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Writing the Harvard Business School (HBS) essays is a daunting task, and candidates often find themselves wondering what dreams, stories and traits are worth sharing with the HBS admissions committee. 

The following essays, along with the associated commentary, reflect one candidate’s strategy. Megan’s essays are excerpts from 50 Examples of Successful HBS Essays (and Why They Worked, a book co-authored by our firm’s founder, Liza Weale. 

We hope that Megan’s essays convince you that everyone—including you!—has stories to tell.

An added bonus: Megan was a reapplicant to HBS. If you happen to be one too, Megan can serve as an inspiring reminder that failing to find success with your first HBS application does not shut you out from finding success in a future submission.

Pre-Reading Commentary from Liza Weale, Founder of Gatehouse Admissions:

In reading Megan’s HBS essays, we meet a woman who exudes both strength and care—someone who is not only accustomed to being the underdog but also feels for other underdogs. Not everyone’s post-MBA goals are grounded in a specific personal story, but Megan’s are. We believe that she has the drive (stemming from her long history of interactions with healthcare) and the skills (built through her investing experience) to achieve those goals. She also comes across as someone you would want by your side if you were in trouble; Megan demonstrates that she would arrive with empathy, potential solutions, and the wherewithal to make them happen. 

As other essays in this collection demonstrate, your leadership stories do not have to be relegated to HBS’s Leadership-Focused essay. In each of Megan’s essays, she reveals an inclination toward leading: partnering with company leadership on marketing initiatives, convincing a college administration to change policy during COVID, creating a new women’s initiative at work, and teaching a class of high school students with special needs. 

Another comment on the Leadership-Focused essay: the summer that HBS announced its new essay questions, the Gatehouse team worried that HBS would receive an abundance of mentorship-related essays in response to the “how you invest in others” phrasing of the second prompt. Yet to our delight, many applicants chose to share different kinds of leadership experiences. Megan’s two leadership examples show an indirect investment in others: her initiatives and actions created better outcomes for those around her. Not to say that you should avoid discussing mentorship in this essay! But you should not immediately assume that mentorship-related leadership is the only type of leadership that qualifies here. 

You will note that Megan is a reapplicant. She initially applied to the HBS 2+2 program, designed for college seniors. We can infer from her essay that her goals have not changed too much, so instead, she leverages the reapplicant essay space to relay some additional stories related to leadership. She also effectively brings the HBS admissions team up to speed on what has transpired since her earlier application.

Business-Minded

Just before starting middle school, I stopped hearing intermittently. Turns out I had an aural-related autoimmune disease. When the doctor advised me to consider taking the school year off, I refused. While juggling doctor appointments, experimental treatments and school accommodations, I was often told that I couldn’t do the same things as my peers, that everything had limitations, but this just fueled me more. 

Years later, I started my career on Wall Street—perceived limitations be darned. [1] I thrived in banking’s intensity. As I mastered financial modeling, I also learned to turn my self-advocacy outwards on the businesses around me. A long-time fan of Oddity, a sister-and-brother-founded beauty/health tech company with cult-like loyalty, I pushed my MD to start covering the company, securing Platinum Bank a key advisory role for the company’s future capital needs. Especially exciting was collaborating with Oddity’s CPO on an event for International Women’s Day, which included networking, shopping, and a fireside chat. Supporting a female-(co)founded business was rewarding. But it’s been at Privequity Co. where my vision for the future has crystalized. Helping HealthWise, a vitamin and supplements brand, evolve via social media marketing from a sleepy clinical product into a trending direct-to-consumer brand revealed the blossoming market for consumers wanting more control over their health. [2]

As a young woman, I’ve long been dismissed in doctor appointments with remarks like “maybe it’s anxiety” and “you look healthy, nothing is wrong.” [3] I am determined to shift this paradigm by creating solutions that equalize health outcomes. By leveraging my expertise in health and consumer investing, I aim to help entrepreneurs redefine how women and marginalized communities perceive and engage with their healthcare. My long-term goal is to establish a fem/health-tech venture that challenges paternalistic dynamics and empowers individuals with the knowledge and tools to advocate for themselves. 

Leadership-Focused 

My mom’s mantra was: “Never take no for an answer—the worst place you can end up is where you are!” [4]

Her mantra helped when I received an email from Grinnel.edu in spring 2020, encouraging students to fulfill requirements or pursue additional credentials amid lockdowns and cancelled internships. But at $1,873 per credit hour, the cost was prohibitive for those of us on need-based aid. Frustrated, I launched a campus-wide petition, garnering 500+ signatures—and a meeting with the Dean. I highlighted peer universities’ reduced fees and was proud when the administration relented and applied need-based aid. It was invigorating to champion something I believed would give more students access.

Later in private equity, the “no” was more subtle. I noticed a few of our female partners struggling to speak up in investment committee. If they lacked support, what about us juniors? [5] Upon chatting, I was relieved others shared my frustrations. I mobilized resources and secured funds from our CEO for women’s lunches, and we engaged the male partners to discuss how March Madness and cigar tastings excluded us. There was pushback (junior males felt excluded from the lunches), but that spurred more conversations—and lunch invitations. Now, as senior women secure presentation time for junior women and include us in network-heavy industry events, we view every “no” as an opportunity to collectively achieve a “yes.”

I aspire to create environments where everyone can thrive, ensuring barriers are dismantled and opportunities are accessible to all.

Growth-Oriented

After three years as a lunch buddy and tutor with a school near campus that focused on inclusive education for high school students, I sought out an opportunity to teach an interpersonal skills course to ten sophomores with disabilities during what turned out to be three months of virtual learning. 

To prepare, I read a memoir about raising a son with autism and leveraged PeopleSmart [6] to transform “interpersonal skills” into more accessible “people skills.” I selected topics including active listening, expressing yourself clearly, seeking feedback, and asserting needs.

But that first week, I kept the content light, talking about favorite movies (Ice Age was the winner). I also arranged one-on-ones, asking, “How do you learn best?” Figuring out how to engage each student took experimentation. Jimmy, with severe speech impediments, rocked in his chair due to anxiety. The school’s main coach encouraged me to pull in quieter students (but also told me to make my language approachable, else I’d alienate students). With gentle coaxing, I guided Jimmy through using a tablet to write on a virtual whiteboard. As Jimmy started jotting, the class clapped in excitement, delighted that Jimmy was no longer left on the sidelines.

This once-in-a-lifetime experience [7] taught me to always put myself in others’ shoes and ask—myself and others—what they need to succeed. I carry these lessons with me as I work with Special Olympic junior athletes, partner with management teams (the part I love most about my role), and lead Andrea’s Dream junior board. [8]

Reapplicant Essay

Since last applying, I’ve grown as a consumer investor, exploring trends like personalization, better-for-you, and experiential consumption, [9] and learned how good analysis is essential for strategic choices. With Levain Bakery, despite my affinity for ultra-rich cookies, I identified looming competitive pressures—their dough supplier was selling the same product at Sam’s; other quick-service brands could simply extend hours to match or beat Levain—convincing us to walk away from investing. I’ve also learned how people skills are as vital as the numbers. While supporting management of powersports business Mountain Motorsports, I compared lender offers and modeled options, enabling negotiations that secured lower interest rates and extended maturities. I’ll bring these insights to the HBS classroom and beyond as an investor and entrepreneur. 

I’ve also developed as a community leader and partner. After caring for abandoned cats in Chicago, I reached out to the CEO of Andrea’s Dream in SF, proposed a junior board, and recruited ~30 peers across three cities to staff it. We just finished our 2nd summer “Kittens for Care” raising $50K+ and saving 35 cats! As a volunteer consultant for Bpeace, I advised Better Beans, an under-resourced healthy food restaurant in Chile, on optimizing inventory, suppliers, and cost management. Beans now projects ~15% growth and 100-bps margin improvement. [10]

I’m eager to bring my experience in consumer investing, passion for fem-tech, drive to advocate for those who need support, and willingness to jump into my communities to HBS—where, in return, I’ll seek as much growth as possible. 

Additional Commentary from Liza:

[1] The contrast between what Megan was told and what she did clearly conveys her drive and tenacity, as she made her way to Wall Street.

[2] These two experiences—supporting a female-(co)founded business and supporting a consumer health business—were pivotal moments in shaping Megan’s purpose.

[3] These quotes help the reader easily imagine Megan’s frustration and even self-questioning.

[4] Starting your essay with a simple quote can quickly give your reader a sense of what you will be writing about. Keep in mind, though, that if you use a quote to begin more than one essay, the reader could find the construct repetitive, making it more distracting than additive.

[5] Megan uses an effective rhetorical question here to emphasize the scope of the issues.

[6] Including the title of the book here, as well as how Megan used the book to shape her curriculum, adds credibility to her story—yet another example of the power of vivid, specific details!

[7] This direct but simple language reinforces how much Megan valued this teaching experience—and how unique it was.

[8] Note here that Megan draws a connection between her teaching experience and her more recent roles in her community and office.

[9] Megan is very specific about the trends she has explored. “Trends” can be a vague catchall; clearly defining the trends you are referring to is more challenging. But in doing so, Megan helps us better understand her work and furthers her credibility.

[10] Megan does an excellent job here of packing in some notable results. Either of these stories could likely have warranted more words and earned a spot in one of Megan’s core essays. Having too many good stories is an embarrassment of riches; if you are a reapplicant and have multiple strong anecdotes to share with HBS, you are at an advantage—you have more words to convey the totality of your candidacy!

If you would like to see more examples of successful HBS essays, you can download the entire guide here.

Wondering what to write for HBS’s essay? Read our essay analysis here.