Kellogg MBA Essay Questions and Tips

If Kellogg School of Management is on your list of target MBA programs, you have likely started thinking about the essay questions. You’ve come to the right place. Below are the Kellogg MBA essay questions and tips to strengthen your responses.

Kellogg MBA Essay Questions

1. Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip and inspire leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)
2. Values are what guide us in our life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)

Note: There is also a third required essay for those applying to a specialized MBA program and/or for those who are reapplying. Finally, Kellogg has three video essay questions that will need to be submitted within 96 hours of the application deadline (a link will be sent to you after you submit your application).

Kellogg MBA Essay Tips

To begin, consider the core qualities Kellogg seeks in its applicants. As noted on the school’s blog, Kellogg “develops leaders who are empathetic, innovative, and who harness the power of diverse teams to meet complex challenges.” Aim to provide your own personal interpretation of this statement, sharing experiences that demonstrate how these values resonate with your professional and personal history.

Frameworks

Choosing the Right Story for Essay One

As the first essay prompt indicates, Kellogg asks you to share one concrete story. This story should demonstrate how you created value through leadership. Choose carefully because this example represents your leadership style.

Brainstorm several possible stories before selecting one. Do not automatically choose the first experience that comes to mind. A meaningful accomplishment may not always be the strongest essay topic.

Prioritize a recent professional example from the past two years. The example should involve collaboration and teamwork. Kellogg values candidates who thrive in team environments. Avoid stories focused only on individual achievements.

Focus on moments when you demonstrated brave leadership by acting beyond your formal responsibilities. Examples include launching an employee resource group or fixing an internal process. These actions show initiative and leadership.

Balancing Personal and Professional Values in Essay Two

Essay two should include discussion of your future goals. Strong goals are often connected to your values and passions. These connections help explain why you want to pursue an MBA.

Thinking holistically about the Kellogg application, there really isn’t another place to talk about your vision for the future and how an MBA fits into it. As such, this is the ideal place to include it.

That said, the whole essay probably shouldn’t be forward looking. You want to show that you’ve put your values into practice through your past choices and actions too. Maybe the same value that led you to your pre-MBA career (drive for excellence, a desire to overcome challenges, etc.) is also influencing your future goals and decision to pursue an MBA.

Structure Ideas

For Essay 1, we recommend a structure somewhat like this:

P1: Brief intro that previews the story you will tell and the learnings you will share at the end
P2: Context / background info for your story
P3: Challenge you faced as part of the experience and how you overcame it
P4: Wrap up the story, covering the ‘results’ and impact on your team or organization
P5: Share ~2 ‘learnings’ from the story that you can envision applying at Kellogg and beyond

For Essay 2, we recommend a structure somewhat like this:

P1: Introduce the value(s) you will cover in the essay and preview your answer to how they have influenced you
P2: Share the ‘origin’ of these values (i.e., what experience or person/people caused these values to be central to your life)
P3: Example story from later in life showing an application of these values
P4: Forward-looking discussion of how these values have influenced your future career plans and desire to pursue a Kellogg MBA

Kellogg MBA Video Essay Tips

Kellogg has provided two of the three questions you will be asked and outlines the topic of the third prompt.

1. Please introduce yourself to the admissions committee.
2. What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you?
3. This question will be based on a challenge you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from it.

Once the clock starts, you have 20 seconds to prepare and 60 seconds to answer. Focus the bulk of your practice on getting the timing right – a minute is shorter than you think! That said, content is important too and it should be complementary, not repetitive with the rest of your application. Prepare two or three versatile stories, as you will not know the final prompt in advance. For each, clearly articulate the challenge, the specific lessons learned, and how you implemented those insights.

If you’d like assistance with your Kellogg essays or your broader MBA application strategy, click here to schedule an initial consultation!