Schools
12 programs. 12 rubrics.
Each rubric starts from what the school publishes: its prompts, its limits, and how it describes the students it wants. Pick a school to see the prompts, the weights we score, and what our critique flags.
Each school page below covers the official prompts, the rubric we score against, the five most common ways essays fail at that program, and a "what good looks like" example. Already drafting? See a real HBS sample critique, read how the critique works, or browse our essay guides.
This cycle at a glance
- Chicago Booth
- Written items
- 5
- Limits
- 300 characters, 300 words
- Next deadline
- Round Two: Jan 7, 2027
- Columbia Business School
- Written items
- 6
- Limits
- 50 characters, 500 words, 250 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 5, 2027 · 12:00 PM ET
- Harvard Business School
- Written items
- 3
- Limits
- 300 words, 250 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 5, 2027 · 12:00 PM ET
- INSEAD
- Written items
- 5
- Limits
- 500 words, 300 words, 400 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2 (Aug 2027 intake): Nov 3, 2026
- Kellogg School of Management
- Written items
- 2
- Limits
- 550 words, 250 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 6, 2027
- London Business School
- Written items
- 3
- Limits
- 500 words, 200 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 6, 2027 · 17:00 UK
- MIT Sloan
- Written items
- 2
- Limits
- 300 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 12, 2027 · 3:00 p.m. ET
- Other / Generic
- Written items
- 8
- Limits
- None stated
- Next deadline
- Depends on the program
- Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
- Written items
- 4
- Limits
- 350 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 5, 2027
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- Written items
- 3
- Limits
- 650 words, 350 words, 200 words · 1,200 characters
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 6, 2027 · 4:00 p.m. PT
- The Wharton School
- Written items
- 4
- Limits
- 50 words, 150 words, 350 words, 500 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 5, 2027 · 5:00 PM ET
- Tuck School of Business
- Written items
- 4
- Limits
- 2,000 characters
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 5, 2027 · 5:00pm ET
- Yale School of Management
- Written items
- 4
- Limits
- 500 words, 200 words
- Next deadline
- Round 2: Jan 6, 2027
Prompts and limits come from each school's 2026–27 application; deadlines as each school states them.
Targeting another program?
Ross, Darden, Haas, Duke, IESE, IMD — any MBA program.
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Free preview: overall score, verdict, prompt fit, the simulated committee read and one rubric criterion. Full critique $79. Account needed, no card.