mit sloan mba essay questions

MIT Sloan School of Management Essay Tips and Examples

July 3, 2023

Jeremy Shinewald

Rather than framing its required application essay as a traditional “essay,” the MIT Sloan School of Management instead requests that applicants submit a “cover letter,” including even the standard formal correspondence elements of an address and opening salutation. Writing cover letters will undoubtedly be a large part of students’ career development efforts at Sloan, after all, so why not start now? Candidates must also submit a one-minute self-introduction video in which they are expected to convey their personality and basically “be themselves.” Some MBA programs use video essays to evaluate candidates’ communication skills, grace under pressure, and potential to contribute to classroom discussions, and even though Sloan’s admissions committee will likely be able to glean hints about these qualities through its video, its primary purpose appears to be to reveal who the school’s applicants are as living, breathing people , rather than one-dimensional aggregates of words and numbers in a folder. As we have noted in the past, while somewhat unorthodox, the school’s “essays” allow applicants to deliver a balanced view of their professional and personal profiles, with a good amount of leeway for creativity. Read on for our full analysis of MIT Sloan’s application prompts for 2023–2024.

MIT Sloan 2023–2024 Essay Tips

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 and respect 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 a 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)..

To start, we strongly advise that you avoid beginning your letter with a rote opening like “My name is , and I am seeking a place in the MIT Sloan Class of 2026.” Your admissions reader will likely be asleep before they even finish the sentence! Such information is obvious—we can assure you that the admissions reader is well aware of your desire to be admitted to the MIT Sloan program—and is therefore a waste of precious word count, not to mention that it is hardly the kind of gripping opening that will grab and hold someone’s attention.

The broad scope of this essay prompt allows you a great amount of freedom to choose and share the information you believe is most important for your candidacy. The 300-word maximum is equal to roughly three short paragraphs. Including specific examples of impact and leadership that clearly illustrate that you possess the qualities discussed in the prompt is crucial (we would encourage you to share at least two). Informal guidance provided by MIT Sloan’s admissions committee after the initial release of this essay question in 2017 indicated that applicants should focus on sharing their personal experiences, accomplishments, values, viewpoints, and/or skills to demonstrate (1) what they can contribute to the school’s greater community as a result and (2) why Sloan’s MBA program in particular is the best one for them. The school does not ask you to outline your post-MBA goals, but if doing so allows you to better substantiate your need or desire for a Sloan MBA specifically, a (very) brief explanation of your aspirations could be appropriate and useful.

After discussing your accomplishments—being careful not to brag!—along with any other elements of your profile that you feel make you a strong candidate for the MIT Sloan MBA program, strive to relate these achievements and qualities to the school’s offerings and community. Citing specific courses, experiential opportunities, or other relevant resources can help you make a compelling case for your spot in the next incoming class. For a thorough exploration of the MIT Sloan academic program, unique offerings, social life, and other key characteristics, be sure to download a free copy of the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the MIT Sloan School of Management .

VIDEO: 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 seconds) in length, – single take (no editing), – speaking directly to the camera, – do not include background music or subtitles.

Before you do anything else, stop and take a deep, cleansing breath. We know video essays can be scary, but MIT Sloan is not trying to stress you out. The admissions committee just wants a more dynamic representation of your personality than a written essay can provide, so your primary goal is simply to be as authentic and natural as possible. This is not a job interview, and you are instructed to consider your fellow students your intended audience, which certainly implies that a less rigid and traditionally “professional” demeanor is okay, though you should obviously never be inappropriate or offensive. Do not concern yourself with trying to say the “right” things in your video. The topic here is one you know very well—you! A good brainstorming tactic is to imagine meeting someone for the first time at a party or other event and to think about the kinds of questions you might ask one another in the process of getting acquainted. What kind of information would you want to know about this person, and what facts about yourself would you be most eager to share, as a way of conveying who you are and making a connection? (You can even Google “icebreaker questions” to find examples of these sorts of questions.) Take some time to delve into your personality in this way.

The admissions committee’s enthusiasm comes through very clearly in this prompt, and we encourage you to make sure your own enthusiasm comes through just as clearly in your video. In a video on Sloan’s YouTube channel, Sloan’s associate director of admissions noted that this submission is “one of [their] favorite components in the application,” and we are pretty confident that is not because these videos tend to be stiff, boring recitations of applicants’ resumes and cloying compliments of the school. Spend some time really delving into what makes you you , what you are proud of, what you get excited about, what you like about yourself and feel you can offer to those around you—all the elements that make you the individual you are today. This is the content that will breathe life into your application. For further inspiration, consider asking your family members and friends how they would describe you to someone who had never met you and what they believe are your standout qualities, abilities, and/or accomplishments. Such outside perspectives can be inspiring and can alert you to compelling points you might have otherwise disregarded or forgotten.

Even though in the scenario the school presents, you are supposed to be addressing your fellow students, your actual audience will be the admissions committee, so keep in mind what they will already have learned about you from your cover letter essay and other portions of your application. If you have a particularly significant story or relevant aspect of your candidacy that you have not been able to convey elsewhere in your materials, this could be a great opportunity to share it (though this would not be the time or place to explain any problematic issues). Also, avoid pandering to the school or expressing your generic admiration for the program. You have only one minute in which to make an impression, and even without knowing you personally, we are confident that you have more to your character than can be conveyed in a mere 60 seconds—so do not waste any of them!

Given that this is a video, you will want to pay some extra attention to the clothing you will wear, your tone of voice, your language style, and other such details. In the end, your message is what is most important, so no fancy bells or whistles are needed, but if you are a more creative type, you might consider ways of nonverbally communicating some of your strongest attributes and key aspects of your life to help permeate your submission with as much information as possible. For example, if you are an avid cook, consider filming your video while standing in a kitchen, perhaps wearing an apron (if you typically do so) and surrounded by the ingredients and tools you need to create one of your favorite recipes. If you are a dedicated guitar player, perhaps hold your guitar as you speak. If you are especially confident, you could even sing about yourself! In short, think about what makes you who you are today, decide what you most want to share with your future classmates, and then let your creativity flow.

On a practical note, be sure to speak clearly. You naturally do not want any part of your message to be lost or misunderstood, and the admissions committee could view your communication skills and style as indicators of how you might interact with your classmates and/or speak in the classroom. Although we recommend spending some time practicing in front of a mirror or a friend, do not over-rehearse, and avoid simply reading from a prepared script. You want to come across as genuine as possible so the admissions committee can “meet” the real you.

Optional 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 identity. Please use this opportunity if you would like to share more about your background. (250 words)

This question is truly optional; applicants will not be evaluated more positively or negatively should they choose to respond. this is an opportunity for you to share more about yourself with the admissions committee, should you choose to do so..

Although the Sloan admissions committee is very explicit in spelling out that this indeed is an optional portion of the application and that candidates will not gain (or lose) in any way if they choose to respond to this prompt (or not), we have little doubt that quite a few applicants will panic at the thought of not submitting something. Believe us when we say that you can trust the admissions committee and be confident that the school is not trying to trick or test you in any way. (If this were a test of any kind—and again, it is not —it would be of your ability to assess and respond to such opportunities appropriately, meaning knowing when to provide more information and when to leave well enough alone.) The obvious truth is that everyone is shaped by their background, but not everyone will have a worthwhile story to share for this mini essay. If you do, the admissions committee simply wants to leave the door open for you to do so. But do not force the issue.

If an aspect of your background has pushed you to develop a certain appreciation, value, or skill that is not otherwise conveyed in your application but is central to who you are and how you conduct yourself in the world, that might be worth discussing here. If you have something in your character that is perhaps more lighthearted but stems from an aspect of your upbringing or environment and would help demonstrate that you are a multifaceted individual who can add an interesting new element to the next incoming class, that, too, could be a fitting topic for this mini essay. The bottom line is to ensure that if you choose to respond to this prompt, you offer the admissions committee something that is truly additive to your profile and will help them better understand who you are and what you have to offer for the Sloan community and perhaps even the broader world post-MBA.

Reapplicants: We strongly encourage you to submit new application materials and emphasize what has changed since you last applied. Re-applicants may submit their applications in any round, and will have an opportunity to highlight changes since their previous application in a short-answer question.

Whether you have improved your academic record, received a promotion, begun a new and exciting project, increased your community involvement, or taken on some sort of personal challenge, the key to success this time around is conveying a very deliberate path of achievement. MIT Sloan wants to know that you have been continuing to improve yourself and your profile, and that you have seized opportunities during the time since you last applied to do so, because earning an MIT Sloan MBA is important to you. Make sure the admissions committee is fully aware of any significant work you have done and progress you have made since your previous application.

The Next Step: Mastering Your MIT Sloan Interview

Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. We therefore offer our free Interview Guides to spur you along! Download your free copy of the MIT Sloan School of Management Interview Guide today.

Candidates who are fortunate enough to be invited to interview at MIT Sloan (congratulations!) must respond to two additional essay questions.

Required Question #1 The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and generate ideas that advance management practice. We believe that a commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and well-being is a key component of both principled leadership and sound management practice. In 250 words or less, please describe a time when you contributed toward making a work environment or organization more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse.

The key with this submission is showing initiative and input on behalf of others and making sure your actions and motivations are readily understood. In business school—as in life in general—you will encounter people who think differently from you, operate according to different values, and react differently to the same stimuli. And success in an endeavor often involves evaluating and even incorporating the views of others. With this pre-interview essay, MIT Sloan is hoping to learn how you view and respond to such differences, using the principle that past behavior is a fairly reliable predictor of future behavior. In the MIT Sloan MBA program, you will be surrounded every day by people who are unlike you in a multitude of ways, and you will need to work in tandem with and alongside these individuals when analyzing case studies, completing group projects, and taking part in other activities both inside and outside the classroom. Note, however, that the essay prompt is not about simply participating in a diverse and inclusive culture but actually helping to cultivate one. The admissions committee wants to know that you are comfortable within such a dynamic, of course, but seems especially interested in hearing about a time when you stepped up to actively bring various people together in a harmonious and productive way.

MIT Sloan does not specify that you must have led the effort you are describing, though an example in which you have played a leadership role would be ideal if you have one. What you do have to do, in any case, is be sure that both the extent and the nature of your particular contribution to the project or event is front and center. The school expressly stipulates that the incident you share involve “a work environment or organization,” so your selected story should not be about a time you did something of this nature completely independently. Perhaps, for example, you organized (or helped organize) a welcome-our-new-hires potluck for your department after a number of new employees joined the team. Or maybe you instituted (or participated significantly in) a mentorship program at your company, in which employees with different tasks and personal backgrounds were matched to learn from and support one another. Whatever your story, we recommend using a narrative approach to present it, while also conveying the thought process and motivation(s) behind your actions. This way, the admissions committee will take away both a clear picture of what you accomplished and the aspects of your character that inspired you and enabled your success.

Required Question #2 We are interested in learning more about how you make data-driven decisions and communicate results. Please select one of the following prompts to respond to:

Please select an existing data visualization and in 250 words or less explain why it matters to you. The data visualization should be uploaded as a PDF. Examples may come from current events, a business analysis, or personal research (e.g. climate change, COVID maps, etc.).
In 250 words or less, please describe a recent data-driven decision you had to make, and include one slide presenting your analysis. The slide may include a data visualization example and should present data used in a professional context. Your slide must be uploaded as a PDF.

The important thing to understand here is that with these prompts, MIT Sloan is testing not your ability to present data but rather your ability to use data to make decisions and to explain the data in a way that is understandable to the non-quantitatively minded. To craft an effective response, you need to create a data visualization that is clean, clear, and easy to digest. The admissions committee wants evidence that you can communicate complex ideas in simple ways—or even simple ideas in compelling ways.

We suggest you start by identifying a difficult problem you recently solved or considered at length. What were the factors involved in helping you reach your final solution or conclusion? Some were undoubtedly qualitative (what your instincts told you with respect to the situation), but many, if not most, were based on the facts, numbers, and other data involved. How was your decision-making process driven by these numbers or data? And which numbers and data? Once you have determined the answers to these questions, you will have the foundation for your submission. Your next challenge is determining the best way of presenting the data so that anyone can understand it, and this part is key. If you opt for an overly complicated or sophisticated visualization, perhaps thinking you might impress the admissions committee with your advanced analytic capabilities, you will end up with a slide that is opaque and confusing—and that will not likely bring you the response you want. Instead, imagine that you were drawing a diagram for a ten-year-old (or at least someone with absolutely no knowledge of your area of expertise) to understand; what would it look like? A regression scatter plot? Probably not. Two bar charts? That sounds about right.

Similarly, crafting and presenting your chosen situation using a narrative format will make your essay both more compelling and more accessible. Consider starting with the 250-word essay, and strive to clearly describe the problem you addressed, the factors you considered in reaching your ultimate solution/resolution, and why these factors were central to your decision(s). Then, create a diagram that uses data points to illustrate how you came to that conclusion. Remember, the enemy here is being overly sophisticated in your diagram. Presenting a straightforward argument supported by a clean, accessible diagram is your goal.

To learn more about the essays for other top business schools, visit our MBA Essay Tips and Examples Resources Page .

2023-2024 Business School Essays Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) MBA Essay Tips

Tags: cover letter MBA application essays MIT Sloan pre-interview essay reapplicants video essay

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2023–2024 MBA Essay Tips

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Homepage > MBA Admissions > Business Schools > MIT Sloan MBA Essays 2022-2023: Analysis and Tips from an MIT Fellow

MIT Sloan MBA Essays 2022-2023: Analysis and Tips from an MIT Fellow

Posted by Suheb Hussain | Jan 24, 2023 | Business Schools , GMAT Focus Edition , MBA Admissions , MBA Application Process

The MBA application for MIT Sloan School of Management is quite different from other business schools. The application does not have an MBA essay per se, but has an extensive application with the following requirements:

Cover Letter (300 words or fewer)
Resume (one page)
Video Statement (1 minute)
Letter of Recommendation (one)
Additional References (two)
Organizational Chart
Optional 250-word short answer question

In this article, Prashant Tibrewal from Admitsquare, who has mentored 1,000+ students get into their dream business schools and who is currently enrolled at MIT Sloan himself, shares his expert tips on the MIT Sloan MBA essay and other application components.

As you start working on your MIT Sloan MBA application, ask yourself if you are cut out for MIT . Securing an admit to one of the M7 business schools is not just about a high GMAT score or a unique profile or a strong application.

While all of these are just “prerequisites”, what remains the most important is a strong personality match – between the applicant and the school. You should, therefore, spend as much time understanding your dream schools, as you would, working on your application.

What makes MIT so unique and desirable to applicants?

Getting a seat at MIT Sloan does not just give you access to the business school, but also to the larger MIT university, which is among the most future-focused education ecosystems one can dream of as a student.

Not surprising, therefore, that an MIT team comprising of students from aeronautics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and business management beat out teams from 115 other universities and 20 countries to earn the Best Overall Design Award at the SpaceX Hyperloop competition.

MIT Sloan offers an exciting range of master’s programs, designed for a wide range of students and career outcomes. It may be wise, therefore, to research well and apply to the program that you would benefit the most from:

Sloan Fellows MBA (1-year)
Leaders in Global Operations (LGO)
Master of Finance
Master of Business Analytics

Do you aspire to get into the MIT Sloan MBA Program? A 740+ GMAT score can significantly improve your chances of admission. Kickstart your GMAT preparation by Signing up for our Free Trial ! For any queries, write to us at [email protected] . We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 2500 reviews.

MIT Sloan MBA Application Deadlines

Take a look at this article to know the MBA application deadlines of other business schools.

MIT Sloan MBA Essays and Application Requirements

While getting an admit at MIT Sloan can be difficult, applying to the program doesn’t come easy either. The MIT Sloan MBA has an extensive application with the following requirements:

MIT Sloan Cover Letter Analysis and Sample Essay Structure

“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 and respect 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 examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria above, and be addressed to the Assistant Deans of Admissions, Rod Garcia, and Dawna Levenson (300 words or fewer, excluding address and salutation).

The MIT admissions team, including Rod Garcia and Dawna Levenson, has been the most consistent admissions team among the top business schools, ensuring the highest quality of student recruitment over the years.

The team, having retained the Cover Letter requirement for the fifth year now, clearly loves the format and how it has helped assess applicants. An open-ended question such as this comes with a high risk of submitting an essay that may not be aligned with the expectations of the admissions team.

Why such a short (300 word) cover letter, in contrast to other schools that allow much more space and scope to present yourself?

Well, for an MIT applicant with rich professional experience, applying to a business school is pretty similar to applying for a job. This is your opportunity to convince the team why they should consider your application over thousands of other well-qualified applicants.

Candidates often end up presenting a verbose, high level, broad-based career summary, which is exactly what the adcom doesn’t want to read. With access to your resume, one can pretty much trace your career path and gain a broad level of understanding.

The MIT Cover Letter lays down focused guidelines and seeks to understand specific aspects of your personal and/or professional life. “We welcome people who are independent, authentic, and fearlessly creative — true doers.”

While the school encourages these qualities among its students, to be able to establish through your cover letter that you have already demonstrated these qualities, will be the key to a strong cover letter.

Further, understanding the MIT Style of Leadership or the Problem-led Leadership will be an interesting exercise to help you develop a stronger application. The question specifically asks to substantiate your claim with example(s).

As you recollect your best achievements and think of the examples to present in the cover letter, do not forget that it is a 300-word essay.

You do not want to touch upon too many things and spread yourself too thin. Ask yourself what key qualities you would want to establish through the cover letter and find the best example that demonstrates the quality.

If space permits, back it with another short example. While it goes without saying that you use the STAR format, but go deep with “how” you did what you did. Talk about the extrinsic as well as the intrinsic motivations behind your actions.

And while you do all this, do not lose track of the primary purpose behind writing this cover letter – “to seek a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program”.

A good part of your essay should touch upon why you are seeking a place in the program (your short term and long term career plans) and how the MIT MBA will equip you to achieve your plans. How well you know yourself and how well you know the school is both critical to presenting a strong match.

MIT Sloan Resume Format

The resume you submit to a business school holds extremely high significance, given that it helps the adcom get a detailed perspective about your professional experience and is often the only document that the interviewer has access to (once you receive an interview invite).

Not all business schools prescribe a resume format, but MIT Sloan does. In addition to suggesting the order of the different components of the resume, you are specifically asked to redact your personal information. Further, the following are the instructions to be followed.

Please submit a one-page resume that includes the following information and formatting:

One page limit
Times New Roman font
Size 10 font
Word or PDF formats only
Redact (remove or blackout) your name, address, and contact information

For formatting purposes, please list the information in the following order in reverse chronological order:

Education – please feel free to include relevant awards, scholarships, and professional societies.
Company name
Results-oriented bullets that demonstrate your skillset, and
Additional information – languages, extracurricular activities/community service, technical skills/certifications, and special skills/interests (if appropriate).

MIT Sloan MBA application video statement

Applicants are required to upload a 1-minute video as part of their application. In your video, you should introduce yourself to your future classmates, tell us about your past experiences, and touch on why MIT Sloan is the best place for you to pursue your degree.

Videos should adhere to the following guidelines:

No more than 1 minute in length
Single take (no editing)
You should be speaking directly to the camera
Do not include background music or subtitles

When most other schools are using the Kira video format where you must answer the video questions live, MIT allows you enough time to plan and record your video.

Is this supposed to be your Elevator Pitch? Probably yes, albeit a more personal one. Having presented most of your information through your resume and the cover letter, this should be your space to “connect” with your future classmates as well as the admissions committee.

You may talk about your personal background, unique life experiences, interests, and passions, and how specific opportunities at MIT connect with your plans and interest areas.

Sloan doesn’t want you to hire a video expert – an unedited video makes it a level playing field for all applicants.

While the video will allow the admissions committee to see you and hear you, it is your passion and your story that will invite them to feel your presence and personality. Prepare a story that is authentic, exciting, and enchanting. Above all, sound fluent, but not rehearsed!

The following article discusses the analysis and tips related to MIT Sloan video statement in detail. Have a look! 4 tips to ace MIT Sloan video statement . You can also refer to the following article for insights on how to make an impressive MBA application video essay: Make an impactful MBA Application Video Essay .

MIT Sloan Letter of Recommendation and Additional References

Several schools are now moving to a single recommendation, thus making the application less demanding for the candidate.

While the MIT LOR format isn’t very different, what’s unique is the requirement for two Additional References. These references do not need to submit any document upfront, but they may be called if required.

Choose your references like you would choose your recommenders – people you have worked closely with, who may be in a good position to talk about your strengths with specific instances.

Most of our candidates did not report their references being called, but you may want to pick the best possible options, nevertheless.

MIT Sloan MBA application – Organizational Chart

Please upload an organizational chart that outlines the internal structure of your department and company. Limit to two pages.

Note: You may choose to create your own document or redact individuals’ names. However, please provide as much information as possible.

We should be able to see your line of reporting to the top of your organization, and to easily find you, your peers, your supervisor, their peers, and your direct reports (should you have any), as well as any recommender or references from your current organization. For those in consulting, please submit an organizational chart of a current or previous project you were staffed on.

This is again a unique requirement for the MIT Sloan application. This isn’t really a new addition to the application, which means that MIT has found it useful to evaluate the applicant’s relative position in the organizational hierarchy.

The key is to make it informational, with good details about your own position as well as those who may be in levels higher and lower than you.

You may not need to invest a lot of time making the organizational chart super fancy, but a simple chart presenting the different levels should work pretty well. Refer to the sample organizational chart suggested by the school.

MIT Sloan MBA application- Optional 250-word short answer question

For the 2022-23 applications, the applicants are invited to expand on their background by responding to the following optional 250-word short-answer question:

“How has the world you come from shaped who you are today? For example, your family, culture, and community, all help to shape aspects of your identity. Please use this opportunity if you would like to share more about your background.”

According to the MIT website , This question is truly optional; applicants will not be evaluated more positively or negatively should they choose to respond. This is an opportunity for you to share more about yourself with the Admissions Committee, should you choose to do so.

Suggested Reading: “Problem-led Leadership” – Are you cut out for the MIT Sloan MBA? Applying to Kellogg? Read our detailed Kellogg Essay Analysis

About the Author

Prashant_Tibrewal_US_News_Business_School_Rankings_2020_Analysis

Prashant Tibrewal is the founder of Admit Square Consulting and has mentored 1000+ MBA aspirants to get into top global universities such as Harvard, Stanford, INSEAD, Oxford, HEC, ISB, etc. Prashant has also served on the Board of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) and led the AIGAC Conference 2020, attended by admissions officers from 25+ top-ranked MBA programs.

Admit Square Consulting has mentored applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply to top MBA programs. With a proven track record of 10+ years, and admits to universities such as Stanford, MIT, Kellogg, Cambridge, INSEAD, etc., Admit Square was awarded the Most Successful International MBA Consulting Company in India at the India Education Awards, 2019. With a team of Consultants from top business schools such as MIT, Yale, LBS and Oxford, Admit Square offers 100% Money-back Assurance on its services. You may send your details to [email protected] for a free profile evaluation.

That was all about MIT Sloan MBA essays. Here are a few other that can help you with your MBA application essays:

5 Different Types of MBA Essays Explained
MBA Application Process – Weightage of Different Components
2020-2021 MBA Application Deadlines

Do you aspire to get into the MIT Sloan MBA Program? A 740+ GMAT score can significantly improve your chances of admission. Kickstart your GMAT preparation by Signing up for our Free Trial ! For any queries, write to us at [email protected] . We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 1940 reviews.

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MIT Sloan: MBA Application Essays

Greetings, Everyone!

We are back with our List of Top-B-school essay questions & prompts! Today, we will discuss the MIT Sloan Application Essays for the admission cycle 2022-23. MIT is a well-renowned B-school aiming to create a vibrant learning environment rich in diverse ideas and life experiences for aspiring MBA candidates. That’s why MIT encourages applicants from all areas of study, including non–conventional backgrounds like humanities, and the social/physical sciences, to traditional experiences like – business and engineering. In addition, the B-school is searching for curious, passionate candidates with good analytical skills who will enhance the collaborative community at MIT.

So, What’s your story? What experiences and decisions have shaped who you are today? To know all this, MIT has its unique way of the application process to evaluate all the relevant aspects of a candidate’s profile through their B-school Essays. So what are you waiting for? Let’s get moving!

Above all, let us first take a glance at all the relevant dates regarding different rolling application rounds!

MIT SLOAN: APPLICATION DEADLINES FOR AUGUST 2023 ENTRY

**3:00 p.m. EST must receive all applications on the deadline.**

Great! Now that we are well-versed with all the important dates, let’s get started on the application essays!

MIT SLOAN: COVER LETTER

Rather than a traditional essay, MIT seeks a cover letter from their students whose individual characteristics demonstrate that they will make the most of all the incredible opportunities available at MIT, both academic and non-academic. The School looks out for aspiring candidates whose presence will enhance the experience of other students hailing from diverse backgrounds.

Moreover, the School seeks thoughtful leaders with stellar leadership examples , exceptional intellectual abilities, drive & determination to put their mark on this dynamic business world.

MIT SLOAN: APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

A complete application for 2023 entry consists of the following:

Cover Letter
One-page Resume
1-minute Video Statement
One Letter of Recommendation
Additional References – *contact information for two additional professional references.*
Organizational Chart
Transcripts
Test Scores- *You can request a test waiver once the application is open. For more information about GMAT Waivers, you could refer to our article on- GMAT Waivers 2023
Relevant Coursework & Professional Certifications
Optional Short Answer Question.

That’s all about the MIT essay & application requirements! We hope this has helped you. However, if you are looking for a bit of more personal and precise advice, feel free to hop on a 1:1 profile evaluation call with our experts, where we’ll dive deep into your profile and help you understand your chances to top B-schools with absolutely honest feedback.

To understand how our process helps aspiring MBA candidates see a glimpse of how our Profile evaluations and consulting assistance works!

For more on B-School essays, you can check the links for our articles below!

MIT Sloan School Of Management Essay Questions And Strategic Guidance, 2023-2024

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MIT Sloan seeks individuals with confidence but not arrogance. The atmosphere on campus is considered “scrappy” and humble, never stuffy or competitive. The school wants people who are eager to learn and willing to help others do so as well. Sloan also prioritizes innovation, showing a preference for applicants who go against the grain, develop new systems or processes others have not considered before, or champion a novel way of thinking. (Perhaps you were expecting us to mention “technology” or “engineering” in our description of Sloan’s ideal candidates. While MIT Sloan certainly appreciates people who have an appetite for technology or an engineering bent, you will find many Sloanies who have neither. Above all, Sloan values a diverse classroom.)

Sloan’s application puts less emphasis on candidates’ professional goals than those of other top MBA programs. Sloan believes that one’s past experiences are the best predictors of one’s future success. What you have done (and what you were feeling and thinking at the time) is of much more interest to the admissions committee than what you say you are going to do.

The Application

MIT Sloan’s instructions for completing its application offer clues as to how applicants can—perhaps even should —approach it.

For example, Sloan’s directives for its requested Cover Letter include the following preamble:

This provides considerable insight into what the admissions committee is looking for in applicants’ cover letters. Specifically, MIT wants you to provide at least one or two examples of how you have created impact, innovated, and/or implemented change. They want you to explain why you and your actions have mattered and how you care about the world around you.

The actual Cover Letter prompt follows:

“taking the above into consideration, please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the mit sloan mba program. your letter should conform to a 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).”.

When crafting your Cover Letter , keep the following tips in mind:

Include your motivation for your actions as well as the how (the steps you took to achieve what you did). Remember that your resume will provide the school the headlines of your accomplishments; your cover letter should add color and context.
If you have any remaining space, you can briefly state your goals and/or why Sloan is the right MBA program for you, but these elements are not mandatory and should be included only if you feel they are truly necessary for the admissions committee to fully understand and evaluate your candidacy. Keep in mind that your past experiences are what will enable you to stand out because they are unique to you, whereas your stated goals and/or your interest in Sloan will likely overlap with those of at least some of your fellow applicants.

In its Video Statement prompt, Sloan asks you to “Introduce yourself to your future classmates.”

Note that Sloan does not say merely, “Introduce yourself,” nor does it say, “Introduce yourself to the admissions team.” Sloan intentionally requests that you introduce yourself to your classmates .

When crafting a strategy for your introduction, think about what you would like to know about a classmate you are meeting for the first time—and what would make you cringe or roll your eyes if you heard them say it. Once you have a script and/or a draft for your video, ask yourself whether you think your future classmates would like you after viewing your video. Would they think that you were trying too hard to impress (which is not appealing) or that you have nothing to add (and would therefore not be someone they would be interested in seeking out)?

So, be genuine about who you are and what you will bring to campus.

The topics you discuss are up to you, but here are some other basic guidelines:

Remember to introduce yourself!
Where you live or are from
What you are doing professionally
Things you do in the community or for fun
Talk about what you hope to do at Sloan.
Explain what you would bring to Sloan.
Avoid repeating exactly what is in your cover letter, though some overlap is fine.

And consider these execution tips when preparing for, and actually filming, your video:

When drafting your content, regularly read it out loud to ensure that it will easily fit within the school’s 60-second limit. Keep trimming as necessary until it does. An introduction you have sped through is not your friend in this process; if your viewer cannot understand what you are saying because you are speaking too quickly, you will miss a critical opportunity to connect with admissions.
Once you have finalized your script (or, if you prefer, simple bullet points), put the material away. Your goal is to know which topics you want to cover and be able to communicate them without sounding as though you have memorized your material.
Do not read from a script.
You can film your intro wherever you would like, including at your desk at work or somewhere in your home! You can certainly be creative (we have seen people film their videos outside or at a location that is particularly meaningful to them), but no matter what location you choose, keep the focus on you . Your background will not make you stand out or convince the admissions committee to admit you; only you and your content can do that.
Be sure to speak slowly and to check your sound and lighting to ensure the viewer will be able to easily hear and see you.

In its online application, Sloan includes the following short essay prompt:

We’d like to give you the opportunity to expand on your background. this question is completely optional ., 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 identity. please use this opportunity if you would like to share more about your background. (250 word limit).

Although submitting a response to this prompt is not required, we encourage you to view this mini essay as an opportunity to tell the school more about you. The prompt specifically notes “family, culture, community,” so a good way to start is by thinking about how each of these has influenced who you are today. An effective essay response will provide specific details about your background and clearly and logically relate those details and stories to the individual you now are. As always, evidence and action speak volumes, so you want to bolster the description of who you are today by pinpointing and explaining significant influences from your earlier years.

With respect to other elements of Sloan’s application and process, we offer the following advice:

MIT Sloan is particular about what it wants to see on candidates’ resumes. Take time to make sure that you fully understand the directives provided on the school’s website and then follow them precisely.
Compared to other top business schools, Sloan has only a brief set of online questions embedded in its application. The admissions committee expects you to include the most essential information about your candidacy—the information that will influence its decision—in the other elements of your application.
Sloan also asks for an Organizational Chart of no more than two pages. You goal is to communicate the structure of your team/organization and convey the information Sloan asks for in an easy-to-comprehend way. Sloan offers an example on its website that you can use as a guide.

Note that Sloan asks applicants who are selected for an interview to submit two additional essays. The prompts for these essays are as follows:

In 250 words or less, please describe a time when you contributed toward making a work environment or organization more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse.
Please select an existing data visualization and in 250 words or less explain why it matters to you. The data visualization should be uploaded as a PDF. Examples may come from current events, a business analysis, or personal research.
In 250 words or less, please describe a recent data driven decision you had to make, and include one slide presenting your analysis. The slide may include a data visualization example and should present data used in a professional context. Your slide must be uploaded as a PDF.

When you are brainstorming ideas for your core Sloan materials, you should also start thinking about how you might answer these pre-interview essay questions.

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.

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2023-2024 MBA Admissions: MIT Sloan Essays

At Menlo Coaching, we noticed that most MBA essays will fall into one of a number of categories: personal essays, career goals essays, and behavioral essays etc. Read ahead for our expert guide on approaching these essays for MIT Sloan.

Organizational Chart

Our goal is to learn about you and your professional background. Your employer’s organizational chart will help us better understand the role you play within your organization, who you report to, and the impact you might have on your department or company.

Some important details:

-Give us as much detail as possible (names, titles, etc.) but it’s ok to redact names if you need to.

-Please circle your role in red so that your position is easily identifiable.

-Make sure we can easily identify where you are, to whom you report, and if applicable, who reports to you.

-If your recommender or references are on your organizational chart (they may not be, and that’s ok!), please highlight them for us.

-If you are a consultant, entrepreneur, or affiliated with the military review our FAQs for suggestions on how to approach the organizational chart.

-Please upload an organizational chart that outlines the internal structure of your place of employment. Limit to two pages.

Click here to view a sample organizational chart.

Behavioral Essay (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 and respect 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 a standard business correspondence, include one or more professional examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria above, and can be addressed to:

Admissions Committee 50 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02142

Your cover letter should be 300 words or fewer, excluding address and salutation. If you have any additional questions, please visit our FAQ page.

Upload a Word or PDF document.

Personal (Video) Essay

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 seconds) 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.

Optional Essay

We’d like to give you the opportunity to expand on your background. This question is completely optional.

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 identity. Please use this opportunity if you would like to share more about your background.

Please do not include any links in your response. (250 words or fewer)

Reapplicant Essay

Please let us know what’s changed since you last applied. (200 words)

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Our five-hour package starts at $2,500, and you can work with our MBA admissions consultants on anything you like, including:

✓ Essay and Resume Edits

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MIT Sloan Organizational Chart

Another of Sloan’s unusual admissions requirements is its organizational chart. From this chart, the AdCom wants to understand visually what your current role is in your organization or company, as well as where you sit in the hierarchy and chain of command. The admissions committee also wants to understand the role and position of your recommenders, so it’s important to be detailed, thorough, and accurate in your organizational chart.

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The Behavioral Essay

To make it simple: the behavioral essay is meant to show MIT Sloan 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.

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; MIT Sloan 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. The Admissions Team is looking for MBA essays that show you are a considerate leader who will make the best of their time in the program. The school “demand[s] integrity and respect[s] passion.” 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 Personal 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 MIT Sloan 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.

Once you’ve completed your application, Sloan’s optional 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, Sloan 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 in the past—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.

Elevate your Sloan MBA application with strategic MBA coaching and insider insights from experienced consultants.

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Analyzing the Applications: the MIT Sloan Essay Questions

The MIT Sloan School of Management lays out five characteristics that it looks for in candidates for its MBA program:

Leadership and an ability to inspire others
A collaborative spirit and focus on community
Intellectual curiosity and analytical strength
Creativity to generate new solutions to existing challenges
Growth in both professional and personal endeavors

MIT Sloan School of Management Admissions Essays

MIT Sloan main building – E62

These five character traits should serve as a checklist for any student developing his or her application to Sloan’s MBA program. As you consider the different pieces of your MIT Sloan admissions application, each often fits very naturally with one or more of these characteristics. For example, your recommenders should demonstrate your ability to inspire others and focus on the community. Your GMAT, GPA, and undergraduate transcripts should speak to your intellectual curiosity and analytical strength. Your resume should showcase your personal and professional growth. While the Sloan essays can serve as a platform to emphasize several of these characteristics, they also seem to be the best place to illustrate your creativity to generate new solutions to existing challenges. If your essays are really good, those “new solutions” will also showcase the importance you place on community and your ability to inspires others, as you’ll describe how you leaned on colleagues or friends for help you solve challenges.

This is a great place to start when considering how to approach MIT Sloan’s admissions essays. However, it’s critical to go beyond that and heed each word in the essay prompts, as its clear that the MIT Sloan admissions committee has a few pet peeves it demands applicants avoid.

Let’s consider each of the MIT Sloan essay prompts. First, the admissions committee provides some general advice: “ We are interested in learning more about how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response . ” Notice that they ask for a brief overview of the situation. They are more interested in how you responded then how you got there in the first place. This distinction is important, and you should limit your descriptions of situations to no more than about 100 words (out of a 500 word limit), ensuring your don’t ignore the admissions committee’s guidance here. While we are on the topic, it’s also worth emphasizing the importance of adhering to the admissions committee’s dual word- and page-limit guidance: no more than 500 words or one page. These may seem like strict limits, but ignoring them can be dangerous. As soon as you’ve written that five hundredth and first word, you’ve conveyed two things to the admissions committee: first, you do not follow instructions; second, and perhaps more egregiously, you think you are more important that all of the other applicants out there that did restrict themselves to the 500-word limit that MIT Sloan provided.

In the first essay question, the MIT Sloan admissions committee asks applicants the following: “ The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and generate ideas that advance management practice. Discuss how you will contribute toward advancing the mission based on examples of past work and activities “.

This is a tricky prompt; there are a lot of pitfalls to avoid. To address each part of the question properly, you must do several things:

Briefly address your goals and ambitions. While the Sloan admissions committee makes clear that it wants your essays to focus primarily on your past actions, it’s still important to demonstrate your professional ambition and vision for how you “will contribute” moving forward. After all, the admissions committee makes clear that “an applicant’s leadership qualities and ambition should be apparent in their personal and professional experience, essays, and recommendations.” Limit any discussion of your vision or ambition to a few short sentences, but make sure you include them somewhere.
Address how you will improve the world. As you focus on this piece of the essay, make sure you focus on past actions. That is, you should tell the admissions committee how you have effected change at organizations in the past. This is a hallmark of any leader, and it should comprise the bulk of your first essay. (While we’re on the subject of effecting change, please make sure you write about change you effected , not affected . It’s a minor grammatical rule — and the only time effect works as a verb — but it also can be a demonstration of your attention to detail and presentation).
Discuss your view of management practice. In other words, your view of good management style. This can be influenced by what you have seen as effective leadership styles of others. It can be a discussion of techniques you have tried as a leader in the past. Or it can be a bigger discussion about your small-p political view of the world – essentially how you view human behavior.

That is a lot to cover in 500 words, but it’s essential that you address each piece of the essay prompt. Be as detailed as you can along the way, shaping the essay as you would a parable that you might tell a colleague or friend, bringing the listener into the plot as if he or she had seen it himself. Along the way, if you are looking for parts of your essay drafts to cut, make sure you are emphasizing past actions, editing down longer paragraphs about your career vision and future ambitions to a sentence or two. This is not a “career vision” essay question; it’s a “tell us about your biggest accomplishments” essay question.

In the second essay, the Sloan admissions committee asks applicants to choose an experience from the past three years in answering the following question: “ Describe a time when you pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone .”

This is the kind of essay question that causes good applicants to go bad. Many candidates will try to force fit a story they used for other MBA essay prompts or an anecdote that they are particularly fond of, into this question. But if you aren’t able to genuinely describe a time when you pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone, then you’ll be begging to get dinged. It’s similar to when schools ask you to describe a personal weakness, and applicants say something along the lines of, “I’m too much of a perfectionist.” Essentially they’re trying to hide a strength within a question about weaknesses. Trust that MBA admissions committees can see right through that.

Once you’ve picked your anecdote for the question – an experience that genuinely pushed you outside your comfort zone – you need to describe how it made you feel. Why, exactly, did it make you uncomfortable? Why, exactly, did you allow yourself to be put in that situation when you might otherwise have avoided it? What were you trying to learn or how were you trying to benefit from the situation? How did it change you or your theory of management practice? Remember, the MIT Sloan essays are place to demonstrate that you are willing to creatively “generate new solutions to existing challenges.” This type of boundary-pushing question is a great platform to illustrate that characteristic.

As you have more questions about the MIT Sloan application and essays, feel free to reach out to Vincent and myself via our free consultation link or [email protected] , and we’ll reply promptly. Also, rely on MIT Sloan’s admissions Q&A, which you can find here . And of course, stay tuned for more posts in our analyzing the applications series ! Finally, make sure to give our MBA Matching Algorithm a try and let us know what you think.

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How To Write the MIT Sloan Pre-Interview Essays

Oct 25, 2022

After spending months fine-tuning your MBA application essays, you’ve finally received that long-awaited MIT interview invitation — only to discover that now you need to write more essays!

With more and more competitive candidates applying every year, elite MBA programs like MIT Sloan are always looking for new ways to distinguish the “admits” from the “dings.”

Though they may seem small and relatively unimportant at first, MIT Sloan’s interview essays are an important element of your overall application and should be carefully crafted. That’s why we’re sharing our top tips on how to approach and write your own interview essays . By following these tips, you can ensure you stand out and land a spot at MIT Sloan.

The MIT Sloan Pre-Interview Essay Questions

MIT Sloan has also long required candidates who are called to interview to submit an additional essay. This year, MIT Sloan’s interview question is as follows:

Required Question #1 (Diversity)

The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. We believe that a commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and well-being is a key component of both principled leadership and sound management practice.

. In 250 words or less, please describe a time when you contributed toward making a work environment or organization more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse.

How to approach your answer

At MIT, diversity is a core value . This means that at Sloan, you’ll constantly interact with people who think and act differently than you do.

Succeeding in such an environment requires a great deal of adaptability and flexibility, as well as a willingness to learn from those who are different. This type of environment, however, is not for everyone, which is why MIT seeks to gauge how you respond to diversity in this essay.

We suggest you start by considering the brand you are presenting to MIT and examine which examples about diversity you can share that will add value to the stories you told in your cover letter and video. Then, make sure you narrow this list down to your single best story . In a 250-word essay , you won’t have time to fully explore multiple examples, so limit yourself to one killer story.

Required Question #2 (Data)

We are interested in learning more about how you make data-driven decisions and communicate results. Please select one of the following prompts to respond to.

Please select an existing data visualization and in 250 words or less explain why it matters to you. The data visualization should be uploaded as a PDF. Examples may come from current events, a business analysis, or personal research (e.g. climate change, COVID maps, etc).
In 250 words to less, please describe a recent data-driven decision you had to make, and include one slide presenting your analysis. The slide may include a data visualization example and should present data used in a professional context. Your slide must be uploaded as a PDF.

Considering how short the MIT application is, you should also use this as another opportunity to add something new to your application.

With this question, MIT seeks to understand how you are able to use data to make important decisions. MIT states that this example should come from data used in a professional context, so keep this in mind. When designing your slide, remember that you’re being judged on how you present the information visually, not on the data itself.

In your essay, make sure to explain how you analyzed the data and used it to make a decision . If you are not able to show how you applied the insights gained from the data you presented in a clear, concrete way, you may want to consider a different approach.

If you don’t have a job that requires you to use data on a regular basis, question 1 would be a better fit for you. If you do use data frequently at work, question 1 may still be a good option, but showing a real and measurable way in which you used data to make a decision is an excellent way to show the adcom you possess a great fit with their program.

TOP TIP: Make sure not to share confidential information. If you need to “sanitize” the data, this is acceptable.

MIT Sloan Pre-Interview Essay Examples

In 250 words or less, please describe a time when you contributed toward making a work environment or organization more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse.

As a volunteer at ORG, I helped educate 400 students from all over my city, some in very marginalized situations. Although we were providing a low-cost pre-college course, I began to notice how everyday norms we took for granted were inadvertently exacerbating difficulties faced by the underprivileged.

For instance, I noticed that I never saw certain students at lunchtime. Lunch was in an open space where most students ate together and forged friendships. However, students with nothing to eat routinely stayed in other parts of the building and were not just isolated but, more importantly, hungry. To address this situation, I prospected potential donors, developed a proposal, and presented it in an internal all-hands meeting, gaining approval. After coordinating with the university community, I helped build a fundraising department. Our first donor, NGO, provided a sandwich and juice to every student, so those in need would not feel ashamed to be singled out. The fundraising department has since continued to build partnerships to benefit students.

This experience taught me that there are norms in place that prevent us from seeing persistent inequalities. It would have been easy to dismiss the absence of certain students as a result of shyness or simply not notice at all. Commitment to creating inclusive environments means noticing systemic problems in everyday contexts and working collaboratively toward solutions.

Looking for MIT Sloan pre-interview essay examples? Our MBA Resource Center includes multiple examples of both the diversity and data prompts, as well as countless other resources, including interview mock sequences, sample interview responses, and so much more. Sign up here !

We are interested in learning more about how you make data-driven decisions and communicate results. Please select one of the following prompts to respond to:

Please select an existing data visualization and in 250 words or less explain why it matters to you. The data visualization should be uploaded as a PDF. Examples may come from current events, a business analysis, or personal research (e.g. climate change, COVID maps, etc).
In 250 words or less, please describe a recent data-driven decision you had to make, and include one slide presenting your analysis. The slide may include a data visualization example and should present data used in a professional context. Your slide must be uploaded as a PDF.

A few years ago, I helped lead the sale of a payment company to a strategic investor. Negotiations included a price adjustment based on the company’s future performance. When the adjustment time came, the company was performing well below the business plan, despite not having reported abrupt operational changes. After thoroughly analyzing its financial data, I realized that its credit fund, responsible for providing credit to thousands of merchants, was underperforming. While it could be easily explained by external market issues, I decided to investigate other possible explanations, such as higher default levels. I asked the fund administrator to provide me with the credit database and developed an algorithm to parse data from hundreds of thousands of transactions, which allowed me to identify a spike in default levels. After filtering the data for individual client performance, an unusually high number of reliable clients seemed to have stopped paying.

To further investigate, I talked with several departments, discovering the fund administrator had changed right at the spike period and uncovering the underlying issue: an integration problem with the new administrator corrupted the database. I asked the fund administrator to refile the financials using a corrected database. Since this would incur a fine, however, they denied my request. So, I negotiated with senior leaders and convinced them to use a “simulation” with the corrected database to support negotiations with the investor. By doing so, we almost doubled the amount my client received.

Make Sure You Succeed in any MBA Interview

Though you might not be practicing for your interviews, your competitors are. When you’re competing at such an elite level (and top MBA programs are about as elite as it gets), practice is the only way to get the edge you need.

Working with highly-trained professionals, like our team of interview experts, can also be an excellent step to include in your interview process.

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Maybe you’ve downloaded interview guides or have spent hours reading interview report forums—but still have questions and doubts.

Our interview prep and practice service focuses on helping you determine what to highlight in your interview depending on the program while using appropriate, impact-driven language without being artificial, or worse, robotic. We also help you choose (and perfect) culturally appropriate examples based on the schools you’re interviewing for.

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Don’t undersell your success. Set up your 1:1 interview prep and show that you belong at a top MBA program!

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July 12, 2022

MIT Sloan Fellows Essay Tips & Deadlines [2022-2023]

In my two-decades plus of assisting MIT Sloan Fellows applicants ( successes every year! ), I have seen that the adcom values applicants who, among other things, demonstrate consistent, outstanding impact; are on track to become leaders in their company and even in their industry; and bring to the table a point of view and bold yet nuanced, perceptive verbal expression. While your application as a whole will convey these points about you, the cover letter and video statement present ideal opportunities to make the case affirmatively, directly, and vividly, with examples and details strategically chosen to amplify desired qualities, experiences, and messages.

Optimizing your MIT Sloan Fellows cover letter and video statement

Use the cover letter and video to convey fit with MIT Sloan’s enduring emphasis on admitting students who will be proactive, innovative leaders and agents of change . These items together should create a vibrant, multifaceted view of your candidacy:

• The cover letter serves as a lens, sets the context for understanding your candidacy, and, through the requested examples, delves (albeit briefly) into your experience.

• The video essay is your chance to show your fit with your prospective classmates, your understanding of what value you bring to them, and your social and emotional IQ. This last is important because the adcom wants people who, while being amazing in multiple ways, also can connect with people. Sloan Fellows students are expected to contribute substantially and distinctively among highly accomplished peers.

MIT Sloan Fellows cover letter

This global leadership development program is a 12-month, full-time executive MBA program designed to prepare an elite group of global mid-career managers with the management skills necessary to magnify their impact as leaders and innovators. Our guiding principles are to help you develop critical skills essential for future leaders; to instill a spirit of innovation through exceptional opportunities at Sloan and across MIT; to foster a deep spirit of community among fellows; to provide a breadth of electives and depth through one-on-one relationships with senior faculty; and to offer a flexible curriculum to allow you to tailor the program to meet your specific professional objectives. We accomplish this by maintaining a foundation in our three pillars of: leadership, innovation and global perspective. Taking the above into consideration please submit a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan Fellows MBA Program . Your letter should conform to a standard business correspondence, include one or more examples that illustrate why you meet the desired criteria and be addressed to the Admissions Committee (300 words or less) .

Let’s break this question into two parts:

1. Your fit with the program. This part may include a brief summary of your professional goals (note that the question does NOT specifically ask about goals so don’t overdo this component) in order to contextualize “fit.” This fit should encapsulate aspects of the program’s unique character; be specific about why they are important for you in the future. In addressing this future, frame it more in terms of what you want to achieve, what impact you desire to have, not so much on things like job title. 2. Examples that show you meet the desired criteria. MIT is always interested in what you’ve done (action, not talk), so present 1 or 2 specific examples (at least one fairly recent) of your actions that reflect the stated criteria. Use these examples strategically: selecting ones that let you zoom in on notable, relevant aspects of your experience, expertise, and/or character.

MIT Sloan Fellows video statement

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 seconds) in length • Single take (no editing) • Speaking directly to the camera • Do not include background music or subtitles

First, keep your dual audience in mind: the hypothetical future classmates AND the very real adcom. You need to personally engage the former while also enhancing your candidacy for the latter. Your future classmates will not know your resume, so feel free to sketch your professional portrait but in a way that adds value for the adcom, and keep it short. Do discuss a non-work point or two – something that helps “your personality shine through.” It could be a compelling formative experience, unique geographic or cultural background, important avocation or activity, etc. Think about (a) what will differentiate and distinguish you, and (b) what will represent a contribution in some way.

If you aren’t accustomed to doing video presentations, practice and put some effort into visual elements like background and lighting. Keep the background simple, clean, and uncluttered. Have the light somewhere behind the camera and shining on you.

MIT Sloan Fellows optional short answer question

Applicants are invited to expand on their background by responding to the following optional 250 word 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 identity. Please use this opportunity if you would like to share more about your background. This question is truly optional; applicants will not be evaluated more positively or negatively should they choose to respond. This is an opportunity for you to share more about yourself with the Admissions Committee, should you choose to do so.

This optional essay question differs from most such questions, which direct applicants to use the optional essay to explain things like gaps in resume, lack of supervisor recommendation, or a low grade. This question, in both words and tone, truly invites you to share a relevant dimension of your life that adds meaningful context to your application. I suggest writing it. This essay can complement the cover letter nicely, adding a lens into your motivations and perspective. If you go ahead with it, keep it focused on 1-2 topics only and make it concrete (don’t abstractly explain values and culture, but give actual examples/anecdotes that animate your values and/or represent a cultural influence). This short essay, if done right, will also further demonstrate what you’ll bring to the MIT EMBA table.

Has this blog post helped you feel more confident about approaching your MIT Sloan Fellows application? We hope so. It’s our mission to help smart, talented applicants like you gain acceptance to your dream school. With so much at stake, why not hire a consultant whose expertise and personalized guidance can help you make your dream come true? We have several flexible consulting options— click here to get started today !

MIT Sloan Fellows 2022-2023 application timeline

All applications should be received by 3:00 p.m. EST on the deadline date.

Source: MIT Sloan Fellows website

Related Resources:

EMBA: The Ultimate Guide for Applicants
MIT Sloan EMBA and Sloan Fellows Programs: Move from Success to Significance , a podcast episode
Why Should I Spend Money on an Accepted MBA Admissions Consultant?

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