Leadership, leadership, leadership! Shmeadership.
Ok, I might be going a bit crazy. But I’m a bit tired of leadership. Tired of reading about it anyway.
I bet adcoms are tired of leadership too. But it’s their own fault.
I get that you want leaders, Kellogg. I really get it. But here’s an idea: why not come up with a more intelligent way of uncovering a candidate’s leadership skills than explicitly asking about it?
Because you’re the ones who have to read the same essays over and over.
Sure, the leadership question lets you easily weed out applicants who have no idea how to frame the issue, but by now there’s enough good advice around about how to answer these questions correctly.
Which means the margin applicants get from answering it properly is eroded. If everyone knows how to answer these correctly, it gets tougher to stand out. (If you don’t know how to answer it, email me and we’ll talk)!
I used to agonize over the “Why ______ (HBS/MIT/TUCK/ETC)” essay portion. There was NOTHING new to say, no brilliant strategy for answering this section. Yes, I had some subtle tricks and ideas, but really there’s no genius way to attack this.
Then I realized something: just answer it the “right way” and move on. Show that you know how the game is played and be more creative in a better place.
Leadership essays are getting that way too. There really is a right way to do them, but once you’ve gotten to that point the only way to differentiate yourself is through writing style and essay structure. The content is going to be pretty similar.
But that’s ok too. If you can, innovate structurally. If you can’t, hit the correct points and move on. Just show that you get it, and save your differentiating skills for another essay.
That’s why admissions is such a strategic game. Even when it’s a little boring it’s interesting.
