georgetown mba essay samples

Which program are you applying to?

Accepted Admissions Blog

Everything you need to know to get Accepted

August 5, 2024

Georgetown McDonough MBA Essay Tips and Deadlines [2024-2025], Class Profile

Georgetown McDonough continues to require two essays from all its applicants. Sharing the same structure as last year, the first required essay allows you to choose to answer one of three prompts. The program’s second required essay is a video essay. The admissions office also provides an optional essay, and reapplicants have a dedicated essay. 

Don’t forget to take advantage of the opportunity to be granted an application fee waiver. You’ll find the details about how to do so in the Application Fee section of McDonough’s Applications Component page . 

Ready to get to work on your McDonough application? Read on. 

McDonough application essay tips

Mcdonough application deadlines, mcdonough class profile, required essay.

Our goal at Georgetown McDonough is to craft a diverse class with people who have had varying personal and professional life experiences. As such, we want to give our applicants the opportunity to select one essay (from a list of three) that allows them the ability to best highlight their experiences, characteristics, and values that showcase the value proposition that they can bring to the McDonough community. Please select one of the following three essays to complete in 500 words (approximately two pages, double spaced) and include the essay prompt and your first/last name at the top of your submission.

Each prompt allows you to provide a different perspective on your candidacy. When deciding which option to respond to, consider which one resonates with you most and will allow you to showcase yourself best. 

Essay Option One – Georgetown Community

Our mission is rooted in Jesuit principles of equality and respect for everyone and an ethos of caring for the whole person. Inclusivity and diversity are core to supporting a community of people with an intersectional understanding of themselves and the world around them. Share how your educational, familial, cultural, economic, social, and/or other individual life experiences will contribute to the diversity of perspectives and ideas at Georgetown University.

Community is a vital aspect of any MBA program experience, and Georgetown’s Jesuit values underscore the importance of contributing to its community. Throughout your life, you have had many experiences that have shaped who you are and are the basis for your unique perspectives and ideas. This essay provides an opportunity to consider your most impactful experiences, how they influenced you, and how you will add value to your community because of them. As the prompt suggests, the experiences you decide to discuss in this essay can be from any aspect of your life. Take this opportunity to share formative experiences and how you navigated them. How did these examples influence your values and outlook? Whether you overcame tough personal circumstances or enjoyed a rich cultural upbringing, your life experiences are unique to you. Once you have decided what experiences you will share in this essay, make sure to connect them to how your presence and contributions to the McDonough community will enrich your classmates’ time in the MBA program.

​Essay Option Two – Cura Personalis

As the oldest Jesuit institution in the United States, cura personalis is a Latin phrase deeply ingrained within our community and translates to “care of the person.” It encompasses a profound sense of care and responsibility for one another, rooted in personalized attention to each individual’s needs, unique circumstances, gifts, and limitations, fostering the growth of each person. Please reflect on a specific instance where you exemplified cura personalis by supporting a teammate or coworker. Describe the particular actions you took to guide them, and explain the impact of these efforts. Additionally, discuss how you would leverage these experiences to contribute to the collaborative environment at Georgetown McDonough.

The strength of the Georgetown community can be found in its members’ sense of responsibility for one another. This essay asks you to focus on a teammate or coworker you have supported. Consider an example from your professional life when you demonstrated a sense of responsibility for another person and actively offered guidance. I suggest using the CAR method to convey the example, laying out the Context, Action, and Result.  

Context : Begin by explaining the situation. Who was the teammate or coworker? What were the circumstances? What challenge did they face?  

Action : Next, describe the action you took to support them. Begin with one of the key parts of the essay: Why were you compelled to help them? Why did you think you could make a difference? Describe how you navigated the situation and what steps you took to make a difference for this person. 

Result : Finally, share the outcome. What was the impact of your actions? How did your support transform the expected outcome your teammate or coworker otherwise would have experienced? Show how your support not only changed the outcome but also empowered your teammate or coworker.

The final part of the essay prompt asks you to articulate how this experience, and your natural inclination to support others, will enrich and strengthen the McDonough community. Your unique perspective and commitment to responsibility will undoubtedly make a significant difference.

  Essay Option Three – Achieving Excellence

Georgetown McDonough is committed to achieving greater excellence to enrich the legacies of our students and alumni. Please reflect on a professional experience from your resume where you achieved outstanding results. Describe why this experience exemplified excellence, highlight the strengths or skills you utilized that contributed to this achievement, and share how these qualities will help you leave a legacy at Georgetown.

This essay option allows you to showcase professional excellence from a personal perspective. You will share the experience referenced in the prompt and describe how you contributed to achieving outstanding results. Consider whether you want to highlight an example of a time when you worked with a team versus when you were an individual contributor. What does one experience communicate about you compared to the other? Make sure you share specifics about what you did. Consider what skills you could draw on and what strengths you leveraged to achieve the highlighted outcomes. Next, explain why you believe this example demonstrates excellence. You achieved a desired result; why were your actions meaningful or impactful? What motivated you to take the action you took? Did you consider any other options? How did you include other people in the process? How did you decide to pursue the direction that led to achieving excellence? As you bring your essay to a close, reflect on the personal growth and learning you gained from the experience. For instance, if your experience was in leading a community service project, you might have learned about the importance of empathy and understanding. What legacy do you want to leave at Georgetown? What example do you want to be remembered for by the Hoyas who follow? 

Video Essay

We believe a vibrant community is built on diverse and unique individuals, and we want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. We’ve learned about your professional and leadership qualities throughout the application, but now we want to know more about you beyond work. Whether it’s a new hobby, a fun adventure, or a simple pleasure, in one minute , share what has recently brought you joy outside of work.

• You may use your phone, computer, or other means to record the video, but please ensure all audio and visual components are clear. We recommend a well-lit room and minimal noise distraction. 
• The admissions committee would like for you to appear in person during part of your video.
• Please adhere to the time guideline of one minute.
• We recommend unscripted, conversational videos – help us get to know the real you!
• Upload your video to an accessible website (such as YouTube, Vimeo, Youku, or Tudou), and submit the direct video URL into your online application. 
• Please note that all videos must remain active and accessible to the admissions committee online for a minimum of five years for record retention purposes.
• For your privacy: Do not include your name in the title of your video. You may submit “unlisted” videos via YouTube or password protected videos through Vimeo. If using a password, please include immediately after your link in the text box below. [Ex: www.youtube.com/123, password: Hoyas]  

The great thing about McDonough’s video essay is that you get to present yourself to the admissions committee. For some applicants, this might be intimidating. But with preparation and practice, you can confidently submit your video essay. This essay is an opportunity to share something about your life that has brought you joy. You needn’t worry about choosing the “right” example as long as you can describe how it has brought you joy. 

When creating your video essay, remember that authenticity is key. Start by introducing yourself in a genuine and sincere manner, and don’t forget to smile! Even though you’re speaking to a camera, your smile will help you come across as warm and approachable. If it helps, imagine that you’re sharing your story with a friend. This will help you maintain a genuine and authentic tone throughout your video so the viewer can imagine you as a member of the McDonough community! Consider the following example: 

“I work with a local youth group, and each summer, we take a group of inner-city kids on a white water rafting trip on the Youghiogheny River. I enjoy working with kids who are unsure of their ability to complete the journey. I enjoy coaching them and helping them realize they can learn how to work with the others in their group to maneuver the raft through the rapids. Last week, I was working with a teenage boy who seemed to separate himself from his group of classmates. I took notice and paid particular attention to ensure that he felt included. About halfway through the trip, we stopped for lunch along the river. This young man asked if he could talk to me and shared that he had spent the whole week before the trip thinking about how he was not going to be able to participate in rafting because he wasn’t very athletic. He told me I changed that for him by explaining how to position himself in the raft and lean into each stroke as we fought against the rapids. He hadn’t experienced anything like it and couldn’t wait to go again. Then he gave me a big hug. My heart ballooned, and I felt a profound happiness that a seemingly ordinary day made such a difference for this kid.”

Here are some practical tips to remember when recording your video:

• Prepare at least five and no more than ten facts to share in the 60 seconds.
• Write a few bullet points to help you recall the experience you will discuss.
• Do not read from a script. You want to come across as relaxed and conversational.  
• Start the video by briefly introducing yourself – and remember to smile! 
• Practice what you want to say in your video, record yourself, and then review the recording to make note of how you sound and appear. Make adjustments before recording your next practice video. Do this as many times as it takes for you to feel comfortable!
• Follow all the instructions that the admissions office outlined.

Optional Essay

Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).

Is there an experience, special circumstance, or other information you couldn’t convey in the other parts of your McDonough application? If so, the optional essay is the place to do so. Here are some topics to consider, along with our advice on how to address them:

• Do you have a gap in your employment, or are you currently unemployed? 

Provide the details of the period of unemployment, including ways you were or have been engaged in your community or otherwise enhancing your skills or preparing for business school.

• Did your grades suffer during a period in college?

You might have had a difficult period during your undergraduate studies for many reasons. Perhaps you were a first-generation college student and didn’t have sufficient parental guidance, or you were ill during a semester. Whatever the reason, rest assured that the admissions committee took note of your academic anomaly when reviewing your transcripts. Use this space to explain the circumstances of the situation.

• Have you overcome difficult personal circumstances?

Often, situations we have overcome personally influence how we view the world and interact with others. Share information demonstrating your “grit” or your ability to succeed despite challenging circumstances. 

• Have you been involved in supporting others who are less fortunate, with the goal of providing opportunities and the chance for a better life? 

Georgetown University is committed to social justice and life-changing service. Your work in this area aligns with the Jesuit identity of the university and will resonate with the adcom.

One important thing to remember is that if the information you want to share is deeply personal, ensure that you provide enough detail to convey the situation without oversharing. Part of what the admissions committee will consider is your judgment regarding what you include in your essay. 

If you feel you have thoroughly communicated your candidacy in other areas of the application, you needn’t feel compelled to provide an optional essay.

Reapplicant Essay

Required for reapplicants. How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).

This essay is straightforward. Update the committee about how you have improved your candidacy since you last applied. In addition to having another year of work experience, what achievement(s) can you share? Did you work on any special projects? Learn new skills? What interesting things have you done outside of work that might affect your contributions to the community? How have your career goals evolved? If you retook a test and improved your score or took additional classes to prepare for the MBA, note that in this essay, even if there is another place to include the information in the application as a data point. The reapplicant essay should comprehensively summarize what you have done to strengthen your candidacy. 

Source: Georgetown McDonough website

All complete applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on the deadline day.

***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with Georgetown McDonough directly to verify its essay questions, instructions, and deadlines.***

Here is a look at McDonough’s full-time MBA entering class of 2023 (data taken from the McDonough website ):

Applications received: 1,428

Enrolled: 258

Female: 31%

U.S. diversity: 42%

Underrepresented minorities: 19%

International: 59%

Countries represented: 40

Military: 11%

Average years of work experience: 5.5

Average age: 29

Average GPA: 3.34

Mid 80% GPA range: 2.72-3.84

Average GMAT: 695

Mid 80% GMAT range: 630-743

Average GRE: 318

Mid 80% GRE range: 305-328

Percentage taking GRE: 37%

Average EA: 153

Mid 80% EA range: 147-158

Undergrad fields of study

• Business: 25%
• Humanities: 19%
• Math/Physical Sciences: 15%
• Engineering: 14%
• Economics: 10%
• Government and international studies: 9%

Major industry backgrounds

• Financial services: 14%
• Consulting: 12%
• Technology and new media: 12%
• Government: 7%
• Manufacturing: 5%
• Consumer Product Goods: 3%

You’ve worked so hard to get to this point in your journey. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your Georgetown McDonough application. In a hotly competitive season, you’ll want a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you. Schedule a free consultation today!

As the former executive director of admissions at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School and assistant dean of admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School and the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz School, Kelly Wilson has 23 years’ experience overseeing admissions committees and has reviewed more than 38,000 applications for the MBA and master’s programs in management of information systems, computational finance, business analytics, and product management.  Want Kelly to help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• Should I Use AI for My MBA (Grad/College) Applications?
• How to Get into Georgetown McDonough’s MBA Program , podcast Episode 512
• GMAT, GPA, and MBA Acceptance Rates: The Selectivity Index

About Us Press Room Contact Us Podcast Accepted Blog Privacy Policy Website Terms of Use Disclaimer Client Terms of Service

Accepted 1171 S. Robertson Blvd. #140 Los Angeles CA 90035 +1 (310) 815-9553 © 2022 Accepted

Georgetown McDonough MBA Essay Analysis 2023-2024: Crafting Standout Applications

Are you considering pursuing an MBA at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business? To help you navigate this significant decision, we present a detailed analysis of the MBA essay requirements for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle.

In this comprehensive article, we delve into Georgetown University’s McDonough MBA essay analysis for 2023-2024. Discover valuable insights and expert guidance on how to excel in your MBA admissions journey.

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business is renowned for its exceptional MBA program. As an applicant, understanding the essay requirements and how to craft impressive essays is crucial for a successful application. Let’s break it down step by step.

The Application Process

The journey begins with the application process. Here, we discuss what you need to know before diving into the essay section.

What to Expect

The Georgetown University’s McDonough MBA application typically includes essays that evaluate your candidacy. These essays are a chance for the admissions committee to learn more about you beyond your test scores and academic record.

The Role of the Essays

The essays are your opportunity to showcase your uniqueness, experiences, and aspirations. The admissions committee seeks candidates who are not only academically capable but also those who will contribute to the vibrant McDonough community.

Georgetown University’s McDonough MBA Essay Prompts

Let’s dive into the essay prompts for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle.

Essay Option One

Georgetown Community: Our mission is rooted in Jesuit principles of equality and respect for everyone and an ethos of caring for the whole person. Inclusivity and diversity are core to supporting a community of people with an intersectional understanding of themselves and the world around them. Share how your educational, familial, cultural, economic, social, and/or other individual life experiences will contribute to the diversity of perspectives and ideas at Georgetown University. (500 words)

Essay Analysis:  Georgetown University’s MBA essay prompt revolves around the theme of diversity, inclusivity, and the Jesuit values of equality and respect. Applicants are asked to share their unique life experiences that will contribute to the diversity of perspectives and ideas within the Georgetown community. Here’s a structured approach for tackling this essay:

Introduction (Approximately 50 words):  Begin your essay with a compelling and concise introduction. Mention the importance of diversity, inclusivity, and Georgetown’s values in the business school context. Briefly, set the stage for your unique contributions.

Body Paragraph 1 (Approximately 150 words):

• Educational Experiences:  Discuss how your educational background, including your academic journey, has shaped your perspective and values.
• Relate to Jesuit Values:  Explain how your educational experiences align with Georgetown’s Jesuit values of equality and respect.

Body Paragraph 2 (Approximately 150 words):

• Cultural and Family Background:  Share how your cultural and familial upbringing has influenced your worldviews and values.
• Connect to Inclusivity:  Explain how your cultural and family background enhances inclusivity within the Georgetown community.

Body Paragraph 3 (Approximately 150 words):

• Economic and Social Experiences:  Describe any economic or social experiences that have played a significant role in your life.
• Link to the Whole Person Ethos:  Explain how these experiences resonate with Georgetown’s ethos of caring for the whole person.

Conclusion (Approximately 50 words):  Summarize your key points and express your enthusiasm for contributing to the diverse and inclusive community at Georgetown’s MBA program. Mention how your unique experiences align with the university’s mission.

Additional Tips:

• Be Specific: Use concrete examples to illustrate your experiences and their impact on your perspective.
• Showcase Self-Reflection: Discuss how these experiences have shaped your values and views.
• Relate to Georgetown: Clearly explain the connection between your experiences and the Georgetown community’s mission and values.
• Stay within the Word Limit: Be concise and ensure your essay is within the 500-word limit.

By following this structured approach, applicants can effectively address Georgetown’s MBA essay prompt, showcasing their unique experiences and how they will contribute to the diversity and inclusivity of the university’s community. This approach reflects your genuine engagement with the essay topic and your understanding of Georgetown’s values.

Essay Option Two

Leave Your Legacy: Commitment to service and community is an important value that Hoyas shares across Georgetown McDonough’s 40+ MBA student-run clubs and organizations, nine centers and initiatives, and various other co-curricular activities. What do you want your legacy to be as a McDonough student and alumni? Be as specific as possible. (500 words)

This essay topic is an opportunity for you to showcase your understanding of the program’s values, your vision for your time at McDonough, and how you plan to leave a meaningful impact.  Introduction (Approximately 50 words):  Begin by briefly introducing the essay prompt and its significance in the MBA application process. Explain that this essay allows applicants to articulate their vision and purpose as McDonough MBA students and future alumni.

Section 1: Understanding McDonough’s Values (Approximately 100-150 words):  In this section, discuss the core values and mission of Georgetown McDonough. Highlight the institution’s commitment to service and community engagement. You can also emphasize the importance of student-run clubs, centers, and co-curricular activities in nurturing these values.

Section 2: Personal Reflection (Approximately 100 words):  Share a brief reflection on your background, values, and experiences that have led you to consider an MBA at McDonough. What motivates you to align with the values of the institution?

Section 3: Your Legacy Vision (Approximately 200-250 words):  This is the heart of your essay. Describe in detail the legacy you envision leaving as a McDonough student and alumni. Be specific and provide examples. You can structure this section using the following components:

a. Service and Community Engagement:  Explain how you plan to actively participate in clubs, organizations, or initiatives that resonate with your interests and the Georgetown McDonough community’s values. Discuss specific roles or projects you intend to take on and how they align with your passions and career goals.

b. Impact on Campus:  Detail how you aim to make a difference within the campus community. This could include ideas for new initiatives, workshops, or events that you’d like to introduce or enhance. Explain how these initiatives will benefit both current students and future generations.

c. Impact Beyond Campus:  Discuss your vision for continuing your commitment to service and community engagement as an alumnus. Consider how you’ll leverage your McDonough MBA to make a positive impact in the business world or within your chosen industry. Share long-term goals and potential collaborations with the McDonough alumni network.

Section 4: Conclusion and Call to Action (Approximately 50 words):  Summarize your vision for your legacy as a McDonough student and alumni. Reiterate your commitment to Georgetown McDonough’s values. End with a call to action, expressing your enthusiasm for contributing to the program and being part of the Georgetown MBA community.

Editing and Proofreading:  Remember to carefully edit your essay, ensuring it’s within the 500-word limit, free of grammatical errors, and structured coherently. Use persuasive language to convince the admissions committee of your genuine commitment and passion for McDonough’s values.

By following this structured approach, you’ll be able to craft a compelling and focused essay that reflects your dedication to service, community, and making a meaningful impact as a Georgetown McDonough MBA student and future alumni.

Essay Option Three

Magis: Magis is a Jesuit value that instills the sense of achieving “more” or “greater” excellence. Share how you achieved magis during a professional experience as evidenced on your resume. Describe why this experience exemplified excellence and what about your involvement (i.e. strengths or skills) contributed to the excellence. (500 words )

Essay Topic:  “Magis: Magis is a Jesuit value that instills the sense of achieving ‘more’ or ‘greater’ excellence. Share how you achieved magis during a professional experience as evidenced on your resume. Describe why this experience exemplified excellence and what about your involvement (i.e. strengths or skills) contributed to the excellence. (500 words)”

Essay Structure:

• Start with a captivating introduction that briefly introduces the concept of “Magis” and its significance in the Jesuit tradition.
• Mention that this essay will focus on a specific professional experience where you demonstrated “Magis.”
• Begin by providing an overview of the professional experience you have chosen to discuss.
• Include key details such as the job role, the organization, and the context in which it took place.
• Explain how this professional experience embodies the concept of “Magis.” Discuss how you went above and beyond to achieve excellence.
• Highlight specific accomplishments, challenges, or projects that illustrate your commitment to achieving more significant excellence.
• Describe why this particular experience exemplified excellence. What were the measurable outcomes or impacts that you had?
• Share any feedback, awards, or recognition you received for your contributions during this experience.
• Discuss your strengths, skills, and attributes that contributed to the excellence of this experience.
• Provide examples of how your qualities and actions positively influenced the outcome.
• Reflect on how the Jesuit value of “Magis” aligns with your personal and professional values.
• Discuss why embracing this value is important to you and your future in business and leadership.
• Summarize the key points made in the essay.
• End with a closing statement that reinforces your commitment to “Magis” and your readiness to bring this value to Georgetown’s MBA program.
• After completing your essay, review it for clarity, grammar, and structure.
• Make sure it adheres to the word limit (500 words).

Video Essay

Building a cohort of diverse and unique individuals is important to the admissions team. We want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. Throughout the application, we’ve learned about what you would add as a professional and leader. Just as important is learning about your interests outside of work. In one minute, please share 5-10 random facts about yourself that are not on your resume and how these facts contribute to who you are as a professional and leader.

You may use your phone, computer, or other means to record the video, but please ensure all audio and visual components are clear. We recommend a well-lit room and minimal noise distraction.

The admissions committee would like for you to appear in person during part of your video.

We recommend unscripted, conversational videos – help us get to know the real you!

Upload your video to an accessible website (such as YouTube, Vimeo, Youku, or Tudou), and submit the direct video URL to your online application.

Please note that all videos must remain active and accessible to the admissions committee online for a minimum of five years for record retention purposes.

For your privacy: Do not include your name in the title of your video. You may submit “unlisted” videos via YouTube or password-protected videos through Vimeo. If using a password, please include it immediately after your link in the text box below. 

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business is known for its commitment to diversity and the unique qualities of its students. The video essay component is a great opportunity for applicants to showcase their personality and individuality. The admissions committee wants to see the real you and understand how your interests and experiences contribute to your professional and leadership qualities.

Introduction:

• Start with a brief introduction to the essay topic and its significance in the MBA application process.
• Emphasize the importance of authenticity and showcasing your personality.

Understanding the Prompt:

• They want to know more about you beyond your resume.
• You have one minute to share 5-10 random facts.
• The importance of appearing in person during part of the video.
• Tips for creating a well-lit, noise-free video.
• The technical requirements for uploading and preserving the video for five years.

Selecting the Right Facts:

• Consider the balance between personal and professional facts.
• Select facts that provide insights into your character, values, and interests.
• Ensure that the facts you choose can be shared concisely within one minute.

Creating an Authentic Video:

• Avoid reading from a script.
• Speak naturally and confidently.
• Maintain eye contact with the camera.
• Be mindful of body language and tone of voice.
• Practice beforehand to ensure you can convey your points within the time limit.

Technical Aspects:

• Choosing a well-lit, quiet location.
• Using a good-quality camera or smartphone.
• Testing the audio and visual components for clarity.
• Editing and reviewing the video before submission.

Uploading and Privacy:

• Using accessible websites like YouTube or Vimeo.
• Maintaining the video for a minimum of five years.
• Privacy considerations – not including your name in the video title.

Conclusion:

• Reinforce the importance of being genuine and letting your personality shine through in the video.
• Encourage applicants to embrace this opportunity to differentiate themselves.

Remember that the video essay is a chance to complement your written application, giving the admissions committee a deeper understanding of your character and what you can bring to the Georgetown MBA program. It’s also a way to demonstrate your communication skills and creativity. Good luck with your video essay, and make sure to showcase your unique qualities effectively!

Optional Essay

Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included. (300-350 words, approximately one page, double-spaced)

This essay is an opportunity to share additional information with the admissions committee that you believe is crucial to your application but hasn’t been covered in other parts of your application.

Structure for the Georgetown MBA Optional Essay:

• Start by briefly introducing yourself and expressing your continued interest in the Georgetown MBA program.
• Begin by stating that you are using this essay to provide additional information not covered elsewhere.
• Clearly state what specific information you plan to share and why it is relevant to your application. This could include unique experiences, challenges, or accomplishments.
• Share the additional information you want to include. This could vary widely based on your unique circumstances. For example, you might discuss a career gap, a personal challenge you’ve overcome, unique achievements, or any aspect of your background that you believe strengthens your candidacy.
• Explain how the information you provided is directly related to your fit for the Georgetown MBA program and why it makes you a stronger candidate.
• Conclude your essay by restating your enthusiasm for the program and thanking the admissions committee for considering this additional information.
• Be concise and to the point. Adhere to the word limit.
• Maintain a professional tone and use clear, straightforward language.
• Avoid repeating information from other parts of your application. Use this essay to add depth and context.
• If you’re explaining a weakness or challenge, focus on how you’ve grown or learned from it. Emphasize your resilience and adaptability.
• Highlight how your unique experiences and perspectives can contribute to the Georgetown MBA community.

Remember, the purpose of this essay is to enhance your application, not to provide unnecessary or redundant information. Use it strategically to address any important aspects of your background or experiences that you believe the admissions committee should be aware of.

In conclusion, understanding and acing Georgetown University’s McDonough MBA essay analysis for 2023-2024 is pivotal to securing your spot in this prestigious program. Start early, be authentic, and remember that your essays are your voice in the application process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use the same essay for multiple prompts?

It’s not recommended. Tailor each essay to the specific prompt to address the nuances of what’s being asked.

How long should my essays be?

The word limit for each essay is typically 500 words. It’s essential to be concise and impactful within this constraint.

Should I mention my weaknesses in the essays?

While honesty is valued, it’s crucial to present your weaknesses as opportunities for growth and learning.

Can I exceed the word limit?

Avoid exceeding the word limit. Adhering to it showcases your ability to follow instructions and communicate effectively.

What’s the most important thing the admissions committee looks for in essays?

Authenticity. They want to get to know you as an individual, not just a list of achievements.

How should I proofread my essays?

Proofreading is crucial. Consider using a grammar-checking tool and have a trusted friend or advisor review your essays as well.

Blog Categories:

• Singapore and More
• Study Abroad

You have Successfully Subscribed!

WhatsApp us

• Menlo Coaching
• Top MBA Programs
• Admissions Essays
• Apply to Work With Us

Georgetown MBA Essays: Tips for McDonough 2023-2024

At Menlo Coaching, we noticed that most MBA essays will fall into one of a number of categories: personal essays, career goals essays, behavioral essays, etc.. Read ahead for our expert guide on approaching these essays for the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.

Personal (Video) Essay

• You may use your phone, computer, or other means to record the video, but please ensure all audio and visual components are clear. We recommend a well-lit room and minimal noise distraction. 
• The admissions committee would like for you to appear in person during part of your video.
• We recommend unscripted, conversational videos – help us get to know the real you!
• Upload your video to an accessible website (such as YouTube, Vimeo, Youku, or Tudou), and submit the direct video URL into your online application. 
• Please note that all videos must remain active and accessible to the admissions committee online for a minimum of five years for record retention purposes.
• For your privacy: Do not include your name in the title of your video. You may submit “unlisted” videos via YouTube or password protected videos through Vimeo. If using a password, please include immediately after your link in the text box below. [Ex: www.youtube.com/123, password: Hoyas]  

Behavioral Essay

• Principled Leadership:  Georgetown McDonough places a strong emphasis on principled leadership, providing both curricular and co-curricular opportunities to strengthen your leadership skills. Describe a time when you have led a team in a professional environment to implement a new idea or process. What leadership characteristics did you utilize? What could you have done to be more effective? And most importantly, what skills will you be able to bring to the teams you lead at McDonough?
• Hoyas for the Common Good:  Georgetown McDonough embodies the ethos that people and organizations can and should contribute to the greater good. The admissions committee would like to better understand how you have demonstrated these values during uniquely challenging times. Describe a time where you have put the needs of others ahead of your own or ahead of the bottom line. We look forward to learning more about the challenge you faced, what unique characteristics you brought to that scenario, and what you learned from it.
• Contribute to Georgetown Community:  Georgetown McDonough is a diverse, global community. We look to understand the contribution that your personal background would make to our community. As appropriate, you may wish to address any obstacles or challenges you have overcome; any educational, familial, cultural, economic, and social experiences that have helped to shape your educational and professional goals; or how your background (e.g. first-generation student, resident outside the U.S.) or activities (e.g. community service and leadership) will contribute to our community.

Career Goals

• What is your short-term goal following graduation from the Georgetown McDonough School of Business? (text box, 1-2 sentences max)
• What is your long-term goal following graduation from the Georgetown McDonough School of Business? (text box, 1-2 sentences max)

Optional Essay

• You may use this essay to provide any additional information that you have not otherwise included in your application. You may address anything in your academic or professional background or anything you feel the admissions committee may need to know regarding your application. (300-350 words—approximately 1 page, double spaced, or less.)

Reapplicant Essay

• How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application and why do you feel that you are better-positioned this year to begin the MBA Program? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally. (300-350 words—approximately 1 page, double spaced, or less.)

Applying to Georgetown University McDonough School of Business

The golden opportunity of this school is its location in Washington D.C., the pinnacle of access to the government and policy making. Opportunities here include trips to off-campus sites along industry lines and policy briefings hosted by research centers on Capitol Hill. Through the story you relate in your essay, the admissions council is looking to see if you reflect the same values that the school does. MSB is looking for students who are global, innovative, and committed to learning. The best way to represent that you possess those qualities is through the type of essay you choose to write. 

The Personal Statement Essay

Like we touched on earlier, schools are looking for the right fit for their campus community, just as you are searching for the school that aligns best with your goals. In the personal essay, this is your chance to show MSB the values that drive you both as a person and as a student. These values tell the admissions council what you prioritize, the moral code you live by, and, most importantly, who you are as a person. 

In these essays, you can talk about almost anything; typically, applicants will write about relationships in their lives, or times when there was a hardship they had to overcome. Be warned, though: there are some topics to avoid, and we have outlined a few things to watch out for in this article . 

When it comes to  video essays  specifically, we have some advice:

• Practice—but don’t memorize:  it’s always clear if someone has memorized what they intend to say in a video essay verbatim, and this can make your content seem staged and inauthentic. If you find that you’re repeating the same speech over and over again, change the first sentence. You’ll be surprised at how this will throw you off!
• Make sure that your setting is appropriate:  you want to make sure that your lighting is good and that there are no empty tequila bottles in the background.
• Speak slowly and clearly:  clear diction can make a big difference when it comes to reviewing your video essay.

The Behavioral Essay

To make it simple: the behavioral essay is meant to show MSB that you have developed some sort of leadership skills, what your values are as a leader, and how you are going to most benefit from their development programs. They want students who strive to be leaders. With the school’s convenient location in D.C., there are endless opportunities to either join or create a space in which you can lead. Bonus points if this leadership continues after graduation! 

Before we get there, though, the admissions committee is looking for applicants that are self-reflective. Whether it’s through a setback you’ve experienced, or how you dealt with situations that have gone awry, the school is looking for students who are resilient and able to learn from their mistakes.

Do not overexaggerate (or underexaggerate!) the situations you decide to write about. Be honest about what happened; McDonough is looking for genuine people to join their campus community, and they are less likely to admit an applicant who has overinflated their prior experiences.

Last but not least, make sure to describe what you learned and how you implemented this in a subsequent situation. This is an expected element of the behavioral essay, even if it’s not directly written in the prompt. Prompts that deal with these topics can be daunting, especially when they require you to write about a weakness you have or a failure you’ve experienced. 

The Career Goals Essay

The career goals essay is the space to emphasize your post-MBA plans. MBA programs want to accept students who have concrete, achievable career plans and a roadmap to success. MBA programs want a glowing post-grad report that proves they produce successful graduates with many job prospects (and who will donate money in the future)! Stern also wants students to promote their program to friends, co-workers, and prospective applicants. The career goals essay combines your hard statistics (ex: GMAT score) with your interpersonal skills (ex: recommendations) to formulate the case for getting an MBA. 

Make sure to state your achievable short-term and long-term goals explicitly. Explain why an MBA would help you achieve these goals and how Stern is essential to your plan. Connecting the positive attributes from your personal essay to your career goals essay is critical to forming a well-rounded application.

Once you’ve completed your application, the optional Georgetown McDonough essay gives you an additional opportunity to provide the AdCom with any additional information or clarity that you feel would enhance your application.

One trap that MBA applicants fall into is using the additional space provided by this essay to write on a whole new topic. However, this is not always the best idea.

You should only make use of this essay if you what you write will provide context to an element of your application to improve your candidacy—you don’t want to jeopardize your chances by adding unnecessary noise to your application.

For reapplicants, Cornell Johnson requires a specific essay in which you can address how your application has improved since your last application.

In this essay, you can address any improvements to your test scores, promotions at work, additional volunteer or community work, or any significant professional development that you have undertaken since you last applied to the program.

Timing is key for reapplicants, and when you’re applying for an MBA program a second time around, you want to be sure that you are a more qualified and desirable client than you were a year ago—even if your application was stellar the first time.

Writing strong, coherent, genuine stories is an essential part of your MBA application. These essays are meant to help you stand out among many other applicants, so it is worth your time to do the work and write about situations unique to your life and that you truly learned from.

Our McDonough MBA essay advice and MBA application consultants will empower you to present your best self to admissions committees.

Related Articles

• Georgetown McDonough MBA Program Overview
• MBA Essay Tips From 3 Top Admissions Consultants
• How to Get Into MBA Programs at Top Business Schools

The Ultimate MBA Admissions Checklist

Our free, comprehensive checklist covers everything you need to shop for an MBA admissions consultant.

✓ Compare pricing across 35+ MBA admissions consulting firms

✓ Learn why “success rates” are not to be trusted

✓ Find the right service model for your needs

✓ Prep for your consultation calls

How to Write a Powerful MBA Essay—With Examples

The MBA essay is critical to your business school application. Read our guide to writing the perfect MBA essay, with successful admit examples.

Posted July 4, 2024

Featuring Jordan M.

Why You Should Consider Getting an MD/MBA

Starting friday, august 23.

1:00 AM UTC · 60 minutes

Table of Contents

What is the mba essay.

The MBA admissions essay.

Those words alone are enough to make most MBA candidates run screaming. Writing in general is hard enough. Writing about why you want an MBA? Your short-term goals and career aspirations? What matters to you most, and why? Forget it.

Of course, you still have to write these essays.

The MBA essay is perhaps the most important part of the business school application. Every other part of the application — your GPA, your test scores, your letters of recommendation — is quantified, cut and dried, or out of your control. The essay is your chance to show up as a fully realized MBA candidate, with hopes, dreams, and vulnerabilities. Admissions committees are not simply assessing your candidacy as a future leader — they're looking to admit human beings. That's where the MBA applicant essays come in.

That being the case, rather than being intimidated by it, treat the MBA essay writing process like the opportunity that it is — the chance for you to highlight your unique, iridescent self; the only moment in the MBA admissions process (prior to the interview) when you can speak directly to admissions officers; the time when you'll show them who you really are. It's not easy to write something that will do that, of course, but with the tips and tricks in this guide, and some help from one of Leland's vetted, world-class admissions coaches, we know you can do it. Give the essay the time, attention, and respect it deserves, and you'll be on your way to an offer of admission at your dream school.

Without further ado, let's dive in!

Ultimate MBA Essay Guide

See the MBA essay prompts, top tips from experts, and real examples from admits with this comprehensive guide.

How Long Will My MBA Essay Take?

First things first: let's talk about timing.

The MBA application is a behemoth; between exams, resumes, gathering your official transcripts, letters of recommendation, and the applications themselves, there's a lot to juggle. That being the case, we suggest you give yourself ample time to draft, write, and revise your essays. The last thing you want is to be rushed to the finish line.

So, give yourself at least three months to write your MBA admission essays. That should allow you enough time to draft, write, and edit. For more information on timing your entire business school application, click here for  A Comprehensive MBA Application Timeline--With Chart .

Now, on to the critical question:

Free trial!

From 127 top coaches

Access a library of videos, templates, and examples curated by Leland’s top coaches.

Example essays.

Example Resumes

Application Prep

Video Courses

What Makes a Great MBA Essay?

At the highest level, the answer is the one that is truest to you. The whole point of an MBA application essay is to shine through as an authentic, vibrant human being, so the best essays are the ones that cut through the clutter, and allow you to do that.

Which begs the question — how do you cut through the clutter and shine through as a vibrant human being? Here are four critical tips to follow as you begin thinking about your essays.

1. Answer the Question

This one sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many applicants launch into their story, get carried away, and forget to answer the question. Follow the prompt, and answer the question the admissions committee has asked you. Those prompts can actually be very useful when writing MBA essays — it's a great deal harder to write when you have no guidance or guardrails. With these essays, you have a very specific question you need to answer. So answer it!

2. Be Specific

Another mistake some MBA applicants make is to stay at a high level in their essays, keeping their writing abstract and therefore inaccessible to the admissions committee. If at any point, an admissions officer could replace your name with the name of another applicant, then your essay isn't getting deep enough. It's not enough, for instance, to say that you suffered adversity in high school, or that you really, really want a Wharton MBA. You need to explain, in detail, the adversity you faced, and give concrete and unique reasons why you think Wharton is the right program for you. The best essays offer hyper-specific examples and anecdotes, with details and anecdotes that no other candidate could bring to the table. To get those anecdotes, we recommend using the STAR template, as explained below:

• Situation : What was the situation you were facing? Where were you? How old were you? If you were in a professional role during this anecdote, what was the role, and how long had you been in it? If you were volunteering, at what organization? How long had you been volunteering there? Why did you start? Offer all the relevant information that the admissions readers will need to understand your story.
• Task : What was the task at hand? What went wrong? In your professional role, what was the challenge you faced? In that volunteering experience, what were the hurdles you had to overcome? You can't have a good story without conflict or tension, so after you set up the anecdote, explain what that conflict or tension was (and remember, be specific!).
• Action : What was the action you took to resolve the problem? What did you have to do to fix that issue at work? How did you clear that hurdle in your volunteer experience? Again, be specific about how you came through on the other side of that conflict/tension — and while you're doing it, highlight your leadership capabilities as much as possible! Remember that top MBA programs are looking for future leaders who can assess a situation and decisively take action. (We'll say a bit more about this below, in the Personal Statement section.
• Result : What was the result of your action? If you were facing a growth problem at work, were you able to increase sales? If so, by what percentage? If you were advocating for diversity and inclusion at your local charity, what new programs did you implement to help with that effort, and what was the enrollment like in those new programs? Detail what happened in your anecdote with as much specificity as possible — and quantify, quantify, quantify!

If you want to learn more about how to master the STAR Method, read our article How to Nail “Tell Me About a Time…” Interview Questions .

3. Get Vulnerable

Most MBA admissions essay prompts are written with the goal of getting to know as much about you as possible in the shortest number of words. To do that, you're going to have to share real things from your life — to get personal, intimate, and vulnerable. Do not shy away from this. If you're starting to get emotional during the reflection, drafting, and writing process, good — that means you're on the right track. Keep going.

Pro tip: If it’s making you cry, it will make them cry.

Another good rule of thumb is to put something real and true on the table. Admissions officers have to read thousands of applications from thoroughly qualified individuals, some of whom might come from similar roles to yours, with letters of recommendation from equally impressive supervisors. In order to cut through that noise, you'll have to share something honest.

If you're doing it right, this can feel risky. At some point, you’ll likely think to yourself: “Can I say that?” The answer is: “Yes.” Of course, there is a line, you don’t want to be crass or offensive but always err on the side of being open and authentic.

The very worst thing you can do is be overly cautious and write something you think will please the admissions committee. These poor people have to read thousands of essays. If yours is just like everyone else’s, they’ll fall asleep. Don’t let that happen. Wake them up by putting yourself —your true, bright, vibrant, quirky self—on the page.

4. Don't Exaggerate

Finally, do not exaggerate, over-inflate, or lie. This goes without saying, but admissions committees are looking for honest candidates. The surest way to get rejected is to lie about something. (Business schools do a background check on you before you're properly admitted, so they will find out.) Don't be the person who over-inflates on their essays and then has their offer letter rescinded.

The Types of MBA Essays

All right — since we've covered high-level approaches to the MBA essays, it's time to dig into the various types.

There are three general categories of MBA essays you'll see across the board.

1. Personal Statement

These questions ask you to offer up something sincere about yourself. They'll often touch on such things as your values and your character. In these, you'll want to be as authentic as possible, while also highlighting attributes like leadership, intellectual vitality, and teamwork that business schools are looking for.

Here are a few examples of previous personal statement essays:

• As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program? (HBS)
• What matters most to you, and why? (Stanford GSB)

2. Why an MBA/Why This School

In these, schools first want to hear about how an MBA will fit into your career, both short and long term. Top MBA programs are looking for candidates who will: first of all, be gainfully employed upon graduating, second of all, have an illustrious career that will make their institution look good and encourage future generations of applicants to apply, and third, be consistent and generous donors. That being the case, they want to know about your career trajectory, and how an MBA will fit into it.

Pro tip: Here, you want to be ambitious and inspiring in laying out your future career, but not naïve. Walk the line between shooting for the stars and sounding dreamlike and uninformed.

In this set of questions, you'll also encounter questions geared at figuring out why you would want to attend a specific school. MBA programs want to know that you're serious about attending their school — yield, or the percentage of admitted candidates who accept their offers of admission, is an important metric for them — but they also want to envision how you'll contribute to their admitted class. What will you uniquely bring to the table, the things that you'll do that the other candidates wouldn’t be able to offer?

We've heard former deans of business schools say that, in choosing a class, they're curating a world-class dinner party, and that each person invited to the dinner party has to bring something different. What will you bring to the dinner party?

Another Pro tip: To demonstrate that you've done your research, and to help the admissions committee envision you in their program, indicate which classes you might take when earning your MBA and why, which professors you might hope to study with, and in which clubs you might participate.

Here are a few examples of "why MBA / why this school" essays we've seen before:

• How is a Columbia MBA going to help you? (Columbia)
• What do you hope to gain professionally from the Wharton MBA? (Wharton)
• Why Stanford? Describe your aspirations and how your Stanford GSB experience will help you realize them. (Stanford GSB)

3. Behavioral/Other

Finally, most other essays will be behavioral in the sense that they’ll ask you about experiences, traits, strengths, weaknesses, and achievements. There's a wide variety of topics here, but all the guidelines from above apply, with the final note to always prioritize authenticity (as mentioned in the Personal Statement section) and leadership ability (remember, business schools are choosing future leaders).

Here are a few examples of behavioral/other essays from the past:

• Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. (Yale SOM)
• Tell us about your favorite book, movie, or song and why it resonates with you. (Columbia)
• 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? (Stanford GSB)

Top MBA Program Essay Prompts (Updated 2024)

To help you get started, we've compiled the required prompts from a few top MBA programs below:

1. Harvard Business School (HBS)

• Business-Minded Essay: Please 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. (300 words)
• Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (250 words)
• Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (250 words)

For more information, visit A Guide to the HBS Essay .

2. Stanford Graduate School of Business

• What matters to you most, and why? (650 words)
• Why Stanford? (400 words)

Read: What Matters Most When Writing the GSB Essays.

• How do you plan to use the Wharton MBA program to help you achieve your future professional goals? You might consider your past experience, short and long-term goals, and resources available at Wharton. (500 words)
• Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to make specific, meaningful contributions to the Wharton community? (400 words)

For Wharton-specific advice, visit A Guide to the Wharton Essays .

4. Columbia Business School

• Essay 1: Through your resume and recommendation, we have a clear sense of your professional path to date. What are your career goals over the next three to five years and what, in your imagination, would be your long-term dream job? (500 words)
• Essay 2: The Phillips Pathway for Inclusive Leadership (PPIL) is a co-curricular program designed to provide students with the skills and strategies needed to develop as inclusive leaders. Through various resources and programming, students explore and reflect on the following five inclusive leadership skills: Mitigating Bias and Prejudice; Managing Intercultural Dialogue; Addressing Systemic Inequity; Understanding Identity and Perspective Taking; and Creating an Inclusive Environment. Describe a time or situation when you had the need to utilize one of these five skills, and tell us the actions you took and the outcome. (250 words)
• Essay 3: We believe Columbia Business School is a special place with a collaborative learning environment in which students feel a sense of belonging, agency, and partnership--academically, culturally, and professionally. How would you co-create your optimal MBA experience at CBS? Please be specific. (250 words)

If you’re looking for more tips on the CBS essays, read our Guide to the Columbia Business School Essays .

5. Chicago Booth

• How will a Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250-word minimum)
• An MBA is as much about personal growth as it is about professional development. In addition to sharing your experience and goals in terms of career, we’d like to learn more about you outside of the office. Use this opportunity to tell us something about who you are… (250-word minimum)

*Pro tip: Some essay questions such as these will say “no maximum.” While it’s certainly a good thing that you’re allowed to write more, keep in mind to never write too much. Our rule of thumb for things like this is to never go over 200 words past the “minimum” count.

Read more at A Guide to the Booth Essays .

6. Northwestern Kellogg

• Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words)
• Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. (450 words)

For more on Kellogg’s essays, read How to Nail Your Kellogg MBA Application Essays .

7. MIT Sloan

MIT Sloan doesn’t use traditional essay prompts; instead, applicants are required to submit a cover letter, video, and short answer questions, as well as the other traditional application materials.

Cover Letter

MIT Sloan seeks students whose personal characteristics demonstrate that they will make the most of the incredible opportunities at MIT, both academic and non-academic. We are on a quest to find those whose presence will enhance the experience of other students. We seek thoughtful leaders with exceptional intellectual abilities and the drive and determination to put their stamp on the world. We welcome people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers. We want people who can redefine solutions to conventional problems, and strive to preempt unconventional dilemmas with cutting-edge ideas. We demand integrity, respect, and passion.

Taking the above into consideration, please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA program. Your letter should conform to standard business correspondence, include one or more professional examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria above, and be addressed to the Admissions Committee (300 words or fewer, excluding address and salutation)

Video Question 1

Introduce yourself to your future classmates. Here’s your chance to put a face with a name, let your personality shine through, be conversational, be yourself. We can’t wait to meet you!

Videos should adhere to the following guidelines:

• No more than 1 minute (60 second) in length
• Single take (no editing)
• Speaking directly to the camera
• Do not include background music or subtitles

Note: While we ask you to introduce yourself to your future classmates in this video, the video will not be shared beyond the admissions committee and is for use in the application process only.

Video Question 2

All MBA applicants will be prompted to respond to a randomly generated, open-ended question. The question is designed to help us get to know you better; to see how you express yourself and to assess fit with the MIT Sloan culture. It does not require prior preparation.

Video Essay 2 is part of your required application materials and will appear as a page within the application, once the other parts of your application are completed. Applicants are given 5 seconds to prepare for a 60-second response.

Short Answer Question

How has the world you come from shaped who you are today? For example, your family, culture, community, all help to shape aspects of your life experiences and perspective. Please use this opportunity to share more about your background. (250 words)

For top-notch advice on the MIT Sloan question prompts, read our articles Expert Guide to the MIT Sloan Short Answer Question and MIT Sloan Video Statement: Overview, Advice, & Common Mistakes .

How to Start Writing Your MBA Essay

So you've read about the types of essays, and seen some of the prompts from top MBA programs. Now it's time to actually start diving into the essay.

The very first thing to do, before putting pen to paper, is to look inward .

Why do you want an MBA? What role will this degree play in your professional growth? How do you imagine it will shape your life? What do you want out of your career? What is the most important thing in the world to you?

Yes, these are life’s deep-end questions, but you’ll need to tackle them in these essays, so before you start all of your writing, take the time to think through them. Go for a run, swim some laps, bake a cake—however you get into the flow — and start a dialogue with yourself. Put down your work, turn your phone off, and give your mind permission to go to the places it usually avoids. That’s a good place to start. That’s where the answers are.

Pro tip: The first sentence is the hardest one to write. When you're starting out, it can be intimidating and anxiety-producing. The trick is to simply put anything down — and don't look back. Keep putting one sentence after the other. You can edit later: let whatever comes to you out onto the page. If you’re struggling with self-critique, dim your computer screen until you can’t even see the words you’re typing. Then keep going.

Additional Tips & Tricks

Once you've started your essay, it's a matter of persistence: keep writing, then keep drafting and editing until you have something you're really proud of.

To help you write a successful MBA essay, here are a few more tips and tricks:

Take Breaks

When you hit the wall — and you will hit the wall — stop and take a breather. This is your brain telling you it needs to do something else. Walk your dog. Take a lap around your room. Eat some cheese. Your body needs sleep every night to function; your mind is the same way. That next leap of inspiration will come exactly at the moment when you’re least expecting it.

Read it Out Loud

When you finally have a draft, print it and read it out loud to yourself. Your ear will catch things your eyes miss. Reading out loud is the best way to pick up on spelling errors, clunky transitions, and paragraphs that still need ironing out. It’s also a good way to envision how the admissions committee will experience your essay.

Don’t be precious with your essay. Send it to anyone willing to read it. Solicit as much feedback as you can. If you don’t like what people have to say, you don’t have to incorporate it, but you need an impartial third party to give notes on what they’re seeing, thinking, and feeling. (You’re too close to things to do it for yourself.) This is where a Leland coach comes very much in handy!

Complete Everything Early

This is more of a timing consideration, but you do not want to trip at the finish line because your internet went down the night before the deadline, or your credit card was denied when paying your application fee (it's happened before). Don't let that be you!

Here is another article to get you started, written by an expert essay coach: 7 MBA Essay Tips to Make You Stand Out in 2022 .

Example MBA Essays

Finally, here are two essays to help inspire you. The first, a personal statement essay, was submitted by an admit to Berkeley Haas' Executive MBA program; the second, a career goals / why MBA essay, was submitted by an admit to Chicago Booth's deferred MBA program.

Haas Admit:

A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects, including family, culture, personal interests, and surrounding environments. Please share a facet of your identity or story that is essential to who you are. (300 words) My upbringing in India, filled with countless myths and legends, had a profound influence on me. The most formative tale was about a sage who prays for years to the goddess of knowledge, but in vain. In the end, the goddess didn’t appear for the sage because he was turning his prayer beads the wrong way! As a child, this story upset me: the sage worked so hard and had the right intentions. As an adult, though, I’ve come to realize that the goddess of knowledge was right: you can’t succeed unless you do things the right way.

Seven years ago, two friends and I started a company, XXXX: a digital health platform that would allow patients to store medical records online and consult doctors remotely. We had early success—we brought on 2,000 patients at XXXX, a gynecology clinic in XXXX—but ultimately we didn’t have the resources to properly scale, and had to shut the company down. Among the many lessons I learned, the most valuable was that ideas and hard work are common; businesses succeed or fail based on execution—on doing things the right way. Two years ago, I relearned this lesson in the most painful way possible: when my marriage ended. My wife and I loved each other, but we weren’t there for each other when it mattered most. Our feelings weren’t enough—we had to back them up with the right actions.

It’s disheartening when you have good intentions but still fall short. When this happens, though, you have to keep trying—because eventually you will do things the right way. I carry the story of the sage with me always, not as a harsh lesson, but as a motivating goal: one that keeps me striving towards doing things the right way.

Booth Admit:

How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (250 word minimum)

I want to start a geothermal company that will help lead the energy transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy—by targeting existing oil wells as sites for geothermal plants. Oil fields are close to electric grids and have high nearby subsurface temperatures, making them ideal sites for geothermal plants. By building geothermal infrastructure nearby, my company will produce cleaner, cheaper energy, making it more profitable for operators to switch from oil to geothermal. As oil companies decommission their wells, I’ll negotiate for their land rights, so I can use their existing wells for new geothermal vents. I want my company to prove the case for economically viable, carbon-neutral energy production.

After getting an MBA, I want to start a geothermal company which will help me lead the energy transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. I plan to target developed oil fields in Texas, where, in many places, producing wells are flowing enough hot fluid to generate clean energy. Using this geothermal heat, the carbon footprint of oil and gas extraction will decrease as fewer fossil fuels are utilized to power surrounding infrastructure. As the wells approach their economic life, I will negotiate the lease from various operators, saving them millions in plug and abandonment costs, and retrofit the wells for direct geothermal energy production via closed-loop binary fluid systems, bringing emissions to zero. To accomplish this goal, I need to shore up my knowledge of energy economics and entrepreneurial finance, develop a strong sense of leadership, and build a network of like-minded individuals that will help me lead the transition and I believe I can get those things at Chicago Booth.

My immediate career goal is to develop my first co-production site in Shelby County, Texas at the Blanton well site, which produces abnormally heated fluid from the flanks of an active salt dome. Before investing in capital expenditures, developing a strong sense of energy economics and broader markets is necessary to verify financial feasibility. The University of Chicago, through the Graduate-Student-At-Large: Business program, is already allowing me to accomplish this goal with my enrollment in “Microeconomics” with Professor Andrew McClellan. His instruction helped me understand the impact taxes and subsidies have on market equilibrium, an important aspect of renewable energy as green energy tax incentives continue to change on a yearly basis. As my company continues to grow, having a strong finance and accounting foundation is imperative to building and sustaining a healthy company. Electives such as “Accounting for Entrepreneurship: From Start-Up through IPO” will provide the skills I need to be successful by following the life-cycle of a business that originates as a start-up and covers topics such as building an initial accounting infrastructure. I understand that the execution of the business is as important as developing the idea and proof of concept, and Booth is the best place for me to develop financial fluency.

Leading the energy transition will require a strong sense of leadership. Not only will I need to lead those I get to work with over my career, but to lead the energy transition, and reverse the impact fossil fuels have had thus far, I must have the emotional intelligence to inspire others to join me in my journey. The “Interpersonal Dynamics” course at Booth will allow me to develop my communication skills and better understand the emotions and perceptions of my colleagues. These skills, synthesized with leadership development acquired in “Leadership Practicum” will prepare me to act as a relational leader, who understands the needs of others. As a relational leader, I hope to foster an environment which promotes happiness and maximizes efficiency, not only to make our efforts in changing the world more successful, but to excite other people to join our cause.

To find the greatest chance of success in leading the energy transition, I will need a network of like-minded individuals who can provide a diversity of thought. Chicago Booth provides the opportunity to develop that network through different community experiences. The Energy Club’s “Energy Forward” conference, which designates time to topics in oil and gas and renewable energy will allow me to hear from industry leaders, build meaningful relationships with peers, and contribute my sector experience to the public forum as I learn from those around me. Opportunities through the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Group such as “SeedCon” will help me connect with successful entrepreneurs and early-stage investors whose ideas and funding might change the course of my venture’s trajectory. Even in the GSALB program, I have had the opportunity to connect with other students in various sectors, including the energy industry. I hope to continue to strengthen those connections and continue building new ones with matriculation into the full time program.

Connect with an Expert for all your MBA Essay Questions

We know that a lot goes into the process of MBA essay writing. Research, planning, and execution all are major stages that take a lot of time. If you’re looking to fast-track your essay writing process while still blowing away the admission committee, try looking at some of our all-star MBA admissions consultants . We have a wide array of experts ready to give you as much help with MBA essays as you need, just check out some of our top-rated coaches below!

FAQs for Writing Your MBA Essay

What is the most important aspect of an MBA essay that admissions committees are looking for?

• The most crucial aspect of an MBA essay is authenticity. Admissions committees want to see the real you, so be honest and genuine in your responses. Highlight your unique experiences, values, and aspirations to stand out.

How long should my MBA essay be?

• The length of your MBA essay will depend on the specific prompts and guidelines provided by each school. Generally, essays range from 500 to 1,000 words. Always adhere to the word limit specified in the prompt. In the event that there’s no limit, we recommend floating within 200-300 words of whatever posted word count there is.

Can I use the same essay for multiple MBA applications?

• You can use similar content, but it’s essential to edit each essay to be about the specific school and prompt. Schools are looking for personalized responses that demonstrate your understanding of their program and how it aligns with your goals.

How do I figure out what to write about?

• Select experiences that showcase your leadership, problem-solving skills, and personal growth. Focus on stories that highlight your unique qualities and align with the values and culture of the MBA program you're applying to.

What should I avoid doing in my essay?

• Avoid clichés, generic statements, and exaggerations. Be specific and detailed in your responses. Also, steer clear of overly technical jargon that might be hard for the admissions committee to understand unless it’s directly relevant to your story.

Who can I ask for feedback on my essay?

• Seeking feedback from trusted friends, family, or mentors can be very helpful. In addition, consider working with one of our admissions coaches who can provide professional insights and help refine your essay to make it more compelling.

What should I do if I don’t have a traditional business background?

• If you don’t have a traditional business background, focus on transferable skills and experiences that highlight your leadership, analytical abilities, and teamwork. Demonstrate how your unique perspective will contribute to the MBA program and your future career.

How do I handle multiple essay prompts for the same school?

• Approach each prompt separately and ensure that each essay provides new insights about you. Avoid repeating the same information across essays. Instead, use each essay to highlight different aspects of your experiences, skills, and aspirations.

Here are several other articles that you may find helpful as you put together your MBA application:

• The Most Frequently Asked Questions on MBA Applications
• How to Answer the "Why an MBA?" Essay Question
• My Top Piece of Advice for MBA Applicants
• How I Nailed My MBA Interview and Gained Admission to Top 10 Business Schools
• 4 Expert Tips on Paying for Business School

Browse hundreds of expert coaches

Leland coaches have helped thousands of people achieve their goals. A dedicated mentor can make all the difference.

Browse Related Articles

August 6, 2024

The Ultimate M7 MBA Essay Guide

Everything you need to know to write a killer essay for your M7 MBA application, including prompts, deadlines, expert advice, coach recommendations, additional free resources, and more.

January 28, 2024

How to Nail Your Stanford GSB Short Answer Questions

Learn how to stand out with your Stanford GSB short answer questions.

January 4, 2024

HBS 2+2 Deferred MBA Essay Prompts & Tips (2024)

As of 2024, HBS has changed its deferred MBA essay prompts away from the traditional, "What else should we know about you?" to three smaller essays. Read more and nail your HBS 2+2 application here.

January 31, 2024

How to Nail the "Why Wharton" MBA Essay

Learn how to craft a compelling 'Why Wharton' MBA essay that sets you apart from the competition. Elevate your application to stand out.

July 4, 2024

Duke Fuqua — MBA Program & Application Overview

Applying to Fuqua? Read this guide for the most practical strategies and tips curated by the best MBA admissions coaches in the world and Fuqua alumni to get you that much closer to your dream school.

June 27, 2024

A Guide to the Columbia Business School Essays (2024-2025)

Coach Melanie E. walks you through each Columbia Business School essay prompt for the 2023-2024 cycle, breaking down what adcoms are looking for and offering expert advice on how to nail your responses.

March 1, 2024

UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA Essays Guide: Overview, Tips & Examples

Get ready to ace your UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA application with this comprehensive essay guide.

March 2, 2024

Georgetown McDonough MBA Essays Guide: Overview, Tips & Examples

Looking to ace your Georgetown McDonough MBA essays? Our comprehensive guide provides an overview, valuable tips, and real examples to help you craft compelling and impactful essays that will set you apart from the competition.

UW Foster MBA Essays Guide: Overview, Tips & Examples

Learn everything you need to know about writing impactful UW Foster MBA essays with our comprehensive guide.

March 12, 2024

A Guide to the UC Berkeley Haas Accelerated Applicants Deferred MBA Program

Considering applying to Haas' Accelerated Applicants Deferred MBA Program? Look no further! In this guide, we delve into important information about the program, key deadlines, and tips for maximizing your application.

August 16, 2024

How to Answer "Tell Me About Yourself" in Consulting Interviews

Learn how to craft a compelling answer to the 'Tell me about yourself' question in consulting interviews with tips, examples, and expert advice.

January 9, 2024

How to Nail Your Kellogg MBA Application Essays

Tips and tricks that will help you craft the best application essays possible and get admitted into Kellogg.

Tips for Your Georgetown McDonough Essays

July 16, 2024

Sophie Hilaire

Tips for your Georgetown McDonough 2024-25 Application Essays

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business’s 2024–2025 application is one of the most flexible, with a required video essay, plus three options for your main essay. Which one should you choose? 

The answer will be different for everyone, so focus on the question that you can most passionately respond to while providing insight into material you have not yet shared in the rest of your application. The adcom should walk away from your application with the confidence that you are an essential ingredient in their incoming class and precisely the type of leader they want representing Georgetown after graduating. To that end, ensure that your example exemplifies tenets of McDonough’s Jesuit mission .

Select one of the following three essays: (500 words, approximately two pages, double spaced)

Essay option one – georgetown community: our mission is rooted in jesuit principles of equality and respect for everyone and an ethos of caring for the whole person. inclusivity and diversity are core to supporting a community of people with an intersectional understanding of themselves and the world around them. share how your educational, familial, cultural, economic, social, and/or other individual life experiences will contribute to the diversity of perspectives and ideas at georgetown university., with this essay question, mcdonough wants to hear about how your unique perspective will help unify — and significantly contribute to — your class. .

This is your chance to share your deepest values and most arduous crucibles, along with where they came from. With each example, be sure to also highlight how it’s affected your actions and life today. Specificity equals credibility here; concrete examples will make this essay more memorable than platitudes will.

Before choosing what to share, put yourself in the adcom’s shoes. Consider how your essay will help them visualize where your presence will uplevel the McDonough experience for your classmates. Give enough background on what you choose to share so the reader understands how core the examples are to your character. 

Given your unique perspective(s), you might also wish to share examples of specific roles you plan on filling or teams you plan to lead while at McDonough, whether they are academic or club-related. Use the space to connect the dots for the adcom so they can easily visualize you as an integral, exceptional, contributing member of the class. These examples can and should extend beyond the tenets in the story you shared.

Essay Option Two – Cura Personalis: As the oldest Jesuit institution in the United States, cura personalis is a Latin phrase deeply ingrained within our community and translates to “care of the person.” It encompasses a profound sense of care and responsibility for one another, rooted in personalized attention to each individual’s needs, unique circumstances, gifts, and limitations, fostering the growth of each person. Please reflect on a specific instance where you exemplified cura personalis by supporting a teammate or coworker. Describe the particular actions you took to guide them, and explain the impact of these efforts. Additionally, discuss how you would leverage these experiences to contribute to the collaborative environment at Georgetown McDonough.

Before sitting down to write this essay, you should complete extensive research on McDonough’s clubs, classes, and organizations to identify ones that you wish to get involved with and imagine how you plan on sharing your unique gifts with your classmates, both officially and unofficially. 

When answering the question, start by identifying a specific situation in which you supported a teammate or coworker. Describe the context and your relationship with the individual, focusing on their unique needs and circumstances. Clearly outline the actions you took to guide and support them, demonstrating your genuine attentiveness to their particular gifts and limitations. For example, you might describe a scenario in which you helped a struggling colleague by providing mentorship, resources, or emotional support, ensuring that your actions were tailored to their specific situation.

In the second part of your essay, reflect on the impact of your efforts on both the individual and the broader team or organization. Highlight any positive outcomes, such as improved performance, enhanced morale, or stronger teamwork. You can also share what you learned from the scenario and how it affected your level of empathy in subsequent situations. Then, connect these experiences to how you would contribute to the collaborative environment at Georgetown McDonough. Emphasize your commitment to fostering a culture of care and responsibility within the community. Explain how your understanding of cura personalis will enable you to support your peers, contribute to group projects, and enrich the overall learning experience. By linking your past actions to your future aspirations at Georgetown, you can effectively convey your alignment with the school’s values and your potential as a collaborative and compassionate leader.

Essay Option Three – Achieving Excellence: Georgetown McDonough is committed to achieving greater excellence to enrich the legacies of our students and alumni. Please reflect on a professional experience from your resume where you achieved outstanding results. Describe why this experience exemplified excellence, highlight the strengths or skills you utilized that contributed to this achievement, and share how these qualities will help you leave a legacy at Georgetown.  

For this essay, ensure that you are following the prompt by sticking to an example from a professional experience. Pull out your resume and take note of all the examples that showcase you performing far above average. Before you even begin writing, narrow your list down to example(s) that you can directly connect to enriching the McDonough experience, for both yourself and your future classmates. 

You can structure your essay using a simple CAR framework: Context, Action, Result(s). If your results are quantitative as well as qualitative, be sure to mention both. And don’t shy away from sharing how you could have been even more effective; the fact that you are able to identify ways to take the idea to the next level, even in retrospect, is a powerful indicator of the rigorous analysis you’re willing and able to apply. You could also use this opportunity to highlight how a McDonough MBA would help you offer an even better solution to a similar problem you encounter in the future. 

Do the work for the reader and connect the dots on their behalf. What specific clubs, organizations, or classes would you contribute your unique characteristics to? And how exactly would you do so? To paint this picture as clearly as possible, ensure that you have a multitude of data points regarding McDonough beyond what you could glean from a cursory Google search. You’ll want to get to the heart of the program’s culture, so go deep in your one-on-one conversations with students, and really do your research.

Video Essay: We believe a vibrant community is built on diverse and unique individuals, and we want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. We’ve learned about your professional and leadership qualities throughout the application, but now we want to know more about you beyond work. Whether it’s a new hobby, a fun adventure, or a simple pleasure, in one minute, share what has recently brought you joy outside of work.

Before you jump into planning your video essay, take a look at these tips . The video option might feel “easier” than the essays at first glance, since it is only one minute, but there is a great deal of planning that should lead up to that minute. At the same time, a video essay offers a unique opportunity for you to showcase a side of you that does not necessarily come to life in the rest of your application. 

The video essay is a chance for you to show an unscripted (but methodically planned), fun aspect of who you are beyond your resume. What lights you up? What makes you stand out? Be sure that your authentic passion comes through as you are recording. Once again, connect the dots for the reader to show how this aspect of your personality and leadership will make meaningful contributions to your future MBA class. How do you see yourself spreading your inner joy from this hobby to your classmates?

You have a great deal of latitude to be visually creative here when compared to what you can do in a written essay, so use that leeway to your advantage. Ensure that you make an appearance on screen, but feel free to get creative by adding in other people or images. 

Don’t forget to include your “why” in your video — this will help the viewer feel a more personal connection to you as they are hearing your story. In a lot of ways, this video essay serves to provide insight into how you would perform in an interview; be sure it feels natural and represents you well. 

Optional Essay: Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).

The optional essay is one that should always be used judiciously. If you feel your application conveys a complete, accurate picture of who you are as a strong McDonough candidate, then you’re likely best off not submitting this optional essay. There’s little to be gained from adding to the admissions committee’s workload by asking them to read another essay that doesn’t add anything crucial to your profile. 

However, if you do have an issue of some sort in your candidacy that could benefit from additional explanation (e.g., a difficult undergrad semester, a significant gap on your resume, not having your current supervisor as a recommender), then this is your chance to expound on and clarify it as necessary. Check out this article on Optional Essay Do’s and Don’ts .

Re-Applicant Essay: Required for re-applicants. How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).

As a reapplicant, you should provide specific examples of how you have strengthened your profile from the last time you applied, whether you have taken on additional responsibilities at work, earned a promotion, improved your test score(s), learned a new skill, or picked up a new activity that has helped you grow. Be sure to express your continued interest in the McDonough MBA program by sharing any steps you have taken to learn more about the school and its community.

Remember, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business is all about collaboration. It is a place where lifelong relationships are built between classmates and between students and professors. Each student is there to help another succeed. Your ability to show how you can help do this in your essays might be the difference between being invited into this highly collaborative, service-committed, internationally-focused community… or not.

Applying to Georgetown McDonough? Learn how Stratus’s team approach can get you into one of your top choice schools. Start with a free consultation with an admissions specialist.

MBA School Specific

2024-2025 essay Business School Georgetown McDonough School of Business Georgetown University MBA MBA Admissions MBA Application Essays MBA Applications

Start Today with a FREE Consultation

Learn how Stratus’ team approach gets you into one of your top choice schools. Start with a FREE consultation with an Admissions Specialist.

Free Consultation

Previous Entry Five Ways an MBA Can Help Future Entrepreneurs

Next Entry Tips for Your Chicago Booth Application Essay

Search Our Blog Articles

• GMAT CLUB TESTS
• FORUM QUIZ - NEW!
• QUESTION BANKS
• DECISION TRACKER
• SCHOOL DISCUSSIONS
• MARKETPLACE
• T&C and Privacy Policy
• GMAT Club Rules
• Login Register Forgot password?
• ${glob_var/L_LOGIN_LOGOUT}
• Quick Search

Georgetown MBA Essays for 2022-2023

Is the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University on your shortlist of target MBA programs? Then get ready, because the Georgetown MBA essays and deadlines for the new admissions cycle have been confirmed.

Georgetown MBA Essays

Notes from the school:.

We want to hear your story. When responding to our required essays, be authentic and take time to reflect on your goals and past experiences. Craft a response that explains how these experiences led you to pursue an MBA.

Our goal at Georgetown McDonough is to craft a diverse class with people who have had varying personal and professional life experiences. As such, we want to give our applicants the opportunity to select one essay (from a list of three) that allows them the ability to best highlight their experiences, characteristics, and values that showcase the value proposition that they can bring to the McDonough community.

Please select one of the following three essays to complete in 300-350 words (approximately one page, double spaced) and include the essay prompt and your first/last name at the top of your submission.

Essay option one.

Principled Leadership: Principled Leadership: Georgetown McDonough places a strong emphasis on principled leadership, providing both curricular and co-curricular opportunities to strengthen your leadership skills.  Describe a time when you have led a team in a professional environment to implement a new idea or process. What leadership characteristics did you utilize? What could you have done to be more effective? And most importantly, what skills will you be able to bring to the teams you lead at McDonough?

Essay Option Two

Hoyas for the Common Good: Georgetown McDonough embodies the ethos that people and organizations can and should contribute to the greater good. The admissions committee would like to better understand how you have demonstrated these values during uniquely challenging times. Describe a time where you have put the needs of others ahead of your own or ahead of the bottom line. We look forward to learning more about the challenge you faced, what unique characteristics you brought to that scenario, and what you learned from it.

Essay Option Three 

The Georgetown Community:  Georgetown McDonough is a diverse, global community. We look to understand the contribution that your personal background would make to our community. As appropriate, you may wish to address any obstacles or challenges you have overcome; any educational, familial, cultural, economic, and social experiences that have helped to shape your educational and professional goals; or how your background (e.g. first-generation student, resident outside the U.S.) or activities (e.g. community service and leadership) will contribute to our community.

Video Essay

Building a cohort of diverse and unique individuals is important to the admissions team. We want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. Throughout the application, we’ve learned about what you would add as a professional and leader. Just as important is learning about your interests outside of work. In one minute, please describe a hobby, passion, or what you do for fun in your free time—and why.

You can find more information about the parameters of this essay here .

Optional Essay

Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included (300-350 words, approximately one page, double spaced).

Re-Applicant Essay

Required for re-applicants. How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally (300-350 words, approximately one page, double-spaced).

For more information on applying, please visit the Georgetown MBA admissions website. If you need guidance on your Georgetown MBA essays or wish to discuss your MBA plans, reach out for a complimentary analysis  of your candidacy. We’re here to help!

The post Georgetown MBA Essays for 2022-2023 appeared first on Stacy Blackman Consulting - MBA Admissions Consulting .

stacyblackman

Stacy Blackman Consulting is the only MBA admissions firm with a complete panel of former Admissions Officers from every M7 program and the elite European MBA programs. If you are looking for guidance on your MBA application, we can help with hourly and comprehensive consulting services. Contact us to learn more.

Published in MBA , Stacy Blackman Consulting , Admission Consultants and Blog

We can improve your MBA profile and boost your candidacy. Gain insight into the review process and eliminate weaknesses from your MBA application.

Note: You must have javascript enabled to submit the form.

Georgetown MBA Essays for 2024-2025

Is the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University on your shortlist of target MBA programs? Then get ready because the new Georgetown MBA essays and deadlines for the 2024-2025 admissions cycle have been confirmed.

Georgetown MBA Essays

Notes from the school:.

Our goal at Georgetown McDonough is to craft a diverse class with people who have had varying personal and professional life experiences. As such, we want to give our applicants the opportunity to select one essay (from a list of three) that allows them the ability to best highlight their experiences, characteristics, and values that showcase the value proposition that they can bring to the McDonough community.

Please select one of the following three essays to complete in 500 words (approximately two pages, double-spaced) and include the essay prompt and your first/last name at the top of your submission.

Essay option one – georgetown community.

Our mission is rooted in Jesuit principles of equality and respect for everyone and an ethos of caring for the whole person. Inclusivity and diversity are core to supporting a community of people with an intersectional understanding of themselves and the world around them. Share how your educational, familial, cultural, economic, social, and/or other individual life experiences will contribute to the diversity of perspectives and ideas at Georgetown University.

Essay Option Two – Cura Personalis

As the oldest Jesuit institution in the United States,  cura personalis  is a Latin phrase deeply ingrained within our community and translates to “care of the person.” It encompasses a profound sense of care and responsibility for one another, rooted in personalized attention to each individual’s needs, unique circumstances, gifts, and limitations, fostering the growth of each person. Please reflect on a specific instance where you exemplified  cura personalis  by supporting a teammate or coworker. Describe the particular actions you took to guide them, and explain the impact of these efforts. Additionally, discuss how you would leverage these experiences to contribute to the collaborative environment at Georgetown McDonough.

Essay Option Three – Achieving Excellence

Georgetown McDonough is committed to achieving greater excellence to enrich the legacies of our students and alumni. Please reflect on a professional experience from your resume where you achieved outstanding results. Describe why this experience exemplified excellence, highlight the strengths or skills you utilized that contributed to this achievement, and share how these qualities will help you leave a legacy at Georgetown.

Video Essay

We believe a vibrant community is built on diverse and unique individuals, and we want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. We’ve learned about your professional and leadership qualities throughout the application, but now we want to know more about you beyond work. Whether it’s a new hobby, a fun adventure, or a simple pleasure,  in one minute , share what has recently brought you joy outside of work.

Optional Essay

Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included (300-350 words, approximately one page, double-spaced).

Re-Applicant Essay

Required for re-applicants. How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally (300-350 words, approximately one page, double-spaced).

For more information on applying, please visit the Georgetown MBA admissions website. If you need guidance on your Georgetown MBA essays or wish to discuss your MBA plans, reach out for a complimentary analysis  of your candidacy. We’re here to help!

Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team .

HBS Admissions Board at Harvard Business School HBS MBA

HBS Admissions Board at Harvard Business School Kellogg MBA

Director HBS Admissions at Harvard Business School MBA, the Wharton School

HBS Admissions Board at Harvard Business School

Director HBS Admissions at Harvard Business School HBS MBA

Admissions Officer at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB) MBA, Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB)

Asst Director MBA Admissions at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB) Director MBA Admissions at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business

MBA, Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB) Minority Admissions, the GSB Diversity Programs, the GSB

Associate Director MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

Associate Director MBA Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute

Director, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania Professional Writer

Assistant Director MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School (CBS) NYU Admissions

Assistant Director MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School (CBS) M.S.Ed, Higher Education, U of Pennsylvania

Associate Director MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School (CBS)

Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure.  Ashley  holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years,  Ashley  was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...

Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and  ...

A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally.  Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM.  For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...

Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).  In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds.  Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students.  In additio ...

Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years.  Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...

Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years.  In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School.  Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...

Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...

Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...

Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications.  She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...

Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford.   Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...

Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year.   Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...

Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...

Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team.  During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students.  She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...

Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS).  During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...

Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...

Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director.  Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants.

With deadlines around the corner, you may be interested in the world-famous SBC Flight Test . Once a full set of application materials for your initial school have been drafted, but not finalized, the application will be sent to a former admissions committee member for a one-time review, adcomm style. You’ll have the benefit of a true admissions committee review while still having the ability to tinker and change.  You will receive written feedback within two business days after submitting.

You May Also Like

Georgetown MBA Students Tackle Implicit Bias in New Training Program

Georgetown mba deadlines for 2024-2025, $10m gift funds new social impact center at georgetown, georgetown mcdonough introduces flex mba, leave a reply cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Learn About Our All-In Service

Meet the sbc consulting team.

(323) 934-3936 info@StacyBlackman.com

Latest Blog Post

Is selectivity important when choosing mba programs.

The Stanford Graduate School of Business has the lowest acceptance rate at 8.42%. You’ve likely heard a lot about the importance of applying to selective schools—those business schools with impressive stats and intimidating acceptance rates. ... →

Sample Essays

The breadth of Georgetown’s core curriculum means that students are required to write for a wide variety of academic disciplines. Below, we provide some student samples that exhibit the key features the most popular genres. When reading through these essays, we recommend paying attention to their 

1. Structure (How many paragraphs are there? Does the author use headers?) 

2. Argument (Is the author pointing out a problem, and/or proposing a solution?) 

3. Content (Does the argument principally rely on facts, theory, or logic?) and 

4. Style (Does the writer use first person? What is the relationship with the audience?)

Philosophy Paper

• Singer on the Moral Status of Animals

Theology Paper

• Problem of God
• Jewish Civilization
• Sacred Space and Time
• Phenolphthalein in Alkaline Solution

History Paper

• World History

Literature Review

Comparative Analysis 

Policy Brief

• Vaccine Manufacturing

White Paper

Critical Analysis

• Ignatius Seminar

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

How to Write the Georgetown University Essays 2024-2025

Located in the U.S. capital, Georgetown prides itself on fostering global perspectives and cultivating students’ learning through Jesuit values. Georgetown University has three required prompts: two supplemental essays for all applicants and one school specific prompt focusing on the student’s intended area of study. 

As a highly competitive and prestigious university, it is important for Georgetown applicants to not only highlight their strong academic achievements, but also find ways to differentiate themselves through their essays. This post will show you how you can write standout responses to each Georgetown supplemental prompt.

Read these Georgetown essay examples to inspire your own writing.

Georgetown Application Essay Prompts

All applicants.

Prompt 1: Briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. ( 1/2 page, single-spaced) 

Prompt 2: As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you. ( 1 page, single-spaced)

Prompt 3 (optional): Please elaborate on any special talents or skills you would like to highlight.

School-Specific Prompts

(Each essay should be approximately one page, single-spaced)

Georgetown College: Founded in 1789, the Georgetown College of Arts & Sciences is committed to the Jesuit traditions of an integrated education and of productive research in the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. Describe your interest in studying at College of Arts & Sciences. Applicants interested in the sciences, mathematics, or languages are encouraged to make specific reference to their choice of major. (approximately one page, single-spaced)‌

School of Health: Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care. Please specifically address your intended major (Global Health, Health Care Management & Policy, or Human Science).

School of Nursing: Georgetown University’s School of Nursing is committed to the formation of ethical, empathetic, and transformational nursing leaders. Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying Nursing at Georgetown University. (approximately one page, single-spaced)

Walsh School of Foreign Service : The Walsh School of Foreign Service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders to solve global problems. What is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world?

McDonough School of Business: The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown.

How to Write the Georgetown University General Supplemental Essays

Prompt 1—all applicants, briefly discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved. (1/2 page, single-spaced).

This prompt is the classic Extracurricular Essay , and it’s a great opportunity to showcase your unique passions and experiences to the admissions committee. The open-ended nature of this prompt provides you with a great deal of flexibility to highlight parts of your personality that you haven’t had the chance to express in other parts of your application. In order to most effectively answer this prompt, write about the activity that you are most passionate about AND explain why this activity is meaningful to you. 

A few tips for your response:

For many students, sports are likely one of the first topics that come to mind when thinking about significant activities outside of the classroom. However, since they are a very common topic for prompt responses, essays about sports can often fall prey to cliché themes that may get lost in a sea of other sports-related essays. 

If you choose to write about a sport, be very thoughtful about how you frame your experience. Think about what makes your experience stand out from other applicants’ sports stories.

For example, scoring the winning touchdown at a championship game may have been an exhilarating memory, but how is your passion for the game unique to your experience?

Maybe there was a time where you had to overcome adversity or things didn’t turn out the way you had hoped. Perhaps an injury left you on the bench for the rest of the season or an unfair call from a referee that cost you the game — explain how these challenges contributed to your overall experience with the activity, even when the situation was not ideal. 

When the prompt asks for the activity with which you have been most involved, it does not necessarily refer to the number of hours you spent.

The prompt specifies that it is asking about the activity that you have been “most involved” in. Therefore, the activity that you choose to write about should be something that shows your ongoing dedication to the activity. However, the activity that you spend the most time doing may not be the activity you are most passionate about. 

For example, you may have devoted nine years of your life to playing an instrument and performing. At the same, you may have joined the school paper as a junior, written several articles for every edition, and created a brand new features section to highlight student accomplishments beyond the classroom.

While counting hours would lead us to conclude that you’ve spent more time being a musician, it is evident from this example that you’ve shown more initiative as a reporter, despite the short period you spent at the paper.

While it is fantastic if your chosen activity directly ties into the major you’re planning to pursue, don’t worry too much about picking something that you deem most relevant to your field.

In this essay, the admissions committee is looking to understand your passions, the skills you gained, your strengths as a leader or a team player, and your dedication. If you can demonstrate your commitment to, say, teaching ukulele to small kids, along with your creativity and excitement in approaching the task at hand, you will show the admissions committee that you have acquired transferable skills which you will apply with the same intensity to your collegial pursuits.

Don’t try to second-guess what the admissions committee may or may not wish to see. Pick an activity that makes you the most excited — the one you never cease to talk about with your friends and family — and write about why it’s important.

Prompt 2—All Applicants

As georgetown is a diverse community, the admissions committee would like to know more about you in your own words. please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you. (1 page, single-spaced).

Although Georgetown is not on the Common App, this prompt asks essentially the same questions as the Common App personal statement prompts . This essay is an opportunity for the admissions committee to get to know you as an individual. Through this essay, they want to learn who you are, what your values are, what drives you and gets you out of bed in the morning, or in other words — what makes you unique. The most efficient approach here is to use your Common App personal statement.

Notice the prompt’s emphasis on the importance of diversity (the Diversity Essay is another common prompt, and we recommend reading our linked guide for more info). Whether or not you end up using your Common App essay, make sure that your response highlights the unique perspective you will contribute to the Georgetown community. Remember that diversity does not necessarily imply belonging to an ethnic or religious community, which is a topic many students tend to initially gravitate towards. For example, if you are someone who has lots of experience traveling, you can talk about how exploration is a key aspect of your personality. If you devote all of your free time to designing sets for your school’s plays, you can emphasize your identity as an artist and team player in your response.

The admissions committee will be choosing among hundreds of applicants, many of whom will have academic profiles, grades, and scores similar to your own. The key to producing a successful response here is to make yourself stand out in the eyes of your reader.

Prompt 3—All Applicants (optional)

Please elaborate on any special talents or skills you would like to highlight..

While we would normally always encourage applicants to submit any optional essays, there’s not really a need to answer it at all if you would be repeating content from the activities list on your application or Prompt 1. This response should be brief, especially since it’s not listed with the rest of the essay prompts.

That being said, if you do have any talents or skills that you haven’t yet included or want to elaborate on, go ahead! The skills or talents that will be most impactful here will have led you to develop personally, or are more unusual and merit further explanation. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your passion, dedication, and any significant related achievements you want to have on your application.

For example, maybe you’re a yo-yo champ and have organized local tournaments, teaching you event planning skills. Or, maybe you create art from trash you find on walks on the beach and have sold $1,000 worth of pieces, and motivated hundreds of neighbors to join you on your cleanups. Your skill can be more everyday as well, such as working in a grocery store or tutoring young kids; as long as it’s contributed to your growth meaningfully, you can highlight it here.

It’s not necessary to be terribly verbose in this response. Remember—it’s separate from the listed prompts and is intended to be a brief space for you to tack on anything you want considered that didn’t make it on other parts of the application. 

How to Write the Georgetown University School-Specific Supplemental Essays

Georgetown college prompt, founded in 1789, the georgetown college of arts & sciences is committed to the jesuit traditions of an integrated education and of productive research in the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. describe your interest in studying at college of arts & sciences. applicants interested in the sciences, mathematics, or languages are encouraged to make specific reference to their choice of major. (approximately one page, single-spaced)‌.

This is an example of a Why This Major essay archetype. Georgetown wants to know why you’re drawn to the College of Arts & Sciences and how it aligns with your academic and career goals. For especially competitive majors, this prompt is used to gauge your preparation and genuine interest. Since there are limited spots, they want to make sure those spots go to the students who will make the most of the program and contribute the most to the Georgetown community. In this response, you’ll connect the dots between your academic interests, the Jesuit values of education mentioned in the prompt itself, and the specific resources and opportunities at Georgetown.

A strong response will reference specific elements of Georgetown’s offerings for your major and describe how it aligns with your personal, specific reasons for enjoying the field and wanting to focus on it. It’s always a good idea to do some research about the department you’re planning to study in by looking into classes, professors, labs, experiential learning, and extracurricular initiatives that relate to your intended major. However, when including university-specific resources, make sure you don’t just name drop the—demonstrate the connection and application to your interests. 

Also, don’t neglect the aspect of Georgetown’s Jesuit traditions—they’re included in the prompt for a reason! You don’t have to be Catholic or even religious to connect with these values. The emphasis is on community and integrating service and research with traditional learning, and Georgetown places special significance in work toward social justice . 

So, to sum up, there are three bases to cover here: your personal motivations and ambitions regarding your major, Jesuit education values, and Georgetown’s specific resources. These themes should be interconnected and clearly articulated.

When considering your motivations and ambitions in pursuing your chosen field of study, think about what drew you to that major and to Georgetown in the first place. What types of experiences have you had that contributed to your interest in this domain? What do you hope to accomplish through this interest in your future professional life? Apply these answers to Georgetown’s Jesuit educational values and university resources. How do you see yourself contributing to the Georgetown community, especially within your major or department? How will a degree from Georgetown’s College of Arts and Sciences help you achieve your long-term goals?

Check out the examples below for some inspiration:

“ Like lots of kids, I’ve always been interested in ancient history, especially the stories of ancient civilizations. I studied Latin in high school and enjoyed reading classical texts, which is why I want to continue studying history in college. Georgetown’s College of Arts & Sciences has a strong history program, and I know I’ll learn a lot from the professors there. I also appreciate Georgetown’s Jesuit values because I think it’s important to study history with a focus on ethics and understanding. I’m excited to be a part of a community that values both education and moral development .”

Although this response provides some personal color about the writer’s connection to the study of history, it comes off as vague and superficial because of the lack of detail. See the revision below for a better excerpt:

“From a young age, I found myself drawn to the stories of ancient civilizations and how their cultures, languages, and art shaped the world. My interest led me to study Latin in high school, where I read classical texts deeply and recognized my passion for ancient history. Georgetown’s College of Arts & Sciences stands out to me for its strong emphasis on interdisciplinary learning, particularly through the Classical Studies program. I am especially interested in the work of Dr. Marden Nichols’ work on the impact of Roman art and architecture on ancient history, as it aligns well with my own interest in the influence of classical art on cultural and intellectual historiography. Additionally, Georgetown’s Jesuit values resonate with my desire to approach the study of history not just as an academic pursuit, but as a way to understand and contribute to the ethical foundations of today’s global society.”

The elaboration in the second example more clearly explains their passion for ancient history and how it developed and demonstrates a familiarity with the offerings and traditions of Georgetown.

The more personal and specific your response, the better. Authentic reflection on the overlap between your interests and goals and Georgetown’s faculty, curriculum, and traditions will make your essay stand out. 

School of Health Prompt

Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care. please specifically address your intended major (global health, health care management & policy, or human science ; 1 page, single-spaced )..

In this essay, you have the opportunity to explain to the admissions committee why you feel passionate about devoting your academic career to health sciences. 

Until recently, the areas of health and nursing were combined into one school at Georgetown. However, this year’s applicants will be the first to get to choose whether they want to enter into the School of Health or the School of Nursing. Prior to writing your response, make sure to research the major and school you’re applying to and verify that it corresponds with your desired area of interest. After conducting your research, explain in your response how the major and school you’ve chosen are uniquely suited to your academic journey and career goals. 

For example, health care management & policy majors really focus on the policy aspect of the health industry, learning about key stakeholders in the policymaking process and understanding what goes into managing and improving the healthcare industry. If you’re applying into this major, you want to highlight your interest in the legislative and managerial aspects of the field, rather than discuss your passion for taking care of individual patients. Above all, this essay is the time for you to reflect on how your specific interest in health was the foundation for choosing a major that aligned with that field.

As with any school-specific essay, you want to write something that sets you apart from all the other applicants. It’s very likely that they, too, will have experiences working in labs or passions for improving healthcare systems to speak about. You need to find an angle that highlights your unique perspective and approach.

Read on for some ideas below:

• If you are someone who lived through a serious or chronic illness, you can address your experiences here as a way to explain your interest in the health industry. While an illness can be a challenging and extremely personal topic to write about, you can focus on the ways it helped to develop your passion for helping others or for conducting scientific research. This is a way to put your academic accomplishments in context.
• If you or a family member have witnessed or experienced any injustices in the healthcare system, you can discuss how the system failed to operate effectively and ways for which it could improve in the future. Accessibility to healthcare can vary depending on region, demographics, and socioeconomic status. Try to find specific examples that are relevant to your experience that illustrate your understanding of the issue and desire to gain a better understanding of the field. 
• As technology continues to aid in the advancements of medicine, the field of healthcare is constantly evolving. Are there any areas of health sciences that have yet to be fully explored? Think of a narrow area of healthcare study and explain how delving deeper into that topic could have a lasting impact on society. Try and pick a topic that captivates the reader and highlights something about your own personality. 

Can you think of a specific moment when you first realized that you wanted to study health? What were you doing when you fell upon that revelation? Was there a particular impactful conversation or event that led you to this conclusion? Perhaps you had a family member who couldn’t afford their healthcare services and consequently suffered from an otherwise preventable illness. 

Maybe you also completed a compelling research project for your biology class and became fascinated with genetic disorders, leading you to seek out a summer internship in a local lab. Whatever angle you choose, be sure to reflect on the questions above as you prepare to write your essay, and try to pick a narrative that highlights your personality.

School of Nursing Prompt

Georgetown university’s school of nursing is committed to the formation of ethical, empathetic, and transformational nursing leaders. describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying nursing at georgetown university. (approximately one page, single-spaced).

This is a Why This Major essay archetype in which Georgetown wants to understand your motivations for pursuing a career in nursing and how the university’s program aligns with your goals. They’re looking for evidence of your commitment to nursing, as well as how you embody the values of ethics, empathy, and leadership that are central to their nursing program.

To begin, consider what inspired you to pursue a career in nursing—specific experiences, people—and what your long-term goals in the career are. Emphasize how you view nursing as being distinct from the larger healthcare industry. For example, maybe it’s because nursing uniquely cultivates the trusting relationships between patients and experienced healthcare professionals. So, if you’re applying to this major, you should emphasize your passion for caring for individual patients rather than focusing on broader aspects of the health sciences. 

However you frame your interest, take care to demonstrate “ethical, empathetic, and transformational” qualities in your experiences. How does Georgetown’s emphasis on ethics and empathy align with your personal values and career goals? The prompt lists these features purposefully, so apply them to your own journey. 

When applying to a school with a particularly narrow focus of learning, it is even more imperative that you find ways to stand out from other applicants in your motivations for your chosen studies. As unsympathetic as this may sound, caring for a sick relative or recovering from an injury will likely be worn-out response topics. Think about ways you can frame your story to be unconventional and cause readers to develop a deeper understanding of your personality. Read on for some ideas below: 

• If you have a family member who works in the healthcare industry, you can discuss your first exposure to the field in the context of building connections with your loved ones. Perhaps your uncle has spent countless hours pointing out inefficiencies in the ways we currently manage large hospitals based on his work as a doctor. You can recount these conversations as a gateway to your passion for healthcare and even mention some projects you may wish to pursue to combat these problems in the future. 
• If you spent a summer or your after-school hours volunteering at a local hospital or other medical establishment, you can use an anecdote describing your experience to underline your interest in the industry. Keep in mind that many other students applying to this school will likely have similar activities on their resume. Try to find a unique angle that will exemplify your experience.
• Think about some characteristics that might be beneficial in the field of nursing: quick thinking, adaptability, remaining calm under pressure. Describe specific examples of events when you displayed these characteristics. Did your reaction to the event surprise you? Did you develop these skills over time? How did the result of the event change your outlook on similar situations in the future? Your account of these experiences should illustrate something that you discovered about yourself and how these skills and experiences are relevant to your nursing major. 

After you’ve nailed down the aspects of your personal interest in nursing, apply them to Georgetown. Research the School of Nursing and its values , curriculum , and extracurriculars . Why are you specifically interested in studying nursing at Georgetown University? What aspects of their program appeal to you the most? Consider how Georgetown will help you achieve your long-term career goals.

When you sit down to write, remember that your main goal is to explain to the admissions committee why what you want to accomplish cannot be accomplished by studying any other field. Focus on program features that set Georgetown apart from other universities and find a connection to your personal experiences that will help to humanize you in the eyes of the reader. However, make sure not to list resources or curriculum that Georgetown offers without reflecting on them in the context of your personal motivations and aspirations.

Walsh School of Foreign Service Prompt

The walsh school of foreign service was founded more than a century ago to prepare generations of leaders to solve global problems. what is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world (1 page, single-spaced).

Applicants to the School of Foreign Service are expected to be well-versed in global affairs. This essay is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your passion for and understanding of global and public service. The admissions committee wants to understand why this topic is important to you , and personal anecdotes are the most powerful way to convey this. 

It is important to pick an experience related to one of your interests that is unique and can be connected to solving global problems. Don’t try to write an essay about the hot topic of the day like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if you don’t have a deep personal connection. You should choose an issue or experience with a problem that motivated you to take action and dedicate your life to helping the world.

Here are some strong example responses you can use for inspiration:

1. If you have devoted time to raising money for a charity that helps finance the education of a child in need, you can connect your personal experience to the larger issue of income or education disparities. Spend a paragraph detailing the moment that first sparked your interest in this issue and follow it up with a nuanced analysis of what you hope to learn in college that will allow you to address the larger issue at hand.

 2. If you’re passionate about female participation in politics, you could discuss your first voting experience and highlight how the lack of female candidates on the ballot sparked your outrage. Or you could mention the insufficient number of female role models in the political arena that struck you as a child interested in politics. Be descriptive and detailed about your emotions to convey the deep need you feel to solve this issue .

3. If you’ve taken a class or worked on a project that exposed you to a variety of international issues, explain why a particular topic struck a chord . While you may not have a direct experience with the issue at hand, try to think of ways to connect it to your own life. Then go on to discuss how you hope to return to and solve this issue in the future.

4. Even if you lack an academic or extracurricular experience that ties into global affairs, there are other ways you can make a personal connection to the topic. If there is a book you read or a movie you watched that exposed you to an issue of global significance, which you’ve been curious about ever since, this can be your link! Make sure to show why this topic grabbed your attention and to highlight your intellectual curiosity and passion.

Whichever topic you choose to write about, remember that your essay should seamlessly connect your past to your future. You need to demonstrate your passion for the field of foreign service, what your goals are within the field, and how the Walsh School will help you grow your passion to achieve your future goals.

McDonough School of Business Prompt

The mcdonough school of business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. please discuss your motivations for studying business at georgetown (1 page, single-spaced)..

This prompt should not be regarded as yet another “why business school” essay. Note the question’s emphasis on a global approach and its reference to ethics . As mentioned earlier, Georgetown’s identity is built upon its Jesuit values, which manifest themselves in all its academic programs. When you write this essay, keep those keywords in mind. In responding to the prompt, highlight the unique perspective that this program seeks to provide and emphasize your appreciation for the opportunities it will offer you.

Here are a few response ideas:

1. If the school’s focus on ethics appeals to you, you could discuss your passion for developing sustainable business practices and link it to a local business in your community whose model you particularly appreciate. If you have ever worked for a small business or if your family or friends own one, you can mention it to point out the origins of your focus on sustainability.

2. If the McDonough’s global approach attracted you to the school in the first place, you can talk about your interest in economic models different from that of the U.S . For instance, if you’re fascinated by India’s initiatives to combat deep poverty in its rural regions, this is your opportunity to discuss it.

Be sure to tie it to the programs and opportunities offered at the school. For example, if there is a course on the economics of poverty that you are particularly eager to enroll in or a professor who is an expert in this field, talk about it in your response!

3. You can never go wrong with harnessing Georgetown’s advantageous D.C. location to help you justify your interest in its business school. In particular, if you’re interested in financial policy or the interaction between the government and entrepreneurs, you can reference the internship opportunities that McDonough’s strategic location will provide you and the star faculty, who frequently come to teach at Georgetown after working in D.C.’s public and private sectors for many years.

The main reason that Georgetown does not use the Common App is that it wishes to only attract students who are dedicated enough to their university and its values that they are willing to go through a separate application process to get there. As you work on your application, remember what makes Georgetown unique and why these particularities appealed to you when you first put Georgetown down as a potential school on your list. Think hard about your motivation for applying, do your research, and reach out for help when needed!

Where to Get Your Georgetown Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your Georgetown essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

Need feedback faster? Get a  free, nearly-instantaneous essay review  from Sage, our AI tutor and advisor. Sage will rate your essay, give you suggestions for improvement, and summarize what admissions officers would take away from your writing. Use these tools to improve your chances of acceptance to your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

• Admission Essay
• Statement of Purpose Editing
• Personal Statement Editing
• Recommendation Letter
• Motivation Letter
• Cover Letter
• Supplemental Essay
• Letter of Continued Interest
• Scholarship Essay
• Role Model Essay
• Our Editors
• College Admission Essay Examples
• College Cover Letter Examples
• College Personal Statement Examples
• Graduate Personal Statement Examples
• Graduate Statement of Purpose Examples
• MBA Essay Examples
• MBA Personal Statement Examples
• MBA Resume Examples
• MBA Recommendation Letter Examples
• Medical School Personal Statement Examples
• Medical School Recommendation Letter Examples
• Pricing Plans
• Public Health
• Dissertation
• Research Paper
• Thesis Editing
• Academic Editing
• Motivation letter
• Letter of Recommendation
• Personal Statement
• Statement of Purpose

Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Essays That Worked: Samples

EssayEdge > Blog > Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Essays That Worked: Samples

Note: These essays appear unedited for instructional purposes. Essays edited by EssayEdge are substantially better than these essays. For samples of EssayEdge editing, please  click here .

Georgetown, School Target

When I think of Georgetown University, I think of Washington and world affairs. I do not know yet exactly what type of professional career I will pursue after schooling, but I do know that I wish to be internationally aware and involved, and that Georgetown would provide me with a solid foundation for that goal.

I am glad I do not know specifically what I want to do later on, because it should be an adventure choosing which course I will take in life. Thus, I have time to experiment and learn from a wide variety of topics. At Georgetown, I am present with the opportunity to take any classes I want and to be taught by some of the most learned and dynamic professors in the world. I was once told that in college, I “will take classes in subjects I had never thought or heard of, ” and I am very excited to do this.

If I were required to pick a major at this instant, I would choose history. If history were only studying, memorizing and regurgitating events, facts, and dates, I would be just as uninterested as most people. However, in studying history, I get a chance to contemplate ideologies and the nature of human beings. I believe that Georgetown University is the best place in the world to study history. It is a school located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the country, of outstanding academic reputation and recognition; my resources would be absolutely unlimited. Living in Washington, I would feel the pulse of our world today. The United States is the world’s dominant power and every issue of great global importance is brought to the country’s capital.

I have been told that although Georgetown has approximately 6,000 undergraduates, the students and faculty alike feel as if the school is a small, interwoven community. I believe that this sense of closeness is a vital aspect in an outstanding college experience. We learn most from interactions among other people, and the fact that this reputation of faculty accessibility and student involvement-both in the immediate Georgetown community and in Washington, D.C.-exists, is very attractive to me.

Johns Hopkins, School Target

The college admissions and selection process is a very important one, perhaps one that will have the greatest impact on one’s future. The college that a person will go to often influences his personality, views, and career. Therefore, when I hear people say that “it doesn’t matter that much which college you go to. You can get a good education anywhere, if you are self-motivated,” I tend to be rather skeptical. Perhaps, as far as actual knowledge is concerned, that statement is somewhat valid. Physics and mathematics are the same, regardless of where they are taught. Knowledge, however, is only a small piece of the puzzle that is college, and it is in the rest of that puzzle that colleges differ.

Need help? Check out EssayEdge editing services:

At least as important, or even more important, than knowledge, is the attitude towards that knowledge. Last year, when my engineering team was competing in the NEDC Design Challenge, held at Hopkins, after the competition I and a few friends talked to a professor of civil engineering. What struck me is the passion with which he talked about his field of study. At Hopkins, everyone-the students, the faculty, the administration-displays a certain earnestness about learning. This makes Hopkins a good match for me, as I, too, am very enthusiastic about the subjects I study. I love learning, and when those around me do too, it creates a great atmosphere from which everyone benefits.

My enthusiasm and activeness extend not just to academics, but to other aspects of life as well. I am very involved in extracurricular activities, participating in my school’s engineering club and math team, and I love sports, having played on the varsity soccer and tennis teams for three years. This makes Hopkins, with its great sport traditions and a multitude of clubs and organizations, a great choice. Further, while in college I intend to explore new activities. Because of my school’s small size and dual curriculum, there is a relatively narrow spectrum of activities available for me. Hopkins affords a great opportunity for me to branch out and participate in organizations to which I previously had no access.

Another aspect of Hopkins that attracts me greatly is its student body, diverse and multicultural, but at the same time uniformly strong academically. Since I myself am a refugee from Russia, where I experienced social and cultural anti-Semitism, multiculturalism and acceptance of different groups are very important to me, not to mention that it allows me to meet people of different backgrounds and learn of their varying perspectives. And this summer at the U.S.A. Mathematical Talent Search Young Scholars’ Program, I experienced the thrill of working in a group where everyone is on the same, or higher, intellectual level as I. I think that, given my academic and cultural background, I would fit in well with the student life at Hopkins and contribute to it.

Academically, too, I believe I would fit Hopkins well. Though Hopkins is most known for its medical program, its engineering school is also one of the best, and that is the general area of study I intend to pursue. In high school, I’ve most enjoyed my mathematics and science courses, particularly physics, and I have participated in the engineering school, so attending Hopkins’ engineering program would be a natural extension of my high school interests. However, my interests are not confined solely to the sciences. I enjoy courses from all areas of curriculum, particularly unorthodox and thought-provoking ones. Therefore, Hopkins, which according to the viewbook “is geared toward educating students in the fundamentals of their field of interest while illuminating wider possibilities through interdisciplinary study” is perfect for me.

Of course, none of those aspects of Hopkins, neither their great student body, their world-renowned faculty, their research centers, nor their clubs and extracurricular opportunities, are worth anything unless one takes advantage of them. That, however, is exactly what I intend to do. While many people find the transition to college overwhelming, therefore not participating in the student life fully the first year, I hope to plunge immediately into the full array of possibility and make as much use of them as possible. Though my soccer and tennis skills might prove insufficient to earn me a place on Hopkins’ varsity teams (though I hope that’s not the case,) I nevertheless want to play sports at least on the club level. Other than that, however, nothing is set in stone except for one thing-to take as full and broad advantage of what Hopkins has to offer as possible.

Both of these essays show that the writers know the schools and have some specific reasons for wanting to attend them. The first focuses more on the academic environment and surrounding city. The second combines several aspects such as academics, extracurriculars, and a diverse student body. Both applicants also use the opportunity to show that they would fit in by highlighting their own interests and activities (an interest in history in the first and math, tennis, and soccer in the second).

Having the samples of essays that were accepted by the school you target makes application essay writing much easier. The main goal of our essay editing company is to help students get enrolled in their dream schools. We provide high-quality editing assistance to everyone who needs it and also shares our valuable recommendations on essay writing from our editors. If you want us to improve your flow or style — place an order!

Popular Posts

April 8, 2024 How To Start a Scholarship Essay: Catch Reader’s Attention Fast

April 8, 2024 My Role Model Essay: A Few Ways to Elaborate on The Subject

April 8, 2024 How To Start a Personal Statement? | Writing Tips and Samples

Related Posts

April 8, 2024 Personal Statement Sample: How Can It Help You With Writing?

April 8, 2024 Clichés in College Essay Examples: How To Recognize Them?

April 8, 2024 Alternative Medicine Application Essay Sample – Edited

©2024 Student Media LLC. All rights reserved.

EssayEdge: Essay Editing & Proofreading Service.

Our mission is to prepare you for academic and career success.

•   Log In  
•   Sign Up  
• Forgot password

Unable to log in? Please clear your browser's cache and then refresh this page and try again

Reset password Please enter your email address to request a password reset.

Check your email We’ve just sent a password reset link to your email.

This information is used to create your account

• Industry Trends
• Tips & Resources
• Press Releases
• Dean's Messages
• COVID-19 Protocols

Tips for Writing a Good Statement of Purpose

Your statement of purpose is an integral part of your graduate school application. To write a strong submission, we suggest you start by putting yourself in the shoes of an admissions advisor. The role of the admissions advisor is to assemble a talented group of students with diverse life experiences and strong academic and professional credentials. Your job is to help them do it.

First things first: look to the guidelines.

In the essay prompt for our master's degrees, we focus on two key areas:

• What are the specific academic and professional qualities you possess that could help you excel within this program?
• What goals do you hope to achieve if you are accepted into this program?

At the risk of stating the obvious, answer the questions. Begin by building an outline for your essay based on these questions, add an introduction and a conclusion, and your statement of purpose should be well on its way.

Talk about your strengths.

As helpful as an outline can be, writing a personal essay is not easy for many people. You may feel uncomfortable writing about yourself. Even if it seems unnatural at first, don’t downplay or minimize your accomplishments—use these as proof points to demonstrate why you are a strong candidate for the degree. As with any good piece of writing, you may need to write a few drafts.

Do your homework.

Look at those questions again—if you can answer them with confidence and specificity, you’re halfway there. If not, you need to do more research, both to write a stronger essay, and to clarify your goals. Like a job seeker, you should learn as much as possible about the program that you’re applying to and understand exactly what you want to get out of it. The more you know about a particular program—what it encompasses, who qualifies for admission, how it can advance your career—the clearer your objective, and ultimately, your essay, will be.

Be specific.

You may wish to include examples of both academic and professional achievements. This mix will vary depending on your age and experience. Recent college graduates may want to focus more on academic qualifications, while those with more work experience might emphasize their professional skills. And if your transcript reflects any poor grades or if your resume has gaps between positions, be sure to address them and provide brief explanations in the essay.  

Connect the dots.

The final question listed in the statement of purpose guidelines asks about additional qualities that make you “an ideal candidate overall.” As a Jesuit institution that seeks to educate the whole person, we will holistically evaluate each applicant’s academic history, professional qualifications, letters of recommendation, and other application materials before admitting any student. Your academic record and work experience offer a unique perspective to a university that values the whole person and welcomes diversity in all its forms—including diversity of thought. Use this last question as an opportunity to demonstrate how your experience, goals, and perspectives align with the program objectives.

Good luck from the Admissions team!

Choose Your Term

We are transitioning to a new system for applications to the Spring 2019 term and later. Please select the term of your application:

• Fall 2018 or earlier
• Spring 2019 or later

Georgetown MBA Announces Early Action Deadline and Dean’s Fellowship, Admissions Essays Updated

Samantha Krause

August 15, 2024

Georgetown MBA Admissions is now accepting Full-time, Flex MBA , and Flex MBA Online program applications for the fall 2025 semester, including a new early action deadline on September 9, 2024 – one month earlier than previous application cycles. 

The application includes two revised essay prompts and an updated video prompt to provide prospective students with more opportunities to share their unique experiences, passions, and personal interests throughout the application process.

Additionally, Full-time MBA early action candidates may also be eligible for consideration for the inaugural Dean’s Fellowship . This prestigious scholarship will be granted to a select group of high-merit early-action admits who will enhance McDonough’s diverse community. Dean’s Fellows will receive financial support, networking opportunities with alumni and key administrators, exclusive mentorship from MBA faculty, and a unique master class. 

“The early action deadline is for those who are confident that Georgetown is the right fit for their academic and personal goals,” said Sudipta Dasmohapatra, senior associate dean of MBA programs at Georgetown McDonough. “We are pleased to offer the Dean’s Fellowship to recognize this commitment to our community and support them financially, professionally, and personally as they arrive on the Hilltop.”

This year’s written essays include three topics: focusing on fostering a diverse community; the Jesuit value of cura personalis , or care of the whole person; and the legacy one hopes to achieve on the Hilltop. As with previous years, students only choose one essay to submit with their application materials. 

Looking beyond professional and academic achievements, applicants also have an opportunity to submit a video essay to highlight their interests outside of work. Prospective students are asked to share what has recently brought them joy outside of work in one minute or less, whether it be a new hobby, a fun adventure, or a simple pleasure. The video essay builds upon the written essay options, which helps the admissions team curate a unique portfolio of students who bring varying personal and professional life experiences to the program. 

To increase program accessibility and reduce economic hardship, the MBA programs also offer application fee reductions and waivers for those with low to no income levels, are members of specific groups, and/or attend certain Georgetown McDonough events. 

The early action deadline closes on September 9, 2024, and the round 1 deadline closes on October 1, 2024. To learn more about the application process, please visit msb.georgetown.edu/mba/application-components .

Returning users:  Log in  to continue or complete your application