An MBA admissions expert breaks down this year's Wharton MBA admissions essays, individually.

2. Wharton MBA 2010 Essay Prompts

3. Required Question: What are your professional objectives? (300 words) Typical career goals question, but from a big-picture approach Address short-term and long-term goals Answer “Why MBA?” As space allows, “Why Wharton?” may be appropriate

4. Student and alumni engagement has at times led to the creation of innovative classes. For example, through extraordinary efforts, a small group of current students partnered with faculty to create a timely course entitled, “Disaster Response: Haiti and Beyond,” empowering students to leverage the talented Wharton community to improve the lives of the Haiti earthquake victims. Similarly, Wharton students and alumni helped to create the “Innovation and the Indian Healthcare Industry” which took students to India where they studied the full range of healthcare issues in India. If you were able to create a Wharton course on any topic, what would it be? (700 words)

5. If you were able to create a Wharton course on any topic, what would it be? (700 words) Multiple options to answer this new question Reinforce / provide ancillary information about career goals Discuss secondary interests or personal passions not necessarily related to professional goals Supplement current course offerings with a new business idea Demonstrate your fit by indirectly answering “Why Wharton?” Doesn’t have to be related to a social impact Avoid obvious pitfalls Ensure your course isn’t already in the curriculum Beware over-reaching by getting too broad

6. Reflect on a time when you turned down an opportunity. What was the thought process behind your decision? Would you make the same decision today? (600 words) Opportunity to show introspection and self-awareness Provide insight into decision-making process and priorities…the “why” of the situation Avoid similarity to the “failure” question with an example of a decision that the applicant wouldn’t change Alternately, show humility by admitting that with hindsight you’d chart a different course Above all, show your judgment and maturity by sharing what you learned and how you’ve grown as a person b/c of this experience

7. Describe a failure that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself? How did this experience help to create your definition of failure? (600 words) Also an opportunity to show introspection, self-awareness, and maturity Summarize the situation, focusing on why you failed Devote the bulk of space to your response, lessons learned, and personal growth from the experience Ideally, you will be able to show emotional resilience by describing a later time when you applied what you learned to a new situation to avoid a similar failure

8. Discuss a time when you navigated a challenging experience in either a personal or professional relationship. (600 words) Regardless of the “what”, the goal is to show maturity, empathy and the willingness to consider other people’s perspectives Describe why the situation was challenging Demonstrate resourcefulness and the ability to overcome obstacles Adcom is looking for clues about: How you manage relationships, a key to leadership How you’d navigate the inevitable difficult situations within a Learning Team