Northwestern Kellogg Application Essay Tips, 2025–2026
After making big changes to its application essay prompts last season, Northwestern Kellogg is holding the line for this upcoming application season, making no major changes to its essay questions. Even this year’s deadlines are within one day of last year’s deadlines for each round.
I had a conversation with a member of Kellogg’s admissions team at the annual meeting of AIGAC admissions consultants and top MBA program leaders and gained some additional insight into Kellogg’s essay questions. While Essay 1 covers a lot of ground by essentially asking five subquestions within the one essay prompt, not all of these subquestions need to be given the same weight. Kellogg’s intention with these current essays is to give applicants the opportunity to be more direct in sharing their goals, explaining why now is the right time to pursue this degree, and highlighting how Kellogg is the right place to achieve their goals. Kellogg stays on brand with its second essay question by asking candidates to share a difficult professional decision they made and how their leadership style and values played into making that decision. You’ll need to focus as you write, because you have a lot of ground to cover in these 450-word essays. Let’s dig into the school’s questions and reflect on a strategy for answering them!
In the related article How to Get into Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, you will find information on a variety of the MBA program’s offerings.
Question 1: 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. (450 words)
Intentionality is a good place for us to start with our advice for this essay, because you will have to be intentional in planning how you will address all the aspects of the prompt within the 450-word limit. I count five questions embedded in this question, asking you to share (1) your motivation for pursuing an MBA, (2) the specific goals you aim to achieve, (3) why now is the right time, (4) how Kellogg is “suited… as a catalyst for your career aspirations,” and (5) what you can contribute to Kellogg. Because you have only 450 words with which to respond to all these questions, you have only about 90 words for each one. However, my sense in talking to Kellogg’s admissions team is that not all parts of this prompt deserve equal weight. Your motivation for the MBA, your goals, and why now is the right time seem to be the most important elements.
The word “intentionality” is generally defined as the act of being deliberate or purposive. Kellogg students and alumni know who they are and where they want to go, and they have taken purposeful steps to achieve their goals. You might want to start by offering some brief insight into what has inspired your goals and then share your goals, as well as why this is the right time for you to earn an MBA. Because you won’t have room to share all the ways Kellogg can help you reach your objectives, be intentional in synthesizing how the resources you note will uniquely help you, rather than listing lots of resources without connecting them back to your personal story. Consider closing by sharing one way you can add value to the Kellogg community.
Question 2: 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. (450 words)
This question remains unchanged from last year, but it was built on previous Kellogg essays that gave applicants the opportunity to share something specific from their professional experience. The program is still looking for “the kind of people who elevate the level of everyone in the room without making it all about them,” to loosely quote a former Kellogg admissions staffer who was describing the school’s ideal applicants.
Keep the Kellogg experience in mind as you respond to this essay question. Kellogg leaders have a “high-impact, high-empathy perspective,” use creativity and innovation to create opportunity, collaborate with a sense of empathy, value “intentionality with a strong sense of purpose,” and have a pay-it-forward alumni network.
Kellogg asks you to share “a specific professional experience” involving a difficult decision you had to make. That means one example, not an amalgamation of multiple experiences. You don’t have room to address more than one example. There is some ambiguity in what “professional” experience means, given that the opening of the prompt notes that Kellogg leaders tackle challenges in their neighborhoods as well as the boardroom. It is likely safest to discuss a work-related example, but if you have considerable experience in a community-based organization and have demonstrated significant leadership in it, this could also be the source of your example. Here are a few things to keep in mind when selecting the example to highlight: Did you take a risk in advocating for a position that could improve your company’s/organization’s future? Did you collaborate with others to achieve the goal? If you write about a difficult decision you made that impacted only you, you’ve missed a chance to share how you build strong organizations. Big problems are not solved by just one person, so think about how you have motivated teams, brought varied perspectives into the decision-making process, and inspired others to achieve meaningful results.
You can think about responding to this question using the CAR (Challenge/Action/Result) model, in which the difficult decision is presented along with the actions you took. Reflect on how your values guided your decision-making process and how you gained insight into your leadership style from this experience.
Kellogg notes on its website the following about its MBA application process:
“Each applicant is allowed to apply to one full-time Kellogg program per year. Once you submit your application, you have the option to select one alternate Full-Time Program of interest and/or the Kellogg Evening & Weekend MBA Program. If you select an alternate program, you’ll be asked to provide a short paragraph explaining your interest in the other program.”
Video essays
Video essays are due 96 hours after the application deadline.
A video essay link will appear on your Application Status Page after you submit your application and payment.
You will need an internet-connected computer with a webcam and microphone.
The video should take about 20-25 minutes to complete, which includes time for setup.
Kellogg values evaluating the whole applicant and provides each candidate with the opportunity to answer a series of video essay questions after they submit their application. The school’s admissions team has described these video essays as the “exclamation point” of the application, something they watch after they have finished reviewing the other parts of your application. This video component gives you the opportunity to share your authentic self. Answer the questions the way you would if you were having a conversation with someone, and ideally, use examples that share new elements of your profile and add to what you have already provided in your written essays and short answers.
For more insight into how Stratus can help you in applying to Kellogg and other top MBA programs, reach out to us to schedule a free consultation.