Both Stanford Essay A and Essay B combined may not exceed 1,050 words. Stanford GSB's recommendation: up to 650 words for Essay A and up to 400 words for Essay B.
As your consultant, I am not allowed to craft any part of your application. Stanford GSB provides the following direction for you and me: "After editing is complete, your thoughts, voice, and style remain intact. Inappropriate coaching occurs when you allow others to craft any part of your application for you and, as a result, your application or self-presentation is not authentic." Because this aligns with my philosophy, I believe that my services do not present a conflict of interest.
(I also believe that no school cares if the resume is professionally written.)
Stanford GSB is pretty transparent about Essay A, What matters most to you, and why?
Stanford' motto: "Change lives. Change organizations. Change the world." But first, they start with the personal.
GSB is seeking:
Intellectual vitality
Demonstrated leadership (leadership potential)
Personal contributions (concrete and through special qualities)
Don't focus on trying to impress them. (That's for the resume.) Focus on honesty.
Don't only share what you've accomplished. (That's for the resume.) Share what you learned and explain your individual perspective on "What matters most to you."
It does have to be original and unique. People often respond with "Family," "Community," or "Impact." Okay, maybe, but go into more depth than that. This cannot be a superficial answer.
Start by answering these questions:
The larger question is "In your life, how have you come to know what matters most to you?" It may be a flash of insight, or it may be a long journey.
The questions above will help you provide examples to demonstrate "What matters most to you."
After you think that you have identified "What matters most to you," then ask yourself this:
If you are not able to point to how "What matters most to you" as motivating you into action, then you have not chosen the right answer for you.
If you have chosen the right "What matters most to you," then ask yourself this:
And finally,
This should be the basis of Essay A's first draft.
After you have written your first draft, you should read it again. Do you think the essay shows the "real you" in terms of the following personal characteristics?
When you read through this draft, and you're not seeing these characteristics, then you might decide to choose different examples or rewrite to better explain.
My advice is pretty simple for this essay.
Example
"I will lead our regional business environment from a legacy, family-oriented setting, to a growth-oriented future, embedding the value of business in our society. To remove barriers, I will become the business leader to change this reality. While most businesspeople understand Brazil’s problems, we have not been action-oriented. Having explored Brazil’s grossly underdeveloped advocacy context, I will lead think tanks and engage the business community in transforming our business environment, allowing business to focus on what they should: pure value generation. ...
GSB has a unique track record. Nubank, Brazil’s most successful entrepreneurial effort, was founded by GSB alum David Vélez and built through the contribution of other alums, such as Gabriel Silva, its CFO. This company is the prime example of 'removing barriers'. By challenging the status quo of universal banks, it took the improvement of Brazil’s financial system upon itself. Through its sheer size and the quality of its products, Nubank opened the door for new legislation that enabled the path of many other FinTechs, creating an impact that goes far beyond its own existence."
Example
"There is no better school than Stanford GSB for someone who wants to enter the field of commercializing AVs, considering the vehicles are being designed and tested on campus, and the founders of the company driving the mobility industry are Stanford graduates. The GSB will afford me the opportunity to network broadly in my desired field, where I can use my bedrock experience working in the traditional transportation industry to pave the way for the mobility industry."
Prompt: We are deliberate in the questions we ask. We believe that we get to know you well through all of the elements of your application. Complete this section only if you have critical information you could not convey elsewhere on your application (e.g., extenuating circumstances affecting academic or work performance). This section should not be used as an additional essay. (1200 CHARACTERS, about 200 words)
You do have the option to explain any questionable information in your application, which can be anything from a low GMAT/GRE score or low GPA to your choice of recommenders (if you are not using your current manager). Stanford GSB says that it does not want an additional essay, which I interpret as keeping your explanation short and sweet.
If you address honestly and openly, and tell them what you learned from your "failure" or stumble, you have the potential to turn an application weakness into a strength.
Prompt: Have you had any gap(s) of four months or more in your employment or educational history since secondary school? (1200 CHARACTERS)
Again, turn a potential weakness into a strength by describing what you were doing and what you learned during your career gap.
Prompt: Think about the times that you’ve created a positive impact, whether in professional, extracurricular, academic, or other settings. What was your impact? What made it significant to you or to others?
(up to 1200 CHARACTERS, about 200 words)
Pretty self-explanatory! The difficulty is to figure out how to make the topic reveal more/different aspects of your character, and how to make them fit with Stanford Essay A (and possibly Stanford Essay B).
For example, one client wrote his "What Matters Most" essay about his struggle for self-belief as he rose out of poverty and applied to law schools. He had two potential topics that enhance Essay A.
Topic 1: Advocating for an unusual argument, and how he persuaded the rest of the team that he was correct.
Topic 2: Building a community at a detention center by breaking through indifference and antagonism.
These two topics would show the Admissions Committee how he had grown into self-belief, and how he was made youth from similar backgrounds believe in themselves. They would build upon his "What Matters Most" topic.
This client introduced his "Why Stanford" essay with a story about how the poverty-stricken town in which he grew up ruined their once-clear lake with pollution, and how the bacteria caused some to sicken; and then he wrote about how he wanted to enter the clean water technology industry through his studies at Stanford.
Topic 3: Helping to lead a clean water non-profit to deliver clean water throughout Austin during the days-long winter power outage in Texas.
Here again, he directly could tie the mission and Essay B "Why Stanford" to a past experience related to his interest in water.
Use what you wrote about in your main Stanford GSB essays to guide your thinking for this Optional Essay.
Prompt: We know that each person is more than a list of facts or pre-defined categories. With this question we provide you with an optional opportunity to elaborate on how your background or life experiences have helped shape your recent actions or choices. (1200 CHARACTERS, about 200 words)
This optional question is about who you are - a background or a unique perspective arising from experience - and how it affected an important action or choice of yours (professionally or personally).
So, for example, the client (described above) talked about how his entire family embraced an incredibly hard work ethic, including himself (he worked two jobs at age 14, one of them on an oil rig). When he left Texas for the first time for top law firm in New York City, his abuelo advised, "Don't let anyone outwork you, mi hijo," and so he decided to become the first one into the office and the last to leave. This was his way of proving his worth in a "world of privilege." Eventually, his work habits got him noticed at the very top, and he was invited to meet a high-profile client.
In this example, my client not only talked about work ethic, but also his working-class Hispanic background, and how he felt out of place in a white-shoe law firm in NYC. The story is actually one in which he did manage to find a way to fit in, which would reassure the committee that he, as a lawyer, would find a way to fit in with the MBA class.
This essay is optional, so only use it to showcase an essential aspect of your background that cannot be seen in other essays (for example, working on an oil rig at age 14 to help support his family). The action or choice described should be something that explains something fundamental about yourself (not, say, a stroke of luck, such as walking through the right door at the right time).
Prompt: Briefly share your short- and long-term professional aspirations after graduating from Stanford GSB. (255 CHARACTERS maximum, or 40-50 words)
This is an auxiliary statement to Essay B, "Why Stanford." Obviously, you don't have a lot of word count to share your goals!