Harvard MBA Essay Prompts & Writing Guide 2025–2026

Harvard Business School's "business-minded" essay requires you to connect specific experiences to pivotal career decisions, showing how your choices have shaped both your current path and your future aspirations. You have 300 words to tell a clear cause-and-effect story: what you experienced, why it mattered, how it influenced your decisions, and where you're headed. Since you already detailed your short-term and long-term goals elsewhere in the application, avoid repeating them. Instead, use this essay to reveal the motivations, values, and turning points behind those goals.

Start with context that grounds your career aspirations in concrete experiences. Consider focusing on one or two meaningful moments or decisions that genuinely redirected your professional trajectory. These don't have to be dramatic transformations; they could be realizations during a project, a conversation with a mentor, exposure to a problem you became passionate about solving, or a challenge that clarified your priorities. The key is showing the connection between what you experienced and the choices you made as a result. Frame your examples using a clear narrative structure: describe the situation, explain your decision-making process, and articulate how this shaped your career direction.

HBS is looking for applicants who view business as a force for good and who are driven to improve companies, industries, and communities. Therefore, you should emphasize the impact you aim to create through your career choices. Discuss what big problem you want to solve, what organizations or communities you plan to serve, and how your experiences have prepared you to make that difference. Be specific: instead of vague statements about "making an impact," explain exactly what change you want to drive and why it matters to you. If your career path has evolved or pivoted, explain the logic behind those transitions.

Your tone should be reflective but forward-looking, showing self-awareness about how your past experiences inform your future ambitions. Avoid simply listing achievements or job responsibilities. Instead, focus on the moments of decision and insight that reveal your motivations. HBS values authenticity, so choose stories that genuinely shaped your thinking rather than what you think the admissions committee wants to hear. Be honest about how your understanding of your career goals has deepened or shifted over time.

Finally, ensure your essay demonstrates integrated thinking: show how your career choices reflect a coherent vision rather than random opportunities. The admissions committee wants to see that you've been intentional about your professional journey and that your aspirations align with using business to create meaningful change. Keep your language clear and concise, making every sentence count within the tight word limit. Avoid redundancy and focus on showcasing depth of reflection rather than breadth of experiences.

The leadership essay at Harvard Business School is one of the most personal and revealing parts of your application, and with just 250 words, you need to be laser-focused. Start by identifying one or two formative experiences that genuinely shaped your leadership philosophy and your approach to investing in others. These don't have to be dramatic moments or come from senior-level roles; what matters is that they reveal your evolution, values, and how you show up when others depend on you. HBS is looking for leaders who empower, listen, and develop people, not just those who manage projects or hit metrics.

When you talk about how you invest in others, avoid generic statements like "I mentor my team." Instead, show concrete actions: Did you create a new initiative that gave junior colleagues visibility? Did you provide personalized guidance that helped someone navigate a tough situation or grow their skills? Did you advocate for someone whose voice wasn't being heard? Your examples should demonstrate emotional intelligence, humility, and a genuine interest in other people's growth and success. HBS wants to see that you understand leadership is ultimately about enabling others to thrive, not just advancing your own agenda.

The essay also asks what kind of leader you want to become, so tie your past experiences to your future aspirations. This doesn't mean you need a grand, sweeping vision; it means showing self-awareness about what you've learned and how you plan to continue developing. Perhaps you've realized the importance of creating inclusive environments, or maybe you've learned that effective leadership requires balancing directness with empathy. Whatever your insight, make it feel authentic and grounded in real experiences that have challenged or changed you.

Be personal and reflective, not performative. This is your chance to let the admissions committee see who you are beyond your resume: the moments that shaped your values, the people you've supported along the way, and the leader you're striving to become. Don't just list accomplishments; share the lessons you've learned and how they've influenced your approach to leadership. HBS values vulnerability and honesty here, so resist the urge to polish every edge or present yourself as flawless.

Finally, treat this essay as part of a cohesive application narrative. Make sure the leadership examples you choose don't overlap with stories you're using in the other two essays. If you're discussing a professional achievement in the business-minded essay, consider using a personal or extracurricular example here to show range and depth. The goal is to give HBS a 360-degree view of who you are, how you've grown, and why you'll contribute meaningfully to the case method classroom and the broader HBS community.

Your curiosity essay needs to focus on one specific, high-stakes example where your desire to learn something new or solve a problem through exploration directly led to meaningful growth. Start by choosing a situation where you lacked the knowledge, skill, or perspective to move forward, and your curiosity became the engine that drove you to seek answers, learn actively, and ultimately transform in some way. The stakes should feel real: this wasn't idle interest but a moment where curiosity mattered to your development.

Structure your response using a clear narrative arc. Open with a brief hook that sets the context and makes the reader want to keep reading (what sparked your curiosity and why). Then describe the actions you took to satisfy that curiosity: did you seek out mentors, teach yourself a new skill, immerse yourself in an unfamiliar environment, or challenge your own assumptions through active listening and engaging with diverse perspectives? Avoid skimming over the challenge or conflict. Show what you did, not just what you thought.

The growth portion is critical and often underwritten. Don't just say you "learned a lot" or "became more open-minded." Be specific about how this experience changed you. Did it shift your leadership style? Broaden your problem-solving toolkit? Reshape how you approach teamwork or conflict? Connect this growth to who you are today and, subtly, to the kind of contributor you'll be in the HBS classroom, where curiosity, active listening, and learning from others are foundational to the case method.

Resist the temptation to list multiple examples of curiosity or to choose something superficial (like a hobby) unless you can demonstrate deep engagement and clear personal evolution from it. One story, told with depth and introspection, will always outperform a surface-level tour of several interests. Also, avoid spending precious words explaining why you want to attend HBS or justifying your MBA goals. This essay is about your character and how you grow, nothing more.

Finally, make sure your example aligns with your overall application narrative. If your other essays emphasize data-driven leadership, choose a curiosity story that complements that theme rather than contradicts it. Authenticity and cohesion matter. HBS wants to see that curiosity isn't just a box you're checking but a core part of how you operate, learn, and lead.

Harvard's career aspirations statement is just 500 characters (roughly 80 to 85 words), but don't underestimate its weight. This concise response must complement the dropdown menus where you select your target industry and function, providing a clear snapshot of your post-MBA trajectory. The admissions committee wants to see that your goals are both aspirational and realistic, showing a logical progression from short-term role to long-term impact.

Start by naming your immediate post-MBA target: the specific role, industry, and even one or two companies you're aiming for. Then, connect this short-term step to a broader, long-term vision that demonstrates leadership ambition and meaningful impact. Keep your language crisp and direct. This isn't the place for flowery prose or vague statements about "making a difference." Instead, show clarity of purpose and intentionality. For instance, you might mention how your short-term position will build the skills, network, or credibility needed to achieve your longer-term goal of leading a business unit, launching a venture, or transforming an industry. Harvard values direction and potential, not rigid five-year plans, so aim for a balance between focus and flexibility.

Authenticity is critical here. Avoid outlining aspirations you think the admissions committee wants to hear if they don't genuinely align with your background and interests. The strongest responses reflect self-awareness and a clear understanding of how an HBS MBA fits into your unique trajectory. Since you already elaborate on your career journey in the 300-word Business-Minded essay, use this short answer to provide a complementary snapshot, one that is consistent with your broader narrative and reinforces your readiness to contribute to the HBS community and beyond.

This is not an essay. Harvard is explicit about this, and you should take them at their word. With only 75 words available, you have just enough space to state a fact, provide context, and move on. Use this section only if something in your application could raise questions during the review process (an employment gap, a low grade in a quant course, or a non-traditional recommender choice). Be brief, factual, and avoid overly justifying or making excuses.

Start with what happened ("I left my role at Company X in June 2023 to care for a family member"), then add just enough context so the admissions committee understands the situation without speculating. If relevant, briefly mention what you did during or after the issue to demonstrate growth, such as taking an online finance course to strengthen quant skills or gaining new responsibilities in a subsequent role. Resist the temptation to write a mini-essay or introduce new accomplishments. This space is strictly for clarification, not for adding value.

If there is nothing in your application that needs explanation, skip this section entirely. Forcing content here can distract from an otherwise strong profile. The admissions committee will not penalize you for leaving it blank, and submitting a clean application is often the best move. If you do use this space, keep the tone calm, professional, and forward-looking. Own the situation without dwelling on it, and let the rest of your application speak for itself.

This reapplicant essay is your chance to showcase concrete progress and demonstrate that you've strategically strengthened your candidacy since your last application. Harvard Business School wants to see that you took the rejection as an opportunity for growth rather than as a reason to submit an identical application. You should focus on the delta, the specific improvements you've made over the past year. Highlight tangible achievements such as a promotion, new leadership responsibilities, a stronger test score, advanced coursework, expanded community involvement, or any meaningful professional or personal milestones. Avoid vague statements about your desire to attend HBS; instead, provide hard evidence of how you're now a better candidate.

When drafting this essay, be strategic about selecting what to include. You only have 250 words, so prioritize the most significant and impressive updates. Don't rehash content from your other essays or simply restate what's already visible in your resume. Instead, use this space to bring fresh stories and accomplishments that weren't part of your previous application. If you retook the GMAT or GRE and improved your score, mention it. If you initiated a new project at work that expanded your leadership footprint, describe it. If you took on volunteer work or joined a board that aligns with your post-MBA goals, explain how it reflects your commitment and readiness for business school. Each sentence should demonstrate deliberate action and measurable growth.

Keep the tone confident and forward-looking. Harvard wants to see that you've reflected on your previous application and made intentional changes based on that reflection. Avoid apologizing or dwelling on what went wrong last time. Instead, frame your updates in a way that shows resilience, self-awareness, and an upward trajectory. End by reinforcing why you're better prepared now to contribute to the HBS community and succeed in the program. This essay should leave the admissions committee with no doubt that you've evolved significantly and are ready to thrive at Harvard Business School.