Following up on the release of the Oxford MBA essays for 2015-2016, we wanted to offer some pointers to applicants targeting Saïd Business School this admissions season.
The Oxford MBA adcom has overhauled its essay set as compared to last year, reducing the number of required essays from three to just two of a total 750 words. This year’s prompts are both rather open ended, with the first inviting applicants to comment on the ways they fit the school’s larger mission, and inviting them to use the other to share anything not already covered in their data forms. This makes for a somewhat challenging essay set for 2015-2016, as applicants will need to think carefully about what to share in response to each item in order to best communicate their match with the Saïd program and the strength of their candidacies.
Let’s take a closer look at each of this year’s Oxford MBA essays:
Essay 1: How do you fit with Oxford Saïd’s mission? (500 words) In this new, fairly open-ended essay prompt, the Oxford MBA adcom asks applicants to do a bit of research into the school’s mission and to consider how they’re a fit with its goals and institutional values. In addition to perusing the linked “About Saïd” main page, candidates would do well to dive in here and listen to Dean Tufano’s comments on the school’s strategy and vision, read about the program’s “challenging yet collegial, thoughtful but ready for action, ambitious yet principled, rigorous yet fun, and very international” community, and learn about the program’s commitment to graduating students who will make a significant impact across regions and sectors.
In reviewing and synthesizing this information, applicants should look for ways these aspects of the Saïd mission are aligned with their career goals, as well as ways they’re positioned to make a unique contribution to the school community through their background and experiences. As a starting point, it would make particularly good sense for applicants to introduce their long-term career goals in response to this question. While the data forms contain fairly detailed questions about the candidate’s immediate post-MBA objectives and plans to accomplish them, this prompt is well suited for some remarks about the applicant’s 10-year plan and they way this objective fits with Oxford’s emphasis on large-scale impact and radical innovation.
It would also make sense for candidates to speak to the ways they would enhance the diversity of the student body through their unique backgrounds and perspectives, and to comment on how exactly they would make a positive impact on the school community while enacting the program’s values. This might translate to contributions to class discussions and leadership roles in student organizations, or simply to some comments about how one would support one’s colleagues in their own professional and personal development. Finally, applicants might also wish to comment on past experiences and accomplishments that demonstrate an ability to engage in the high-impact intellectual inquiry that the program expects of its students. In sum, there are a wide range of subjects that applicants might introduce in this response. We encourage applicants to consider the elements of their prior experience and potential impact that resonate most closely with what they learn about the Oxford MBA mission, and to strike a balance between these two categories in this response — or between this response and the next.
Essay 2: Is there anything not covered in the application form which you would like the Admissions committee to know about you? (250 words) While this prompt sounds very similar to the optional essays posed by many MBA programs, this response is actually a required element of the Oxford MBA application. Candidates will therefore want to consider what sort of anecdote or information will add the greatest value to their applications beyond what’s already included in their CV and data form responses. This could truly be anything: a favorite hobby or community involvement, a challenging work project that was ultimately successful, an aspect of your upbringing that’s had a lasting influence, an international or cross-cultural experience that prompted learning or growth, one’s plans for involvement in the Oxford community — all would be appropriate here. Candidates should consider the balance of content between this response and the first, and aim to highlight something new here that will show the adcom an additional side of their personalities and potential to contribute to the Saïd community. Given the narrow word limit, our sense is that the most effective responses to this question will fully develop a single topic (or introduce 2 examples with a common theme) rather than attempting to cover several disparate items.
That said, because Oxford does not pose an optional essay question, applicants who do have a liability in their candidacy may want to reserve a portion of this response to provide an explanation or point to a mitigating factor. Such candidates should aim to accomplish this as briefly as possible — ideally in 50-100 words — in order to reserve some space in this response for purely positive additional information.
Additional essay for re-applicants: What improvements have you made in your candidacy since you last applied to the Oxford MBA? (250 words)
Given the narrow word limit for this response, reapplicants will want to offer a straightforward account of the specific steps they’ve taken to strengthen their applications since last applying to Oxford. Candidates should aim to be as exhaustive as possible as they cover improved quantitative records, enhanced professional qualifications, efforts to become more familiar with the Oxford MBA program, and other ways they’ve worked to become a stronger applicant this season. | 
