Leland+ Content Library

One Week to R1: The 3 Essay Mistakes I Flagged as a Booth Admissions Fellow [9/9/2026] (Recording)

Booth's Round 1 deadline is September 15 and most other R1 deadlines land the same week. The essays I read still have the same three problems. I spent a year as an Admissions Fellow at Chicago Booth reading applications, running 60-minute interviews, and writing the evaluation that went to the committee, so I saw what moved a file forward and what got skimmed. In 30 minutes I'll cover three mistakes. The essay that re-argues the resume. The why-this-school answer anyone could have Googled. The story with no cost in it. Each one with before-and-after language you can apply the same night. Bring a paragraph you're stuck on. I'll take as many as I can in the last 10 minutes. If you're aiming at Round 2, everything here still applies. You just have more time to use it.