Part I: An MBA is a significant investment of time, energy and resources, and the decision to pursue one
deserves serious reflection. Tell us about the pivotal experiences and decisions that have brought you to this moment
in your career, how they have shaped your ambitions, and why now is the right time to take this next step.
Part II: Now turn the lens outward: beyond what you hope to gain, what do you hope to contribute to the
students who will learn alongside you? (550 words)
In simple words - why MBA, why now, why Kellogg and what are your career goals?
An ideal approach would be to introspect about your journey and connect your career goals with your deeper aspirations. Next show to the admissions team why you need for an MBA to reach your aspirations.
Kellogg gives you additional space in the application to talk about the desired industry and function and more specific details of your career goals (see essay 2). So utilize this space to talk about deeper reasons for MBA.
Part II seeks to know how you will engage with Kellogg community and how you will contribute to your peers and larger community.
As a first step - we strongly suggest that you connect with the current students and Kellogg alumni, to understand what makes Kellogg special and the different opportunities available for you to engage and contribute. These could range from professional and social club activities to conferences anything where you as a student can get involved with and enhance the experience of your peers.
As a second step - reflect on your strengths, passion, and assets and then make a strong connection between the two. What you are good at and how, with those strengths, you'd contribute to the Kellogg community.
Ensure that the areas you choose, you can write about them with passion, depth and specificity.
We recognize that for some candidates, the MBA is an opportunity to explore and clarify career direction.
Whether your goals are well defined or still evolving, we ask that you share your current thinking as specifically as you can.
Select Industry & Function desired after Kellogg.
- Career Goals Immediately following graduation: Beyond your industry and function selections above, describe the type of role(s) and organization(s)
you are targeting. (500 characters)
- Career Goals Five years post-graduation: Describe where you expect your career to have progressed by this point.
We are interested in the scope of responsibility and leadership you are working toward. (500 characters)
In writing about career goals immediately following graduation, briefly describe what role and organization you are targeting. For example, management consulting with
company such as McKinsey, BCG, Bain. Or a product manager role with a big tech firms such as Google, Apple, or Microsoft.
you are targeting.
In describing your mid-term career goals five years post-graduation, talk about how you believe your career would have progressed.
Do mention the growth in your roles and what would be your leadership aspiration looking forward to your long-term career aspiration.
If needed, use this section to briefly describe any extenuating circumstances (e.g. unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, etc.) (No word limit)
Use the Kellogg optional essay to explain shortfalls in your application which you feel are truly detrimental to your candidature. If you believe some aspect in your application that needs to be explained, better do so. The admissions team might making incorrect estimations in absence of explanation. E.g. if you are not providing recommendation from your immediate supervisor, adcom might construe you are not on good terms with your manager and might misconstrue your interpersonal skills. So, explicitly describe the reasons.
Comment on your shortcomings with intelligence, perspective and credibility: giving vague excuses or blaming xyz for failures will be completely counter-productive. Explain the issue clearly and maintain greater focus on the correction for the issue. Keep it brief and to the point.
Go for it!
Kellogg's instructions: We’ve read your essays, we’ve read your resume — now we want you to bring all that to life in a video.
Show us the person behind all those carefully crafted words.
The video will be comprised of five questions, each designed to help you showcase your personality
and share some of the experiences that brought you here today.
Some things to keep in mind as you prepare to complete this section:
- 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 have a brief moment to think about the question and up to one minute to give your response.
MBA video tips
Kellogg MBA application requires you to submit a one-page resume along with details about your employment and academics. The typical MBA resume format consists of employment, education, and extracurricular details. MBA resume tips
In your Kellogg application, you will be asked to provide two MBA letters of recommendation - from your current or previous supervisors. Like many top business schools in the US, Kellogg MBA application constitutes of letter of recommendation questions from the GMAC MBA letter of recommendation template. MBA LOR tips
As is the policy with most top business schools, Kellogg MBA interviews are conducted only by invitation. Students typically would receive an invite 4-6 weeks after submitting their MBA applications. MBA interview tips
