Kellogg MBA essays have been released for the 2024–25 application cycle, with a new prompt for Essay 1 and revised language for Essay 2.As in the past, the Kellogg essays explore applicants’ approach to leadership and their value system. Based on my years of experience evaluating and selecting candidates for Northwestern’s full-time MBA program, I’ve put together some tips below on how to tackle this year’s Kellogg MBA essays.
The key to delivering a series of standout essays to Kellogg — including required video statements — is to embrace your authentic story. Weaving a well-crafted narrative that conveys your passions and clarity of purpose in a way that elicits emotional impact is the secret sauce in creating a connection to an admission reader’s heart.
First, you’ll want to understand why Kellogg is asking each question and what the admissions committee is hoping to uncover. The clues, of course, are embedded within the Kellogg essay questions themselves.
Tips for Kellogg MBA Essay 1
Essay 1 asks:
Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words; hard cut off at 480 words)
This is a version of the classic “Why an MBA, why now, and why this school” question — seen through the lens of leadership traits. Notice the focus on “intentionality”; the Kellogg admissions committee is looking to understand whether you are deliberate and purposeful in your actions and decisions. It’s more important than ever to be crystal clear and direct about your reasons and your goals — your “whys.”
Go one step farther and share the “whys behind your whys.” The prompt asks about your journey, so be sure to share the personal experiences, perspectives and motivations that brought you to the point of applying to Kellogg. Help the Admissions Committee know you are making an informed decision about your future professional goals by linking them to specific experiences from your past. For example, don’t just say that your goal is a position as an associate in investment banking to influence future mergers and acquisitions. Share the “why,” and your personal motivation or interest. Maybe you worked as a nurse in a hospital that was acquired, and this experience motivates you to want to be involved in the business side of healthcare mergers and acquisitions in the future.
The word “catalyst” is another clue about what the admissions committee wants to learn from your response to this Kellogg essay question. They want to know what features and facets of Kellogg’s offerings and community attract you, and how those features will boost you toward your goals. Make sure you do your research thoroughly – but don’t simply share a dry list of classes, professors, programs and student organizations gleaned from the website that interest you. Every adcom and application reader has seen thousands of such lists.
What makes you stand out is how you link those offerings to your personal goals. For instance, you can say something like, “I am interested in taking class X to build my financial modeling skills, which will be vital in my ambition to do Y. I look forward to learning from professors with expertise in Z, the industry that I plan to enter. I am excited to learn from other students who share my passion for [insert activity] during the annual [insert event] sponsored by [insert club.]
Finally, this Kellogg essay question asks how you will contribute not just to your class but to its community of lifelong learners. This is an opportunity to introduce yourself and highlight some unique passions, experiences or perspectives that speak to what you will bring to the school, both inside and outside the classroom. How will you show up and get involved at Kellogg – and beyond?
I think one big, missed opportunity that many applicants make is to only think about how they are going to contribute during their time in the program/classroom. Does Kellogg have an alumni organization in the city that you would join post-graduation? Does the larger alumni community host or offer events that you could contribute to? Does the Career Center website highlight any annual events involving alumni from your desired industry that you would be excited to contribute to after graduating as a speaker? Would you be willing to serve as a club mentor? Since Kellogg values lifelong learners, this is also a good place to showcase curiosity and open-mindedness. How would you continue to learn and benefit from your links to Kellogg?
Show, Not Tell – On Video Too
Remember, it’s always best to show, not tell, and illustrate your points with one or two examples. These examples can show how you’ve contributed to group settings in the past and how you envision yourself engaging in the Kellogg community. The challenge is both to sift through your experiences to identify the best points to highlight, and to stay within the word limit.
Note that in addition to written Kellogg essays, the school also asks you to introduce yourself in a video essay. In the video, you’ll respond to three prompts to introduce yourself, explain your career goal and reasons for seeking a Northwestern MBA, and share a challenge you faced and what you learned from it. It’s important to keep this in mind while crafting your essays. You should plan complementary narratives for each format that reinforce but do not repeat each other. And keep in mind that the video offers an opportunity to share additional information or personal stories that don’t fit in your essays. For more advice, see our related blog on Kellogg MBA video essays.
Tips for Kellogg MBA Essay 2
Essay 2 asks:
Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. (450 words; hard cut off at 480 words)
In this Kellogg MBA essay, the admissions committee is looking to learn about your leadership journey thus far and gain a sense for how you will grow as a leader at Kellogg. Highlighting the role of leadership in addressing challenges “from the boardroom to their neighborhoods” reflects a core Kellogg value — that leadership is essential, universally applicable, and not something that one turns on or off. Consistently acting as an authentic leader to address any situation is crucial.
This Kellogg essay question also recognizes that leadership occurs in all kinds of different settings, but Kellogg now specifies (in a change from last year) that you must share a professional experience that shaped your leadership style. Ideally, the story you share will demonstrate the kind of leader you are today. However, the prompt does not rule out a story about a situation where you did not yet have formal leadership responsibilities but still had to make a tough decision that taught you important lessons about how you want to lead in the future.
This essay is an opportunity for you to share a compelling example of how you’ve faced a challenging situation, the action you took and the values that underpinned your decision.
And while the subject is “you,” Kellogg leaders recognize the value of bringing others along. Inevitably, the difficult decision would involve or impact others. Who were the players involved or that had to be considered in making this decision? How/when did you take other perspectives into consideration when navigating the difficult decision? While it’s smart to explain how you considered others in handling the situation, avoid the “we” game. Even if you were part of a team or group that addressed the challenge, make sure you are specific about your actions and contributions to the situation, because that is what the Admissions Committee wants to most understand. It’s useful to use examples that illustrate how recognizing differences and diverse perspectives create better solutions.
Tell a Story
The Northwestern Kellogg essays — especially Essay 2 — are your opportunity to tell a story. Think through: why must you tell this story? How is your organization better off thanks to the decision you made? What leadership experience can you share that reveals how you’ve succeeded in elevating others? What story will illuminate the impact you’ve had as well as the values guiding your behavior?
Keep in mind this values statement from the Kellogg website:
WE VALUE INDIVIDUALS WHO:
- Approach business problems with a mix of hard and soft skills.
- Seek to adapt to the evolving business world with open curiosity and innovation.
- Believe in strong, empathetic collaboration as a way to strengthen work, perspectives and outcomes.
- Embrace the power of diversity in your teams and networks.
Kellogg wants to get to know the authentic you and enroll those who lead with empathy. They don’t wish to read the ‘heroes’ journey where your strength and resilience led to success without thinking about the impact on others. This is an opportunity to reflect how you currently embody Kellogg values and will positively contribute to your classmates’ experience.
Formatting Guidelines
The directions for the Kellogg MBA application essays indicate the following: You can either upload your essays as a file or copy and paste your essay text into the form. Be sure to include the essay prompt in bold at the top of your essay. If you’re uploading a document, you should use 12-point Times New Roman font, 1.5 line spacing and 1-inch margins.
Also, note that the school now explicitly states that if you use AI as a tool for drafting your essays, you should do so with integrity (i.e. do not use it as a replacement for your own genuine insights and reflections) and you must also reference which tool you used at the end of the essay. Our advice at Fortuna is not to use AI; AI cannot tell you what is important to convey about your own story, and it’s best not to give the impression that you have taken shortcuts.
View our Kellogg & Chicago Booth Admissions Masterclass, an hour-long strategy session with essential advice and insight from Fortuna’s former Kellogg & Booth gatekeepers. View other MBA Essay Masterclasses in our series on Fortuna’s YouTube channel.
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Jayne Mulcahy is an Expert Coach with Fortuna Admissions who formerly evaluated and selected MBA candidates as part of Northwestern Kellogg’s Full-Time MBA admissions team. For a candid assessment of your chances of admission success at a top MBA program, sign up for a free consultation.