Business School Rankings

Top MBA Programs

One of the most common errors made by MBA applicants is failing to properly research a program, and subsequently failing to write essays tailored to the individual school. At Veritas Prep, we have consultants from all of the top schools to make sure you have the expertise you need. Please learn more by selecting schools of interest below.

Business Schools
Chicago (Booth)	Columbia	Dartmouth (Tuck)
Duke (Fuqua)	Harvard	INSEAD
Michigan (Ross)	MIT (Sloan)	Northwestern (Kellogg)
NYU (Stern)	Penn (Wharton)	Stanford
UC Berkeley (Haas)	UCLA (Anderson)	Yale

Top 20 Business Schools Ranked By...

Veritas Prep Business School Rankings

 

Tier 1	Harvard, Stanford, Wharton
Tier 2	Kellogg, Booth, LBS, Sloan, INSEAD
Tier 3	Haas, Tuck, Columbia, Yale, Ross, Anderson, Fuqua

Application Round Deadlines

Berkeley Haas Admissions Essays

Required Essays

1. What brings you the greatest joy? How does this make you distinctive? (250 words)
2. What is your most significant accomplishment? (250 words)
3. Describe a time when you questioned an established practice or thought within an organization. How did your actions create positive change? (250 words)
4. Describe a time when you were a student of your own failure. What specific insight from this experience has shaped your development? (250 words)
5. Describe a time when you led by inspiring or motivating others toward a shared goal. (250 words)
6. a. What are your post-MBA short-term and long-term career goals? How have your professional experiences prepared you to achieve these goals? b. How will an MBA from Haas help you achieve these goals? (1,000 words)

Optional Essays

1. Please feel free to provide a statement concerning any information you would like to add to your application that you haven’t addressed elsewhere.
2. If not clearly evident, please discuss ways in which you have demonstrated strong quantitative abilities, or plan to strengthen quantitative abilities. You do not need to list courses that appear on your transcript.

Chicago Booth Admissions Essays

1. What are your short- and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them? (600 words)
2. At Chicago Booth, we believe each individual has his or her own leadership style. How has your family, culture, and/or environment influenced you as a leader? (750 words)
3. Considering what you’ve already included in the application, what else should we know about you? In a maximum of four slides, tell us about yourself. (No word limit, four pages max)

Columbia Business School Admissions Essays

1. Short-Answer Question: What is your post-MBA professional goal? (200 characters maximum)
2. Considering your post-MBA and long term professional goals, why are you pursuing an MBA at this point in your career? Additionally, why is Columbia Business School a good fit for you? (750 words maximum)
3. Describe a life experience that has shaped you. The goal of this essay is to get a sense of who you are, rather than what you have achieved professionally. (500 words maximum)
4. For the third essay, please choose one of the following three options: (250 words maximum)
   • The annual A. Lorne Weil Outrageous Business Plan Competition is a student initiative managed and run by the Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO). The competition encourages Columbia MBA students to explore creative, entrepreneurial ideas that are sufficiently ambitious in scope and scale to be considered “outrageous.” Students explore these ideas while learning firsthand what goes into the development and presentation of a solid business proposal. Develop your own outrageous business idea. In essay form, compose your elevator pitch.
   • Columbia deeply values its vibrant student community, the building of which begins at orientation when admitted students are assigned to clusters of 65 to 70 fellow students who take most of the first-year core classes together. During the first weeks of school, each cluster selects a cluster chair. Further strengthening the student community are the more than 100 active student organizations at Columbia Business School, ranging from cultural to professional to community service–oriented. Leadership positions within clusters and clubs offer hands-on management and networking opportunities for students as they interact with fellow students, administrators, faculty members, alumni, and practitioners. You are running for either cluster chair or a club leadership position of your choosing. Compose your campaign speech.
   • Founded nearly three decades ago, the Executives in Residence Program at Columbia Business School integrates senior executives into the life of the School. Current executives in residence include more than a dozen experts in areas ranging from media and investment banking to private equity and management. A hallmark of the program is one-on-one counseling sessions in which executives advise students about their prospective career choices. Select one of the current executives in residence with whom you would like to meet during your time at Columbia. Explain your selection and tell us how you would best utilize your half hour one-on-one session.

Dartmouth Tuck Admissions Essays

1. Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you? (If you are applying for a joint or dual degree, please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)
2. Discuss your most meaningful leadership experience. What did you learn about your own individual strengths and weaknesses through this experience?
3. Describe a circumstance in your life in which you faced adversity, failure, or setback. What actions did you take as a result and what did you learn from this experience?
4. Tuck seeks candidates of various backgrounds who can bring new perspectives to our community. How will your unique personal history, values, and/or life experiences contribute to the culture at Tuck?

Duke Fuqua Admissions Essays

1. Describe your vision for your career and your inspiration for pursuing this career path.
2. How will your background, values, and non-work activities enhance the experience of other Duke MBA students and add value to Fuqua’s diverse culture?
3. Why Duke? (If you are interested in a specific concentration, joint degree, clubs or activities, please discuss how you would contribute to these in this essay.)

Harvard Business School Admissions Essays

1. Tell us about three of your accomplishments. (600-word limit)
2. Tell us three setbacks you have faced. (600-word limit)
3. Why do you want an MBA? (400-word limit)
4. Answer a question you wish we’d asked. (400-word limit)

INSEAD Admissions Essays

Job Description Essays

1. Briefly summarise your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work, major responsibilities, and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, clients/ products and results achieved. (250 words)
2. Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)
3. If you are currently not working, what are you doing and what do you plan to do until you start the MBA programme? (250 words)

Main Essays

1. Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors, which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary.(600 words maximum)
2. Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date (if possible specify one personal and one professional), explaining why you view them as such. (400 words maximum)
3. Describe a situation taken from your personal or professional life where you failed. Discuss what you learned. (400 words maximum)
4. a) Discuss your short and long term career goals. (300 words maximum) and b) How will studying at INSEAD help you achieve your vision? (250 words maximum)
5. Please choose one of the following two essay topics: (250 words maximum)
   • Have you ever experienced culture shock? What insights did you gain?
   • Describe the ways in which a foreigner in your country might experience culture shock.

Kellogg School of Management Admissions Essays

1. Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing an MBA. (600 words)
2. Describe your key leadership experiences and evaluate what leadership areas you hope to develop through your MBA experiences. (600 words)
3. Assume you are evaluating your application from the perspective of a student member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Why would you and your peers select you for admission, and what impact would you make as a member of the Kellogg community? (600 words)
4. Complete one of the following three questions or statements. (400 words)
   • Describe a time when you had to inspire a reluctant individual or group.
   • People may be surprised to learn that I...
   • The riskiest personal or professional decision I ever made was…
5. For re-applicants only: Since your previous application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? (400 words)

Michigan Ross Admissions Essays

1. Introduce yourself to your future Ross classmates in 100 words or less.
2. Describe your career goals. How will an MBA from Ross help you to achieve those goals? What is your vision for how you can make a unique contribution to the Ross community? (500 words maximum)
3. Describe a time in your career when you were frustrated or disappointed. What did you learn from that experience? (500 word maximum)
4. Select one of the following questions: (300 word maximum)
   • Option A: What are you most passionate about?
   • Option B: Describe a personal challenge or obstacle and why you view it as such. How have you dealt with it? What have you learned from it?
5. (Optional) Is there anything else you think the Admissions Committee should know about you to evaluate your candidacy? (500 words maximum)

MIT Sloan Admissions Essays

1. Prepare a cover letter seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Describe your accomplishments and include an example of how you had an impact on a group or organization. Your letter should conform to standard business correspondence and be addressed to Mr. Rod Garcia, Director of MBA Admissions. (500 words)
2. Please describe a time when you went beyond what was defined, expected, established, or popular. (500 words/one page max)
3. Please describe a time when you convinced an individual or group to accept one of your ideas. (500 words/one page max)
4. Please describe a time when you had to make a decision without having all the information you needed. (500 words/one page max)

NYU Stern Admissions Essays

Professional Aspirations (750 words)

Think about the decisions you have made in your life. Answer the following:

• What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
• Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
• What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?

Your Stern Experience (500 words)

We take great care to shape the Stern community with individuals who possess both intellectual and interpersonal strengths. We seek individuals who are highly intelligent, collaborative, and committed to flourishing as Stern leaders. Please answer the following questions:

• What is your personal experience with the Stern community? Tell us what actions you have taken to learn about us.
• Describe what most excites you about Stern from both an academic and extracurricular perspective.
• How do you anticipate making your mark on the Stern community? Be specific about the roles you will take on and the impact you hope to achieve.

Personal Expression

Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use almost any method to convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative. If you submit a written essay, it should be 500 words maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font. If you submit a video or audio file, it should be five minutes maximum. (See the Stern website for additional instructions.)

Stanford Graduate School of Business Admissions Essays

1. What matters most to you, and why? (the GSB recommends about 750 of the 1,800 total words be devoted to this question)
2. What do you want to do – REALLY – and why Stanford? (no limit; the GSB recommends writing 450 words for this question)
3. Answer two of the four questions below. Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years.
   • Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.
   • Option B: Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization.
   • Option C: Tell us about a time when you generated support from others for an idea or initiative.
   • Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined or established.

UCLA Anderson Admissions Essays

Requried Essays

1. What events or people have had the greatest influence in shaping your character and why? (750 words)
2. Describe your short-term and long-term career goals. What is your motivation for pursuing an MBA now and how will UCLA Anderson help you to achieve your goals? (750 words)

Optional Essay

1. Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words)

Wharton Admissions Essays

Required Essay

1. What are your professional objectives? (300 words)

Respond to 2 of the following 3 questions:

1. Reflect on a time when you turned down an opportunity. What was the thought process behind your decision? Would you make the same decision today? (600 words)
2. Discuss a time when you faced a challenging interpersonal experience. How did you navigate the situation and what did you learn from it? (600 words)
3. “Innovation is central to our culture at Wharton. It is a mentality that must encompass every aspect of the School - whether faculty research, teaching or alumni outreach.” - Thomas S. Robertson, Dean, The Wharton School. Keeping this component of our culture in mind, discuss a time when you have been innovative in your personal or professional life? (600 words)

Yale School of Management Admissions Essays

Four Short Answers (150 words each)

1. What are your professional goals immediately after you receive your MBA?
2. What are your long-term career aspirations?
3. Why are you choosing to pursue an MBA? (If you plan to use your Yale MBA to make a significant change in the nature of your career, please tell us what you have done to prepare for this transition.)
4. The intentions of our students to engage in a broad-minded business school community and to connect to an eminent and purposeful university greatly influence the Yale MBA experience. How do you plan to be involved in the Yale SOM and greater Yale communities?

Two Personal Statements (500 words each)

Choose two (2) of the following topics and answer them in essay form. Please indicate the topic numbers at the beginning of your essays.

1. At the Yale School of Management, we believe the world needs leaders who:
   • Understand organizations, teams, networks and the complex nature of leadership;
   • Understand markets and competition in different contexts; and
   • Understand the diversity of economies throughout the world and the relationships between business and society.
   What experiences have you had that demonstrate your strength in one or more of these areas?
2. What is the most difficult feedback you have received from another person or the most significant weakness you perceive in yourself? What steps have you taken to address it and how will business school contribute to this process?
3. Imagine yourself meeting your learning team members for the first time in Orientation. What is the most important thing your teammates should know about you?
4. Required for reapplicants: What steps have you taken to improve your candidacy since your last application?