As an opportunity to present your distinctive qualities, your essays are an important part of your MBA application. You will be asked to submit your personal statements online with the balance of your application materials. Essays should be single-spaced. Please limit your response to the length indicated.

All applicants must submit answers to four essay questions. The first two questions are required of all applicants. The remaining two essays should be in response to your choice of the next four sub-questions.

Joint program applicants for the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School must provide an additional essay.

ESSAYS:

Essay 1- What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)

This is practically Harvard's signature question. It has been around for years, and it goes to the heart of Harvard's values. HBS wants highly accomplished individuals entering its program. It wants leaders.

At least one and probably two of the three accomplishments should show leadership and/or teamwork with the emphasis being on leadership. I also like to have this essay reveal breadth. My ideal would be to have one professional, one community, and one personal accomplishment in this essay, but that breakdown is neither set in stone nor imperative.

Finally, realize that the "why" is as important as the "what." Think about why you view those events as "substantial accomplishments," and concisely convey those reasons in your response.

Essay 2- What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)

People of initiative err. They must learn from those mistakes to be effective leaders.

A friend went to her daughter's graduation and quoted the valedictory address, "In school you learn lessons and then take tests. In life, you have tests and then learn lessons." If you view your mistakes as experiments, lessons, or tests, you can grow and make sure you don't repeat the failures. Show HBS through this essay that you are the kind of person who learns from your mistakes.

Again, try to have this question reveal you making your mistake, preferably in a leadership capacity, and applying lessons learned in a sphere of your life not covered by other essays. In the best HBS applications, each essay uncovers a different facet of the applicant and his or her experience. Together they paint a portrait of a dynamic, talented leader with initiative and exceptional ability. 

Essay 3-Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):

1- What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?

This question was originally mandatory, but has been optional for the last several years. When introduced, I thought it was going to produce monotonous, boring essays, but it didn't. To my pleasant surprise, I reviewed several of these essays as part of our quality control program, and they were revealing, excellent essays. They have remained so.

This question reflects Harvard's interest in early career applicants and really gives them a chance to shine. This essay also can give you an opportunity to show a pattern of leadership over time, especially if you are not an early career applicant.

Obviously responses will vary depending on your experience and the rest of your application, but my ideal answer discusses a leadership experience from your undergrad career to show that you are a natural leader with a history of leadership. Remember: HBS wants to develop leaders, not create them.

2- What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

Harvard is one of the few top business schools that has made the goals question optional. And even this one is a little different than the typical "What do you want to do and why do you want to do it?" The interesting twist to Harvard's question is "career vision." Reflecting Harvard's focus on strategy, Harvard is asking you to develop your career strategy and discuss its importance to you. But don't leave your answer entirely on a theoretical plane. Bring it down to earth with your plan for implementing that vision. In other words writing that you seek "a career leading an innovative enterprise, providing work-life balance, and allowing me the opportunity to contribute to my community" sounds great. But it will also sound a lot like other people's visions. You need to have some idea of how to achieve that vision, define it more narrowly, and explain why it resonates with you.

For more on the concept of vision, please see "The Parable of the Three Stone Masons." I believe that HBS is attempting to identify those who are like the third stonemason -- perhaps with less religious fervor but with well... that kind of vision. They are still working hard, with feet on the ground, but they radiate enthusiasm for a distant goal and pride in their ability to contribute to something much larger than themselves.

3- Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.

This question replaces last year's question about difficult decisions and is both a little broader and narrower than its predecessor.  It is broader in the sense that frustration and disappointment can stem from situations that you have little control over. Your decision may not have been a factor at all. (Think of those people stuck at airports or in foreign cities because of the Iceland volcano. Lots of frustration and disappointment; Almost no control or decision-making ability.) It's narrower in the sense that it is limited to your "professional experience."

Back to the question. Where in your professional life have you experienced frustration or disappointment? More importantly, how did your react? Did you calmly analyze your options? Control your emotions or perhaps channel that negative energy into an effective response that eliminated the cause of the frustration and disappointment? Did you rally your colleagues? Put the source of frustration in perspective and thereby shrink the challenge? How did you handle it?

4- When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?

This too is a new question, albeit a variation on last year's question that asked you to introduce yourself to the Admissions Board.

Have some fun with this question. You can choose to reflect a non-professional and non-academic side of you here, because most of the other questions are fairly directed to work and school. You can also use this essay to show that you have researched extra-curricular life at HBS.  Would you seek someone to train with you for your next triathlon, perhaps participating in the Triathlon Club? Would you be interested in finding travel mates for one of Harvard's Global, Field-Based Immersions? Which of the 70+ clubs appeal to you? Would you ask your classmates to meet for coffee and perhaps discuss an idea for a new conference or club? Would you take an entirely different approach and discuss something having nothing to do with HBS?

If you would like help with your Harvard MBA application, please consider Accepted's MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or a Harvard MBA School Package, which includes advising, essay editing, interview coaching, and a resume edit for the Harvard MBA application.

Final suggestion, actually from Dee Leopold, Director of Harvard's MBA Admissions, watch the video Inside the HBS Case Method.

Harvard HBS 2011 MBA Application Deadlines