A Day in the Life

7:30 a.m.: Alarm clock blares with The Beatles: “Wake up. Get out of bed. Drag a comb across my head. Catch the bus in seconds flat.” Perform said lyrics.

8:00 a.m.: Catch train, skim the headlines of the WSJ and then delve into the international section. Get so absorbed almost miss my stop.

9:00 a.m.–12:00 noon: Review cash flow and valuation analyses prepared by members of the Latin American team. Work with team to confirm growth assumptions and discuss sensitivity of investor returns to currency assumptions.

1:00 p.m.: Call investment bankers or officers of an investment target and ask questions about inconsistencies or confusing aspects of the financial models they provided. Ask for updates on previously requested questions or documents.

2:00 p.m.: For a different deal, field a curveball thrown by the target company’s lawyers. Work with these lawyers and our counsel to analyze and discuss the effects of proposed changes in the legal and tax structure of the transaction.

3:00 p.m.: Call CEO and CFO of target company to tell them what progress we have made and what we still need from their bankers or management team. Brainstorm with them on solutions to comments made by the lawyers. Outline steps for the next few days.

4:00 p.m.: Meet with my supervisor and the Latin American team. Update them on my progress and highlight any key outstanding issues or pressure points that must be resolved.

4:30 p.m.: Begin gathering and processing information that will be presented to our investment committee in a few weeks.

6:30 p.m.: Plan goals that need to be accomplished for tomorrow’s ten-day trip to Mexico and Brazil.

7:00 p.m.: Start home. Read.

8:00 p.m.: Run five miles, watching sunset along the Hudson River.

9:30 p.m.: Meet friends for dinner, jazz show, or a movie.

Analysis

This is a straightforward, solid essay that does not try to blow you away with superhuman feats, but rather establishes Jason as a hard worker who manages to maintain a reasonably balanced life despite being in a high-stress, fast-paced industry. The best line in the essay—and the one that makes you think Jason is probably a pretty good guy—is the first one about performing The Beatles’ lyrics. It is a good (and funny) opening and sets a relaxed tone for the rest of the essay. Everything that follows is a fairly standard description of a day in the life of a banker. Nonetheless, Jason’s incorporation of a consistent set of references to Latin America and international affairs helps him stand out a little from the group of his investment banking peers.

While overall this essay does a good job describing a typical day, Jason could have added a little more depth to it. He could have peppered his day with stronger instances of taking a leadership role or simply added more introspective details. Nevertheless, you do not have to hit a grand slam with all of your essays to make a good impression. In fact, forcing world-beating essays out of thin air across the board will probably help you a lot less than just answering some of the questions simply and matter-of-factly. That is what Jason has done here and it worked well for him.

From 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays edited by the Staff of the Harvard Crimson. Copyright (c) 2009 by the authors and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Publishing Group