NYU Stern’s collaborative, dynamic, and diverse culture is truly shaped by the school’s location in the heart of New York City and can be defined simply as IQ + EQ. While I believe that Stern still truly believes in supporting change, this year, the school has switched up its application essays to give you more space to explain your goals and how NYU Stern can help you achieve them. But the admissions committee has maintained its “Pick Six” prompt, which really gives you an opportunity to show who you are through meaningful experiences and images of or related to those experiences throughout your life. As you are responding to these essay questions, always remember the importance that NYU Stern puts on EQ. Although Stern is located in the center of arguably the financial capital of the world, the school wants to know that there is more to you than just numbers and to assemble a class on individuals with a diverse set of perspectives and who put people first.
Table of Contents
Essay 1:Professional Aspirations
What are your short-term career goals? Why is the Stern MBA the necessary next chapter in your professional story? Please be specific. (500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
With a higher word count this season than in years past and a more specific tie to how Stern can help you reach your goals, this essay becomes a more traditional goals essay that you might see across a number of MBA programs. However, make sure that your research helps you specifically identify the Stern resources that will make you successful in your goals.
How you start this essay could vary based on your particular story, but the overall ingredients that make up the essay will be similar. I like to see a goals essay start with a “hook” story that draws the reader in and explains why your goals are what they are. Some of you might have a story that explains the inspiration behind your short-term goal. For example, maybe you’ve been working in a technical product role and want to move into a product management role so you can build a strategy rather than execute it. You might tell a story about a time that you felt frustrated because you could see the strategy needed but didn’t have the influence in your role to make that happen.
Others of you might have a great vision as to what you want to accomplish long term, and your short-term goal is a step in the process that will help you gain the skills you need for the long term. In this case, you could use a story to explain your passion behind your long-term goal and then how the short-term goal is a step in that direction. For example, maybe you’ve been working in a healthtech start-up and want to end up at a large biotech firm but think that some time in management consulting could help you gain skills to better understand how big companies work. In this case, you’d want to explain how consulting fits into your long-term goal.
Either way, when you are stating your short-term goal, make sure you are specific. For example, “Post-MBA, I’d like to work as product manager in a medium-stage fintech start-up such as Betterment.” Then you want to add in what you hope to experience in and gain from this job: “to work within a growing market that is increasing financial accessibility to underserved populations.”
For the balance of your word count, explain how a Stern MBA will help you be successful in reaching your goals. Be specific! What classes will you take? What clubs will you get involved with? What conferences or competitions will you get involved with? Don’t just list the resources, be thoughtful in detailing how you will contribute and what you hope to gain.
Essay 2: Personal Expression (a.k.a. “Pick Six”)
Introduce yourself to the Admissions Committee and to your future classmates using six images and corresponding captions. Your uploaded PDF should contain all of the following elements:
- A brief introduction or overview of your “Pick Six” (no more than 3 sentences).
- Six images that help illustrate your interests, values, motivations, perspective, and/or personality.
- A one-sentence caption for each of the six images that helps explain why they were selected and are significant to you.
Note: Your visuals may include photos, infographics, drawings, or any other images that best describe you. Your document must be uploaded as a single PDF. The essay cannot be sent in physical form or be linked to a website.
While Stern’s Essay 1 is all about your professional goals, its “Pick Six” essay is about you as a person (read: EQ). Think about what makes you unique and how you can represent that uniqueness in photographs or other types of images. They could depict an important moment in your life, a memorable experience, something you enjoy doing in your free time, or anything else that helps admissions get to know you on a personal level. We hear from the Stern admissions team that this is their favorite part of the application, because it really helps them understand their candidates as people.
Remember that EQ is an important aspect of Stern’s culture, so consider how you might leverage your “Pick Six” selections to highlight your EQ through the accompanying captions. Be careful not to get so excited about the artistry of the photos you’re selecting that you forget to examine the group as a whole and assess its impact. After you have chosen your potential photos/images, take a step back and ask yourself, “Have I provided six distinct perspectives on who I am as a person?” If you have three pictures of yourself with your dog, for example, you’ll need to replace two with ones that introduce new and different information about you. If you have two pictures of yourself traveling, make sure that they are sufficiently different. Can the admissions team learn more about you from each?
For each caption, explain why the image is important to you. Don’t just repeat what is in the photo: “Here I am at my favorite musical, Hamilton!” Instead, use the image to add depth and context that someone couldn’t garner on their own: “After six-months of entering the lottery for Hamilton tickets, I won and saw the musical that inspired me to read more historical nonfiction, which has now become a true passion of mine.” This more-detailed description reveals that the applicant is passionate, patient, dedicated, and even economical—and highlights one of their personal passions! Finally, wait until you have decided on the six images you want to submit before you write your three-sentence overview, so you can more easily pinpoint what the images as a group reveal about you. Again, take a step back, and make sure you are not just stating the obvious but filling in what is not obvious. Your overview should add emphasis to your submission without being repetitive.
Essay 3: Additional Information (optional)
Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee and/or give context to your application. This may include important aspects of yourself not otherwise apparent in your application, including but not limited to: hardships you have encountered, current or past gaps in employment, further explanation of your undergraduate record or self-reported academic transcript(s), plans to retake GMAT, GRE, Executive Assessment, IELTS or TOEFL, or any other relevant information. (500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
The optional essay is one that should always be used judiciously. If you feel your application conveys a complete, accurate picture of who you are as a strong Stern candidate, then you’re likely best off not submitting this optional essay. There’s little to be gained from adding to the admissions committee’s workload by asking them to read another essay that doesn’t add anything crucial to your profile. But if you do have an issue of some sort in your candidacy that could benefit from additional explanation (see the school’s examples), then this is your chance to expound on and clarify it as necessary.
In Stratus Admissions’ How to Get into NYU Stern School of Business, you will find information on a variety of the MBA program’s offerings, such as Stern Passport Day, “Doing Business in” courses, Stern Follies, and specializations. This free guide also includes class profile statistics.