<p>To seasoned b-school applicants/students:</p>
<p>I'm looking to apply to about 6 top b-schools, and am wondering if generally essays for each school are the same. Of course, I know one would want to mention why one would specifically want to attend a certain school, but aside from that, is it necessary to have to write 30 essays (I know there are about 5 essays per school)?! Or can you write five and adapt them accordingly.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Probably not 30 but at least 10-15 because each school asks the questions <em>slightly</em> differently. The geneal tip is first work on the most difficult essay set (e.g. HBS). Use the exercise to develop your main "stories". Then tailor the stories for the rest. Watch up for those schools with 1-3 essays - each one is critical for landing an interview. </p>
<p>Visit the schools upfront. It helped me eliminating most of the mismatched schools and focusing on a much shorter list (just two for me!). I think the more you know about yourself - career goals, personality etc - the better you can judge if a school is good for you and sell your fit and stories.</p>