Engaging with shifting landscapes in MBA application processes, John Byrne, Caroline Diarte Edwards, and Maria Wich-Vila delve into the latest updates from Chicago Booth and Dartmouth Tuck. For MBA hopefuls, staying abreast of these changes is crucial. This week, the discussion zeroes in on Booth’s revamped essay prompts, offering a fresh challenge: candidates must now choose from a set of four evocative photos that embody Booth’s core values, crafting a narrative around how these visuals resonate with their personal principles.

Caroline highlights the unique nature of Booth’s essay requirements this year, where the typical word limit is replaced with a minimum, encouraging applicants to thoughtfully balance depth and conciseness. The photos range from energetic student gatherings to scenes of academic inquiry, prompting candidates to reflect on their alignment with Booth’s community ethos. Maria adds that while this exercise echoes Booth’s past unconventional essay formats, it also aims to instill reflective thinking and potentially safeguards against formulaic AI-generated responses.

For those eyeing an MBA, understanding these nuances could be pivotal. The conversation underscores Booth’s emphasis on individualism and thoughtful engagement, making it essential for applicants to align their essays not just with personal experiences, but with the values these scenarios depict. With these insights, potential candidates can better navigate the evolving demands of elite business school applications, crafting responses that truly resonate with their chosen schools’ missions.

Episode Transcript

Note: This transcript was generated by AI and may contain minor inaccuracies.

[00:00:06] – John

Well, hello, everyone. This is John Byrne with Poets & Quants. Welcome to business Casual, our weekly podcast with my co-host, Caroline Diarte Edwards and Maria Wigvilla. We have the final MBA application deadlines from Chicago Booth, along with a change in one of their key essays for applicants in this admission season. Chicago Booth is the last M7 school to post application deadline dates. Although Wharton, which posted their dates a lot earlier, has yet to revise their essay questions, and we’re thinking that they very much will. Tuck also did some tweaking on their essay prompts. Caroline, want to talk about what’s new?

[00:00:59] – Caroline

Sure. Sure. Yeah. So for Chicago Booth, they have kept the essay. Essay one is the same, but essay two has completely changed. So last year, that essay was an invitation to tell us something more about who you are. So a classic personal introduction prompt. And this year, where they have some photos which represents some of the values upheld by Chicago Booth. So there are four photos which they don’t describe, so they just let you observe those pictures, and then they ask… So the prompt is, Chicago Booth appreciates the individual experiences and perspectives that all of our students bring to our community. This respect for different viewpoints creates an open-minded environment that supports curiosity, inspires us to think more broadly and take risks. At Booth, community is about collaborative thinking and learning from one another to better ourselves, our ideas, and the world around us. The photos below represent some of the values described above that we uphold. Select one and share how it resonates with one of your own values. It’s really about your personal values. Interestingly with Booth, they don’t have a word limit. They have a word minimum. So it’s 250 words minimum for both of the essays.

[00:02:28] – Caroline

I think that’s quite interesting and unusual among business schools, because normally you get a maximum number of words. So I think candidates have to be careful not to go on and on. And you could give yourself enough rope to hang yourself with if you go way beyond 250 words, I would say about 500 words is probably sufficient for most people. But the photos that they offer. So one, show some cheering booth students at a sports game. The second one shows a student with his hand up in a classroom. And then in the background, you can see other students looking curiously at this student who’s about to share something in the classroom. And the third photo is of a group of students. They look to be at a party or celebrating something. Looks like some celebration. They look very happy. They’re also quite a diverse group of students. And then the fourth photo is from the Booth Venture Competition. And they have an accelerator at Booth, and it looks like a group has won a very large award, and they’re holding a huge check. So they’ve clearly just won the venture competition. Those are the four photos that you can use as inspiration.

[00:03:55] – John

Wow. Marie, what do you make of this idea of commenting on photographs?

[00:04:01] – Maria

Yeah, it’s really interesting. This is a variation. They did used to have a very similar question, I believe in 2017 and 2018, where they gave, first of all, some differences. They gave you more pictures before to choose from. I believe it was either six or eight. And also the pictures, it wasn’t just the picture by itself. It was the Instagram post. So there was some verbiage describing a little bit more about the picture. And I think the most material difference is that it said, The following is a collection of shared booth moments. Choose the moment that resonates with you and tell us why, versus now the question is a bit more specific. It’s about which value resonates most with you. So four, it was a little bit more open-ended, like how does it resonate with you? But it was open-ended, and now it’s more specific in terms of which of these values represented. So the pictures themselves are more open-ended, but the question is more constrained. And so, yeah, I think it’s really interesting. I thought that it was always, at least the University of Chicago on the undergraduate level has always been famous for having some of the most unique and dare I say, quirky admissions essays out of all the undergraduate schools.

[00:05:15] – Maria

And so back when Booth used to have this as one of its MBA essays, it fit that brand of we’re independent thinkers, we forge our own paths. And so it’s interesting to see this back again, because I Do you think that it resonates with the overall University of Chicago brand. And I also can’t help but wonder if this is an attempt for them to, in some way, try to AI proof on some level the responses to this question, or at least adding a little bit more cognitive load or a little bit more thinking that has to go into it as opposed to a mere essay prompt.

[00:05:53] – John

Right. I guess you could upload one of these photographs, copy it, and put it in ChatGPT and ask ChatGPT to still write an essay, I imagine, right?

[00:06:03] – Maria

Yeah. I get. But tell me what my values are. I guess. Good luck. You’re doomed.

[00:06:13] – John

Yeah. Now, Caroline, what are they actually looking for? What’s your advice to an applicant going to complete that prompt?

[00:06:23] – Caroline

Yeah. I think, first of all, something to keep in mind is I don’t think there’s any particular photo or individual value that is better than another choice. So it’s really about what resonates the most with you. And given that there are four different photos, and I think you could attribute a few different values to each photo, then I think gives you considerable scope here. You could talk about themes of community spirit, of camaraderie, of intellectual curiosity, of learning from others. You could talk about and relationships and cross-cultural connections and inclusion. Then, of course, with the the venture challenge photo, you could talk about innovation or entrepreneurship or something that you’ve won or an example of successful teamwork. I think it’s nice that there’s a lot of scope here. I would encourage candidates to take some time before they dive in to really think about what are the values that you want to convey, and then what are your own values, and where do those values align with Booth’s values, and what is represented in those photos. It does require some deep reflection. As Maria said, I don’t think that’s something you can outsource to AI.

[00:07:46] – Caroline

You really need to take the time to think about it carefully yourself. Then I think it’s an opportunity to tell a personal story, to reveal something about your background that might not be apparent from your resume or from your recommendations or from other parts of your application. It’s an opportunity to give the school a glimpse into something that is perhaps unique to your background, to your life experience, to professional experience. I think that it’s a nice way of giving them a glimpse of who you are and what makes you tick. I think that’s what they’re looking for. They’re looking to get to understand the individual behind the facts and figures of your resume, given as well that this is a replacement for the essay that they had last year, which was asking you to introduce yourself. So I think in some ways, the intention here is similar, that they’re looking to really get a better sense for the individual beyond the the the headlines of their achievements that are apparent elsewhere in the application.

[00:08:55] – John

So if you’re a would be entrepreneur, you’d pick photo four. If you’re just a party goer, you’d you pick number three. If you’re studious and you really are serious about the academic experience, you pick two. Number one is another ra-ra thing, isn’t it?

[00:09:10] – Caroline

It’s something for everybody there.

[00:09:12] – John

Exactly. Now, Maria, What do you make of the fact that there is a minimum to answer this question? But unlike most essay prompts that have a limit, a word limit, this one doesn’t.

[00:09:28] – Maria

I love things like this because I think it really gives candidates a lot of rope to potentially hang themselves with. And so I think that when there’s a word minimum, then part of what you’re judging, in addition to the content itself, is this person’s judgment and their self-awareness. I guarantee you that every year, I’m sure someone out there sees a 250-word minimum, and they go on to submit 5,000 words or a 20-page manifesto about why Booth. And they might think, Aha, I’m impressing them with how much research I’ve done, when in fact, you’re really showing that you don’t understand how to put yourself in another person’s shoes, and you don’t understand how to get to the… How to synthesize your argument in a compelling and brief way. So I love when they do things like this, because I think that it’s a small way to try to weed people out who might be very pompous or who might not understand, Hey, this admissions officer is not only reading just my application. They have other people’s to read, too. I’m not the only person in the applicant pool, so maybe I should say what I need to say, but say it in as brief and impactful way as possible.

[00:10:39] – John

So while there’s no official limit, you would say, Do not go over how many words.

[00:10:45] – Maria

I think Caroline said this a minute ago, and I actually agree. I think 500 usually is enough. Maybe 750 at the absolute. I mean, if you really got a good story or a couple of stories that have to be told in that amount of words. But yeah, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t go too far beyond 500.

[00:11:02] – John

This is really pretty rare. I mean, the last time something like this occurred was at Harvard Business School, which for a few years in their question about, Tell us more about yourself that you haven’t told us already in your application. In the early years of that question, there was no word limit on it, and then a word limit was imposed. But really, schools tend not to do this because, of course, they don’t want their readers to be inundated with, let me put it as word vomit. You’re right, it is revealing in many ways because when you don’t have a limit on the number of words to answer a prompt, you can go off into a Netherlands and really destroy your chances of getting accepted, I would think. Now, the other school that’s tweaked an essay question is Dartmouth Tuck. Caroline, you notice this, and it’s more keeping with the ban on DEI in the United States because they took out some diversity and inclusion language, I gather. Although the question is relatively similar, if not identical, in fact, without using those words that are now verbotim, according to the Trump administration, right?

[00:12:26] – Caroline

Yes, indeed. So they’ve made a few tweaks here and there. They also made a change to their first essay, which was and still is about why you’re pursuing an MBA and why now, and how Tuck will help you achieve your goals. They’ve added an additional part to the question, which is what particular aspects of Tuck will be instrumental in your growth. So they really want to understand that you have done your research and that you’ve engaged with the community and that you have a strong sense of your personal fit. Of course, it’s very important to Tuck, and I think they’re just adding an extra signal there that that is critical to that particular question. Then they’ve made a tweak to the other two essays. The second essay was and It remains, Tell us who you are, how have your values and experiences shaped your identity and character? Then last year, it then continued, How will your background contribute to the diverse Tuck culture and community? Now that part has been changed to, how will your unique background contribute to Tuck and/or enhance the experience of your classmates? I’m not sure that saying that there was a diverse Tuck culture community was so offensive, even to the Trump administration, honestly.

[00:13:53] – Caroline

But I think schools are all trying to be very, very careful about their language, of course. And that word diversity, as you said, is not flavor of the month. So they have taken that out. I don’t think it changes the values of the schools, and hopefully the school will still be as diverse as it has been. And we’ve talked before about how that diversity contributes so much to the classroom experience for everybody. So I’m sure that they are still working very hard to craft a diverse class. So that’s something to keep in mind. But of course, they’re just not putting in that question as such a clear signpost as they did previously. And then essay three has changed a little bit. So the old question was, describe a time you meaningfully contributed to someone else’s sense of inclusion in your professional or personal community. So of course, inclusion is another one of those very dangerous words these days. So the new question is, describe a time when you meaningfully invested in someone else’s success without immediate benefit to yourself. What motivated you and what was the impact? So as you said, I don’t think the meaning has changed hugely, but it’s a bit of a broader question, and they’re looking to understand how you’ve lifted somebody else up, how you’ve supported someone else in their development when it wasn’t something that was just your own personal game.

[00:15:25] – Caroline

And of course, Tuck is very much about community and supporting each other. It’s an incredibly tight knit community. And so they’re looking for people who will be outstanding team players and really great contributors to the overall experience for their classmates.

[00:15:45] – John

So here’s an interesting question. Maria, maybe you can take this. So if a school eliminates these words that have now become loaded due to Trump policies, like diversity and inclusion, should an applicant use those words in answering a prompt?

[00:16:03] – Maria

I think if it flows organically and naturally as part of your answer, then I don’t see any reason to leave it out. I think it’s fine if it’s included in your response. In some ways, it’s a welcome thing for me that this is being removed in some ways from the essay question itself, only because I think in the past, when there were words like diversity in the question, people would then feel, Well, I I have to mention the word diversity in my answer. Sometimes they would really try to pretzel and horse shit, really try to twist the story around to force the word diversity into it, even though it was an excellent story, it just didn’t It just so happened to not be a super diversity type of story, but they would try to shoehorn it in. I have to put the word diversity in there. Of course. It became artificial in some ways. I think if flows naturally, and that’s part of your answer, then yeah, I would absolutely still keep it in. I don’t think that… It’s radioactive for adcoms for the reasons that I think are obvious to all of us, but I don’t think it’s radioactive for applicants to use.

[00:17:13] – John

Yeah, because the essay prompts will be seen by certain people in Washington, and your answer to them will not.

[00:17:22] – Maria

Right. Or an AI, someone at Doge scraping the websites. Isn’t that how they were doing it for government website? Exactly. So either way.

[00:17:34] – John

Now, Marie, what’s your advice on how to handle these questions at Tuck?

[00:17:39] – Maria

As Caroline said, I don’t know that these are enormous, huge changes. I still think that they are essentially the same question with a few tweaks here and there. And I think the other thing to think about is even if the questions are different, if someone were to perceive these as a material difference, which I don’t think they are, the people working at Tuck, it’s still the same people, and they’re still looking for the same thing that they have been looking for for years now. So these are not big changes, but even if they were, I would not radically change my approach to Tuck only because Tuck is a school with such a strong value system. And the people that work there have been working there for years, and they live and breathe and embody that value system as well. So I would not really change my approach to Tuck in any material way.

[00:18:29] – John

Yeah. And I would think that that’s probably the right approach, right?

[00:18:36] – Caroline

Yes, I agree. As Maria said, it’s the same people evaluating the application, and their values haven’t changed, the school’s values haven’t changed. But as Maria said, the prompts are slightly broader than they were in the past, so that gives you a bit more scope, which is not unwelcome at all. I think that Tuck is looking really as with Booth, they’re looking to understand who you are beyond your resume. They’re looking for you to tell a bit of your personal story here. You’ve got three different essays where you can showcase different aspects of your background. I think that It gives candidates an opportunity to give the school a sense of who they are and hopefully pique their interest. Of course, your goal with the essays is always to pique the interest of the a while reader so that they want to learn more about you. And how are they going to learn more about you? Or they’re going to invite you to interview. So you can tell some personal stories and keep it grounded in conveying what your values are, what your goals are, and as we said as well with the BOOF essays, you need to do some deep reflection as well before you dive into these essays.

[00:19:53] – Caroline

You need to think carefully about what it is that the key messages are, the key messages that you want to get across in these essays, and what you want the file readers to remember when they reviewed your application.

[00:20:09] – John

The round one deadline for Chicago Booth is September 16th, which is roughly two weeks after Harvard Business School’s round one deadline. The round one deadline at Dartmouth Tuck is September 25th. You have a little more time for that because there’s a slew of deadlines that are occurring before those dates, including those at Berkeley, Yale, Duke, Kellogg, Stanford, Georgetown, Michigan, UVA, Columbia, Wharton, and onwards. So there you go. For all of you out there who intend to apply this cycle, good luck to you. I’m sure you’re using the summer months to polish up your essays and get them ready for those September deadlines. And if you want to just a quick check on what schools are asking, look up at Poets & Quants 2025, 2026, MBA Application Deadlines at Leading Business Schools. We have the complete and up to date list. As soon as the school comes out with their numbers and with their essays, we update this list continuously. So check in and see when a school wants your application. This is John Burner with Poets & Quants. Thanks for listening.