Harvard Business School Vs. Stanford Graduate School Of Business: Short Vs. Long Application Essays

Deadlines for Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business are fast approaching. Applicants may feel pressed to present themselves authentically in the two schools’ very different application essay formats: the longer, more open-ended form of the GSB and the shorter, more directed form of HBS. Here’s how to pivot from one to the other.

Don’t Confuse HBS and the GSB

The sheer prestige of these two top-ranked schools can blind applicants to their differences, which are reflected in both the form and the content of their application essay prompts.

“If we look at two of the world’s most coveted MBA programs, HBS and GSB, there is a massive difference in approach,” says Eric Lucrezia of Candidate Coach in Paris and board member of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants, by email.

“When asked about which school they should tackle first, my reply has been that Harvard’s brand new, highly targeted essay prompts call for succinct responses, and are probably your best bet to get warmed up,” says Lucrezia.

HBS’ Short Essay Format

Harvard Business School began this MBA application season with a bang by replacing last year’s single, open question with three shorter essay prompts:

Business-Minded Essay:

Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)

Leadership-Focused Essay:

What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)

Growth-Oriented Essay:

Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words)

But short doesn’t necessarily mean easy.

“While the Harvard essays may feel less daunting than before, one still has to plan key messages to communicate,” said Rajdeep Chimni of Admissions Gateway in India, in an email message. “The challenge is to answer the question, share who you are and make the essay interesting all in 250-300 words.”

Still, many applicants will find it easier to get started by answering HBS’ explicit questions.

The Stanford GSB’s Long Essay Format

The Stanford Graduate School of Business is sticking to its tried-and-true essay questions: “What matters to you and why?” and “Why Stanford?”

“Once HBS is buttoned up,” says Lucrezia, “you can turn to Stanford’s more philosophical questions that allow for lengthier essays, now that your writing machine is running smoothly, but be sure to refresh your memory of what matters most to Stanford and why, before you begin.”

What matters most to the Stanford MBA program is made clear in their motto: “Change lives, change organizations, change the world.”

The details of that change are left up to the applicant. Furthermore, applicants themselves must be ready to change. “Find out more about how your time at Stanford can change you,” says the GSB.

The GSB does not expect people to send in an application and then forget their program’s guiding question. The GSB makes it clear: “You will spend two years reflecting on what matters most to you and what kind of contribution you want to make in this world.”

Not only are the questions more open, but the GSB essay lengths are more flexible than those of HBS.

“Both essays combined may not exceed 1,000 words,” says the GSB. “We recommend up to 650 words for Essay A and up to 350 words for Essay B. We often read effective essays that are written in fewer words.”

Leaders vs. Change Agents

These instructions are less directive than HBS’ request that applicants demonstrate that they are business-minded, leadership-focused and growth-oriented. They are also much different in tone.

“HBS and Stanford have different programs, somewhat different values, (focus on leadership vs focus on being a change agent) and very different applications,” writes Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted, one of the oldest admissions consultancies, located in California, by email.

Applicants should keep these differences in mind before deciding that they can just cut their longer essays or splice shorter essays together to fit the required length. “Yes there is some overlap in the essay questions, but the best applications have been produced by applicants who approached each application separately, aiming to show fit with each school,” says Abraham. “After deciding how best to use their essay real estate to demonstrate that fit, then they could borrow from and adapt previously written material.”

The Long And The Short Of It

While the three HBS essays add up to 800 words—roughly the number of words the GSB anticipates—the differences between these two MBA programs show why it would be a mistake for applicants to think strictly in terms of word count. These applications each require serious reflection, but they are not simply long or short versions of one another.