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A business school’s essay prompts can provide clues about what it values. That is certainly the case for Harvard Business School (HBS), which published not only new admissions essay prompts this summer but also new admissions criteria. Gone is the open-ended essay prompt—affectionately referred to as “What More?”—that HBS had used for over a decade. Instead, the admissions committee has introduced three new essay questions, each spurred by one of the three pillars of its refined admissions criteria. As HBS states on its site, the business school seeks individuals who are Business-Minded, Leadership-Focused, and Growth-Oriented.

We can hypothesize about what inspired these changes (Do they reflect the program’s current student body or the student body it desires? Did the admissions committee want more consistency—and therefore comparability—in the input it was gathering from applicants, or did they believe that having to respond to several, short essays—instead of one long essay—would spur more candidates to apply? Did HBS’s new head of MBA admissions want to put their mark on the process?), but what has not changed is how the admissions committee will use the essays. The written application is a funnel that helps HBS decide which applicants to interview. The onus is therefore on you to showcase how you are qualified to be both a student and a teacher in the classroom and beyond in the HBS community. We encourage you to engage in holistic brainstorming to identify the three to five things you most want HBS to know about you and your candidacy. Then, before you start determining your essay topics, spend some time reviewing HBS’s online application. The questions in the online application are wide-ranging, giving you more room to present who you are. Doing this prep work will position you well to leverage all the components of HBS’s application to communicate your candidacy. Lastly, remember that there is no “right” way to construct these essays; HBS’s application is in part a test in strategic communication and judgment.

In this post, we break down each of the school’s prompts.

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)

Harvard wants to understand where your professional drive is calling you to go in the future and how that calling relates to where you have been. These two aspects—where you are heading and where you have been—are core components of a standard career statement, though the third core component—how HBS fits into the equation—is conspicuously missing. Given that HBS does not request this information, you should focus your 300 words strictly on what it does ask for instead.

When articulating your goals, go beyond your desired title or position and explain the impact you want to have. For example, perhaps your long-term goal is “running your own company.” This statement fails to address the subsequent impact you hope to have in doing so. HBS is intentional about the wording of its prompts; we must assume that it seeks candidates who anticipate adding value in the world. For some applicants, identifying their desired impact will be easy. However, if you are stuck, consider the problem you want to solve or why you believe your skills and passions are needed. Also consider your future stakeholders and how your actions might support them.

To determine which experiences you should showcase in this essay, reflect on the pivotal moments that have defined your career thus far, ones that have primed you with skills or meaningful perspective and ones that have helped crystalize your path forward. Remember that the admissions committee has your resume, so listing accomplishments that are highlighted there will not add anything new to the picture of you that the school already has. Instead, share your motivations and explain how your drive has manifested into action. The maxim “show, don’t tell” will prove valuable here, even in such a short essay. (And “short,” it is! Excluding this aside, our guidance on this essay is just under 300 words—only a few short paragraphs!)

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)

We believe that of HBS’s three essay prompts, this one is the most challenging. It demands three very distinct elements—how you became you, how you support others, and who you hope to be as a leader. All that in 250 words! But even in such a constrained space, you must be sure to convey all three.

As you identify potential stories to share, know that nothing is off-limits. You could reveal impressionable moments from your younger years, times when you prevailed through hardship, or opportunities you took and ran with. Keep in mind that you want the admissions committee to learn more about you with each essay. So, if you discuss mostly professional experiences in your other essays, consider showcasing non-work experiences here (or vice versa). Whatever you choose, reflect on and convey the “so what?” aspect—how have these things helped make you you and influenced how you invest in others?

For the “what kind of leader you want to become” part, we suggest thinking about both the ways in which you are already a strong or developing leader and the additional leadership skills that you seek to acquire. HBS does not have a set expectation of what leadership is, nor is the admissions committee looking for you to want to be one type of leader versus another. Instead of spending time worrying about how HBS will evaluate your response, be authentic about the leader you want to be and how that vision relates to your past experiences.

(And writing a compelling essay of just 250 words will be a battle in itself! Keeping our guidance above to 250 words certainly was. But this way, you have an idea of just how short your submission needs to be.)

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)

This third HBS essay prompt is the favorite among Gatehouse Consultants. The topic is refreshingly novel (we have not seen another essay question about curiosity in the various business schools’ applications). Moreover, everyone enjoys a good story. A useful framework for storytelling is the STARR format: Situation, Task, Actions, Results, and Reflection. Breaking down your story into these components will help ensure that it is logical and builds from a beginning to an ending.

Although a framework is available to help you construct your essay, no framework exists to help you choose which story of curiosity to showcase. It could be a topic you have researched—for fun, for work, for school. But it could also be a time when you wanted to test your limits (perhaps you were curious about whether you could get over your fear of public speaking or manage the implementation of a new technology at work). It might be a person you wanted to better understand—a colleague you struggled to connect with or a mentee whose background was very different from yours. Remember to share both your actions and the motivations and learnings surrounding them. And while vivid, specific details will help ensure that all of your essays are ones that only you could write, they are especially important in a story-based essay like this one. The more the admissions reader can “see” your world, the more likely that world is to stay in their mind long after they have finished reading your essay.

(And yes, the above guidance is 250 words long, to a tee!)

Looking for more guidance? Learn the basics of good writing in our two free, video-based essay workshops, The Importance of Business School Application Essays (and How to Write Them) and Your Career Statement – Fact, Fiction, and How to Build One, hosted by Liza Weale, founder of Gatehouse Admissions.