Stanford

What matters most, and why? (650 words)

(Don’t forget the “why”).

They add: For this essay, we would like you to reflect deeply and write from the heart. Once you’ve identified what matters most to you, help us understand why. You might consider, for example, what makes this so important to you? What people, insights, or experiences have shaped your perspectives?

This question has been around since prehistoric times, or close to it. I’m a Stanford alum and I worked in MBA admissions, so I’m a little biased, but it’s the perfect prompt and that’s why it’s endured so long.  When I was considering whether to apply to business schools, I met the then-admissions director at an info session, and of course I asked him the same question everyone now asks me.

“What should I write about?”

To which he responded: “what matters most to you?”

I answered without even thinking: “my dog.”

And he said, “well, then, write about your dog.”

In fact, I did not write about my dog, not because he didn’t matter but because I realized that my feelings about my dog were not the cause but rather the result of what mattered most to me.

One year when I worked at Stanford, the director of admissions was fond of telling new admits that there had been two successful essays featuring potatoes that year, and another essay about pickles. I did not read the potato applications, but I did read the pickle essay, which turned out not to be about preserving vegetables. “Pickles” was shorthand for a transformative experience, described by the applicant in poignant detail.

I’ve worked with clients who have written their essays about objects, and in those situations, the objects have typically served as a surrogate for something deeper and more profound. More often, applicants write about personal qualities like courage or perfectionism or empathy. Rarely, my clients have written about other people, but people-centric essays can have their own complications.

Topics you will want to avoid: your family. Or writing that what matters most is to change the world or make a difference. You also don’t want to write the foreign travel or marathon essay. While living abroad or reaching a personal athletic milestone may have been peak experiences for you, it’s hard to make them the focus of the essay, although they can serve as examples of your What.

No doubt that the toughest challenge for almost all applicants is picking THE topic, and yes, it has to be one What, not many, or you end up with what I used to call the Kitchen Sink essay. Accept that you are not going to be able to cram your entire life into 750 650 words (thanks, GSB, for chopping 100 words off the limit this year!) that at best you will present a clear snapshot of you.

How do you know when you’ve found the right topic? You may have to dig a bit. So, for example, if your initial reaction is something like “getting a promotion matters most” sit down with yourself and have a talk. “Getting a promotion” is the result, not the underlying cause. Perhaps working hard matters most, or perseverance, or attention to detail. If you boil everything away, what’s left? What is a constant in almost everything you do? What drives you, motivates you, keeps your dreams alive? You’re looking for an element that threads through your life, whether you’re writing about work or school or activities or relationships.

That is your WMM – your What Matters Most.

See if you can answer these questions about your WMM:

  • What was your life like before you realized WMM? (What moment helped you understand that this mattered most?)
  • How has your WMM guided you to make choices and taken you in directions you might otherwise not have taken?
  • Was there ever a moment that you doubted that this was your WMM? How did this play out, and what led you to conclude that it truly did matter most?
  • What about WMM has helped you become the exceptional human being you are today?
  • How do you expect WMM to continue transforming your life? Where is it going to lead?

Take comfort from the fact that few people get it right on their first try. Even if the What works for an essay, the tone may not be quite right. This is not an essay you can knock out in an afternoon. It’s best if you can let it percolate for a while.

Note: The natural tendency for many applicants is to want to present themselves in the best light, and that may result in an essay that comes across as arrogant. Not what you want! (Let your recommenders boast about you.)  Instead, you want to sound thoughtful, self-aware, caring, confident.

Fortunately (or not) there’s more than one essay.

Why Stanford? (400 words)

Additional guidance: Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. If you are applying to both the MBA and MSx programs, use Essay B to address your interest in both programs.

The “Why Stanford” essay, also known as Essay B, lets you describe your familiarity with the school and its culture. You’re going to value qualities in the program that others may not, so do your homework – as with every school. Stanford admissions runs many outreach events, and also webinars if you can’t meet them in person or visit campus, or if it’s 2020 and you can’t go anywhere. You also want to incorporate your goals into this essay, to indicate why the MBA fits into your plans, but that’s no different from any other school.

Although all four short essays have been “optional” since 2020, you will want to complete them if possible.

The background essay was formerly required. For the class entering 2023, they moved it back onto the Personal Information page and broadened the wording..

We know that each person is more than a list of facts or pre-defined categories. With this question we provide you with an optional opportunity to elaborate on how your background or life experiences have helped shape your recent actions or choices (1200 characters)

Compare to last year’s wording:

Tell us about a time within the last three years when your background influenced your participation in a situation, interaction, or project. (1200 characters)

They have expanded “background” to “background and life experiences,” changed “influenced” to “shaped” to encompass a range of behaviors, deleted the awkward three year limit, and reworded “situation, interaction, or project” to the simpler “actions or choices.” I like all these changes and see Kirsten’s touch in this effort to simplify yet home in on the purpose of this prompt. Essentially they are asking, as directly as they ever do, “what will be your voice in the classroom?” “What makes you the person  you are?” Your response to the essay gives admissions a sense of what role you tend to take in a group.

For some people, this is easy. “I was the only Asian student in my class growing up, and I recently helped launch an effort at my company to promote diversity.” “I was born with a syndrome that affects my coordination, so with a game company client I emphasized the importance of making games accessible for kids with poor motor skills.” “I was raised by a single parent, and as a board member for a child-serving community organization, I always remind other board members of the special challenges facing these families.”

The “background” can be a status you were born into (socioeconomic, ethnicity, nationality) or something that occurred at any point since then! It’s broad, so cast the net wide to include prior work, volunteer activities, or personal experiences. It may be easiest to work backwards on this one – consider a recent time that you spoke up or stepped outside your boundaries, and then think back to the influences that led you to that place. .

If your response to this essay is similar to your response for What Matters Most,  you may want to reconsider your WMM.

In 2019, the school introduced the optional impact “short answer” essays.

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? (1200 characters)

 You can write one, two, or three, though the application is a little confusing in this regard and some people don’t realize that you can submit three different stories. These essays give admissions insight into your values (what do you consider an accomplishment?) and help round you out as a person.  Often, applicants are still early in their career, but have demonstrated impact in other areas of their lives: extracurricular activities, community volunteering, hobbies. If you write your WMM first, you may find that these essays pop right out when you start to talk about where your WMM has led you. As always, the nuts and bolts of what you did are not as important as the context: why does this achievement stand out for you, and what did you learn from it?

In terms of selecting the topics for these short answers, you have some latitude. Some people write all three essays about work-related impact. Some mention an extracurricular activity or hobby. I like to see a mix (one each of professional, extracurricular, and academic) but there is no formula for success. In general, I’d aim for an impact that affects a number of people vs just one individual.