Introducing the New HBS Essays for 2024-2025. On June 25, at 10:30 am, Harvard Business School (HBS) opened its online application for the 2024-2025 application cycle, and as greatly anticipated, they have updated the essay prompts.
Harvard Business School has moved from the (in)famous single “What Else?” prompt, a 900-word exercise of complete freedom in how the candidate wanted to approach such an essay, to the more traditional approach of 3 guided prompts (which together now sum 800 words).
While much has been speculated around this change, we had already seen a trend with the 2+2 application cycle, where HBS did add a guided prompt for candidates to answer. So without further ado, here are the details for the new essays:
- Business-Minded Essay: Reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve (up to 300 words).
- Leadership-Focused Essay: Describe experiences that have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become (up to 250 words).
- Growth-Oriented Essay: Share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how it has influenced your growth (up to 250 words).
What is interesting about these new essays is the fact the prompts are preceded by a specific topic. In my view, HBS wants you to wear a particular “hat” when answering each question on Business, Leadership and Growth.
This tripod should serve as a way for the Admissions Committee to better compare its candidates, as now there are common threads to go by. Yet it poses an additional challenge: while the previous 900-word format allowed candidates to tell a story in great detail, now the reduced word count will require a more strategic approach and an optimized combination of experiences.
In a way, these might look like the supplementary 200-word “impact essays” from Stanford GSB, but keep in mind they still have 1050 words to cover two additional prompts. HBS gives the candidates just a few additional reduced opportunities to provide more details.
Something that I like to tell my clients about the HBS application is that we do not want to provide them with anything more than what is required. We do not go overboard and I try to avoid touching the optional essay unless we absolutely must. HBS is a school that wants your achievements to speak for themselves. And like the fast-paced competitive world we live in, you do not get a second chance to make a great first impression.
That is now even more so the case. Think of these as your sales pitch. You want Essays 1, 2, 3 to be direct and impactful. They will have to sound as if they were well thought out and have a way to quickly convince the HBS AdCom that you deserve a seat in the Class of 2027 cohort.
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