Harvard Kennedy School MPP & MPA2 2016 Application Essay Tips

The essays discussed below are for the MPP and the two-year MPA applications (essay questions are different for the MPA/ID and mid-career MPA applications).

HKS seeks well-rounded master’s students – people with proven academic success, strong leadership and career potential, and “commitment to advancing the public interest” (quoting the dean). The school also wants the student body to be diverse. Your application overall will address these factors; the essays provide a valuable opportunity to underscore through specific detail how you meet these criteria and will be a unique contributor. Perhaps more important, use the essays to weave together these elements into a coherent story/presentation – one that clarifies your path to your public interest goals.

Question 1 for both programs: The Harvard Kennedy School motto, echoing the President for whom the School is named, is “Ask what you can do.” Please share with the Admissions Committee your plans to create positive change through your leadership and service. (600 word limit)

This is in essence a future-focused goals question. I suggest a professional focus, though it could also include non-work plans. Three keys to making this essay work:

1. In describing your plans/goals, clarify what “positive change” means to you – it’s easy to forget that it means different things to different people. And cite specific changes (impacts) you intend to deliver through your service. These changes need not be comprehensive “save the world” level changes – it’s more realistic, more credible, and probably more interesting to the reader to discuss changes to a particular corner of the world, or segment of population, or focused concern.

2. Discuss practical aspects – how you’ll execute those plans in real terms, focusing on your anticipated leadership and sense of service.

3. Root the plans in your experience, to lend credibility to what you say you will do in the future (easy to say, after all, but much more believable if you have a relevant track record).

Question 2 for the MPP program: Describe an event or episode that either gave you a chance to use a personal strength, or revealed a personal weakness. Then explain specifically how the MPP at HKS would leverage your distinctive abilities and/or fill gaps in your skill set as you equip yourself for your career goals. (600 word limit)

This is a behavioral question (asking about past experience/behavior) blended with a why-HKS question. The latter element should be consistent with learning needs and other factors relating to your goals (discussed in essay 1).

In choosing an experience to present (the event or episode asked for), be strategic: use a story that shows you in an interesting and relatively high stakes situation that is relevant to your goals and also reflects an aspect of your experience, character, skill sets, etc. not highlighted elsewhere in the application. Also, ideally it would be fairly recent.

I suggest a simple structure: tell the story without a “fanfare” introduction – just jump into the narrative. As you write it, include your thoughts, concerns, and decisions at pivotal points, not just I-did-this-I-did-that. Then discuss how the HKS program will either leverage this strength or fill gaps in skills in a way that will prepare you for the goals cited above in essay 1. In this part, refer to specific elements and components of the program, and relate them to specific learning needs or strengths you want to develop further. Show your familiarity with the details and the mission of the program.

Do not shortchange the second part. I suggest somewhere between fifty-fifty story and why-HKS to two-third story and one-third why-HKS.

Question 2 for MPA2 program: There are many pathways one can pursue in order to make a difference in the world. Why is the MPA Program at HKS an appropriate pathway to achieving your goals? (600 word limit)

This is a pure why-HKS-MPA question. Your goals will be the starting point: they create the need to learn certain things and the conditions to benefit from certain opportunities. So first, identify the gaps in learning that you must fill in order to realize your goals and also the opportunities that would be helpful in realizing your goals (such as access to certain types of people or challenge to move past reflexive thinking). Then detail how the HKS program meets these needs and offers these opportunities. This “how” can include all manner of things about the program, depending on your needs: curriculum structure and/or content, professors, special programs, classmates, extracurricular clubs/programs, partner groups/programs, etc. The key is to be specific and to link the things you cite to your goals, learning needs, and/or broader professional growth and development needs.

Optional for both programs: If you have any concerns about your prior academic, professional or personal background you would like to share with the Admissions Committee, please provide an explanation. (250 word limit)

This optional essay question specifically instructs you to write the optional essay only if there are concerns about your background. If you do need to use it, write a succinct, straightforward explanation. If you have evidence that academic under-performance does not reflect your true ability, add a sentence stating that point with the evidence (e.g., maybe you did poorly overall in college, but in your last semester earned straight A’s).

Deadline: December 1, 2015

By Cindy Tokumitsu, author and co-author of numerous ebooks, articles, and special reports, including Why MBA and Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One. Cindy has advised hundreds of successful applicants in her fifteen years with Accepted.com.