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MBA students at Northwestern Kellogg often value the strength of the school’s community, with classmates dedicating themselves fully to both their own professional development and that of their peers. Kellogg is committed to producing capable leaders who are as thoughtful and driven as they are empathetic and inclusive.

According to Kellogg’s website, the school seeks candidates who

• push past comfort zones and question the norm. 
• can motivate a team to drive impact.
• are eager to dive in and collaborate with an engaged, ambitious community of peers.

As you brainstorm what to share throughout your Kellogg application, keep these qualities in mind. Understanding what Kellogg looks for in its candidates before you start brainstorming can give you a frame of reference through which to view and consider your stories and perhaps help you identify which ones might be the most compelling to include in your application. But let us be clear that we are not saying the stories you share must reveal all or even any of these traits. As always, keep the focus on you—your unique experiences and what you want the admissions committee to know about you.

Kellogg gives candidates ample opportunities to share who they really are throughout their application. For example, Kellogg asks every applicant to submit video responses to multiple prompts. Although you might be intimidated by this video component, we at Gatehouse see it as a boon for candidates. After all, the more opportunities you have for the admissions committee to get to know you, the better.

Kellogg requires two written essays. Our guidance for approaching the two essay prompts follows.

Question 1 (450 words)

Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here.

The first sentence of this prompt could be a bit of red herring, leading you to believe that Kellogg is going to ask you for an example of when you have been intentional in the past. But keep reading! As you do, you will find that this essay prompt is requesting a good old fashioned goal statement essay, asking you to share your career goals, why (and why now), and how Kellogg is the connector between where you have been and where you are headed. 

(We engaged in some internal discussion at Gatehouse about that first sentence and why the admissions team decided to include it. A rather general statement about Kellogg appears at the beginning of the essay prompt for Question 2 as well. Our conclusion? The Kellogg admissions team knows that many people will be Googling its essay prompts; what better way to ensure that applicants learn more about Kellogg—its values, its promises to its students—than by including some marketing language at the beginning of each prompt, ensuring that you and every other applicant will read those words again and again?)

Back to the prompt at hand. After several years of not requiring an essay on career goals, Kellogg has chosen to reintroduce a goal statement prompt. What we at Gatehouse appreciate is how generous Kellogg is with its guidance with respect what to include in your essay. As with any goal statement essay, keep the framework of a logical argument in mind: a (the past) + b (the MBA) = c (the future). Sometimes, rearranging the equation can be helpful when you are getting started: c (the future) = a (the past) + b (the MBA). So, what are your goals? We encourage you to think beyond your job title or position. Instead, consider the impact you hope to have and/or the problem you hope to solve. For example, “being a CEO in the airline industry” is a fine goal, but what change or outcomes do you hope to achieve as a CEO and why? Focusing on these second-order questions will enable you to create a more compelling vision for your future. Perhaps you are a champion of clean energy and safety and aspire to revolutionize air travel in a way that is less taxing on both the climate and people’s wallets. Aha! Now your goals extend beyond you, and the Kellogg admissions readers can see how you hope to make the world around you a better place. 

Focusing on the impact you seek to have could also help you draw a clearer through line between your past experiences. Reflect on the skills you have already started to build—as well as the ones you are lacking—that are relevant to your goals. Also consider those moments that have most influenced your goals. To use our aspiring airline CEO again, perhaps theystudied mechanical engineering in school, wrote a senior thesis in aerodynamics, and has built a strong analytical skill set through several years of management consulting but has had limited training or experience in formal leadership, setting a vision, and understanding how organizations embrace change. All of this could be elements of their “past” and “the MBA” in their goal statement. Remember that when you focus on what you need from the MBA, spend time concentrating on what Kellogg specifically can provide. The admissions committee will be looking for proof that you have a clear idea of how Kellogg’s MBA resources, programs, courses, professors, clubs, and other experiences can benefit you.

You should consider two additional things when developing your essay response. The first is “why now?” Sometimes, applicants feel the need to provide a sense of urgency or defend their decision by referencing their age. (“I am in my mid-20s and would like to graduate before turning 30.”) Do not feel obligated to have some profound rationale for “why now”! Your reason can simply be that you have learned the skills and acquired the experiences that give you both the competence and confidence to take the next step on your journey. (And because we mentioned age, we will now discourage you from mentioning your age at all. Your decision to attend business school is much bigger than a practicality.)

The second is Kellogg’s request that you explain how you will contribute to the school’s community. Be specific. You will need to thoroughly research the Kellogg MBA experience to develop a meaningful response to this part of the prompt, but you will also need to reflect on how your experiences and interests could be relevant. We also encourage you to be bold. Bringing your energy to join clubs is one thing, but leading them and making your mark on them? That is something else. So, invest time in imagining what that mark could be, given who you are and what you hope to achieve by attending Kellogg. 

For more in-depth guidance on crafting your goal statement essay, watch our video workshop Your Career Statement – Fact, Fiction, and How to Build One.

Question 2 (450 words)

Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style.

First and foremost, while this specific prompt is new, it is—similar to prompts in years past—asking for a story. Stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end; they take place at a certain time and in a specific location; and they have a protagonist—which in this case is you. What is equally important is that Kellogg wants a particular kind of story, one in which you faced a difficult decision as a professional. And you are being asked to not simply lay out the decision, but to consider the values that influenced your decision and how the experience shaped you as a leader. Whatever decision you write about must check both of these boxes.

When choosing which challenging decision to share, remember that the Kellogg admissions committee does not prefer any kind of challenging decision over another. Perhaps you needed to take a leap of faith using incomplete data; perhaps you had to decide whether to escalate a simmering issue to your manager or attempt to solve it on your own. Maybe you needed to say “no” to one team or another to be able deliver what was asked of you, but determining which team to let down was complicated. Perhaps you were debating whether to leave a solid job for another opportunity. Any of these is fine! In fact, even a time when you ultimately made the wrong decision is fine! We can learn as much from choosing incorrectly as we can from choosing correctly, especially if rebounding from a wrong decision has made you a stronger leader. As you consider which story to share, make sure that you can articulate how making the decision ultimately shaped you. If you did not learn anything from the situation, you should not write about it for this essay! Also, consider the rest of your application. How can you use this essay response to share something new about yourself with the admissions team, rather than repeating something they already know? 

When crafting your response, the STARR (Situation, Task, Actions, Results, Reflection) format can be a very effective tool. Even though Kellogg is not specifically asking for the outcome of your decision, your story would be unsatisfying if the results or aftermath were not included. Be sure to identify the “why” behind your decision (the values that influenced your decision) in either the Actions or the Reflection part of your response. The Reflection portion can also be leveraged to share how the experience affected you as a leader. To learn more about how to effectively present a narrative in an essay, watch our video “How to Tell a Great Story in Your MBA Essays.” It covers all the critical elements of storytelling, including “show, don’t tell.”