No, you haven’t stumbled upon a preachy self-help guide but an actual tip from Harvard Business School for writing a winning SOP.
An SOP (Statement of Purpose), also known as a personal statement or an essay, is an important part of your application to the Harvard Business School. The format and number of essays may change for different academic years and programs. However, generally, you need to submit three SOPs for Harvard Business School.
These personal statements allow you to show your personality’s dimensions. The school uses your essays to understand your personal, academic, and professional background, your motivation, plans and goals, and your business skills.
So, if you want to create a great impression and make your SOP for Harvard stand out, this blog is for you. Find out everything from the importance of a personal statement to writing tips to a deep analysis of the previous winning essays for a Harvard MBA.
What is a personal statement for an MBA?
A personal statement for an MBA helps you introduce yourself to the admissions committee and helps them know why you’re the ideal candidate for a program. An SOP, or an essay, if you’re applying to Harvard Business School, typically has 250-1,000 words. The rules for an SOP can vary by universities and programs. In general, an SOP includes the following sections:
Introduction
The introduction is a part where you give a solid opening to your SOP to capture the admission committee’s attention and provide a snapshot of your motivations for pursuing an MBA.
In this part, you can briefly introduce yourself, your interests, your motivation, and a summary of your career path. The introductory part of an SOP should be crisp, precise, and short so it doesn’t eat out on the word count for the rest of the sections.
Academic background and professional experience
In this section, you can summarize your educational background and work experience. You should take this section as an opportunity to highlight your key accomplishments, leadership roles, and readiness for an MBA.
If you conducted research, published papers, or worked on thesis projects during your studies, mention them. Talk about the technical part of your research, as your relevant faculty members will assess your SOP.
Academic interests and career goals
Leverage this part to answer the following questions:
- Why do you want to pursue an MBA program at a particular university?
- What are your short-term and long-term professional goals?
The answer to the first question should be backed by thorough program research. You must reference the program details (like the coursework and curriculum), professors, and other opportunities provided by the school.
For the second question, you must clearly define your future goals. Demonstrate how an MBA program will help you achieve your career objectives.
Also Read: Study Abroad Guide for Indian Students 2025
Are personal statements important for an MBA?
According to the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), more than 90% of top MBA programs consider SOPs to be a crucial part of a college application. The acceptance rate for the top 10 B-schools in the world hovers around 12-20%, which makes a strong SOP essential for standing out.
An annual report by Harvard Business School suggests that out of 8,149 applicants in 2023, only 14% were admitted. Of the admitted students, the majority of them emphasized demonstrative unique personal experience and leadership in the SOP.
Another Ivy League school, Dartmouth College, suggests that a personal statement is one of the few documents you can personalize in your application process. The college’s 2017-2020 admissions data suggest that about 12% of applicants with over 3.79 GPA and 517 on the MCAT did not receive an admission offer. This was due to the candidates’ inability to impress the admissions committee through their applications, including their personal statements.
An SOP for an MBA helps the school assess your candidature in the following areas:
- Leadership potential: Top business schools like Harvard seek applicants who demonstrate their ability to lead. By sharing details of leadership roles and overcoming challenges, you can show your intent to drive a change post-graduation.
- Holistic evaluation: Through your essay, the admission committee assesses if you fit into the university’s values of leadership, community impact, and innovation. Institutes like Harvard B-School emphasize a holistic review process.
- Culture fit: Universities that offer a collaborative and diverse learning environment seek candidates who can contribute to its culture. So, the admission committee uses an SOP to evaluate your values, willingness to engage with a diverse set of peers, and your global mindset.
Even though an SOP is a small part of your application, it gives you the power to stand out. If written well, you can showcase your versatility and worthiness for the program by:
- Highlighting your achievements (academic or professional)
- Showcasing your writing and communication skills
- Demonstrating why you’re a good fit for the university and program
- Setting yourself apart from thousands of applications and leaving a good impression
- Showing your commitment to the program and study area
How long should an MBA personal statement be for Harvard Business School?
The length of your personal statement or essay for an MBA at Harvard Business School may vary by academic year. So, the information below is relevant to the Fall 2025 applications.
Harvard Business School (HBS) requires you to respond to 3 short essay prompts. These essays are purpose-driven and concise. The school uses these essays to learn about your passion for leadership, business, career, and personal growth.
Here are the details for each of these essays, along with the stipulated length:
Harvard MBA essay #1 – Business-minded essay
In this essay, you must reflect on how your previous experiences have shaped your aspirations and career choices. Through this essay, you can highlight your professional and personal experiences and show how they contribute to your vision for the future.
This essay also requires you to elaborate on how you plan to impact the business world and organizations, as well as serve communities. To demonstrate this, your essay must reveal your understanding of the challenges faced by modern businesses. Talk about how an MBA from Harvard will give you the right skills and ability to drive positive change. Through your response to the prompt for this essay, you can depict self-awareness and commitment to creating a meaningful contribution to the business world.
The length of this essay must be 300 words or less.
Harvard MBA essay #2 – Leadership-focused essay
To assess your leadership skills, this essay requires you to discuss the following:
- What past experiences have shaped your identity or personality?
- How do you invest in others?
- What kind of leader do you want to become?
Through this essay, the admission committee will evaluate the leadership experiences that shaped your identity and way of engaging with others. Use this essay to showcase:
- Your leadership traits and style
- The lessons you learned through past leadership experiences
- A clear vision for upskilling into an impactful future leader
- Commitment to helping and investing in others’ growth
The length of this essay must be 250 words or less.
Harvard MBA essay #3 – Growth-oriented essay
This essay focuses on your curiosity and personal development. For this, the school asks you to share an example of how curiosity has influenced your past growth.
You must mention a specific example where your curiosity led to your personal or professional growth. Harvard Business School values candidates who seek knowledge and continuous self-improvement. These traits are also crucial to reflect your leadership skills.
The admission committee uses this essay to evaluate:
- Your approach to tackling challenges
- Your ability to adapt to new situations
- Your thirst to seek growth through exploration and learning
The length of this essay must be 250 words or less.
Also Read: A comprehensive guide to SOP for Australia student visa
Examples of Harvard MBA personal statements
Your Harvard MBA personal statements or essays allow you to highlight your unique backgrounds, career goals, and leadership experiences. Here are some examples of winning SOPs that got students into Harvard:
Winning SOP for a Harvard MBA #1
First up, let’s take an example of an Indonesian student Wai, who got into Harvard Business School in 2023. This is how her personal statement began:
You will notice that the very first sentence of her essay has a hook line that instantly grabs the reader. She went with an emotional approach and then flawlessly transitioned into her purpose-driven achievements. This is a great example of demonstrating your past experience while creating a memorable impression.
Winning SOP for a Harvard MBA #2
Let’s go through an essay that got Sylvia into Harvard Business School. For her essay, she had to share her identity, background, talent, or a meaningful experience in her life, without which her application would feel incomplete.
This is how she began her essay:
Opening with a deeply personal experience befitting the prompt, Sylvia used her story to discuss her motivation for the program and goals for the future, just like the previous student.
Winning SOP for a Harvard MBA #3
Let’s have a look at another essay:
Source
Here, you’ll see that the student took a bold approach. The tone of the essay is vulnerable yet invisible. This essay is a great example of showing different aspects of one’s personality while also highlighting intelligence and accomplishments.
Analysis of the personal statements for an MBA at Harvard Business School?
The essays for an MBA at Harvard Business School allow you to share important, meaningful, and formative experiences. HBS suggests giving yourself time and space to reflect on the prompts and be precise and direct with your writing.
The most helpful essays to write are the additive. They build on the rest of the written application or share new relevant information. Sometimes, students write essays that are paragraph versions of their resumes. This doesn’t add much to their applications.
Make sure that the essays are about you. After you’ve written your essay, ask yourself – could this essay also describe someone else? If so, your responses are likely not personal enough to add to your overall application, and you need to do more introspection.
After analyzing many essays that got students into Harvard, here are 3 actionable tips that will help your SOP stand out:
- Authenticity and self-reflection: As you’ve seen in the previous essay examples, successful personal statements include pivotal experiences. Think of a turning point in your life and use that in your essay rather than covering every aspect of your life. This will make your essay sound authentic and personal. Be real, and don’t be afraid to share your deeply personal experiences that have shaped your personality and vision for the future.
- Demonstrate leadership: If you have read so far, you must have understood how important it is for you to demonstrate leadership through a SOP. But how can you explain it subtly? First, describe a specific challenge and then describe your actions to deal with that problem. HBS values leaders who can inspire and collaborate. Use your experience to show that.
- Why MBA and why HBS? Create a deep and meaningful connection between the program details, your background, and your career goals. How will an MBA at Harvard be essential to your growth? How will you use that growth to make an impact on society? Use your stories to demonstrate this.
It can be tempting to write and rewrite again. Just be careful in all that refining that you don’t edit out your personality. The essays are just one element that the school considers in the context of your overall application.
Of course, all this is easier said than done. It’s one thing to advise a student to write a great SOP, and another to help them write it.
We didn’t want to just peddle advice. So we’ve built the tool you need to take away the anxiety of looking at a blank screen.
That’s exactly where GradSOP steps in. It removes the stress of trying to figure out how to express your ideas in perfect language and allows you to focus on what’s most important—what you want to convey in your SOP. Instead of worrying about how to compose your thoughts, GradSOP lets you concentrate on the quality of those thoughts.
With GradSOP, you don’t need to be concerned about structure or language. The tool guides you through a series of questions designed to bring out your unique story, motivations, and strengths. The AI-driven system then tailors an SOP to fit your specific profile and aligns it with the requirements of the university you’re applying to.
The result? You get a first draft that’s already better than what most students are able to compose themselves. And because the content is personalized and fits your story, any tweaks you make afterward will only enhance your SOP, making your personality and goals shine through.
So, instead of getting stuck on perfect wording, let GradSOP help you present your best self to your dream university with ease and confidence.
In addition to GradSOP, we also recommend two powerful partner tools to streamline other aspects of your study abroad journey: SelectRight and FundRight.
SelectRight (by GradRight) helps you tackle the daunting task of choosing the right university. It goes beyond traditional rankings by analyzing multiple factors like return on investment (ROI), alumni networks, admission chances, and even the likelihood of securing funding. With over 8 million data points from 40,000 programs, SelectRight provides a personalized shortlist of universities that match your profile perfectly.
Once you’ve found the right program, FundRight (by GradRight) steps in to help you secure the best education loan. FundRight connects you to more than 15 top lenders, allowing them to bid on your loan application. This unique approach ensures that you get the most competitive interest rates, saving you significant amounts over the course of your loan.
Together, GradSOP, SelectRight, and FundRight make your study abroad journey smoother, smarter, and more cost-effective.
FAQs
Yes, it is difficult for Indian students or international students to get into Harvard. An annual report by Harvard Business School suggests that out of 8,149 applicants in 2023, only 14% were admitted. Standing out among thousands of students with excellent academic credentials, compelling SOPs, and impressive extracurriculars makes the competition intense.
Harvard University doesn’t offer full scholarships specifically to Indian students. However, it offers need-based aid to deserving students. You can check the funding and financial aid page on the university website. You can also explore external scholarships that fund 100% of your education in the USA.
Many factors decide whether Harvard is better than an IIT. Where Harvard University is renowned for its research opportunities and diverse programs, IITs are known for their engineering and technology programs. However, purely in terms of overall global rankings, Harvard University ranks much higher than an IIT.
Harvard University doesn’t explicitly mention the preference for an AP (Advanced Placement) over an IB (International Baccalaureate). However, we advise you to check the specific entry requirements for your program.
