NYU Stern’s MBA program has a highly competitive application process, with top applicants vying to study in the heart of one of the business world’s most important markets: NYC.
To apply, you should first begin by looking into NYU Stern carefully and in-depth. You may note, for example, that NYU places importance on student EQ (the emotional quotient). Also note that NYU offers four MBA programs with one application common to all of them – meaning you can apply to all four at once – though it’s best to only apply to those that best match your goals. For foreign applicants, it’s also important to note that a part-time MBA program cannot justify a visa.
For help with your application to NYU Stern, feel free to contact us.
ESSAYS
Short Answer: Professional Aspirations
(150 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
- What are your short-term career goals?
Whenever explaining your short-term objectives, consider both attractiveness and realizability. NYU will be looking for how your previous experiences and your future education will aid you in succeeding in your professional aims upon graduating. What NYU wants is to see that you understand how to capitalize on your past work, current skill-set, and future education in a logical short-term way. Ideally, you can explain how NYU’s MBA will support these goals. For this, try to identify the skills and tools that you need to improve in order to achieve your objectives, and dig into Stern’s course offering, teaching staff, program structure, etc, to show how specific NYU aspects meet your needs.
Essay 1: Change: _________ it
(350 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
In today’s global business environment, the only constant is change. Using NYU Stern’s brand call to action, we want to know how you view change. Change: _____ it. Fill in the blank with a word of your choice. Why does this word resonate with you? How will you embrace your own personal tagline while at Stern? Examples:
- Change: Dare it.
- Change: Dream it.
- Change: Drive it.
- Change: Empower it.
- Change: Manifest it.
- Change: [Any word of your choice.]
Stern’s new admission question may fluster applicants at first, but keep in mind that what the admissions team is looking for here is to better understand your leadership vision, and how it resonates with the approach you will bring to Stern and beyond. When selecting what verb to use, it may help to think about ways you have acted in the past and what actions you have performed that can justify this as your personal tagline. Thinking to past examples can be a great way to brainstorm, but also a way to list material you can draw upon in your response that explains why the chosen word is relevant and important to you. Of course, it’s important to ensure that your selection and any examples highlight a positive and forward-thinking approach – ideally one that can also resonate with Stern’s own approach.
Essay 2: Personal Expression (a.k.a. “Pick Six”)
Describe yourself to the Admissions Committee and to your future classmates using six images and corresponding captions. Your uploaded PDF should contain all of the following elements:
- A brief introduction or overview of your “Pick Six” (no more than 3 sentences).
- Six images that help illustrate who you are.
- A one-sentence caption for each of the six images that helps explain why they were selected and are significant to you.
Note: Your visuals may include photos, infographics, drawings, or any other images that best describe you. Your document must be uploaded as a single PDF. The essay cannot be sent in physical form or be linked to a website.
Abstract questions that provide a great deal of flexibility are often inherently harder than ones that ask you for a concrete reply. One may feel overwhelmed by the possible ways to answer. Six images with just a small space to introduce them – which do you chose? It may help to first think about that fact that you can display six images of completely different topics (keeping in mind that you’re introducing yourself). With many possible variations, it’s important to take the time to develop a holistic strategy for how to represent yourself. Begin by listing major events, passions, concepts, accomplishments, or individuals in your life. Perhaps ask your family and friends to share what they believe stands out about you; sometimes, those around us can see ourselves more clearly than we can. Seek inspiration from old photo albums – there may be key moments hiding between otherwise mundane images. Once you’ve looked through past images, it may make sense to also consider what you may do in the future and what images could represent those objectives. Once you’ve created a running list of possible images, think about which you can craft into a single narrative. This will help make your final selection a more cohesive and clear representation of yourself.
Essay 3: Additional Information (optional)
(250 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, further explanation of your undergraduate record or self-reported academic transcript(s), plans to retake the GMAT, GRE, Executive Assessment, IELTS or TOEFL, or any other relevant information.
This optional essay should only be used if there are any problems in your profile or application that you feel remain to be addressed. You may be tempted to slide in an essay from another application, or to add in information you may feel lacking elsewhere – but avoid doing so. If you do have issues with your application however, like a period of low grades that are unexplained, do not hesitate to utilize this area to contextualize them and share what you have since done to demonstrate that the issue will not be reproduced in the MBA. If not, NYU may assume the worst for a problem. So try your best to convince Stern that any issues from the past have been made up for — for example, through extra courses taken in the summer that you got As in.
