How to Write Georgetown’s School of Business Essay
This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Alex Oddo in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.
What’s Covered:
Georgetown asks applicants to The McDonough School of Business to respond to the following prompt:
The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown. – 1 page, single-spaced
In this article, we will discuss what the prompt is asking for and how to approach writing a response for this essay. For more information on Georgetown’s other essays, read our article on how to write the Georgetown essay supplements.
Understand the Prompt
The McDonough School of Business prompt is like many “why major” essays in that it asks you to discuss your motivations for choosing your program, which, of course, in this case is business at Georgetown.
The prompt gives you a brief description of McDonough’s school mission as context, saying that it’s both a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial, and global perspectives. This is a strong hint that you should aim to integrate the goals and focus areas highlighted in the mission within your response.
Reflect on Your Goals and Values
Supplemental essays are a key part of any college application as they give you an opportunity to showcase your personal voice and unique perspective. But they also allow you the opportunity to reflect on how your goals and values align with the values of the university or specific program to which you’re applying.
Take another look at the prompt and think about the aspects of the mission statement that resonate most deeply with you and why. Which questions are you looking to answer? What problems interest you most? What about McDonough’s approach to business education is most appealing? Reflecting on questions like these will help guide you as you begin to draft your response.
Discuss Your Interests and Motivations
While you certainly don’t need to address every single way that you could benefit from a degree in business, your motivation for applying to the program needs to go beyond your goal of getting a high paying consulting job after graduation. Wanting to have a successful post-grad career is a given, however focusing more on the intellectual value of the program will help you craft a successful response to this prompt and stand out from the pile.
Perhaps you love data and consequently value McDonough’s emphasis on both ethics and analytics. Or maybe you’re interested in the unique global perspectives you could get at the McDonough school. Focus on aligning your current interests and experiences directly with the program’s unique set of values and educational opportunities.
One tip to remember is that while the prompt asks you to discuss your motivations for studying business, be sure to tie your response into your major of interest and the specific resources that the McDonough school offers especially as they relate to the mission as outlined in the prompt.
Looking to learn more about undergraduate business programs across the states? Check out this post for a list of the top business programs in the country and their acceptance rates.
