Stanford GSB. 2021-22 MBA & MSx Essay Analysis & REAL Examples.

OVERVIEW.
NEW! ANALYSIS. Optional Short-answer Questions.
ANALYSIS. Stanford Essay A.
example 1. Stanford Essay A.
example 2. Stanford Essay A.
example 3. Stanford Essay A.
ANALYSIS. Stanford Essay B.
example 1. Stanford Essay B.

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Stanford MBA Application ROUND	StanfordMBA Application DEADLINE	Stanford MBA Application DECISION
Round One	September 9, 2021	December 9, 2021
Round Two	January 5, 2022	March 31, 2022
Round Three	TBA	TBA

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Below you’ll find two examples of Stanford’s essay for the 2021-22 full-time MBA admissions season. You’ll find additional essay examples and essay topic analyses for leading MBA programs at the preceding link.

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Overview.

Stanford GSB has two core programs: the traditional 2-year MBA and its MSx program. While I’m sure you’re familiar with the MBA, you may be interested in learning more about MSx and other full-time 1-year MBA programs for mid-career professionals and executives here. While MSx delivers a Master of Science degree, it’s basically Stanford’s equivalent of an EMBA program for candidates with at least eight years of work experience. If you’re applying in round one or two, you have the option of submitting a single application to both the MBA and MSx programs.

Whereas HBS relies equally on the written application and interview in making admission decisions, Stanford uses alumni interviewers and therefore places more weight on the written application. For that reason, I’d suggest putting as much effort as possible into Stanford’s written MBA application – making sure your resume, recommendations and essays work together to convey a memorable story about you. A great written application doesn’t merely focus on achievements, but leverages achievements to reveal the person behind them.

Stanford’s two core MBA essay questions have remained virtually unchanged for years (What matters most to you and why? & Why Stanford?). The school eliminated a third, behavior-based essay during the 2014-15 application season (below). 

• Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.
• Option B: Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization.
• Option C: Tell us about a time when you generated support from others for an idea or initiative.
• Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected.

In option B, the Stanford GSB wasn’t interested in just impact…they wanted to hear about lasting impact. They didn’t want to hear about a mere leadership or team building experience from applicants….they wanted a story that ended with expectations being exceeded. Generally speaking, Stanford is looking for MBA and MSx applicants who are capable of exceptional performance…so exceptional that they’re redefining and then going beyond what mere mortals have ‘defined’, ‘established’ or ‘expected. It’s clear that Stanford was leveraging the third essay to hear about concrete examples of applicants engaging in behavior that aligned with the school’s mission statement:

To develop innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change the world. Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world.

The mission statement itself is very similar to MIT Sloan’s and like Sloan, Stanford is entrepreneurial, hands-on, down-to-earth sort of place. The prompt ‘Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond?‘ is a reference to the STAR or SHARE method that Sloan still uses in its easy questions and interviews.

One of my takeaways from essay three is that Stanford looks for MBA candidates who go beyond. Stanford is not looking for people who do their jobs. Nor are they looking for people who do their jobs exceedingly well (about 70% of applicants to Stanford fall into this category but only 7% are offered admission). Stanford is looking for people who demonstrate a natural inclination and talent for going above and beyond (in college, in their extra-curricular activities and in their professional lives).

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Analysis. Stanford 2021-22 Optional Short-Answer Questions.

Think about times you’ve created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others? You are welcome to share up to three examples.

This is an optional short-answer question. Note that the content limit is 1500 ‘characters with spaces’ not ‘characters no spaces’ in Word.

The two required essays shed light on who you are and how you imagine Stanford will help you achieve your aspirations. We are also interested in learning about the things you have done that are most meaningful to you. In this section, we provide an optional opportunity to go beyond your resume to discuss some of your contributions more fully. Please do not include your short-answer response in your essays upload; use the text boxes provided in the application. Think about times you’ve created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others? You are welcome to share up to three examples. (Up to 1500 characters, approximately 250 words, for each example).

From the Stanford MBA Admissions Committee

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Analysis. Stanford 2021-22 MBA & MSx Essay A.

Essay A, What matters most to you, and why?

It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by Stanford GSB’s Essay A. No matter how candidates start out, as they sift through their thoughts, most conclude that it’s their family and friends that matter most. That’s great, but the adcom would quickly grow bored if every essay ended with ‘and that’s why my family matters more to me than anything else in the world’.

I’ve found that the definition a client associates with the term matter shapes their approach to Essay A.

Let’s analyze a common definition of ‘matter’ – something of importance; something of consequence

Importance is a relative term – one that’s rooted in opinion. What I deem important you might see as unimportant (and vice versa). 

Consequence is a slightly more objective term. Something consequential is likely something that has had a noticeable impact.

Instead of asking yourself what has been most important to you, look back on your life and try to identify the three most consequential turning points or influences – the ones which have shaped your life’s trajectory?  I bet that if we discussed the question, we would agree on the biggest two or three inflection points from your life’s story.

While the bulk of the essay writing I work I do with clients involves editing and revising copy, the most important part of the process centers around framing questions, listening, interpreting and being a sounding board for ideas.

Beyond framing the essay question, another hurdle candidates face centers on how to narrate their story. Here’s an example of how the same pivotal experience could come across depending on how the candidate presents it.

Let’s say a candidate wants to discuss living/volunteering/working abroad and how the experience transformed them. The issue is that 99% of candidates will simply make a superficial comparison between Country B with their own country or milieu of origin – Country A. They’ll point out that prior to living in Country B they had never been exposed to so many different sights, sounds or smells or they’ll say that they were shaken by the lack of resources/poverty in Country B. The problem is anybody and everybody could, would and will make similar observations. That’s because the baseline criteria in this case (Country A vs’ Country B) is external to you – it’s cultural (or socioeconomic).

Let’s try a different approach: Instead of using external criteria, use internal criteria: You need to make you the baseline criteria. Dig down and start with your deep-seeded ideas/feelings/thoughts about your own Country A and then juxtapose those ideas with what you perceived to be the deep-seeded ideas/feelings/thoughts held by people in Country B. Do you see how this might be a more interesting line of reasoning – one that reveals something about the way you frame the world and understand yourself and others?

Going further: While your experience abroad might have taken place in college, you’ll want to weave those early lessons into more recent events/milestones in your life as well. So take it a step further and write about how the observations you made through your experience in Country B impacted other aspects of your family/community/work life?

Below I’ve summarized some Stanford essays I’ve written for past clients.

• What matters most to you and why? Being multi-lingual and building cross-cultural bridges. Candidate built cross-cultural bridges in his personal and professional life by learning a number of foreign languages (a process that began in his childhood and continued through adulthood). He then discusses the influence that being uprooted into a new culture/country had on his worldview and how it continues to impact him to this day. 
  
• What matters most to you and why? The plight of the poor. The integrity of the applicant’s father (who is a politician in a country renowned for corruption) and how that influenced the applicant’s own social advocacy work. 
  
• What matters most to you and why? Not resisting change but embracing it. How an attitude of openness towards new ideas and experiences led the applicant to discover a sport and develop a competitive spirit. The candidate learned to speak with conviction and carry herself with confidence. She discusses spontaneity in decision making and reflects on how resisting change can be both beneficial and detrimental depending on the situation.
• What matters most to you and why? Embracing cultural roots. Growing up as a citizen of an African country in an affluent neighborhood in the U.S., the candidate felt like the odd man out. He took refuge in his African roots and identity and became active in mentoring youth from his community.
  
• What matters most to you and why? How Budhist philosophy influenced mindset. Early Influences: How the candidate’s mindset and attitudes have been shaped by her immigrant parents and Buddhist philosophy. Later Life: How sports helped the candidate become a leader at university and in the wider community and how those skills spilled over into a challenging situation in her professional life.
  

The answers to Essay A are not unique. What set these essays apart are the details and personal reflections. Stanford’s former Dead of Admissions published a great advice column on its essays in 2012. It’s since been removed from the Stanford website but I’ve reproduced it here (toggle the link below to view it).

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Example 1. Stanford 2021-22 MBA & MSx Essay A.

Essay A, What matters most to you, and why?

Elif Naskal returned the phone to its cradle and slid to the floor. Her husband, the lawyer regretted to inform her, was third on the list of those to be executed. As a central figure in Turkey’s liberal opposition party, Dad would find himself embroiled in the aftermath of the country’s 1980 military coup. In and out of prison for the next ten years and barred from teaching, the family subsisted on proceeds – never enough – from Aegean cotton land. But whatever privation endured, it was offset by a household built on principles – freedom, equality and free speech – and brimming with love and happiness.

The difference between the poor and the rich, my father explained with wry humor, is that when the rich run out of money they still have some left over. I was twelve and Turkey was in the thick of the worst financial crisis in modern history. My friend Greta didn’t pass me notes anymore. She’d been removed from school to replace a former employee – too expensive to keep – in her mother’s pharmacy. Kemal Dervis was my hero. He’d come from the World Bank, saved Turkey from hunger, financial crisis and desperation.

“I’m going to join the World Bank like Kemal Dervis!” Dad laughed out loud. “But we don’t know anyone at the World Bank. Why not be a doctor?” In Turkey, succeeding in medicine hinged on individual talent rather than nepotism. From the two-bedroom apartment at the outer limits of Istanbul, flanked on either side by everyday people, it was better to be realistic.

But my dreams were unrelenting. I wanted to become a leader in the political economy. I remember an article I read a few years later. It was about a woman who took over the family business. All her male relatives were angry that she’d usurped their rightful position. She’d opened a new factory in a low-income area. It was an early example to me of private business serving both the needs of shareholders and the communities in which they are embedded. I wanted to combine principle with power like that woman. I still want that. And what was once a dream has become a self-assured, yet humble, certainty that I will achieve it. It’s what matters more to me that anything else.

My work with the World Bank has helped me appreciate the critical relationship between entrepreneurs’ access to capital and the overall economic well-being of a society. By disseminating equity financing in places like Egypt, Tukey, Ukraine and Cote d’Ivoire, a trickle-down effect is created which helps shape society, the economy, and improve the lives of everyday people. The main reason I want to help others achieve greater social and economic mobility, is that I know, through firsthand experience, what it’s like to be poor.

Being poor isn’t just about what one doesn’t have, but also about what one doesn’t know, namelyhow the system works. By extension, you don’t know what you’re up against either. That’s a blessing, because I think being a little naïve about the reality of our ambitions is what gives us the courage to pursue them.

In my own experience, I had no idea there were well over one-thousand qualified applicants vying to represent Turkey at the Y20 Summit. Like me these young people felt passionately about shaping national and international policy among G20 leaders. After four essays and two panel interviews, I learned that one of the two coveted spots would be mine. I didn’t know anyone on the committee. Similarly, when I was offered a role at the World Bank, I could never have imagined that just two candidates had been interviewed from a pool of ten-thousand.

Being poor means being an outsider. You might not know how to go about doing something or who you might speak with (assuming they’d take your call if you did).

“We should commercialize this!” I declared after reading my brother’s PhD thesis laying out a new, more effective technique for sperm sorting within the in-vitro fertilization process. In the midst of completing my master’s degree and working part-time for an MIT professor to make ends meet on a $300 per month stipend, I’d taken on the business side of this new company. Finding investors and convincing them of the technology’s value was difficult and, at times extremely frustrating. Today I’ve secured financing from SOURCE and oversee all product promotion, pricing, sales and the company’s financials. In the five years since inception, we’ve managed to break even and reach $1.5M in annual revenue. 

Going forward, I believe that these, and other, personal experiences will help me impact society with humility and empathy.

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Example 2. Stanford 2021-22 MBA & MSx Essay A.

Essay A, What matters most to you, and why?

The X-axis was for your GPA and the Y-axis was for your SAT score. My high school guidance counselor pointed to the scatter plot’s successful dots – those, like me, in the upper right quadrant – destined for happy lives and great careers after graduating from the best colleges. I stared at my dot. What should have been my crowning moment felt like a hollow victory. The success my parents and teachers wanted from me had to do with what they wanted for me – and they’d had the best of intentions at heart.I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted or who I was but I needed to find out.

Sixty percent of my classmates attended just twelve colleges. I decided to leave CITY for Los Angeles where I enrolled at X University, a small Jesuit college that attracted me with its emphasis on ‘educating the whole person.’ Leaving everyone I knew and loved seemed so definitive. Maybe that’s the way it has to be though, when you’re eighteen and grappling with big questions and grasping at answers – when you need the space to discover your own truth. I didn’t know anybody in California, which was perfect. I was free to start over and start for the first time.

My professor, Y, and I shared a love of writing and through our conversations he introduced me to Vipassana Meditation. My first silent retreat in the desert outside Joshua Tree lasted for ten days. I meditated for sixteen hours at a stretch with nothing to distract me from myself. I came to appreciate the value in acting both in and on my life from a place of clarity and intention.I made a conscious decision to surround myself with people who were living authentically. I also began to seek out situations that challenged me and forced me to be vulnerable, helping me connect with myself and others more deeply.

Annie Dillard, one of my favorite authors, writes, ‘How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives’. For me a good day is one lived consciously. That means acting on conviction and values rather than reacting out of uncertainty and fear. What I refer to jokingly as ‘my inner actuary’ sometimes worries that if I don’t, years from now I’ll look back with regret and wonder what happened. But I try to remind myself that even life’s foibles can be formative experiences.

In fact, the reason I began doing improv was to cultivate more spontaneity. Improv has taught me to trust my inner voice. There’s no time to acquiesce in an improvised scene. You do and say what comes honestly and naturally. Things rarely go as planned but your team is there to support you and keeps you afloat. All I can do is trust in the process, own my character and play him honestly. 

The time I’ve spent with terminally ill patients as a Companion at Z Hospital has been intimate, honest and thought-provoking. More often than not patients talk to me about what did matter versus what does matter most in life. Many express regret for having focused more on money, fame and power than family, friendship and ‘being real.’ I get emotional even now thinking about all the patients who have left an indelible mark on me – but then I laugh out loud remembering one gentleman who suggested I ‘kiss as many pretty girls as possible.’ I’ll second that motion!

There’s comfort in the status quo but leadership belongs to those who reject it. In life there are hard stops and for me that means not compartmentalizing what I value in my personal life from what I’m willing to do in my professional one. The Stanford experience is a powerful tool that, in conjunction with a student’s inherent strengths and effort, can provide an individual with the skills to lead change in others lives, in organizations and in the world. But who can lead others before he leads himself? I think that every person has a desire deep down to be in touch with his or her real truth – sometimes getting there isn’t evident. It wasn’t for me although my story comes neatly packaged here.

What really brings me joy isn’t down to being authentic, but being authentic in the service of others. In other words, what matters most to me isn’t who I am but what I can do with that knowledge/but how that knowledge has empowered me to impact people’s lives whether that be at Current Company, Organization A or Z Hospital.  I plan to carry on in the same vein at Stanford and in my future endeavors. 

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Example 3. Stanford 2021-22 MBA & MSx Essay A.

Essay A, What matters most to you, and why?

I was overweight for many of my teenage years, which in turn left me feeling unhappy and self-conscious about my body. I see now that low self-esteem caused me to lack any real desire to push the boundaries of my comfort zone either physically or emotionally. At the age of 18, my unhappiness finally spurred in me the desire and motivation to transform my physical well-being and, by extension, my life. Hard work marked the beginning of a physical transformation but it was not until I crossed the finish line of the London marathon, at the age of 23, that I realized my mind-set had also fundamentally changed.

When Amnesty International offered me a place in the marathon – a feat that as an overweight teenager I’d considered almost insurmountable – I saw it as an opportunity to consolidate my new habits and also give back to the community through fundraising. I had no doubt that the transition from novice jogger to marathon runner would mean enduring a great deal of physical and mental pain, but I was determined to prove to my younger self that I could do it. The experience marks a period of my life that I am immensely proud of. In total it took over four hours of blood, sweat, pain and relentless optimism on race day, not to mention five months of commitment and sacrifice, to reach my goal. Although the marathon may seem like just another long-distance run for some, to me it represents the pinnacle of a personal struggle with self-image. As an overweight teenager, I would never have believed I’d have the strength to commit myself to this mental challenge, let alone complete it.

The experience made me realize that, as people, we use our inner experiences to form mental models, which in turn shape our subjective experience in the wider world. The mental construct we have of ourselves informs our interactions with others. In short, our perception of the world starts with the way we see ourselves. Each of us has unique set of circumstances in life, yet we are defined not by the circumstances per se but instead by how we choose to approach them. Doing so with a positive attitude is what matters most to me.

In proving to myself that I could surmount what I saw as the hard limits of possibility, I’ve gained the confidence to tackle other obstacles and challenges. Self-confidence has overflowed into my personal and professional life by giving me the courage to pursue my passions, launch my own nonprofit, and take on my next race: an Olympic triathlon. I now look boldly to my future endeavors in the knowledge that I have the tools to apply my ‘mind over matter’ mentality to all aspects of my life.

The transition from a management consulting role at Bain to founding my own non-profit, has meant adapting from a highly matrixed environment to one of autonomy and total accountability. Succeeding in this endeavour has been my most significant professional accomplishment.

At Bain, a hierarchical and process-driven environment, I thrived as part of a team of twenty colleagues. The emphasis on collaboration fostered a deep sense of belonging and enabled me to build strong communication skills. Open door policies allowed me to freely access guidance from superiors. When I left Bain to focus on my start-up, that safety net vanished and I found myself accelerated into a leadership position. As I built NONPROFIT’s team of four people, I became acutely aware that I was no longer on the receiving end of management validation and mentorship. The onus and accountability of decision-making is now entirely on me as I make dozens of judgments every day in an autonomous environment.

Although it was initially a culture shock, I’ve learnt to deal with my newfound responsibility and leadership role by becoming more resourceful and introspective, and by building my own support network. I’ve realized the value of self-reflection and how it empowers me to be a smarter leader; being self-aware has helped me understand what I have yet to learn and what to prioritize to run the business more successfully. I’ve learnt to tackle unfamiliar problems by breaking them down into approachable goals, engaging in training and consulting mentors – thereby equipping myself with the knowledge and confidence to make better decisions. Realizing that many entrepreneurs experience a sense of isolation when starting a business, I’ve established a network of ten female entrepreneurs as a forum through which to share experiences of ubiquitous challenges.

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Analysis. Stanford 2021-22 MBA & MSx Essay B.

Essay B, Why Stanford?

Essay B is an opportunity for you to demonstrate to the adcom that you have a clear understanding of where you’ve been, where you’re going and the internal logic that unites your story’s point a with point b.  Why MBA? Why School X? Like every other admissions committee, Stanford’s adcom is focused on their job placement rate post-MBA. Don’t approach this essay thinking that an MBA or MSx degree is an opportunity to ‘explore’ career options. People are allowed to do that when they’re 18 or 20 and in undergrad. By the time you’re 26, 28, 30+ the expectation is that you have more direction.

This is a very straightforward Career Goals/Why MBA/Why Stanford essay. Candidates often ask me if their career goals should be in Essay A and overflow into or be restated in Essay B – yes, it’s possible but not obligatory. On the other hand, many candidates make no mention of their career goals until essay B. It all depends on your Essay A theme and writing style. In Stanford’s Essay B, be sure to highlight the following topics:

• What is your mission? (Not what you want to do as a job but the big picture thing you’d like to do or impact through your life’s work) 
  
• Short-term goal/Long-term goal (This is your job…don’t forget to give a concrete example or two).
• What resources at Stanford will help you achieve that goal? (Think academic/experiential/social resources) 
  
• How will you contribute at Stanford?

Your Past: Think about what factors have influenced/driven your decisions to date. Is there a common theme, interest, preference or passion that underlies any of the following: a) your decision to major in X at university? b) your decision to live in a particular area? c) the thought process behind choosing your first few professional roles or employers? d) personal qualities or interests that have been the driving force behind promotions or achievements at work?

Your Mission: How do you plan to leave an indelible mark on the world? Tell Stanford’s Adcom what you’d like to achieve or what issue you hope to tackle (not what you want to do from 9-5).

Why an MBA/MS? Have a good think about what might be keeping you from advancing to your short-term goal. You undoubtedly have a strong skill-set in certain areas…and perhaps a less developed skill-set in others.  Or you may have niche knowledge of a particular function/industry, but lack a more global exposure (within your industry/role or possibly across industries/roles).

Your Short-term Goal: What would you like to be doing professionally post-MBA or MSx? What about that role/industry genuinely excites you or appeals to you? What would make you a valuable asset to your future employer compared to other MBAs or MSx graduates? 

Here’s an example of how a past applicant to Stanford’s MBA program formulated his short-term career goal.

Your Long-term Goal: What do you see yourself doing in the long term? It’s best if your able to show an internal logic and continuity between your short and long-term goals in particular. You want to make this statement ambitious but not off-the-wall unrealistic. Stanford’s adcom won’t put much weight in this statement since they realize that no matter what a person predicts he’ll be doing 10+ years down the line – the reality is almost always otherwise.

Why Stanford: Basically Stanford’s Adcom wants to know that you’re familiar with the GSB and what its MBA or MSx program and community can offer you. How will its resources help you achieve your professional goals and how will you contribute to building a more vibrant community or set of resources at the school (now and in the future).

Example. Stanford 2021-22 MBA & MSx Essay B.

Essay B, Why Stanford?

To address the looming environmental and healthcare crises we need to become custodians of two precious bodies of resources: our planet and ourselves. First as a Digital Strategist and later as an Entrepreneur, I’d like to play a part in shaping a future I envisage, one where technology connects local food producers with consumers. In it people receive sustainable-sourced groceries at their door just hours after placing an order on their phones. What draws me to business models in the online space is how quickly they can be vetted, iterated and improved.

Today’s businesses require a digital strategy that integrates their online presence and organizational behavior. Post-MBA, I’d leverage what I’ve learned as Head of eCommerce & Digital Marketing at CURRENT EMPLOYER to pursue a Digital Strategy role at a food systems innovator like Amazon Fresh or Good Eggs. To do that I’ll need a deeper understanding of how corporate finance, operations and business intelligence map onto a holistic digital strategy.

When I think about the Stanford GSB, what really excites me is the prospect of spending two years interacting with peers and professors who are as fiercely passionate about improving the world as I am. I’m keen to collaborate with the d.school’s FEED Collaborative which unites design thinking and food system innovation. Stanford’s Responsible Business Labs would help me glean insight from companies and thought leaders that are creating broadly shared value by aligning business interests with social needs. Coming from a big Italian family, there’s nothing I love more than good food and lively conversation. If admitted to Stanford I’d soon become a regular at Small Group Dinners where first and second year students can meet and mingle.

Drawing on my network in the water conservation and sustainability industries to I’d give back to the Stanford community by bringing in speakers and organizing off-campus visits.  I hope to share my passion for personal well being and the environment with the Stanford GSB community where everyone is extraordinarily accomplished and brings their own unique perspective to bear. I look forward to forging new and lasting friendships with all.