The Harvard Business School application includes three required short essays, each designed to reveal a different dimension of who you are: your career path, how you’ve developed as a leader, and how curiosity fuels your development. 

To succeed, you need more than strong credentials – you need a clear sense of purpose and the ability to reflect honestly on the choices and experiences that have shaped you. These essays aren’t about perfection or performance. They’re about self-awareness, intentionality, and demonstrating how you think, lead, and learn.

It’s important to be aware that HBS is looking for character. Character doesn’t show up on a resume, in your test scores, or through grades or your transcripts. Your opportunity to show them what you are made of, what drives you, is in the essays. The competition is fierce, so this is the place where you can convince them you have what it takes to be part of this incredible community.  Indeed, there is no doubt that how you answer these three essays can make or break your application.

In the sections that follow, we break down each HBS essay prompt and offer strategic advice to help you craft responses that are focused, authentic, and compelling.

How to Answer HBS’s Essay 1, the ‘Business-Minded Essay’? 

Prompt: Business-Minded: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations. (max 300 words) 

This essay is asking for the story of your career path, past and present. By focusing on your choices, the admissions committee is signaling that they care not only about what you’ve done, but why you did it. They want to see evidence of intentionality, values-driven decision-making, and self-awareness. In other words: What motivated each step, what did you learn, and how did it shape where you’re heading next?

Focus on the “Why” Behind Your Career

Rather than listing job titles or achievements, zero in on a few pivotal decisions that illuminate your character and priorities. These could include:

• A formative internship that changed your understanding of impact
• A high-stakes decision to leave a stable path for a riskier but more meaningful one
• A personal or professional inflection point that shaped your aspirations

Don’t feel pressure to construct a linear or flawless narrative. What matters most is that your path demonstrates momentum, thoughtfulness, and purpose. If your journey has twists and turns, show how it was nevertheless guided by reflection and values – not random chance.

Past and Present, Not a Manifesto

It’s tempting to over-index on future plans here, but resist the urge. HBS has another question where you will set out your vision. For this essay, stay grounded in how your past decisions illuminate your present goals. That said, you should definitely point toward where you’re headed – just don’t spend half your word count detailing long-term ambitions. 

Don’t get trapped into giving HBS an aspirational speech. They want to understand how you think – and your track record speaks louder than your dreams.

Choose Your Story Wisely

You only have 300 words – so you can’t cover your entire resume. Focus on a core narrative thread that illustrates your trajectory and values. Ideally, it will also give the reader insight into your personality, motivations, and impact.

Avoid resume repetition, vague platitudes, or generalized summaries. Let the admissions committee into your world through one or two specific, vivid examples that capture how your thinking and choices have evolved.

Key Takeaways

• Show your decision-making process. What drove your choices, and how do they reflect your values and ambitions?
• Be selective. Focus on one or two pivotal experiences – not your full career.
• Stay grounded in the past and present. Keep future goals brief and contextual.
• Demonstrate intentionality. Even if your path isn’t linear, show momentum and purpose.
• Let your story speak for itself. Avoid a list of accomplishments – HBS is looking for insight, not just achievement.

How to Answer HBS’s Essay 2, the ‘Leadership-Focused Essay’? 

Prompt: Leadership-Focused: What experiences have shaped how you invest in others and how you lead? (max 250 words)

This prompt builds on a central tenet of the HBS mission: to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. The admissions committee isn’t just interested in your accomplishments – they want to understand how you lead. Leadership at HBS isn’t about hierarchy or job title; it’s about impact, influence, and elevating others.

Highlight How You Empower Others

This question asks you to reflect on the experiences that have shaped your leadership style – especially how you support, inspire, and collaborate with others. Maybe you mentored a junior colleague, coached a volunteer team, or helped a group navigate a tough moment? The key is to show that you don’t lead by dominance, but through inclusion, encouragement, and trust.

Think of a moment (or two) where your investment in others directly led to growth, progress, or change. It doesn’t need to be dramatic – but it should reflect humility, emotional intelligence, and a clear set of values.

Be Personal, Be Reflective

HBS wants to know who you are, not just what you’ve done. So, this essay is an opportunity to be a bit more vulnerable – especially if formative life experiences shaped how you approach leadership. If you’ve overcome adversity or come from a background where collaboration and resilience were survival tools, that context can powerfully inform your leadership story.

That said, don’t try to cover too much ground. With only 250 words, one well-chosen example will do more than a series of summaries. Use storytelling to make your narrative compelling, and show – not tell – your approach to investing in others.

Skip the Future-Focused Ending

Unlike the previous version of this prompt, HBS no longer asks explicitly about the kind of leader you want to become. Admissions committees take the view that past performance is the best predictor of future success, so let your actions – and your reflection on them – speak for your potential. If your story reveals empathy, initiative, and influence, the admissions committee can extrapolate what kind of leader you’ll be at HBS and beyond.

Key Takeaways

• Show, don’t tell. Share a focused, specific example of how you supported, mentored, or empowered others.
• Demonstrate your leadership values. What shaped your approach to working with people? How do you bring out the best in others?
• Prioritize the human element. Leadership isn’t just strategic – it’s emotional, collaborative, and grounded in trust.
• Be reflective. HBS values candidates who are self-aware and honest about how their experiences shaped them.

How to Answer HBS’s Essay 3, the ‘Growth-Oriented Essay’? 

Prompt: Growth-Oriented: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (max 250 words)

This essay is an invitation to reveal your inner learner – someone who seeks out new ideas, stretches beyond their comfort zone, and embraces discovery. HBS isn’t looking for a fixed mindset or polished perfection here. They want evidence that you are actively growing – and that curiosity is a driving force in how you operate and evolve.

Show What Sparked Your Curiosity – and Where It Took You

The best responses to this essay often start with a spark: a moment or question that ignited your interest. Maybe you dove into a complex problem at work, explored a new culture or language, pursued an unfamiliar field, or re-examined long-held assumptions. What matters is not the scale of the example, but the depth of engagement and the chain reaction it triggered.

Be specific: What did you do when curiosity struck? What steps did you take to learn more? How did that pursuit stretch your thinking or change how you show up in the world?

This is a great place to be a little more personal or even a bit playful – especially if the story reveals unexpected dimensions of who you are. That said, the example still needs to lead somewhere meaningful. Growth is a key part of the prompt, and your answer should demonstrate how your curiosity led to insight, change, or a new way of engaging with challenges.

Signal the HBS Classroom Contributor You’ll Be

Curiosity is central to the case method at HBS. The school thrives on open-minded students who ask bold questions, challenge assumptions, and bring fresh perspectives to every discussion. This essay is your opportunity to show that you don’t just consume knowledge – you actively pursue it, reflect on it, and use it to drive change.

Key Takeaways

• Start with the spark. What triggered your curiosity? Why did it matter to you?
• Be specific and action-oriented. What did you do to satisfy that curiosity?
• Show your evolution. How did the experience shape your mindset or decisions?
• Stay focused. You only have 250 words – keep it tight and compelling.
• Let your personality shine. This essay is a chance to show how you think, learn, and grow.

How to Answer HBS’s Career Goals Question? 

Prompt: Briefly tell us more about your career aspirations. (500 characters)

Don’t be fooled by the word count – this brief career goals statement is a key part of your HBS application. In addition to choosing an industry and function from dropdown menus in the online form (e.g. consulting + business development), you’re given 500 characters – about 80–85 words – to elaborate. Use this space to state your post-MBA goals and your long-term vision.

Be Clear, Focused, and Aligned

Start by naming the specific role and industry you’re targeting after HBS, ideally including one or two target companies. Then connect this short-term goal to a long-term aspiration that reflects broader impact or leadership ambitions. HBS isn’t looking for a detailed five-year plan – but they do want to see direction, intentionality, and potential.

Example:

“After HBS, I plan to join a global strategy consulting firm like BCG or Bain to build cross-industry problem-solving skills. Long-term, I aspire to launch a mission-driven startup that improves access to affordable education in underserved communities.”

Keep It Consistent

Your short answer must align with what you selected in the dropdown menus – industry and function – as well as with the themes you’ve developed across your essays. The admissions team is looking for coherence and credibility. Even if you’re making a pivot, your path should make sense.

What Sets Exceptional Essays Apart – From My Experience in HBS Admissions

Remember this about Harvard Business School: nearly 10,000 applicants each year submit credentials that are, on paper, extraordinary. Stellar test scores, elite employers, prestigious undergraduate degrees – HBS has seen it all. These accomplishments may get you to the threshold, but they won’t get you to the interview. Once you’ve cleared a certain bar of brilliance, drive, and dedication, the deciding factor becomes your story.

And that’s where the real differentiation happens.

Your essays are the only part of the application where you speak directly to the Admissions Board in your own voice. And if you want to stand out in a sea of exceptional profiles, you must give them a reason to care beyond your resume. Based on my experience working closely with successful HBS applicants, here are five principles to make your essays not just competitive but unforgettable. You want them to be intrigued and enticed. There isn’t space to fit your full story. So focus on giving them previews of your experiences so the readers will think, “Wow, I cannot wait to meet this person. I have so many questions!” That will help you set the stage for a successful interview.

1. Don’t Recycle Your Resume

The biggest misstep applicants make? Turning their essay into a narrative resume (or “resume to prose”). No one wants to read that. The committee already has your credentials. They don’t need a recap; they need a reason to care.

In my experience reviewing essays at HBS, Stanford, and INSEAD, the weakest applications often came from the strongest resumes because the stories were sterile. A list of wins without friction, failure, or doubt lacks emotional depth. You’re not there to impress; you’re there to connect.

Start with the full application first – resume, data form, recommendations – then ask: What’s missing? Use the essay to fill in the human dimension: context, character, and change.

Write the kind of essay you’d want to read – one that lingers.

2. Be Open. Be Real. Be Brave.

The hardest advice to follow is also the most essential: tell the truth.

Many applicants default to polish over presence. They brand themselves. Package their story. Strip out the mess. But perfection is dull. Vulnerability, handled with intelligence and reflection, is compelling.

The most memorable essays aren’t triumphs. They’re turning points. A moment of doubt. A failure. A pivot. That’s what resonates. HBS isn’t looking for superheroes; they’re looking for self-aware leaders who’ve evolved through experience.

What drives you? What unsettles you? What have you questioned, abandoned, or rebuilt? The more honest you are, the more human you become – and the harder it is to forget you.

This is not about branding. It’s about being known.

3. Show, Don’t Tell

The strongest essays don’t announce who you are. They reveal it. Don’t claim traits like “resilient” or “impact-driven.” Prove them through precise, lived moments. Skip the abstractions. Bring us into the scene. For instance:

“Six hours before the product launch, our entire QA system crashed. I was the only one in the office.”

“I walked into the boardroom with one week of notice and no formal title, just a whiteboard and a market map I’d built myself.”

“When the offer collapsed, I gave myself 24 hours to be upset. On hour 25, I booked three coffees – with former managers, founders I respected, and a client I’d almost turned down – and started building something better.”

Each example conveys leadership, risk, adaptability – without saying so. One sharp detail, delivered with restraint, does more than a paragraph of explanation.

Precision builds credibility. And credibility builds trust.

4. Be Strategic and Precise

HBS’s short-answer format isn’t just a constraint. It’s an opportunity to show discipline. Word counts are tight. There’s no space for throat-clearing or sweeping biography.

Make your point, and make it matter. Start with a clear idea. Anchor it in a specific example. Let that example reveal something essential. Resist the urge to cram in too much. One well-developed insight is more powerful than five shallow ones.

Think of your essays as brushstrokes in a larger portrait. Each one should be intentional, distinctive, and essential to the whole.

5. Connect the Dots

HBS doesn’t just care what you’ve done. They care how you think – and where you’re going. Your essays must speak to each other. Together, they should reveal a coherent narrative, not a disconnected set of highlights.

Is there a consistent through-line in your choices? Do your values show up across roles and settings? Does your leadership style evolve or repeat?

The strongest candidates don’t just present achievements. They trace growth. When the essays are read in sequence, they reveal momentum, integrity, and direction.

This is your opportunity to curate – not just your story, but your arc, and your potential for impact.

Final Thoughts on the HBS Essays

Above all, your essays should convince the Admissions Board that you can live up to the mission of the school: to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. It is essential to understand this mission isn’t aspirational – this is what they DO. 

So the question is this: Are your stories showing that you’re ready to fulfill that ambition? Is there clarity, even urgency, in the difference you’re poised to make? Even if you don’t know exactly what you are going to do post-MBA (none of us have a crystal ball), it should be clear you are committed to leadership and impact rooted in your passions that show up in your experiences.

Lead with evidence. Show them what your potential is – in the way you lead, in the way you think, and in the way you act. For the application to convert to an interview and offer, it should be clear that you have what it takes, even if still emerging, to manifest enduring and positive change at scale. The Admissions Board will need to be convinced you have the guts, gravitas, and grit to carry forward the mandate in their mission – as a student, community member, and future leader added to the list of illustrious alumni.

Let’s Get You In

Fortuna Admissions is a dream team of former MBA admissions decision-makers from top schools. We know what it takes to stand out because we’ve made the admit decisions ourselves. Whether you need help refining your story, strengthening your essays, or navigating interviews, we’ve got you covered.

Our free consultations are consistently rated the best in the industry – and they’re a great way to get personalized advice and honest feedback on your profile. Book your free session with us today.

FAQs 

What are the Harvard Business School essay questions for 2025?
The HBS 2025 essay prompts include three short essays: one focused on your career journey, one on leadership, and one on curiosity and growth. You’ll also submit a brief statement about your post-MBA career goals. These essays are designed to reveal your motivations, leadership style and personal development journey. See the article above for the full essay prompts and advice on tackling them. 

How strict is the word count for the HBS essays?

You do need to stick to the maximum word count, and that’s challenging as they are fairly short. These tight constraints are part of the challenge – and the opportunity – of the Harvard essays, pushing you to write with clarity, focus, and intention.

What does HBS really look for in these essays?

Harvard Business School is looking for more than just impressive credentials – they want to understand who you are. Through your essays, they’re assessing your character, values, decision-making, and potential for impact. They’re looking for authenticity, self-awareness, and purpose – not perfection. Show them how you think, lead, and grow. If your story reveals curiosity, conviction, and a track record of meaningful choices, you’re on the right track. For a deep dive into how to ace your HBS essays, read the full article above.

Are there any HBS MBA essay examples to guide me?
At Fortuna, we provide carefully selected HBS MBA essay examples to our clients to illustrate what a compelling, authentic response can look like. That said, it’s critical to understand that there’s no formula or template for these essays – what works for one applicant won’t necessarily work for another. Your voice, story, and reflection are what matter most. Use examples as inspiration, not a blueprint.

Should I use examples from my professional or personal life in my HBS essays?

There’s no fixed rule – what matters most is choosing stories that are authentic, meaningful, and show how you think, lead, and grow. A mix of professional and personal examples can be powerful, as long as they align with the specific essay prompt. For instance, your essays might draw on a workplace challenge to illustrate leadership, and a personal moment of curiosity to show growth. Ultimately, the best approach is to select the examples that allow you to be reflective, specific, and true to your voice.

Want more advice on applying to Harvard Business School?

View these essential articles on HBS by Karla and other members of the Fortuna Admissions team:

1. HBS + GSB: Comparing Our Deep Dive Analysis on Who Really Gets In

2. How to Ace the HBS Post Interview Reflection

3. HBS video strategy sessions on our YouTube channel (8 videos)