware of the smallest details of each stage of the process to be sure that the application will be successful. We have decided to do an overview of the application stages and pay extra attention to the Kellogg MBA essay. We have gathered the most popular questions and tried to answer them comprehensively. Also, we have prepared some successful samples and analyzed them, so you will have the opportunity to have a kind of pattern in front of your eyes when writing your own essay. Our MBA essay editing wishes you all the best with your application to the business school at Kellogg University.

Table of Contents:

Kellogg MBA application essay: general requirements and prompts

The unique and pretty unusual difference between a regular application to any school of business and Kellogg school of business is the difference between application essays. When preparing for the submission Kellogg MBA application essay, you should know that you are required to submit two types of essays. It may seem so obvious and easy as other educational institutions, no matter London Business School or Harvard business school , require usually two or even three essays such as personal statement or statement of purpose . However, Kellogg requires a regular written essay and a video essay for submission. Therefore, you have to get extra aware of the conditions provided by Kellogg University . We highly recommend perusing the conditions and contacting the admissions office in case of any misunderstandings to clarify the points that may need clarification and extra explanation. To understand the main specifications and peculiarities of Kellogg MBA application essay, we have gathered and structured the main points you have to keep in mind when taking up the process. This year is the year when Kellogg requires two mandatory essays for submission. The length of them is similar and equals 450 words per essay. The same requirement had the application years before. Many applicants face the issue of the lack of words to describe everything they want to say. Therefore, huge attention should be paid to the content you provide for the admissions committee. We highly recommend thinking attentively about each word you want to include in your essay. However, if you feel any difficulties with this challenging task, you can always refer to our highly proficient essay editor , who will help you polish your paper and make it incomparable. Kellogg MBA application essay is the document that is supposed to fully uncover your outlook on life or a particular issue within several words. As a rule, Kellogg provides the topics for the essays. Therefore, it can be simpler for some candidates to speak out their mind as they have to answer a question provided as the topic of the essay or write the thoughts they have regarding the topic. However, some applicants find this type of essay a difficult one because some people may not have enough thoughts to share regarding the provided thesis or, vice versa, too many ideas that should be included in the essay to answer the question comprehensively. Therefore, take the writing process seriously as Kellogg MBA application essay isn’t that easy as it may seem to be. Also, one more crucial point you have to be aware of when preparing the pack of the documents is that different types of applicants, depending on the field of studies and type of application, have to provide one or more supporting documents. Those are supplementary essays. Each of them is about 250 words. About their unique features and topics, we will talk in the next paragraph.

Kellogg MBA essay questions: how to answer them to get admitted?

As we mentioned before, all applicants are supposed to submit two essays to apply to the university. Kellogg MBA essay questions are supposed to uncover the aspects of the applicant’s personality. This year the questions are pretty general and, therefore, can be answered in different ways.

• The first topic is about leadership.

The applicant is supposed to provide the story they had recently, where they had to prove their leadership skills. It can be any situation or case. However, the applicant is supposed to also provide some examples and conclusions after having such an experience.

• The second topic is about values you have both in your personal life and at work.

Kellogg MBA essay questions are directly referred to the life and work of the applicant. You are supposed to share the most important aspects of your life outlook so the admissions committee can estimate your value as a future student. What is the most important and what you don’t like about these aspects of life? These are the points that should be discussed and fully uncovered in your essay.

These are the questions that must be undoubtedly answered and submitted as application essays with the pack of the rest documents. However, these are not the only essays that must be submitted. Depending on your status and circumstances of application, you are supposed to submit several more essays and answer more Kellogg MBA essay questions.

• If you are an applicant who wants to pursue a one-year MBA. Thus, you are to provide the information about the goals you have set that may become real after pursuing your 1-year MBA degree. The word limit for this essay is 250 words. Therefore, try to avoid unnecessary data that is not related to the topic of the essay. This question is pretty straightforward, so, try to submit a comprehensive answer to this question. If you are an MBAi applicant, who wants to get a degree in this field. Each of Kellogg MBA essay questions is supposed to observe the specific aspect of applicants’ candidacy in the context of future education.
• If you are the applicant who wants to receive the degree in the MBAi program, which is aimed at AI technologies and their implication in the business to make processes better and more efficient, you have to provide the information about the case you had in your career. Many companies struggle with having an outstanding specialist in the field of AI but with strong leadership skills at the same time. Therefore, you are asked to share the case you had when business and AI technologies had kind of a disconnect in your practice. Answering this one among all Kellogg MBA essay questions will provide the admissions committee with the necessary information about you at work and your abilities to overcome difficulties and implicate new features to make the business and workflow better. To provide full information about this issue, you have 450 words.
• If you are an applicant who wants to pursue the MMM MBA degree. MMM MBA degree is a two-year dual degree program. You have a chance not only to boost your business skills but also to get knowledge in the fields that are closely related to business improvement. This year Kellogg MBA essay questions that are created for the MMM MBA applicants suppose observing your mindset. Are you curious about your work? Do you like creative tasks? Are you an open-minded person who is ready to take up any challenges? Choose one point and tell the admissions committee the situation when you had to demonstrate one of these values in your work process. Also, you are to describe in your essay why these factors are important in the context of your receiving the MMM degree at Kellogg. The volume of this essay is 250 words, so you have to be careful when including the information in your paper to stick to the word limit.
• If you are an applicant, who wants to become a JD in MBA. Therefore, you are supposed to answer one of Kellogg MBA essay questions for this field of education too. The admissions committee wants to know what your career goals are and how the education program at Kellogg will help you achieve those goals. Be careful when answering this question as you have only 250 words to speak out your mind. Our main advice is to be direct in your thoughts as you have a limited amount of words to answer the question.
• If you are the reapplicant who wants to enter the Kellogg again. One of those Kellogg MBA essay questions is also prepared for you! You have to describe the actions and steps you have taken to make your candidacy an appropriate one for entering the University of Kellogg. You have 250 words to put your thoughts on the paper. We highly recommend structuring your essay appropriately, as, with this word limit, there is a big chance of having misunderstandings to put everything you want together.

These essays are an integral part of the admissions process. You have to submit them as part of your application. However, will also have to submit several video essays. To know more about them and the conditions of their submission, we recommend referring to the official site of the university.

Kellogg MBA essay length: tips on dealing with this requirement

Kellogg MBA Essay is one of the most well-known requirements for Kellogg applicants. Kellogg, among other things, wants to know why you want their MBA program and what makes you unique compared to other candidates applying. This can be difficult to answer in 500 words or less! Here are some tips that will help you put together an MBA essay now and fit Kellogg MBA essay length.

• Kellogg applicants should spend time writing an essay with depth and creativity. However, you should be careful as too much creativity can fill too many words.
• Applicants must know their strengths compared to other candidates applying for the Kellogg program before taking up the writing process! There are two main parts to writing a good Kellogg MBA essay: what you have done so far (courses, activities, or personal life) and why it makes you unique! Try to create the list of things that must be undoubtedly included, so you can approximately estimate the number of words you need to cover everything.
• To stick to Kellogg MBA essay length, try to keep your focus on showing how your past experiences make you better than others who apply for this specific program. Make sure to put yourself as someone outstanding – not just an average person trying to get into Kellogg! The best way is to use numbers or data that are not mentioned in your other documents.

Kellogg MBA essay word count: what content to fit in 450 words

Kellogg MBA Essay is a challenging task for Kellogg applicants. Applicants have to write a compelling essay in 450 words, and this should cover Kellogg’s mission, Kellogg school culture, personal profile with adequate examples, Kellogg career goals, etc. It is not easy at all, but it needs some skills and tips to make your application more competitive! We are sharing the latest updates of the Kellogg MBA essay word count here so that you know what content works best!

• Fit the right pieces

A common mistake many applicants make while writing their essay is that they try to fit every sentence into word limit no matter if it’s relevant or not, which results in a messy upshot without any clear message about the applicant’s background and future goals. Kellogg applicants need to avoid this mistake so that they can succeed in their application! Use relevant data and examples. Remember that fitting the word limit with the unnecessary words won’t play in your favour. Also, vice versa, if you have 453 words instead of exactly 450, it won’t be a crucial mistake. So, keep your content in the right length for it.

• Include the key points that are important both for you and university

Applicants should carefully go through the requirements and Kellogg MBA essay examples to know what topics Kellogg admission officers like best. Then, you can frame your essay accordingly with those ideas. Applicants must remember that Kellogg school is looking for candidates who share similar goals, values, and vision of future career path, which means it’s not enough to write a generic story without any clear direction where you want to see your life after graduating from Kellogg! It’s better to spend time preparing an outline before writing each sentence because it will help you keep things straightened out while putting the main points clearly in front of Kellogg admission officers!

• Kellogg Career goals

Kellogg MBA Essay questions ask applicants to share their future career plans with Kellogg school. Applicants have a great chance here to convince the Kellogg admissions committee about their passion and dedication towards Kellogg’s specific area of study because only successful candidates, who are planning for a relevant career path after completing the program from Kellogg, will be chosen. The best way is to include some examples related to what you have done so far, which helped you learn something new or develop an interest in that field etc. In short, keep your essay focused on convincing Kellogg school why it should select you, not others! In this way, you have the chance to provide only crucial and detailed information without deviating from Kellogg MBA essay word count.

• Stick to the main idea in your essay

Applicants must write down all relevant information about what makes them unique before writing anything else. Otherwise, there is no point in writing Kellogg MBA Essay because Kellogg admission officers will think that you are just another applicant, and there is no way they can select someone who doesn’t stand out from the crowd! In addition, Kellogg is looking for applicants with specific goals, a clear understanding of future career paths, and an overall passion for Kellogg. Therefore, simply, if you don’t think about Kellogg essays topics and miss the research stage before writing the paper, you risk failing the challenging task of sticking to Kellogg MBA essay word count and get lost in a crowd of worthy candidates.

Kellogg MBA essay examples

We know how important it is to have successful samples in front of your eyes when preparing your own essay.

Therefore, we have prepared essay of accepted student Kellogg took into consideration. You can look through it and be aware of the main and the most important structural features. It is an awesome idea to read samples and take notes at the same time. Imagine, you catch a feeling of something special you have just read and, of course, you want your essay to be kind of like that. Therefore, you can take notes and implicate some interesting features in your essay. However, we highly recommend being careful when reading the examples. It is prohibited to copy-paste any data or use someone’s experience and background as yours. Remember that the admissions committee can check everything. You can find one of Kellogg MBA essay examples below and start your admissions journey with EssayEdge!

Kellogg MBA essay analysis

As we mentioned above, it is crucial to take notes when reading essay samples. Our advice is not only to take over some cool features but also to do a thorough Kellogg MBA essay analysis. Think about the details, lexis, grammar, and structure of the paper you have read. Then, write down the list of things that caught your attention, what you liked the most about the paper on the whole, and what you would like to avoid in your own paper. It is all-important. In this way, you can create an outstanding essay that will certainly catch the readers’ attention. Right now, you can start and try to do this “exercise” with the following Kellogg MBA essay examples. Wish you the best of luck!

Essay of accepted MBA student Kellogg

I used my initiative to create and grow a program at my company, an executive recruiting and management leadership consulting firm, to do the same for college students as Kellogg does for its MBA candidates: educate, equip and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. With a goal of building a strong network and learning about the ways different companies are managed, I joined XXX after completing my Master of Management Studies at XXX in XXX. When I started, many of my colleagues said that they had fallen into this industry, especially when joining straight from a university. The younger generation of business professionals would not know about the [EXECUTIVE RECRUITING] industry since we work with high-level employees, rarely hired entry-level talent, and did not have a formal internship program, nor did our competitors. I saw the gap. Since we were growing, we needed to promote our brand, attract analyst-level researchers, and create a talent pipeline. I started the internship program in my home office, XXX, and then co-led a program nationally the following year. Now, I am expanding the program globally. My first year was not a success. I started recruiting too late in the year, which limited our talent pool, and I rushed [HIRING] decisions. Also, the company lacked engaging projects for the interns; they mostly did data entry, which meant they were not viewed as core team members. However, it was a good starting point, and the head of XXX asked me to co-lead a program with a XXX colleague. I jumped at the opportunity. I had learned from the prior year and started recruiting earlier, built both centrally- and locally-managed functions, and developed a straightforward appraisal and offer process. We also developed more hands-on projects for the interns. Overall, I had XXX interns in XXX offices, which led to seven full-time hires. This year, we are expanding into other countries. Through building this program, I have learned how to work with different offices, best practices in recruiting, and how to ask for support and consensus. Additionally, I had seen a gap in the system, even in a company that is XXX years old, and I realized I was right not to have been afraid to see room for improvement. Furthermore, I have learned that I thrive leading and building programs, which is what I will do at Kellogg and in my career moving forward. I am proud to have created value for the firm by establishing recruiting relationships with local colleges, including XXX, and creating a pipeline of incoming talent, as well as leadership opportunities for employees to become internship managers in their offices.

See more: MBA essay examples .

Our services do care about the success of your application. Therefore, we wish you the best of luck with your Kellogg MBA essay!

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• How to Write an Annotation

One of the greatest challenges students face is adjusting to college reading expectations.  Unlike high school, students in college are expected to read more “academic” type of materials in less time and usually recall the information as soon as the next class.

The problem is many students spend hours reading and have no idea what they just read.  Their eyes are moving across the page, but their mind is somewhere else. The end result is wasted time, energy, and frustration…and having to read the text again.

Although students are taught  how to read  at an early age, many are not taught  how to actively engage  with written text or other media. Annotation is a tool to help you learn how to actively engage with a text or other media.

View the following video about how to annotate a text.

Annotating a text or other media (e.g. a video, image, etc.) is as much about you as it is the text you are annotating. What are YOUR responses to the author’s writing, claims and ideas? What are YOU thinking as you consider the work? Ask questions, challenge, think!

When we annotate an author’s work, our minds should encounter the mind of the author, openly and freely. If you met the author at a party, what would you like to tell to them; what would you like to ask them? What do you think they would say in response to your comments? You can be critical of the text, but you do not have to be. If you are annotating properly, you often begin to get ideas that have little or even nothing to do with the topic you are annotating. That’s fine: it’s all about generating insights and ideas of your own. Any good insight is worth keeping because it may make for a good essay or research paper later on.

The Secret is in the Pen

One of the ways proficient readers read is with a pen in hand. They know their purpose is to keep their attention on the material by:

• Predicting  what the material will be about
• Questioning  the material to further understanding
• Determining  what’s important
• Identifying  key vocabulary
• Summarizing  the material in their own words, and
• Monitoring  their comprehension (understanding) during and after engaging with the material

The same applies for mindfully viewing a film, video, image or other media.

Annotating a Text

Review the video, “How to Annotate a Text.”  Pay attention to both how to make annotations and what types of thoughts and ideas may be part of your annotations as you actively read a written text.

Example Assignment Format: Annotating a Written Text

For the annotation of reading assignments in this class, you will cite and comment on a minimum of FIVE (5) phrases, sentences or passages from notes you take on the selected readings.

Here is an example format for an assignment to annotate a written text:

Example Assignment Format: Annotating Media

In addition to annotating written text, at times you will have assignments to annotate media (e.g., videos, images or other media). For the annotation of media assignments in this class, you will cite and comment on a minimum of THREE (3) statements, facts, examples, research or any combination of those from the notes you take about selected media.

Here is an example format for an assignment to annotate media:

• Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : http://www.lumenlearning.com/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Authored by : Paul Powell . Provided by : Central Community College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Authored by : Elisabeth Ellington and Ronda Dorsey Neugebauer . Provided by : Chadron State College. Project : Kaleidoscope Open Course Initiative. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Annotating a Text. Authored by : HaynesEnglish. Located at : http://youtu.be/pf9CTJj9dCM . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube license
• How to Annotate a Text. Authored by : Kthiebau90. Located at : http://youtu.be/IzrWOj0gWHU . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License
• Table of Contents

Instructor Resources (Access Requires Login)

• Overview of Instructor Resources

An Overview of the Writing Process

• Introduction to the Writing Process
• Introduction to Writing
• Your Role as a Learner
• What is an Essay?
• Reading to Write
• Defining the Writing Process
• Videos: Prewriting Techniques
• Thesis Statements
• Organizing an Essay
• Creating Paragraphs
• Conclusions
• Editing and Proofreading
• Matters of Grammar, Mechanics, and Style
• Peer Review Checklist
• Comparative Chart of Writing Strategies

Using Sources

• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Avoiding Plagiarism
• Formatting the Works Cited Page (MLA)
• Citing Paraphrases and Summaries (APA)
• APA Citation Style, 6th edition: General Style Guidelines

Definition Essay

• Definitional Argument Essay
• How to Write a Definition Essay
• Critical Thinking
• Video: Thesis Explained
• Effective Thesis Statements
• Student Sample: Definition Essay

Narrative Essay

• Introduction to Narrative Essay
• Student Sample: Narrative Essay
• "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell
• "Sixty-nine Cents" by Gary Shteyngart
• Video: The Danger of a Single Story
• How to Write a Summary
• Writing for Success: Narration

Illustration/Example Essay

• Introduction to Illustration/Example Essay
• "She's Your Basic L.O.L. in N.A.D" by Perri Klass
• "April & Paris" by David Sedaris
• Writing for Success: Illustration/Example
• Student Sample: Illustration/Example Essay

Compare/Contrast Essay

• Introduction to Compare/Contrast Essay
• "Disability" by Nancy Mairs
• "Friending, Ancient or Otherwise" by Alex Wright
• "A South African Storm" by Allison Howard
• Writing for Success: Compare/Contrast
• Student Sample: Compare/Contrast Essay

Cause-and-Effect Essay

• Introduction to Cause-and-Effect Essay
• "Cultural Baggage" by Barbara Ehrenreich
• "Women in Science" by K.C. Cole
• Writing for Success: Cause and Effect
• Student Sample: Cause-and-Effect Essay

Argument Essay

• Introduction to Argument Essay
• Rogerian Argument
• "The Case Against Torture," by Alisa Soloman
• "The Case for Torture" by Michael Levin
• How to Write a Summary by Paraphrasing Source Material
• Writing for Success: Argument
• Student Sample: Argument Essay
• Grammar/Mechanics Mini-lessons
• Mini-lesson: Subjects and Verbs, Irregular Verbs, Subject Verb Agreement
• Mini-lesson: Sentence Types
• Mini-lesson: Fragments I
• Mini-lesson: Run-ons and Comma Splices I
• Mini-lesson: Comma Usage
• Mini-lesson: Parallelism
• Mini-lesson: The Apostrophe
• Mini-lesson: Capital Letters
• Grammar Practice - Interactive Quizzes
• De Copia - Demonstration of the Variety of Language
• Style Exercise: Voice

A business journal from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Knowledge at Wharton Podcast

What does your writing style say about you, july 23, 2024 • 15 min listen.

Wharton’s Jonah Berger explains how writing style can predict future success.

Listen to the podcast.

Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger discusses his published study, “ Topography of Thought ,” which was co-authored with Olivier Toubia , business professor at Columbia Business School. The paper examines how someone’s writing style can be indicative of their future success, and where generative AI might come into the picture.

Read an edited transcript below.

Studying How Successful People Think

Angie Basiouny: Give us an overview of this paper by way of explaining your title. What is topography of thought?

Jonah Berger: I don’t have to tell you that we all use language all the time. We write emails, make presentations, and submit job applications. We use language all the time. And language, in some sense, is a fingerprint. It reveals or reflects things about the people who produce it. You can predict how extraverted someone is, for example, based on the words they use.

But beyond the individual words people use, might the pattern of ideas they put out there, the way they organize their ideas, reveal something interesting about them and their likelihood of future success?”

I think it’s important to talk about what I mean about the pattern of ideas. When someone talks about something, they can cover a small amount of ground or a large amount of ground. If you ask someone about their work history, for example, they can talk about a variety of things they’ve done or a smaller set of things they’ve done. They can cover a lot of ground or a little bit of ground.

If you want to use an analogy here, you can almost think about going for a run. Someone can go for a run and go all the way around the city, or they can go for the same number of miles, but just go around the block a number of times. In both cases, they did the same distance, but they covered more ground in one than the other. So, one way we express ideas is the amount of ground we cover. We cover more ground with our ideas, or less. We can talk about more ideas, more topics, more themes, more things that are disparate from one another, or things that are related to one another.

But it’s not just that. It’s also the speed with which we move between adjoining ideas. Imagine a movie. It can cover more or less ground across the course of the movie, but it can also move faster or slower between ideas. If a movie has one scene, for example, that’s at the beginning of a wedding, if the next scene is the later part in a wedding, that’s related to the first part. Different things may happen, but it’s pretty closely related. But if you jump from a wedding to an action scene, that would be really different sorts of ideas. They’re not very related. They’re moving further across those two points.

We wondered if these two ideas, how much ground someone covers, and how quickly they move between ideas, might tell us something about their likelihood of future success.

Basiouny: You’re not talking about the length of the piece of writing. You’re not talking about whether it’s a 500-word essay or 1,000-word essay. It’s really about how they use that space to move through their ideas. Correct?

Berger: Yes, great point. It’s not about the length. It’s about the ground covered. Are they covering a lot of ground in their hundred or thousand words, whatever it is? Or are they covering less ground? Someone talking about their vacation could share 1,000 words, but they could use those words to talk just about the food they ate, or also to talk about the sights they saw and the places they visited.  The former would cover less ground while the latter would cover more.

Basiouny: How did you go about studying this?

Berger: The same ideas can be applied to any type of content, but here we looked at college applications. In other work we’ve looked at online reviews, and in related work we looked at books, movies, and TV shows.

We took 40,000 college application essays from a variety of folks who were applying to school, and we looked at what they wrote and the topography of thought of what they wrote — how much ground they covered in that essay. Again, similar length, but how much ground they covered, and how quickly they moved between ideas. And we looked at their future success. How well did they do in school? What was their GPA once they got there? We were interested in seeing whether, not just the individual words they use, but the way they express ideas might that reveal something or predict how likely they are to be successful in the future.

The Essay Writing Style That’s Linked to Greater Success

Basiouny: What did you find?

Berger: We found two very important things. First, covering more ground, that notion of covering a broad range of things in the same amount of length, was linked to greater success. But doing so while moving rather slowly, was also important.

Think about the numbers arrayed on a circular clock. You could cover a lot of ground by moving in a circle, (e.g., going from 12 to 1 to 2 to 3 to 4) or by traversing the same ground but going from like 12 to 6 to 1 to 7 to 3 to 11. You’ve covered the same amount of ground, but you’ve taken a much longer route between each individual point.

What we found is that folks who are successful in school are able to blend these two things that might seem mutually exclusive. It might seem like covering a lot of ground requires moving really quickly between points to get there. But folks that end up doing well in school figure out a way to cover that ground really efficiently. They’re able to do so by moving slowly between these points, and they don’t have to take a lot of big jumps along the way.

Basiouny: In this paper, you controlled for some socioeconomic factors. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Berger: Yes, so someone could wonder, “OK, so you’ve found that people did well in school, and you’re using writing as a way to indicate how they think. But does it indicate something else?” Maybe it’s just that people who do better on the SAT also have higher grades and also tend to write a certain way. Maybe it’s that people who have parents who are more educated tend to write a certain way and also do better in school. Or maybe people who have parents who are more educated can afford to pay for an essay consultant who helps them write a certain way and also helps them do better in school.

So, we controlled for a variety of different things. We controlled for what they wrote about. Maybe certain types of people tend to write about certain types of things, rather than other types of things. Maybe it’s not about how they write, it’s about what they wrote about — the topics or themes they discussed. No, it wasn’t that.

Maybe it’s parents’ education. No, we controlled for that. Maybe it’s SAT scores. No, we can control for that. What this suggests is that the topography of thought goes beyond things related to just socioeconomic factors or family background. It’s not just that people who might have had wealthier families, for example, tend to write a certain way or have application consultants and do better in school because they get tutoring. No, it really suggests that writing reveals something about the way we think, which can reveal or predict our likelihood of being successful in the future.

Implications Beyond College Essay Writing

Basiouny: There are other critical forms of writing that we do every day in business, like cover letters, resumes, a press release, communications to the C-suite. Can you take this research and translate it into a business context?

Berger: What I find fascinating about these ideas is yes, we looked at the case of college application essays, but it doesn’t have to be only about application essays. These same ideas should apply more broadly to a variety of contexts, whether it’s a cover letter that someone writes, whether it’s an online review that someone puts together, whether it’s the emails they write at the office — all these things provide insight into who people are and what they’re likely to do in the future. I think on a previous episode that you had me on, I talked about a paper I loved recently, where they can tell whether someone is going to default on the loan or not by the language they use in their application. Similarly, you can predict whether someone is going to get promoted or fired or leave a job for a better opportunity elsewhere based on the language they use in their email.

Most of this work that I just mentioned is using individual words, but I think what our work suggests beyond the individual words someone used, you can get insight into who they are, how they think, and how well they’re going to do in the future, based on the pattern of ideas that they have or their topography of thought.

Basiouny: As a manager, it gives you an indication of how they might move through their physical work or their knowledge work, right?

Berger: Yes, one thing we’re looking at right now is, as people learn more, does that change the way their topography of thought looks? Obviously, as we gain more knowledge in a given domain, we may talk differently. We may think about ideas differently. One thought we have is, “Hey, if people who are able to cover a lot of ground really efficiently by moving slowly between points, how did they get there? Are they naturally that way?” Probably not. They may have gained more knowledge along the way that allows them to represent their ideas differently.

One thing we’re doing right now is looking at online forums where people write multiple reviews over time. Someone, for example, might write hundreds of wine reviews over the years. They’ve learned more about wine years later. We’re looking at how do they represent ideas differently as they gain knowledge? And that may help us understand why people who represent ideas certain ways end up doing better.

Humans Still Write Better than ChatGPT and Gen AI — For Now

Basiouny: ChatGPT and artificial intelligence have entered the conversation. People have access to these free tools that can help them perfect their cover letters and written business communication. How does this change things? We can’t really tell how good someone’s topography of thought is if they have an AI-assisted piece of writing. What do we do?

Berger: Yes, so I’d say a couple of things. I agree with much of what you said, except one word. I’m not sure they allow you to “perfect” your writing. At least at the moment. What they do is allow you to write something pretty good quickly and easily. You give it a prompt, and it produces content that’s pretty interesting, does a pretty good job of doing something that might have been difficult for you to do.

And to a degree it uses your own content somehow. Like you could say, “Take my CV and use it to put together a cover letter based on my past experiences.” So that is based on you, and someone else’s might look different, to the degree that their CV is different, but I wouldn’t say it necessarily perfects anything. At least at the moment.

Certainly, tools like ChatGPT and others have made the production of content much easier, and I can imagine a time down the road where we do use them for many tasks, rather than writing ourselves. But I still think there is a lot to be understood about how language reflects the people that produce it and how to write more effective content, based on understanding what makes language impactful.

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1 in 3 College Applicants Used AI for Essay Help. Did They Cheat?

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Last spring, Makena, then a high school senior, was deep into cranking out some 70 essays for 20 college applications when her creativity started to wane.

So, she turned to a high-tech brainstorming partner: artificial intelligence.

One essay prompt asked Makena to describe a class she’d want to teach if she were a college professor. “I had no idea,” said Makena, who asked to be identified only by her first name to speak candidly about the admissions process. “I had never thought about it.”

She put her intended major and some favorite topics into an AI tool, which spit out a list of potential courses. Makena selected one and crafted her essay around it, without any further AI assistance.

In Makena’s mind, this wasn’t cheating.

“I wrote my own essays, 100 percent,” she said. After all, she could have found the same information on Google or by picking up a course catalogue. AI was just more efficient.

About a third of high school seniors who applied to college in the 2023-24 school year acknowledged using an AI tool for help in writing admissions essays, according to research released this month by foundry10 , an organization focused on improving learning.

About half of those students—or roughly one in six students overall—used AI the way Makena did, to brainstorm essay topics or polish their spelling and grammar. And about 6 percent of students overall—including some of Makena’s classmates, she said—relied on AI to write the final drafts of their essays instead of doing most of the writing themselves.

Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of students admitted to Harvard University’s class of 2027 paid a private admissions consultant for help with their applications .

The use of outside help, in other words, is rampant in college admissions, opening up a host of questions about ethics, norms, and equal opportunity.

Top among them: Which—if any—of these students cheated in the admissions process?

For now, the answer is murky.

Colleges permit students to use pricey admissions coaches . But they are mostly silent on how AI can be used in crafting essays.

That’s created “this ethical gray area that students and [high school] counselors don’t have any guidance” on how to navigate, said Jennifer Rubin, a senior researcher at foundry10 and the lead author the report.

A ‘double standard’ on college admissions

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have put a high-tech twist on decades-old questions of fairness in the college admissions process.

The system has “never been a level playing field,” Rubin said, citing the advantages that mostly benefit wealthier students, such as SAT tutors, paid college admissions coaches, and savvy, college-educated parents. “I think [AI] is just complicating it a little bit more because it’s a tool that’s readily available to everyone.”

To get a sense of the public’s perceptions on AI in college admissions, foundry10 included an experimental portion in its survey.

Participants reviewed an identical portion of a college essay. But one group was instructed that the applicant had help from ChatGPT in brainstorming ideas, refining content, and polishing the final draft—essentially the same tasks Makena used AI for.

Another group was told the applicant got assistance with the same parts of the writing process, from a paid college admissions coach. A third group was informed that the student worked entirely alone.

Participants rated the applicant who used ChatGPT as less authentic, less ethical, and less likable than the student who paid for professional help. (The student who worked solo got the highest ratings.)

Rubin perceives a “double standard” at work.

A student who can pay “thousands of dollars to someone who has the knowledge of how a [particular college] works and what’s needed or wanted in a college admissions essay is going to have an undue advantage,” she said.

College admissions coaching services typically cost from $60 to $349 per hour, according to data cited in Rubin’s report from Prepmaven, an admissions-preparation company.

The website of one such service, Ivy College Essay , advertises its Harvard connections. For between $1,500 and $4,800, depending on the number of applications, students receive help in brainstorming topics and “extensive written notes, comments, and guidance, focusing on both content and structure,” according to the site.

“We go back and forth as many times as needed until we have a very strong and solid Ivy League college application!” the company promises.

Assistance from ChatGPT on similar tasks “probably isn’t going to be as strong” as what such a service offers, Rubin said. “But it might provide students some form of feedback that they might not be able to get in their lives because they don’t have parents or caregivers” who have the savvy to help.

These issues are especially personal for Rubin, a first-generation college graduate who attended a private high school on scholarship. She had the help of her school counselors in applying to college.

But that assistance couldn’t make up for the gap between Rubin and many of her peers with highly educated parents, who could offer all sorts of support, she said.

Big questions on AI use go mostly unanswered by colleges

For now, high school counselors aren’t sure what to tell their students when it comes to how AI can be ethically used in the admissions process.

“My seniors have come to me and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to write an essay about this. Where do I even start?’ Or ‘is it OK if I use ChatGPT?’” said Melissa Millington, a school counselor in Missouri. “I just really hit on, you cannot pass that off as your own work, because that’s not ethical.”

But, like Rubin, she sees some possibility for the technology in crafting applications that stop short of making AI a sole, uncredited ghost writer.

“If you are going to use it to get a starting point, that’s totally fine,” she said she’s told students. “Or if you want to write your essay, and then put it in there and ask it to clean [the] grammar,” that’s likely fair game.

While most colleges and universities are silent on the AI issue, some individual institutions have given applicants the green light to use AI in a limited fashion.

One of the country’s most prestigious institutions focusing on science, math, engineering and technology, CalTech, tells prospective students that it’s unethical to copy and paste an essay written entirely by generative AI. But it is acceptable to use AI to brainstorm or check grammar and spelling, the college says.

Georgia Polytechnical Institute, another highly regarded STEM-focused university, has a similar policy .

“If you choose to utilize AI-based assistance … we encourage you to take the same approach you would when collaborating with people,” the school’s website says. “Use it to brainstorm, edit, and refine your ideas.”

But for other colleges, any use of AI is unacceptable, at least officially. Brown University, for instance, cites its fraud policy and tells applicants that the use of AI is “not permitted under any circumstances.”

‘It always been an honor system’

Brown and other institutions have no real way of enforcing those policies, Rubin said.

AI detectors are notoriously unreliable. And they are disproportionately likely to flag writing by students who are not native English speakers, even if they didn’t use AI.

In fact, Kristin Woelfel, a policy counsel specializing in equity in civic technology for the Center for Democracy & Technology, a nonprofit organization that aims to shape technology policy, has gone so far as to say the detectors have the potential to violate students’ civil rights .

It doesn’t really matter if colleges have guidelines that prohibit AI use, Rubin said, because there’s no way to check on what kind of assistance an applicant received, human or not.

“It’s always been on the honor system,” she said.

Colleges that haven’t outlined their policies on AI in the application process are ignoring the obvious—and making life harder for high school counselors and their students, said Maritza Cha, who worked as a school counselor in Southern California for nearly a decade and has taught high school counseling as an adjunct professor.

“We’re at the point of either you can kind of put your head down in the sand and pretend it’s not happening, which is not realistic,” Cha said. “Or you can just acknowledge that they’re using some kind of AI” in the admissions process.

Counselors can model proper use of AI in the college search

While much of the work in setting clear guidelines needs to happen at the college level, there are steps high school educators can take.

Rubin believes that if counselors and teachers are really thinking about leveling the playing field between first-generation college students from low-income families and their peers, it might be helpful to show how generative AI can ethically guide the college admissions process.

For instance, students could put areas of study they are interested in and a desired geographic region into a tool like ChatGPT and ask for recommendations on where to apply.

“Generative AI can provide them some really concrete information,” Rubin said. Even though they should check that data against more accurate sources, it can help a student narrow their search.

Students can even have a “conversation back and forth” with AI if they don’t have access to a college counselor at school who can meet with them consistently, she said.

And they can model how to use AI to spur their creativity or proofread final drafts, without crossing the line into wholesale cheating, she said.

But, ultimately, high school educators and college officials need to have conversations about what responsible use of AI looks like, including in crafting college applications, Rubin said.

In Rubin’s view, those discussions should acknowledge that many students already have access to other types of help—whether that’s from professional consultants or parents and older siblings familiar with the process of applying to college.

Makena, for instance, thinks she can write a stronger, more personal essay than anything ChatGPT could cook up. She didn’t feel the need to pay a private counselor either, since she wanted to rely on her own voice as much as possible.

She did, however, have a low-tech, presumably cost-free assistant: Her father, who edited all 70-plus of her essays.

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How to answer Kellogg’s essay questions — Part 1

Question 1: Leadership and teamwork are integral parts of the Kellogg experience. Describe a recent and meaningful time you were a leader. What challenges did you face, and what did you learn?

So, leadership again, eh? Yep. Once again in considering our overall application, we decided that leadership is the most difficult trait to draw out, and we want to encourage you to discuss it.

Sure, we can see your resume and your list of activities – possibly you were president of every single one, and we can safely assume you’re a leader. But more often, people choose one area to take on a significant leadership role and do it well – whether professionally or maybe in an activity outside of work – and you need some space to tell us about that. Maybe your title does not accurately convey the leadership responsibilities you managed on a particular project.

Why do we specify “recent and meaningful”? Well, you might be surprised how far back people dig to find examples. Here’s a good rule of thumb:

• If the example is from your professional time horizon, great, solid choice.
• If you think back to college, OK, that may work.
• If you really want to use a pre-college example … that may not stand out for the reasons you hope.

What challenges did you face? Oh yes, we want to understand the challenges for your team. (You had a team, right? Because you were a leader, there must have been some other people involved.) The challenge is what tests you as a leader. Was it a lack of resources? A last-minute change of scope? Unclear goal? A mistake for which your team had to take accountability?

If you’ve led people, then I bet you’ve faced an obstacle that would make great essay material.

But most importantly – what did you learn?

How did this challenge and this experience change your perspective? A warning to people who write about marathons, triathlons, mountain climbing and mud races – what did you learn that you can bring to Kellogg? I already know mud racing is hard, that’s why I avoid it! Spend most of your response talking about what you learned from your leadership experience, and perhaps how you have applied it.

These lessons learned and your changing perspectives are going to be the foundation for your growth as a leader and team member at Kellogg.

View Beth’s tips for Question 2 .

As you are thinking about your application, take a look at Tidmarsh’s two series’ on “ Tips for Applying ” and “ How Kellogg applicants are assessed .”

Beth Tidmarsh ’03 is the director of admissions for full-time MBA programs at Kellogg. As a vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, she led and executed tenant representation and corporate solutions work for companies such as Xerox, KPMG and Huron Consulting Group. Prior to attending Kellogg, Beth spent six years in consulting for Accenture based out of Chicago and Sydney.

Essays and Short Answer Prompts

The Penn application process includes a personal essay —which is sent to most schools you apply to—as well as a few short answer prompts . We read your words carefully, as they are yet another window into how you think, what you value, and how you see the world. Through your writing, we get a glimpse of what you might bring to our community—including your voice and creativity. 

Remember, you are the expert on your story. This is an opportunity for you to reflect and understand who you are now, and who you want to be in the future. You have the agency to choose the information you want to share. This is your story: your experiences, your ideas, your perspective.   

A Few Writing Tips

• Review the prompts thoroughly.  Be sure you’re answering the question or prompt being asked. Topics are chosen because the Admissions Committee wants to know specific things about you. If you don’t address them directly, we are left to make decisions regarding your application with incomplete information. 
• Consider your response carefully.  We understand that you may be writing responses for different schools and you may want to reuse material, but be sure to read through your response to make sure it is relevant to the prompt. 
• Double-check your writing.  Give yourself time to revisit your response. Try to avoid rushing your writing process so you have time to revise your work. Ultimately, it is up to you to polish and proofread your writing before you submit. 
• Do your research. Are there classes you’re eager to take? Research opportunities you’d love to pursue? A group or club you want to be a part of? This kind of specificity shows us you’re serious about Penn and have thought about how you’d spend your time here. 

2023-24 Short Answer and Essay Prompts

When answering these prompts, be precise when explaining both why you are applying to Penn and why you have chosen to apply to that specific undergraduate school. Some of our specialized programs will have additional essays to complete, but the  Penn short answer prompts should address your single-degree or single-school choice.  

• Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge. (We encourage you to share this note with that person, if possible, and reflect on the experience!) (150-200 words, not required for transfer applicants) 
• How will you explore community at Penn? Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective, and how your experiences and perspective will help shape Penn. (150-200 words) 
• The school-specific prompt is unique to the school to which you are applying. (For example, all applicants applying to the College of Arts and Sciences will respond to the prompt under the “College of Arts and Sciences” section). Considering the undergraduate school you have selected for your single-degree option, please respond to your school-specific prompt below.  

Transfer Essay (required for all transfer applicants): Please explain your reasons for transferring from your current institution and what you hope to gain by transferring to another institution. (4150 characters) 

Undergraduate School-Specific Short Answer Prompts

For students applying to coordinated dual-degree and specialized programs, please answer this question about your single-degree school choice; your interest in the coordinated dual-degree or specialized program may be addressed through the program-specific essay.  

Penn Nursing intends to meet the health needs of society in a global and multicultural world by preparing its students to impact healthcare by advancing science and promoting equity. What do you think this means for the future of nursing, and how do you see yourself contributing to our mission of promoting equity in healthcare? (150-200 words) 

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about  Penn Nursing’s mission and how we promote equity in healthcare . This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of our values and how they align with your own goals and aspirations. 

The flexible structure of The College of Arts and Sciences’ curriculum is designed to inspire exploration, foster connections, and help you create a path of study through general education courses and a major. What are you curious about and how would you take advantage of opportunities in the arts and sciences? (150-200 words) 

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about the  academic offerings within the College of Arts and Sciences .  This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of how the study of the liberal arts aligns with your own goals and aspirations. 

Wharton prepares its students to make an impact by applying business methods and economic theory to real-world problems, including economic, political, and social issues.  Please reflect on a current issue of importance to you and share how you hope a Wharton education would help you to explore it.  (150-200 words) 

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about  the foundations of a Wharton education . This information will help you better understand what you could learn by studying at Wharton and what you could do afterward. 

Penn Engineering prepares its students to become leaders in technology, by combining a strong foundation in the natural sciences and mathematics, exploration in the liberal arts, and depth of study in focused disciplinary majors. Please share how you hope to explore your engineering interests at Penn. (150-200 words) 

To help inform your response, applicants are encouraged to learn more about  Penn Engineering and its mission to prepare students for global leadership in technology . This information will help you develop a stronger understanding of academic pathways within Penn Engineering and how they align with your goals and interests. 

Coordinated Dual Degree and Specialized Program Essay Prompts

For students applying to coordinated dual-degree and specialized programs, please answer the program-specific essay below. 

** Numbers marked with double asterisks indicate a character count that only applies to transfer students applying through Common App.  

Why are you interested in the Digital Media Design (DMD) program at the University of Pennsylvania? (400-650 words / 3575 characters**) 

We encourage you to learn more about the DMD: Digital Media Design Program . 

The Huntsman Program supports the development of globally minded scholars who become engaged citizens, creative innovators, and ethical leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors in the United States and internationally. What draws you to a dual-degree program in business and international studies, and how would you use what you learn to contribute to a global issue where business and international affairs intersect? (400-650 words) 

The LSM program aims to provide students with a fundamental understanding of the life sciences and their management with an eye to identifying, advancing, and implementing innovations. What issues would you want to address using the understanding gained from such a program? Note that this essay should be distinct from your single degree essay. (400-650 words) 

• Explain how you will use the M&T program to explore your interest in business, engineering, and the intersection of the two. (400-650 words) 
• Describe a problem that you solved that showed leadership and creativity. (250 words) 

Describe your interests in modern networked information systems and technologies, such as the internet, and their impact on society, whether in terms of economics, communication, or the creation of beneficial content for society. Feel free to draw on examples from your own experiences as a user, developer, or student of technology. (400-650 words / 3575 characters**) 

Discuss your interest in nursing and health care management. How might Penn's coordinated dual-degree program in nursing and business help you meet your goals? (400-650 words) 

How do you envision your participation in the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER) furthering your interests in energy science and technology? Please include any past experiences (ex. academic, research, or extracurricular) that have led to your interest in the program. Additionally, please indicate why you are interested in pursuing dual degrees in science and engineering and which VIPER majors are most interesting to you at this time. (400-650 words) 

The Gunman and the Would-Be Dictator

Violence stalks the president who has rejoiced in violence to others.

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When a madman hammered nearly to death the husband of then–House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump jeered and mocked . One of Trump’s sons and other close Trump supporters avidly promoted false claims that Paul Pelosi had somehow brought the onslaught upon himself through a sexual misadventure.

After authorities apprehended a right-wing-extremist plot to abduct Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Trump belittled the threat at a rally. He disparaged Whitmer as a political enemy. His supporters chanted “Lock her up.” Trump laughed and replied , “Lock them all up.”

Fascism feasts on violence. In the years since his own supporters attacked the Capitol to overturn the 2020 election—many of them threatening harm to Speaker Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence—Trump has championed the invaders, would-be kidnappers, and would-be murderers as martyrs and hostages. He has vowed to pardon them if returned to office. His own staffers have testified to the glee with which Trump watched the mayhem on television.

Now the bloodshed that Trump has done so much to incite against others has touched him as well. The attempted murder of Trump—and the killing of a person nearby—is a horror and an outrage. More will be learned about the man who committed this appalling act, and who was killed by the Secret Service. Whatever his mania or motive, the only important thing about him is the law-enforcement mistake that allowed him to bring a deadly weapon so close to a campaign event and gain a sight line of the presidential candidate. His name should otherwise be erased and forgotten.

It is sadly incorrect to say, as so many have, that political violence “has no place” in American society. Assassinations, lynchings, riots, and pogroms have stained every page of American political history. That has remained true to the present day. In 2016 , and even more in 2020, Trump supporters brought weapons to intimidate opponents and vote-counters. Trump and his supporters envision a new place for violence as their defining political message in the 2024 election. Fascist movements are secular religions. Like all religions, they offer martyrs as their proof of truth. The Mussolini movement in Italy built imposing monuments to its fallen comrades. The Trump movement now improves on that: The leader himself will be the martyr in chief, his own blood the basis for his bid for power and vengeance.

Christopher R. Browning: A new kind of fascism

The 2024 election was already shaping up as a symbolic contest between an elderly and weakening liberalism too frail and uncertain to protect itself and an authoritarian, reactionary movement ready to burst every barrier and trash every institution. To date, Trump has led only a minority of U.S. voters, but that minority’s passion and audacity have offset what it lacks in numbers. After the shooting, Trump and his backers hope to use the iconography of a bloody ear and face, raised fist, and call to “Fight!” to summon waverers to their cause of installing Trump as an anti-constitutional ruler, exempted from ordinary law by his allies on the Supreme Court.

Other societies have backslid to authoritarianism because of some extraordinary crisis: economic depression, hyperinflation, military defeat, civil strife. In 2024, U.S. troops are nowhere at war. The American economy is booming, providing spectacular and widely shared prosperity. A brief spasm of mild post-pandemic inflation has been overcome. Indicators of social health have abruptly turned positive since Trump left office after years of deterioration during his term. Crime and fatal drug overdoses are declining in 2024; marriages and births are rising. Even the country’s problems indirectly confirm the country’s success: Migrants are crossing the border in the hundreds of thousands, because they know, even if Americans don’t, that the U.S. job market is among the hottest on Earth.

Yet despite all of this success, Americans are considering a form of self-harm that in other countries has typically followed the darkest national failures: letting the author of a failed coup d’état return to office to try again.

One reason this self-harm is nearing consummation is that American society is poorly prepared to understand and respond to radical challenges, once those challenges gain a certain mass. For nearly a century, “radical” in U.S. politics has usually meant “fringe”: Communists, Ku Kluxers, Black Panthers, Branch Davidians, Islamist jihadists. Radicals could be marginalized by the weight of the great American consensus that stretches from social democrats to business conservatives. Sometimes, a Joe McCarthy or a George Wallace would throw a scare into that mighty consensus, but in the past such challengers rarely formed stable coalitions with accepted stakeholders in society. Never gaining an enduring grip on the institutions of state, they flared up and burned out.

Trump is different. His abuses have been ratified by powerful constituencies. He has conquered and colonized one of the two major parties. He has defeated—or is on the way to defeating—every impeachment and prosecution to hold him to account for his frauds and crimes. He has assembled a mass following that is larger, more permanent, and more national in reach than any previous American demagogue. He has dominated the scene for nine years already, and he and his supporters hope they can use yesterday’s appalling event to extend the Trump era to the end of his life and beyond.

The American political and social system cannot treat such a person as an alien. It inevitably accommodates and naturalizes him. His counselors, even the thugs and felons, join the point-counterpoint dialogue at the summit of the American elite. President Joe Biden nearly wrecked his campaign because he felt obliged to meet Trump in debate. How could Biden have done otherwise? Trump is the three-time nominee of the Republican Party; it’s awkward and strange to treat him as an insurrectionist against the American state—though that’s what Trump was and is.

David Frum: Biden’s heartbreaking press conference

The despicable shooting at Trump, which also caused death and injury to others, now secures his undeserved position as a partner in the protective rituals of the democracy he despises. The appropriate expressions of dismay and condemnation from every prominent voice in American life have the additional effect of habituating Americans to Trump’s legitimacy. In the face of such an outrage, the familiar and proper practice is to stress unity, to proclaim that Americans have more things in common than that divide them. Those soothing words, true in the past, are less true now.

Nobody seems to have language to say: We abhor, reject, repudiate, and punish all political violence, even as we maintain that Trump remains himself a promoter of such violence, a subverter of American institutions, and the very opposite of everything decent and patriotic in American life.

The Republican National Convention, which opens this week, will welcome to its stage apologists for Vladimir Putin’s Russia and its aggression against U.S. allies. Trump’s own infatuation with Russia and other dictatorships has not dimmed even slightly with age or experience. Yet all of these urgent and necessary truths must now be subordinated to the ritual invocation of “thoughts and prayers” for someone who never gave a thought or uttered a prayer for any of the victims of his own many incitements to bloodshed. The president who used his office to champion the rights of dangerous people to own military-type weapons says he was grazed by a bullet from one such assault rifle.

Conventional phrases and polite hypocrisy fill a useful function in social life. We say “Thank you for your service” both to the decorated hero and to the veteran who barely escaped dishonorable discharge. It’s easier than deciphering which was which. We wish “Happy New Year!” even when we dread the months ahead.

Adrienne LaFrance: Thoughts, prayers, and Facebook rants aren’t enough

But conventional phrases don’t go unheard. They carry meanings, meanings no less powerful for being rote and reflexive. In rightly denouncing violence, we are extending an implicit pardon to the most violent person in contemporary U.S. politics. In asserting unity, we are absolving a man who seeks power through the humiliation and subordination of disdained others.

Those conventional phrases are inscribing Trump into a place in American life that he should have forfeited beyond redemption on January 6, 2021. All decent people welcome the sparing of his life. Trump’s reckoning should be with the orderly process of law, not with the bloodshed he rejoiced in when it befell others. He and his allies will exploit a gunman’s vicious criminality as their path to exonerate past crimes and empower new ones. Those who stand against Trump and his allies must find the will and the language to explain why these crimes, past and planned, are all wrong, all intolerable—and how the gunman and Trump, at their opposite ends of a bullet’s trajectory, are nonetheless joined together as common enemies of law and democracy.

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What Democrats Need to Do Now

By David Brooks

Opinion Columnist, reporting from Milwaukee

In 2016, MAGA was just a slogan — or at best a spasm of resentments and instincts about issues like immigration. Over the last eight years, think tankers, activists and politicians have developed MAGA into a worldview, a worldview that now transcends Donald Trump.

Across the Western world, right-wing parties have ceased to be parties of the business elites and have become working-class parties. MAGA is the worldview that accords with this shifting reality. It has its roots in Andrew Jackson-style populism, but it is updated and more comprehensive. It is the worldview that represents one version of working-class interests and offers working-class voters respect.

JD Vance is the embodiment and one of the developers of this worldview — with his suspicion of corporate power, foreign entanglements, free trade, cultural elites and high rates of immigration. In Milwaukee this week, with Vance as Trump’s pick for vice president, it became clear how thoroughly MAGA has replaced Reaganism as the chief operating system of the Republican Party.

If Democrats want to beat MAGA, it’s not enough to say: Orange man bad. Talking endlessly about Jan. 6 does no good. If Democrats hope to win in the near future they have to take the MAGA worldview seriously, and respectfully make the case, especially to working-class voters, for something better.

At its best, what is MAGA, anyway?

Well, in any society, there is a legitimate tension between security and dynamism. In a volatile world, MAGA offers people security. It promises secure borders and secure neighborhoods. It offers protection from globalization, from the creative destruction of modern capitalism. It offers protection from an educated class that looks down on you and indoctrinates your children in school. It offers you protection from corporate predators. As Senator Josh Hawley argued in Compact magazine this week, “The C-suite long ago sold out the United States, shuttering factories in the homeland and gutting American jobs.”

To those who rightly feel buffeted by vast and destabilizing forces, Trump emerges as a kind of Aaron Sorkin character: “You want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.” He offers security so people can get on with their lives.

A Timeline of Lies, Chaos and Damage: This Is Trump’s Record as President

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