The mbaMission Podcast

Ep 81 | Stanford GSB Application Essays: What the AdCom is Looking For

• mbaMission • Season 2 • Episode 81

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The Stanford GSB application is notoriously challenging, and includes a variety of essay and short answer prompts including the famous: "What matters most to you, and why?" In this week's episode of the mbaMission podcast, Harold Simanksy and Jeremy Shinewald are joined by Christine Patel, an mbaMission Senior Consultant and graduate of the Stanford GSB. Harold, Jeremy, and Christine break down the various components of the GSB application and share advice for applicants about how to write truly impactful essays and short answer responses. They discuss what the GSB admissions committee is looking for, how to figure out what really "matters most" to you, and common missteps GSB applicants make in their applications. If you're thinking about applying to the Stanford GSB -- or any competitive business school -- you won't want to miss this conversation!

00:00 Welcome to the mbaMission podcast
02:00 The Stanford GSB application essays
03:33 What matters most to you, and why?
13:53 What Stanford for you?
24:00 Optional short answer questions: Impact essays
29:16 Short answer prompt: Family influence 
32:31 Show, don't tell
33:00 Final advice for Stanford GSB applicants

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Harold Simansky:

You don't have to write poetry. You have to just share your share your experience. And what I'm always struck by is you always think that you need to be a superhero with this really this super huge story about what it matters most to you.

Christine Patel:

I think that self-reflection is so key. I think that's actually the biggest part of the essay. It's not what you did, but how you what you thought afterwards and how you think going forward. I think to go deeper, you need to really figure out well, what are your goals and what specifically will Stanford do to get you there?

Harold Simansky:

You should really see the Stanford essays or set of essays and opportunity to show different sides of yourself, really approach who you are from different angles because that's what a person is. That's what makes people must complain.

unknown:

Right.

Harold Simansky:

Two short questions that seem straightforward, but any applicant who has tackled them knows that what matters most to you and why is one of the toughest essays in the MBA world. Today we're unpacking how to write truly winning Stanford essays, ones that reveal your authentic self while demonstrating the clarity and purpose that GSB is known to value. Joining me is MBA Mission Senior Consultant Christine, a GSB grad herself who has helped countless applicants translate their stories into successful Stanford admits. We will talk about what the school is really looking for, how to find your what matters most, and some of the most common mistakes to avoid along the way. Let's get started.

Jeremy Shinewald:

So today we're here to talk about the Stanford GSB essays, all of them. And uh we're very fortunate to be doing this not far from the Stanford campus and also with a Stanford GSB alum. I'm not ignoring you, Harold. Harold's here as my co-host, or I'm here as his co-host, but with a Stanford GSB alum, Christine Patel, thank you so much for and an MBA mission consultant, of course. Christine Patel, thank you so much for being here.

Christine Patel:

Uh thank you, Jeremy. So great to be here.

Jeremy Shinewald:

I think one thing we should probably note off the top for anyone who's uninitiated and watching this for the first time, that uh by today's standards, the GSB's essays are are monstrous. They're they're enormous. Yeah. Uh, you know, they're they're there's the we'll go through each one, but you know, there are some schools that maybe have two, you know, 500-word prompts or something like that, or even shorter, I guess, at this point. Uh, and that's considered to be long. You know, at Stanford they have they have the GSB have two core essays, um, and that are, you know, one on why Stanford, one legendary essay on what matters to you most and why, and then three separate accomplishment essays. It's a uh an incredible opportunity for most applicants to share their depth in a way that they're actually frustrated with at other schools. They feel like, oh, I wish I could tell that next story, or that you know, I wish I could have a better sense of my per the personal side of my life. So um it's a uh it's a feast for us today. Yeah. So let's feast. Where do you want to start, Christine? You're our you're you're our you're our guest. I'm I'm Harold's guest, you're our guest on our podcast. Uh so on our being the NBA mission podcast.

Christine Patel:

Yeah.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Um thanks for being here, uh, Christine.

Christine Patel:

Well, thanks, Jeremy. Uh thanks, Harold. Um, I mean, I view the GSB essays as an opportunity. I know a lot of people think of it as being overwhelming, being over, you know, open-ended, but actually it's your chance to really shine and really focus on what you want to focus on, unlike, like you said, other schools. So that creates just a lot of room for you to stand out, actually. So starting with the first question, you know, what matters most to you and why?

Jeremy Shinewald:

Um I think one- And I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ask you for for the actual answer, but I mean, you're a GSB grad. You wrote that essay yourself at one point.

Christine Patel:

Yeah.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Yeah. I mean at the time was it like a seven-page when I when I when when I when it was around when I was an applicant, it was like a seven-page essay. You had a seven-page limit to answer that question. Right. It's crazy. I think then it came down a little bit to like they keep shortening it.

Christine Patel:

Yeah, mine wasn't seven pages. I remember that. Mine was maybe closer to four pages at most. It wasn't super, super long.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Um I'm dating back to 2000 there when I when I applied. And I actually didn't apply to Stanford at the end of the day, but uh but it was, I think they gave you seven pages of double space. Might have been longer, actually. Anyway, it was a it was a monster.

Christine Patel:

I mean, I think looking at the question might feel overwhelming at first, but the first thing to do is actually go back, take a step back and think about, you know, with our process MBA mission, we start with the brainstorming. And if you've already done brainstorming on your own or with an MBA mission consultant, then that's the first step. Go back and see, you know, what are the things that resonate with you? What are the common themes that you see that really make you stand out?

Jeremy Shinewald:

If you want to be one of our success stories, sign up for a free consultation with a member of our full-time MBA admissions team. Since we've worked with tens of thousands of applicants over the past two decades, we can give you our honest opinion on your chances and help you put together your very best application. That is not a sales call, but rather your first session with one of us for free. We can give you a profile evaluation, answer specific questions about the process, review your resume, talk about your school choices, and so much more. Sign up at nba mission.com slash consult. We look forward to working with you. You know, it's a funny thing. I often say to my app to my applicants, I'm gonna they they start thinking and they start trying to think about their themes and their answers. I'm like, before we do that, what matters most to you and why? It's like sometimes it's like right there in front of them. They don't even start, they're like, oh, well, you know, I was uh captain of this and I was on that. And let's let's take a step back. Like, is there something that you could actually identify in yourself that truly does matter to you?

Harold Simansky:

Sometimes you have to hold up that mirror and say, I'm I make my clients finish the sentence. Yeah. I really say to them, What matters most to you? Finish the sentence. And then for me, the second sentence is always, and why should Stanford care? Right. But I but I think we're jumping ahead a little bit by all means, you know, to bring it back to Christine.

Christine Patel:

Yeah, if it's not obvious, for some people it's not obvious, and for others it really is. It's literally right in front of you. Um, if you're struggling a little bit with this, just you know, take a deep breath, go back and just remember, you know, what is em what are your values? You know, what stood out to you? Why did you do certain things in your career? Why'd you go decide to pursue this area in academics? Like, you know, just remember to go back and what makes you you. For myself, I just struggled for a little bit. I think I was trying to find the perfect answer for a long time. But then I realized the answer was literally right in front of me. It was actually my sister. And uh that seems like a you know, canned answer sometimes, but it was because I explained why. It's not necess it's not the answer, it's actually why it mattered to you, how you explain why it matters. Because a lot of us will have similar answers. There's not going to be a very unique answer in this.

Harold Simansky:

In fact, Christina, I once heard a number, the number of people who actually write what matters most to me in my family is is quite substantial, whether it's 25% or more than that, right? But like not something unique.

Jeremy Shinewald:

But then, and and so this is what I what I always say about that, like family or health or something like that. It's like okay. You can do that, you can you can write about that. That's okay. But the question is kind of like, what are the like as you you use the word values a minute ago? So it's like, what values do they represent? And and how are your values you know revealed through your passion for for your sister? Is it, you know, or through let's we won't make it as personal as you, but if someone is, if someone's saying truly that they're passionate about their their their their family, it's like, is that a story of loyalty? Is that a story of support? Is that a story about overcoming obstacles? Is that like it's not that yes, we all love our families. We all love there are some universal basic things, health, shelter, food, family, whatever it is that we can all, that we can all that are like, you know, on Maslow's hierarchy, whatever it is, they're at the top. But like, what is it about those things that that really reveals your per your persona and your values?

Christine Patel:

Exactly. So, I mean, for the reason once the reasons why I put my sister down was because we had a very unique shared experience is where we moved from an Alaska public school to France International Boarding School to going to California and being the only Asian Americans in this French international school to being, you know, just being in a lot of places on our own. And so that's a reason why I brought her in, and then her influence on me over time to then do things that probably really pushed my development. So she eventually became involved in a lot of nonprofit leadership. And at the time I was a consultant and working at a startup in the Silicon Valley, and she really inspired me to be part of a nonprofit initiative from my friend from Stanford Medical School to start a free clinic. And so I wrote about her influence there on you know how it developed my view and perspective on you know why, what really mattered to me and why. And so she was the reason behind my values and my motivation to where I am.

Jeremy Shinewald:

So it seems like like you were each other's like sort of growth, like influence each other's growth and development in really beautiful ways.

Christine Patel:

Exactly. Yeah. Exactly.

Jeremy Shinewald:

So it's like so it's not just like my sister's important to me. It's like, you know, my sister is someone who who who pushed me to be better. I pushed her to be better. We were, you know, symbiotic in that way.

Harold Simansky:

Exactly. And listen, I also say to clients, what matters most to you and why, and then prove it to me. Because the reality is this is this is a question that really lends itself to cliches or lends itself to sort of um some hand waving, if you will. What matters most to me and why is my family. Yes, but how is your relationship with your family, how does that manifest in a way that isn't just how it manifests for everybody else? And it's yeah, I think I think, well, two things.

Jeremy Shinewald:

One is also we should note that anyone who is struggling to to to conceptualize their own story, and we want to be super clear about this. We have a free book on our website. You can go and you can download our our um uh I think there's about 25 examples in our Stanford guide. And but that's not a how-to. It has to be your own. It should be there for inspiration. Absolutely. And the best thing about that book, as I see it, is the essays, while they're from successful clients who we helped, they are not so perfect that you're gonna look at that and say, wow, I could never write that. Each one has its own idiosyncrasies, people made their own choices.

Harold Simansky:

I'm gonna sort of push even a little bit further than that. And what I mean is we will then get people to look at our book, call us for our free 30-minute consultation, and if you haven't spoken to us for 30 minutes, give us a call, go on our website, by all means schedule something. But then they think that's the formula. Right. That that's the mold. And what I tell people, quite honestly, in that book, two of my clients have their essays, which I'm very proud of, and really wonderful essays, completely different from one to the other. And you would never know that they were my clients. Right. And I think that's what's so important about the Stanford essay. It also allows you to be creative, it allows you to really show sides of yourself that it would be impossible for someone else to show the same thing. Right.

Christine Patel:

Exactly.

Jeremy Shinewald:

And and then that relates back to your point. Prove it to me. Yeah. So that you know, if if you're talking about courage, okay, so you the courage to take tough stands that someone in that in that in that book, Lukash, one of my favorite essays of all time. Uh, and a client of mine, I'm still so proud of him. Uh, he's so self-effacing that he probably would think that's nonsense. Uh, but um, but he went to the GSB, and it's no one can write these stories. No one can write the stories he wrote. You you could you could say to yourself, oh, he got in with a story about about how he stood against the tide over had the courage to stand against the tide over and over again. It's like, yeah, he did. Back it up. You can't back it up, there's no point in w in writing that for sure. Um, but that, you know, like I you don't have to write poetry. You have to share your share your experience.

Christine Patel:

I think the key thing is just remaining, I know this sounds canned, but remaining authentic. Yeah. Like really, because if it's really you and you know, it comes from the heart and your values with showing vulnerability, um, you know, you can't dispute this essay.

Harold Simansky:

Yeah, yeah, that that's right. Listen, we're getting Stanford interviews right now. And if you haven't watched our podcast on Stanford Interviews, Stanford interviews, by all means do that. And what I'm always struck by is you always think that you need to be a superhero with this really this super huge story about what it matters most to you. Listen, a a I guess it was from last year or two years ago, someone wrote about just the presence of his grandfather in his life. On the one hand, it was just a wonderful story about sort of grandson, uh, grandfather, but the reality is also in many ways, the sophistication that that person viewed these relationships. And at that point, you sort of got the sense that he will he is very serious about building deep relationships with other people, which really speaks to what Stepher wants it in in its community.

Christine Patel:

I think that self-reflection is so key. Uh, I think that's actually the biggest part of the essay. It's not necessarily what you did, but how you what you thought afterwards and how you think going forward. I think those are all important things to note.

Jeremy Shinewald:

You know, I think it's a great test for this what matters most human why? When you're done, print it out, hand it to someone who knows you extremely well, and say, read this. And at the end, say to them, Is this me? And if they say yes, you've probably nailed it. Right. Right? You've given someone a really authentic picture into who you are. So, okay, so there are other essays.

Harold Simansky:

I don't know if we are doing anyone have anything else to say on the No, listen, I'll say one thing about a Stanford essay. Sometimes they refer to it at an essay that allows you to bleed on the page, and another, and sometimes they refer to it in terms of if you were to leave that essay on the printer at work, someone would be able to pick it up and just as Jeremy said, know who wrote it. Right. And you, the writer, will be marginally embarrassed. Not because, not because it's terrible, but rather it shows a certain level of intimacy that you don't necessarily want to share for with everyone. Sure, that's a great point. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Okay. So the second question, um, they just changed the wording this year. It's like, why Stanford for you? It used to just be why Stanford? I'm not sure what they p what they gained through a for you, but so be it. It's still still spiritually the same question. Um who wants to who wants to take the first shot at this one? Yeah, Christine, you're I guess.

Christine Patel:

They're asking for your aspirations and then how Stanford will make that happen. So I think by talking about your short-term, long-term goals and your aspirations there, that's number one, not necessarily talking about the past. They're not asking about the past. Um, so that's because you have very limited word space, so you want to make the best usage. The second piece is, you know, why Stanford. Uh Harold, I already spoke with you, you know, some canned responses to Stanford, things like, you know, touchy feely or or, you know, a silicon being in Silicon Valley. But these are really generic answers. And I think to go deeper, you need to really figure out well, what are your goals and what specifically will Stanford do to get you there? So for example, um, I had a client who's really interested in developing world health. Um, there was a GSB alumnus, and her name is Jane Jane Chen. She started a company called uh Embrace, which creates um incubators for prenat babies in developing world countries through the D school and through the GSB. And so, you know, my you know, I recommended the client take a look at this and then you know look at the classes she took, and she took uh a class called developing um, you know, for extreme affordability as in the D school. And so when you reference, you know, your pathway, let's say you wanted to change developing world health um in some kind of way, you can mention this class. This is what this alum, you know, alumnus did, and in you know, and then follow the footsteps of you know another one, you know, person. And so I think just going deeper and having these conversations either one-on-one with alumni with alumni, staff, or faculty and students, or going to admissions events formally, like making a real effort to figure out not just going there to show effort, but really to dive deep and see what's in it for you that makes it special for your goals. And I think that's what they're looking for here.

Jeremy Shinewald:

I think one thing that's really important that you touched upon there is you touched upon the connection between, you know, the interest in affordability and the course, right? Like this shouldn't just be a laundry list of courses. I looked at this course and this course and this course. This should be like I always call it, I always call it the bridge. It's like, you know, like you know, here I'm on this side of the river and I want to get to the other side of the river. I've got these really exciting goals, and and Stanford is the bridge that's gonna get me there. And like listing courses is not a bridge. It's just, it's, it's, it maybe, it may be I maybe do my metaphor too far, maybe a couple planks, but it's not a credible bridge. You're not gonna get it all the way across. And so I think you know, it needs to be a very, very thoughtful, kind of like organic discussion about like a bit of a plan. Like while you're there, hey, I've set these goals out. I've got, I've got, I want to get here. I've got these, the sort of like developmental program to get there. And so just saying touchy feely, startup garage, Silicon Valley gets you no, that's not a bridge. That's just some buzzwords. Buzzwords aren't a bridge.

Christine Patel:

And consider do it going to events during the school year, actually. So not just the formal events for admissions, but let's say you're into women's issues like equality and pay. There is a woman management conference at the GSB that occurs in March. I've I've had a prior client go there actually before the year before she's applying. Um, and same, there's like a healthcare club uh conference you can go attend, and then you can actually glean on insights that might be particular to your own goals. Maybe you want to do AI and life sciences, and you see you know, a speaker series on that, and and you're like, oh wow, this actually fits with what I want to do. I can see myself doing this, and I could actually add to this, you know, going forward at the GSB. I think that's the depth that we you'd want to actually do if you can um come out come out to this to Stanford.

Harold Simansky:

I always tell folks, my clients, to look at the question, why Stanford or why Stanford for you? And it really highlight two things. First of all, it's not why business school. So you immediately have to think, okay, how is Stanford unique? Which is somewhat obvious, but I also tell folks it's why Stanford. And that and it's not the GSB, it's why Stanford. And that's important because out of really most schools, it really pushes the students to get out across the street, as they say. Is that right? Trevor Burrus, Jr. To get into the other schools to see what's happening there. And I think one of the reasons that sort of underlies this, or at least one of the themes for Stanford, is Stanford students are dealing with the most complicated questions that business faces society faces. So you need to go into an environment where you'll start getting all the inputs that will allow you to solve these complicated questions.

Christine Patel:

Aaron Powell It's very common for people to take classes across the street. So you know, 85% of the students do take classes outside of the GSB, which I think is awesome.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Just to clarify, outside of the GSB itself, but like in the other schools.

Christine Patel:

In the other schools, like the design school, the medical school, biodesign program, um, the law school, you know, just you can take classes in a lot of different areas.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Sometimes the Stanford specific lingo of across the street sounds to an outsider like you're literally, you know, journeying off campus as opposed to as opposed to going to one of the other schools that's that's there, the seventh school.

Christine Patel:

But if you're interested in, say, med medical devices, there's an excellent biodesign program at Stanford at the medical school, and you also have programs with the business school that you can do. Um, design school. I mean, they have an awesome design school, sustainability school actually just occurred from door. And that that's just been an amazing. I think there's a joint program now called uh IPER.

unknown:

Yeah.

Christine Patel:

So I mean, there's a lot of great programs out there.

Jeremy Shinewald:

The e ipro program, yeah. Like one of the things also um that you you know you mentioned the importance of doing your homework, come into campus if you can. If you can't come to campus, that's okay. Like they're not expecting you to come to campus. It's nice for you because you'll get that level of intimacy where you'll be able to make that like why Stanford really pop. But if you can't, just talk to talk to other alums. And if you're saying, I don't know any alums, they're on LinkedIn, they're they're they're they're they're a step away, they're an introduction. There's probably an ambassadorial program. I imagine there's an ambassadorial program at Stanford. There's almost one there's one almost every program now where you can like reach out to a student and and connect with them. I'm 99% sure they have one there.

Christine Patel:

You can definitely reach out to like the head of a certain club. You can go to your alumni database, often from college or from LinkedIn, like you said. I think it it is fairly easy to find somebody.

Harold Simansky:

That's the first hurdle, quite honestly. If you want to go to Stanford, if you can't. That's exactly it's like come on, man. If you're you want to go to Stanford and you can't find somebody to speak to, it's like, okay.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Like you gotta get beyond the the the buzzwords like like touchy feely. It's like imagine showing up at Apple and being like, well, I'm here for I'm here because Steve Jobs is the genius. Like, okay, there's we're we're we're more than that. You know, like there's just there's something else here that you might want to talk about. So um, so we gotta we've gotta get you past that. Commercial, by the way, Chicago booth also has the touchy feely class. Oh. Um okay, and then and then after after the the the why, unless do you have anything else to watch?

Harold Simansky:

No, listen, one thing that I do want to say about what matters most to you and why and why Stanford, I frequently have my clients actually write them as one long essay because again, you can't say what matters most to you and why, and that not be relevant to what you want to do going forward. This idea here of okay, what matters most to you and why, where is it taking you? It's taking you to Stanford and it's taking you beyond that. And I'm looking at two people who are skeptical. No, I'm and I I have to tell you, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold I'm gonna hold my ground on this one. Always always a maverick.

Christine Patel:

I don't know, Jeremy, what are your thoughts are of it? I'm not sure if I agree with that.

Harold Simansky:

I'm gonna I'm holding my ground on this one.

Christine Patel:

Because oftentimes your career might change. You actually don't know what you're gonna do, but your values typically don't change.

Harold Simansky:

We can talk about this a lot, but but what I'm gonna what I'm gonna say to you, if you're going to live an authentic life and have the type of career that you want to have, then your values have to be embedded that in that career or job in some way. And you should be able to capture those values or that authenticity in what matters best to you and why.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Right. I'm I mean, always always in Maverick, and that's why the two of us are two of us are are are working well together, the three of us today. Um, you know, I uh it's it's an approach. There's certainly nothing wrong with it. It works for your clients. You got tons of people into into Stanford over the years. Why not? Um, so okay, the I mean the the last thing I just want to say about the why why Stanford for you is, and I agree, you don't want to spend, uh you know, as Christine said, you don't want to spend an awful lot of time on the past. So if you've got your 350 words, you don't want to spend 200 words talking about, you know, how you were in a technology space and now you want to go into into uh VC or whatever. But you still should have some context. You should still give them some clue as to as to where you've been in order to elucidate those goals. And just as we said about the about the don't just talk about touchy feeling or startup garage or whatever, you know, don't create goals that you think Stanford wants to hear. If you're like, yeah, you know, I'm gonna go into VC. If like there's I was a speechwriter. If I was writing saying I want to go to VC, they would just throw my application in the garbage. They'd be like, this guy has no understanding of what VC means. He's not qualified to be a venture capitalist after coming to Stanford. Nice guy, interesting guy, could have been a cool ad to add to our class, you know. Too bad, you know, like I'm though maybe I'm giving myself too much credit for being a cool ad to the class, but but like, too bad, we, you know, we don't have we don't have room for someone who's so self-unaware about their job prospects. So the the goal should be uh to to discuss a future position that is plausible, but also a stretch, exciting, but it doesn't have to be entrepreneurship, venture capital, entrepreneurship acquisition, unless that's who you are.

Harold Simansky:

No, listen, change lives, change organizations, change the world. That is the Stanford motto. At the end of the day, you must touch on it. There must be something there. I loved this podcast, but it always always keeps me keeps me guessing.

Christine Patel:

Well, that actually brings me to the third part of this, which is the short response section. I think, you know, talking about, you know, changing the world, obviously, we may not have had the opportunities to be more specific in what areas you may have already changed. And so I think the next section, which is asking for, you know, knowing about your aspirations, knowing the reason, you know, highlighting three examples that you can share that really showcase an impact outside of work in a way that doesn't fit neatly in any part of the application. And this could be anything from you know academic to you know, looking at nonprofit work you've done, or you know, could be, you know, just something that you're really interested in, you know, arts-wise. So um I think you know, this is an interesting area to focus on. They only give you 200 words, and this is a unique opportunity to really expand on things that you have not yet disclosed in your application. So looking back at your essays that you've already written, don't repeat what you've already said there. Find something new. Also, if there's something in the resume that, you know, you just you didn't really mention in your resume either, find something new. Even if it's in the resume but it's a short bullet, maybe it's a great opportunity to expand upon what you you've already written there in more depth.

Jeremy Shinewald:

I sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. Like I like I think one of the one of the important things to do is with Stanford is to kind of like map out what you want to say so that you can keep the reader learning. Like you can't, uh yes, of course, if you if you need an anecdote to express what matters most to you, use that anecdote, but you don't want to use up all your stories in one essay. And then, you know, you've got three, you've got three opportunities in these, in these um achievement essays that are each about 200 words. It's like, you generally speaking, I've seen people get in with with two, but you want to be able to write all three.

Harold Simansky:

Okay, so here's how it's done. Okay. So I take an Excel spreadsheet, and at that point I have what matters most to you in why. I then have Y Stanford, I then have I call them impact essays, one, two, three, background essays. At that point, I say build the mosaic. You have you have multiple places here to tell different things about yourself and make sure they don't overlap. Otherwise, it's a wasted opportunity.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Yeah, I mean, there's even one more after that. There's there's there's there's, you know, think about a time in the last five years when you've created a positive impact. It's also another 200 word. So, like you have you, that's what I was saying before about it being like in a positive sense, monstrous. If you can keep the reader engaged and learning and say, wow, like I'm on my third accomplishment here, and I'm still learning something new about Harold, that's great. And so, generally speaking, doesn't this, I don't always do this. Are there always exceptions? I try to draw from different areas of people's lives. So you maybe have one professional story, one community story, one personal story. You know, if you have to have two community stories and a professional story, so be it. You're not gonna knock it in because of that. But the the spirit is we want to keep the reader engaged and learning. We want to get them to the point where they're they're at the end of those three essays. They're like, whoa, uh, Christine is really amazing. I'm learning more about her.

Christine Patel:

And I mean, that's also agree with Harold here. That's why we recommend, whether it's for Stanford or other business schools, to do the essays and look at the optional section as well as short responses at the same time. Because the essays may cover one part, but you don't want to overlap. And it's different for every school. But in this case, you know, you don't have many words for Stanford. You want to be very selective about what you put as real estate into your application.

Harold Simansky:

That's right. I call it the mosaic. It's like you're painting one picture and then you're creating a mosaic for yourself. Yeah. Yeah, I'll just highlight the fact that when we talk about impact essays or these very short examples that people try to go overly general. And what I mean by that is, okay, I love animals. I I honestly I'm just not captivated by that. If you tell me the example of when you maybe adopted a sick kitten or something, then from there you can go from the specific to the general. You adopted a sick kitten. Wow, you must love animals. To say that you love animals, again, that doesn't tell me a lot, nor does it prove the fact that you actually love animals.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Show don't tell. Yeah. Um Yeah, and and people are shocked. Like 200 words, it's it's it's a that's a tight space. Like people are like, oh, I don't know if I have three accomplishments. It's like you you just need to have basic development around the path that you've taken to get there. And the story, I wouldn't say writes itself, but but should it should get you close if you've got if you if there's some actual meat on the bone, you should be struggling to keep it in, keep it within those 200.

Harold Simansky:

In actual fact, what I sometimes use these 200-word essays is to really get even a little bit more detailed, even a little bit more technical in terms of what has really been a fantastic accomplishment, but they need just a little bit more space than a resume will allow to really be able to say, okay, here's what I did, and I can't capture it in, you know, 50 words or 25 words. I then take a little bit of time and I sort of give the background on what this is, and that allows the the reader to say, wow, this really was an accomplishment. Now I understand sort of the ins and outs of risk management in a way that I didn't before.

Christine Patel:

I think uh Harold, using the star framework actually is really useful in this particular section because it is asking you for an accomplishment and the impact. So the star framework having the situation task followed by the action result gives you that um framework to really give you the answer.

Jeremy Shinewald:

There is one other sneaky short answer question within, and this is how we're using these things interchangeably, unfortunately, within the short answers for Stanford, and what that means is you know, literally within the questions about like your your family or background and like your your you know your job, um, not sort of a formal essay itself. Stanford uses the nomenclature i uh interchangeably, but there's a hundred there's a 150-word, 800-character prompt on how your family has influenced your decision making and background and your values. And even that, you know, you can't you can't ignore, you can't ignore it's optional, but you can't ignore that opportunity to share more. And that's like a that's another values question for you.

Harold Simansky:

Um and also it stands alone. The thing that I like about it is it truly stands alone. You can find another example that you just love that you want to include that really speaks to who you are, but just doesn't fit any other place. And you can actually share that. And and frequently I say, have a little fun with this. Show them something else, show Stanford that maybe they haven't seen in other in any other place.

Jeremy Shinewald:

And I I think it it's it's for some reason, like too many essays start with too many what matters most essays start with like my grandfather told me dot dot dot. And it and it's like here's an here's a specific instance where they're saying, tell us about your family and influences, and you actually sort of have that permission. Like, look, here's a here's a core value that I was taught. And you don't have to do that, and quite often I don't. It's like there could be some value that you picked up in the last and recently or some experience you picked up recently, but it it gives you that opportunity to kind of be like, hey, now now there's a really full personal perspective on on who I am.

Harold Simansky:

Let me just uh say one thing, which pro which you prompted. Frequently we'll have clients who come in here and know that Stanford essays are supposed are supposed to be very, very dramatic, are supposed to be really a great piece of writing, which I think they are. At the end of the day, though, you can't go in there that way. Some of the first drafts that I see of Stanford essays are they sound very existential, great, you know, climb the mountain, whatever it is. Do not start the process that way because you still have to say something. This is not a creative writing opportunity.

Christine Patel:

Yeah, with only 150 words, it's pretty direct. So you I want to be um pretty succinct with what you're saying. Maybe you came from, you know, a different country or you immigrated here, or maybe you know, you grew up with this, you know, with a single mother, and this influenced your way of looking at things, or you grew up in uh, you know, West Chicago amongst all these, you know, these different diverse communities. And you know, it's good just to highlight, you know, maybe it was a different upbringing that isn't so obvious in your application.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Right. And but I think I think I think I agree with what you're saying entirely. I think what Harold is saying is is like not everything needs to be flowery and beautiful, and and you don't need to you're not you're not writing to win a contest. Like, like, like, and and if you were, it would probably be, you know, probably distracting if you were writing to you know, trying to win some like flowery language contest. Do they have those flowery language contests? Uh and uh I do them all the time. Yeah, exactly. It's like the best essays are often just very direct, true to you, true to who you are, true to who you are, sharing stories that will represent you quite well, represent your values will come out implicitly. I, you know, to maybe to put a bow on some of this, I I I don't I don't think it's forbidden, but like I generally speaking, don't write. Don't allow my clients to write. Like, but what matters most to me is, or or or you know, like lots of people do that, and in the book you'll see that here and there. But I think it should become clear to the to the to the reader what those values are. You don't have to like beat them over the head with it and say it's independence. It should be, it should be quite obvious. Um, okay. I think we've we've the Stanford essays are exhaustive. I think we've been exhaustive. Uh I think just in general, map it out, spreadsheets, or keep the reader learning, uh, you know, and just make sure that you know what you want to say.

Harold Simansky:

No person is one story. Right. No person can be captured in whatever it is 1200 words, 1,000 words, 650 words. You should really see the Stanford essays or set of essays and opportunity to show different sides of yourself, really approach who you are from different angles because that's what a person is. That's what makes people most compelling.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Right. I think some of the worst advice you'll hear from consultants out there, from admissions consultants, is you have to represent yourself as a personal brand. It's like you're a sophisticated person.

Harold Simansky:

You've had a cleaning detergent when all said and done.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Yes, exactly. You've had ups and downs, wins and losses. You can be your real self and you can be a complicated, sophisticated person. We're yeah, we're not tied. Um, so I think it's really important. Go ahead.

Christine Patel:

I was gonna say, like in my own GSV essay, I wrote how I lost to my sister in this school spelling bee in Alaska. And, you know, it was definitely a a weakness that I shared, but it was funny because at the end of the day, my mother basically looked at us and said, What happened? I, you know, I came home with a dictionary and she went off to the Alaska State Championships. But, you know, it just showed a little bit of you know self-reflection that I'm not perfect.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Yeah, you don't be perfect, you don't have to be perfect in every single thing you do. And like most stories that work work because there's some obstacle that's preventing you from getting there. There's some conflict. And you know, that because otherwise the stories become extremely boring. If it's like, you know, look, I I set up to start this podcast, I I recorded a few episodes, it became popular, I'm enjoying doing it. That's not a story. Like, you know, you know, it is a story. Like if theoretically, if it's like um, you know, we didn't have the best chemistry at first, people gave us some feedback, uh, you know, our viewership slowly increased. We were doing it mostly as a labor of love. Whatever it is, there's something, some oppositional force. Not that happened. I mean with us, it was an easy success. But uh, you know, that that's that's that's the the spirit of it has to be. There was something worth fighting for in your essays. Okay, so uh let's wrap it. I think I think, yeah, plot things out, make sure you've got gonna keep the reader learning, make sure you're you're being yourself, you're being true to yourself, you're not just offering some veneer. You are connecting, you you've got your your short and long-term goals. They don't feel like perfectly laid out as you know, but like generally speaking, you're getting a sense of who you are, what you want to achieve.

Harold Simansky:

Be human. You're yeah at the end of the day, there's this belief as far as what does a Stanford student look like? And there are dozens of Stanford students, everyone they look like people, meaning they all have different experiences, different thoughts, different loves almost. Right. By all means include that.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Right. There's some mythos out there. And you know, people perceive that Harvard grads, you know, or are all like you know, natural CEO types, and Stanford grads are all uh, you know, destined to be an ex Silicon Valley with it's like that's just not true. They're there are uh you know, several hundred people in the class, they're all interesting and different. They go into different different varying degrees of of of notoriety or success, as do people from any institution. They're not all superhuman. Um, so okay, we chart things out, shorten launcher goals, nail your Y Stanford, um, and you know, make sure it's right authentically, yeah, right authentically, make sure it's written as as the story happened less than with adjectives that impress. And you're probably 90% of the way there at that point. Um, okay, great. Well, I'm so glad we had a GSB alum with us here today to to talk about this. Yeah, and um you're sticking around for another front, yeah, go ahead.

Harold Simansky:

Yeah, and it was a by all means, download our book, Best Stanford Essays.

Jeremy Shinewald:

Go to our website and get that that that free guide, and you can do a free consultation with Harold or Christine.

Harold Simansky:

That's right.

Jeremy Shinewald:

And um and thanks so much for joining us. This was a good one. Yeah, this was fun. Thank you. Exciting news! You can now access on track by MBA Mission for free. Take our two-minute onboarding questionnaire to personalize your learning path. Choose the free plan, and you'll have unlimited access to our complete modules on MBA application timelines, standardized testing, your professional background, community leadership, school selection, and more. You'll also get access to select lessons from our brainstorming, personal statement, essay, resume, and recommendation modules. It's a great introduction to the OnTrack platform and will help you jumpstart the MBA application process. Get started today at ontrack.mba mission.com.