Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
The following article will examine both strategies and approaches to the Kellogg essays this year and provide a comprehensive overview of how applicants should handle them. Then we’ll look at an example Kellogg application essay for the second prompt. We’ll analyze what works and what does not, so that you can approach your application with confidence.
Kellogg Essay Tips
First, we’ll take a look at the essays and Kellogg as an institution. This part of the process is absolutely imperative. Just like you would not attempt to discuss the Marvel Universe with someone who had never experienced it for themselves, you need to know your audience before you know how to approach the essay prompts.
As for knowing your audience, the prompts themselves are a great place to start. Let’s dive in.
Essay One
Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip, and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)
Many schools are not as direct as Kellogg is with this prompt. Upfront, we know that leadership and value are extremely important.
Essay Two
Values are what guide you in your life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)
The second prompt is more abstract. It gives you the ability to define what is important to you, as well as discuss the journey that you have taken as a result.
Preparing to Write
Of all the business school programs, Kellogg stands out for its very intimate and close-knit culture. As we begin to approach the essays, we want to filter our experiences and our stories for cultural fit. This means that the applicant first highlights an awareness of the structure of the Kellogg MBA program, and next, speaks directly to the programs that Kellogg offers.
Core Themes: Kellogg
Kellogg is famously known for its world-renowned marketing program. Among the nation’s first universities to teach courses in advertising, sales, and marketing in the early 20th century, Kellogg offers a first-rate faculty, unique curriculum, and robust teaching methodologies to earn the school’s unofficial designation as the “Marketing MBA”. With all of this said, it is critically important to understand how Kellogg, like Wharton, has been investing considerable resources to diversify and strengthen other aspects of the Kellogg MBA besides marketing. As a result, the following themes will be critical to tie into your essays as you deliver your candidacy to Admissions for consideration:
1. Student-driven activism. Beyond academics and extracurriculars, Kellogg relies on its student body to organize a large component of the business school experience. Most of the innovations in global study curricula (from Global Initiatives in Management to KWEST) were student-driven initiatives. Also, second-year students lead pre-term orientation and help drive new student and recruitment engagement at Kellogg’s admitted Students day
2. Collaboration. Kellogg’s approach to instruction and grading is largely influenced by group-based activities and inter-sectional involvement. Whereas the standard business school course at the average MBA would resemble a lecture format with assignments and exams, many of Kellogg’s most famous classes offer zero individual assignments. Instead, projects are team-based, and evaluations are based on self-assessed contributions to the team. This teaching style alone tells you an enormous amount about what Kellogg values. Kellogg wants team players who will be active participants in the learning process and will get along. They do not want any free-riders or those who cannot work well with others.
3. Diverse Academic Engagement. Kellogg used to be known for its concentration of employers that employed the vast majority of students. As most students went into Marketing or Consulting, the school’s curriculum was developed around these professions. As Kellogg invests in its Career Management Center and Entrepreneurship ecosystem, more and more students are pursuing careers in various sectors from tech and media to healthcare and non-profits.
While not a central consideration for describing the essence of the Kellogg experience, we would be remiss not to add that Kellogg is also known for its “social” atmosphere. The experience offers plenty of travel experiences and student-led organizations make the culture outside the classroom resemble an undergraduate school. Of course, this is more of an unofficial view of the school, but with enough evidence from former students who have described their experiences there, we find it appropriate to mention.
Writing
Kellogg used to ask a written essay question about why you want to go to Kellogg or what you will contribute. Now, the essays focus on personal values and challenging leadership issues; we recommend looking more closely into your past professional and academic involvement in team-based or group activities to ascertain fit.
Essay One: Kellogg’s purpose is to educate, equip, and inspire brave leaders who create lasting value. Provide a recent example where you have demonstrated leadership and created value. What challenges did you face and what did you learn? (450 words)
Where we see most applicants get tripped up in this essay is their strategy to list a bunch of student clubs and organizations that they plan on joining after perusing the school’s website or prospective student materials. It is enticing and surprisingly easy to do this because the school will most likely offer a club that represents any given interest.
So, while it certainly makes sense to show Admissions that you did your homework, this strategy by itself will not suffice. The question about challenges is speaking to your interest and eagerness to step outside your comfort zone. They want students who will take those personal risks to get involved in things they have never done before. They want to cultivate the feelings that you can find a group of students who you call family. So, by getting deep into how a challenge in your past forced you to be vulnerable or take a chance, you are effectively telling Admissions that you have the right DNA to succeed in this environment.
As far as the prompt about your learning, it is important to be forward-looking and show how you plan to apply that learning in the future. This revelation could occur while at business school or it could reference how you plan to become a different type of leader or team member. This application will highlight to Admissions that you will offer your fellow peers a unique perspective that you are willing to share.
Essay Two: Values are what guide you in your life and work. What values are important to you and how have they influenced you? (450 words)
Values questions in an MBA context can all be approached similarly. Your job is to build the bridge. That is it. You need to connect value that is true to who you are and tell Admissions why that matters. How is this value going to help you going forward? It is one thing to say that you value loyalty. But if you fail to build the bridge that connects loyalty to the “why it matters”, then the essay will read as simply a personal statement. Keep in mind that the first essay similarly asked a cultural-fit type question. In many ways, challenges that you face and subsequently learn from reveal character. And character is the offspring of core values. So normally in essay prompts for MBA programs, we like both essays to be very distinct from one another in that they stand on their own. So, while referring to your first essay is fine, focus the second essay on two or three values that have shaped your decision-making throughout life.
Essay Two: What Not to Write
Kellogg’s question is specifically about values, so you don’t want to simply list outside achievements nor do you want to write the essay just about the list of clubs at Kellogg you will join. To that end, the values essay will sound sincere if it is sincere. Write about your motivating principle and you will present your candidacy in the best possible light naturally.
Kellogg Essay Examples
“Facing the question of what I truly value, I have come to realize that my most honest answer is that I have two key values: diversity and honesty. Coming from an African-American background, I have always treasured having people from all over the world and walks of life on my teams. Furthermore, I believe these teams have thrived because they embody integrity and honesty. Neither can be said to exceed the other: diversity encourages a multitude of valuable outlooks and honesty lays the foundation for trust, which force multiplies the excellence of the working group.
As listed on my application, I have held many jobs since I came from a less privileged background. From working at a restaurant as clean-up boy to delivering pizzas to selling new and used cars, each job taught me something about professionalism and each required honesty. In particular, as a car salesman, I faced pressure from some of my colleagues who said I could maximize profit through upselling our vehicles. For me, the payback in honesty came when trusted clients would return with friends or family members who also needed crs. We sold each vehicle at exactly the MSRP demanded, and by doing so, we built a relationship that spanned years.
After graduating university my increasing responsibilities required diversity and honesty even more. As a management consultant for Deloitte, I was required to work with teams from all over the world and carry out due diligence in environments far from home. With every completed professional achievement, I ascended through the ranks and grew to value candor and integrity as mistakes could be forgiven, but willful hiding of errors could be a cancer that grew. Today as an applicant to Kellogg School of Management, I long to acquire business skills that will permit me to take on the ever more rigorous demands of C-level management.”
Commentary on Essay 2
The applicant did a fine job of expressing values and not simply listing qualifications. He revealed introspection by showing that each of his two choices fed into the other. To that end, he defied the stereotype of the “used-car salesman” and demonstrated that integrity is key to his performance in business. He subtly sold his candidacy and he showed that his dreams are limitless.
From the admissions officer’s perspective, it’s clear this essay was written specifically for Kellogg and not recycled from another MBA school application. The integrity the candidate will bring to the program is clear, and he has learned and grown through many positions in his ascent to leadership.
