Why You Won't Get Into Cornell with Your Poorly Written MBA Essay

Posted by Sandip Bhattacharya on January 30th, 2016

A business school application to Cornell University is a sum of many factors, the essay being one of the most important. An MBA application without a compelling essay won’t go very far in making admissions officers understand who you are and what you want to achieve with your MBA degree. It is important to be clear and upbeat, but these two alone are not enough. Your essay also needs to play up your strengths and differentiate you from thousands of other applicants hoping to be accepted into Cornell. This is where a professional consultant and editor can help. 

Your Essay Matters More than Your GPA or GMAT Score

Top business schools like Cornell don't admit students based purely on their statistics, so don't let low test scores keep you from pursuing grad school. While it’s true that a solid number can help your application (in the same way that a 2.5 GPA or 550 GMAT may cause you to get disqualified, you don’t necessarily need near-perfect scores. A decent 700 GMAT and 3.6 GPA is enough to make you a good candidate. After all, even an impressive 800 GMAT and a 4.0 GPA may be rejected by elite MBA programs like Cornell’s. Top universities are really more interested in who you are, and they won’t get that from your numbers or your résumé. Your essays, recommendations, and interviews ultimately reveal your essence. 

A compelling essay can provide context and even justify a low GPA or GMAT score, but the reverse is not true. Even the strongest numbers can’t make up for a weak and disorganised essay. A badly written essay can change how admissions officers perceive your application. This is the most successful MBA applicants do not rely only on their GMAT score or undergraduate transcript. They also put a lot of time on their essays. 

Tips on Writing a Great Essay for Cornell’s MBA Program

Perhaps the most important thing to do is avoid flattery. A great university like Cornell already knows that it's great. Don’t want space with empty sweet talk that can hurt your chances of admission. Meaningless flattery tells the admission offers that you have nothing significant to say, and can be a turn off. 

You also need to budget time for rewriting. Try to get all your ideas out on your first draft,  then refine and reorganise them on your second draft. Let each draft sit for at least a day, and then go back and edit again. 

Better yet, have a professional look at your essay. It’s too easy to miss errors when you check your work. MBA essay writing consultants can give you much needed guidance and increase your chances of success.

About the Author:

Sandip Bhattacharya is the Founder and Director of MBA Essay Consultant, an organization providing MBA essay services to global applicants for top MBA schools across the globe such as Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Oxford, Cambridge etc. With more than 18 years of experience in MBA admission consulting Sandip Bhattacharya also holds a vast experience of working in global consulting firms in Unites States.