The document outlines the top 10 mistakes Indians make in their MBA essays. These include not proofreading essays carefully, using too much technical jargon, having ambiguous career goals, quitting a job solely to prepare for the GMAT, focusing too much on situations and not enough on learning, poor essay structure, copying directly from business school websites, providing vague answers for why a particular business school, lacking leadership experiences, and not establishing a clear personal brand across all application materials. The author advises applicants to avoid these mistakes in order to strengthen their MBA applications.

1. Top 10 Mistakes
IndiansmakeinMBAessays
ManishaMisra

2. WhoamI?
- Dog lover
- Voracious reader
- Yoga enthusiast
- Businesswoman
- Change management consultant
But what would matter most to
you:
- GMAT 760
- Alumni HEC Paris
- Admission Consultant

3. MBA:A lifechangingdecision
It gives an opportunity to re-evaluate your life, both from a professional &
personal aspect.

4. The 2nd steptowards MBA–application
Sometimes, it’s the first step. And there is not hard and fast rule on which
aspect of getting to the B school you should target first.

5. Mistake#1: Notproof reading theessays
•Rule of thumb: NO spelling mistakes, NO typos, NO grammatical errors in the essays.
•Read your essays aloud, so that what your eyes havemissed, your ears can catch.
•Take help from your friends, parents, siblings, or the CV team to proofread again for you.

6. Mistake#2: Gettingtootechnical/using jargon
•Do notassume that the person reading your essay knows about your industry, and its
lingo.
•Do not get too technical.
•Write for the layman/outsider.
•Do notcrowd the essay with management jargon in orderto impress the adcom.

7. Mistake#3: Ambiguousgoals
•What’ worse than notknowing what you want to do with your life –notknowing it well
enough!
•If you yourself are not sure, how will you convince the adcom – at best, you will sound
confused, and at worst, desperate to just makeit to the US/Europe
•If you want to get into strategy consulting, tell the adcom how did you arrive at this
decision, howwill your experience, your academicqualifications and/oryourinclinations
will help you make the transition, and how will this particular school will help you get
there.

8. Mistake#4: Quittingjobs toprepare for GMAT
A careergap is not a deal breaker.However, you should take into cognizance the following
• Do nothave the Ostrich syndrome –you don’t mention the break and hopethat adcom
will overlook the gap
• Explain the break in eitherone of your essays or in the section where they ask you to
tell them moreabout you.
• Taking a break is your decision and adcomdoesn’t judge you for doing that. However,
taking a break to preparefor GMAT is nottaken particularly well by adcom.

9. Mistake#5: Notfocusingon the learning
•We tend to get into far too much detail about a situation and its background, but don’t
pay as much emphasis onthe learning.
•The takeaways section is arguably the most important part of your essay.
•This sectionis what tells the adcom who you are, rather than what you do.

10. Mistake#6: Notstructuringtheessay well
•The idea/s in the essay should flow from one paragraph to another
•Start with a list of topics you want to deal with in each paragraph.
•Tie the last sentence of the previous paragraph with the first one of the next paragraph.
•Explore & develop your ideas –do not leavethem unfinished.

11. Mistake#7: Copying fromtheB-school website
•In orderto prove‘fitment’ , don’t rip entire chunks of text from the B-school website and
try to fit it into your essay.
•Borrow themes from the B-school website, by all means –but do NOT copy-paste.

12. Mistake#8: Vagueanswers to‘whyB-school’
•Your answer for ‘why a particular B-school’ has to indicate that you’ve really done your
research well.
•Get as specific as you can–talk about which club, which professor, what past companies,
which geography interests you pertaining to that school
•Test your answerby replacing the B-school name with another. If your points still hold
true,then its an indication that your answer is notspecific enough.

13. Mistake#9: Noleadershipexperience
•Volunteering is great,with orwithout the MBA application in the picture.
•But B schools are not really interested in your concern for the poor –they want to seethe
leadership you have demonstrated.
•Forexample, donating blood is notimpressive from the adcom’s point of view, however,
organizing a blood donation drive in your school/housing society/office is definitely worth
a mention. And, don’t forget toinclude your learning!

14. Mistake#10: Nopersonalbranding
•There arevarious parts of the application – most notably the essays, resume and
recommendations
•Don’t make the mistake of considering them as distinct, stand-alone aspects
•Make sure these aspect tie together to form your ‘personal brand’
–Do your essays have commonthemes?
–Do the experiences and skills in your essay align with your resume?
–Do your recommendation letters verify your achievements?
•This would also help you identify repetitions in your application.