MBA Whisperer® offers bespoke test preparation and MBA admissions consulting services, enabling accomplished professionals to “dream their impossible dream.” It was founded by Travis Morgan, a former television journalist, MBA alumnus & admissions interviewer, and Director of Admissions Consulting for the world's largest privately-held test prep and admissions consulting company at the time. Travis brings his unique brand of enthusiasm and energy paired with 17 years of test preparation and admissions consulting insights to elevate each client’s experience.
New 2024-2025 Harvard Business School Essay Prompts
For the first time in over a decade, Harvard Business School significantly changed its admissions essays and criteria in its 2024-2025 application. Under the leadership of new Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Rupal Gadhia, the school has also reframed the criteria on which the Admissions Board evaluates candidates. For many years, the criteria had been: 1) a habit of leadership, 2) analytical aptitude and appetite, and 3) engaged community citizenship. The 2024-2025 admissions essays align with the school’s new criteria: 1) business-minded, 2) leadership-focused, and 3) growth-oriented.
The new 2024-2025 Harvard Business School essay prompts are as follows:
1. 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)
2. 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)
3. 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)
While the essay prompts and evaluation criteria have been adjusted, the characteristics of a successful Harvard Business School candidate have not fundamentally changed. Rather, the essay prompts and refined criteria now signal with greater clarity what the HBS Admissions Board really looks for in candidates. The important question as an applicant is how you can show them that you have what it takes! We at MBA Whisperer believe that analyzing previous essays from successful candidates remains a valuable tool to identify the key elements of a successful Harvard Business School essay.
Successful Harvard Business School Essay
Essay prompt: As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School program? [no word limit]
When I was eight, my oldest brother went to prison for armed robbery of a vehicle as part of a gang on the Southside of Chicago. My family had experienced a lot during our time in Chicago, but that was the straw that broke the camel’s back—pushing my parents to move our family in search of a community that would offer their six black boys a better life. My family packed up what little we had and moved away from the familiarity of family and friends to Georgia.
Even as a young boy, I was able to recognize the immediate difference in my community.
Even as a young boy, I was able to recognize the immediate difference in my community. We had moved from a majority black, low-income city to a majority white city with deep southern roots. On the surface, my transition seemed seamless, but on the inside, I was conflicted. I felt like a misfit stuck between two very different communities. And because I had two communities, it felt like I didn’t have any at all. At least none that I could call my own.
Over the next decade, my parents pushed my brothers and me hard to make sure we didn’t follow the path our older brother took. By the end of high school, I was in the top five percent of my class, had one of the best 800-meter track times in the country, and was on my way to becoming the first college graduate in my family.
But no matter how hard I worked, I still felt like a misfit. In an effort to fit in, I got involved with the wrong crowd. I started drinking and doing drugs. Then one day, things took a turn for the worst. I was pulled over and searched by a police officer. He found the drugs I had with me. I remember thinking, “my life is over.” Only it wasn’t. As the officer held the drugs in his hand, he looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Trust me, you don’t want to go this way. Get off this stuff before it ruins your life. Now get out of here.”
That moment was a major wake-up call, and I realized that I needed to make immediate changes in my life.
Two months later I met the Latter-day Saint missionaries. I could see myself in them—they were young and awkward and seemed like they didn’t quite fit in. However, they had one major difference from me. They were driven by a strong purpose, and I wanted what they had. I decided to take a step in the right direction and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
One year later I was serving a volunteer mission in Manchester, England. For two years I sought to help others find what I had found—a sense of community matched with a strong purpose. This consistent period of service helped me come to the realization that helping others find community and purpose was what mattered most to me, and that that belief would be my “North Star” for the remainder of my life.
Upon returning home from my mission, however, the pressures and demands of life hit me with full force, and I once again became consumed with my own goals. Within a few years, I had become one of the fastest 800 meter runners in NCAA history and had taken home an international gold medal while representing team USA. I had signed a professional contract, had set the World Record in the Road 800 meter race, and had won the bronze medal at the USA Indoor Championships with one of the fastest 600 meter times of all-time. Yet, I felt empty and unhappy.
It was then that I, for the second time in my life, learned what mattered most to me. Only this time, I also learned why. This time, I was able to recognize how much help I had been given in my life. My parents helped me by moving in search of a better community. The police officer helped me by giving me a second chance. The missionaries helped me by teaching me the importance of purpose. My coaches and professors helped me by encouraging me to shoot for the stars. I suddenly realized that my hard work and determination didn’t make me who I was—my community did.
That moment of realization and reflection was powerful. So powerful, in fact, that I quit track and field that day to pursue opportunities that would allow me to be a more influential mentor. It wasn’t just about helping others find community and purpose; it was about walking the path with them. I had been given just that, and I felt a responsibility to give back. Since retiring as a professional runner, I have sought opportunities that will mold me into an influential mentor.
On this quest, I decided to join the consulting industry and get involved in social impact cases focused on the Black and Hispanic communities. Advising clients on some of the unique challenges these communities face has felt significant, but now I am ready to make an impact in a more hands-on, “on the ground” way. I want to use the search fund model to acquire and operate a small business in a low-income, predominantly black city. In that capacity, I want to leverage the influence the business will give me to bolster the community. Specifically, I want to work with local non-profits, community organizers, and social workers to set up a network of mentors for youth and young adults who are lacking community.
But in order to do that, I need help. I need to learn how to acquire and operate a small business from experts like [HBS Professor] and [HBS Professor]. I need to understand how to better connect with and learn from others by participating in the case method with the most diverse set of students in academia. I need to find like-minded individuals who are willing to help me form a network of mentors to bolster communities. These are some of the many experiences I need and can gain from Harvard. I have attended multiple HBS information sessions and have spoken to several alumni. These interactions have been starkly different from the interactions with other schools. HBS students aren’t going to business school just for a break or to make more money. They are going to business school so that they can gain the skills and network needed to “make a difference in the world.”
This is the kind of community I want to learn from and contribute to. Harvard is my number one choice—there is simply no other community like it in the world.
Professional Review by MBA Whisperer
The Four Ingredients of a Perfect HBS Essay
Samuel’s essay demonstrates what MBA Whisperer calls the Four Ingredients of a Perfect HBS Essay:
1. Offers a glimpse of the world through your eyes
2. Imbues strong leadership, impact and ambition with a deeper purpose
3. Demonstrates intellectual curiosity
4. Brings a “quiet confidence” with humility and vulnerability
HBS Essay Ingredient #1: Show what makes you uniquely you
As former HBS admissions director Dee Leopold once wrote, getting into Harvard Business School isn’t an “essay writing competition.” MBA admissions officers don’t admit essays—they admit applicants. Samuel’s essay offers us a compelling glimpse of the world through his eyes using the unique elements of his (admittedly stellar) profile: a challenging childhood, an accomplished student-athlete, and two religious/purpose-driven awakenings. In this 1,100+ word essay, he dedicates almost no real estate to his consulting career, his least-differentiating factor. Rather, he showcases a glimpse of the world through his eyes that no one sitting next to him in the HBS classroom can bring.
Think about what key experiences have made you uniquely you. I would recommend selecting a different experience across your academic, professional, extracurricular, and/or community involvement for each of your three HBS 2024-25 essay questions.
Samuel demonstrates his work ethic and ambition through his athletic achievements, and then ties his personal and professional experiences to his future ambitions.
HBS Essay Ingredient #2: Leadership, Ambition & Purpose
HBS isn’t looking for the next class of middle-managers; they genuinely want to “educate leaders who make a difference in the world.” Samuel demonstrates his work ethic and ambition through his athletic achievements, and then ties his personal and professional experiences to his future ambitions. You will have 500 characters elsewhere in the application to outline your career goals, and be honest! It’s okay to have “traditional” goals like consulting, banking, PE, etc. But as you write your Business-Minded essay, be bold and ambitious as you connect your career goals to a deeper purpose.
HBS Essay Ingredient #3: Intellectual Curiosity
I’m glad to see that HBS replaced the “analytical aptitude and appetite” evaluation criterion with “growth oriented”—i.e. candidates who are eager to learn and improve. Your academic potential will largely be assessed via your undergraduate institution, coursework, GPA, test scores, etc. Even though Samuel didn’t attend an Ivy League institution, and his GMAT score is below the school’s average, his ability to weave together his seemingly disconnected experiences into a unified theme demonstrates thoughtful reasoning skills.
However, I would have encouraged Samuel to include some “nuggets of knowledge” to showcase his depth of understanding regarding his industry, career goals, or other societal trends; even a simple statistic about the value of mentorship in underrepresented communities could show intellectual curiosity. Since this ingredient in his essay is light, if he were an MBA Whisperer client, I would encourage him to ask his recommenders to highlight experiences that showcase his analytical skills.
HBS Essay Ingredient #4: Quiet confidence, humility, and vulnerability
This may sound strange, but at MBA Whisperer, I tell my clients that the essays are not where you sell yourself to the Admissions Board. There’s always a temptation to try to scream, “Look at me! Look at me! I promise I’m qualified! Pleeeeease let me into your school!” Other elements of your application—most notably your resume and enthusiastic letters of recommendation—do the selling for you.
Do you notice Samuel’s tone? He brings a quiet confidence that shows he’s already qualified to attend the program. Yes, he touches on some adversity, and yes, he briefly highlights accomplishments, but in a remarkably humble tone. By acknowledging that life’s path isn’t always a perfectly straight line, he demonstrates humility, vulnerability, and growth-mindedness.
Final note: The 2024-25 HBS essay prompts are too specific and word counts too short for you to rattle off a list of reasons why you want to go to HBS. This is likely by design—Harvard doesn’t need you to tell them why they’re great. Stick to the four ingredients, use short, impactful “mini-stories” to give the Admissions Board a glimpse of the world through your eyes, and drop the mic!
By Travis Morgan, Founder of MBA Whisperer
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