| Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
Quick Answer:
The Georgetown McDonough essays are designed to reveal who you are, what you value, and how you’ll contribute to a diverse, values-driven MBA community in Washington, DC.
In the current application, you choose 1 main Georgetown McDonough essay from 3 prompts, plus complete a short video essay and an optional essay.
The strongest Georgetown McDonough School of Business MBA essays focus on 1 clear theme, use specific stories that show leadership, inclusion, and impact, and connect your experiences to McDonough’s Jesuit mission and “Hoyas helping Hoyas” culture.
So, show how your background, goals, and character will add to the classroom and community, not just why you want the brand name.
Keep reading to learn Georgetown essay tips and how to create a winning MBA application!
Here are the topics we’ll cover:
- What Are the Georgetown McDonough MBA Essay Prompts for 2026?
- How to Approach the Georgetown McDonough Main Essay
- How to Show Fit with Georgetown’s Jesuit Values and “Hoyas Helping Hoyas” Culture
- Georgetown McDonough MBA Video Essay: Prompt, Sample Outline, and Delivery Tips
- Optional and Reapplicant Essays: When to Use Them and What to Say
- Common Mistakes in Georgetown McDonough Essays (and How to Avoid Them)
- Final Checklist Before You Submit Your Georgetown McDonough Essays
- Ready to Tackle the Georgetown McDonough Essays? Next Steps for Applicants
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Do the Georgetown McDonough essay prompts change every year? How early should I start drafting?
- How heavily do essays weigh compared with GMAT/GRE, GPA, and work experience at Georgetown?
- Is it OK to write about politics or social issues in my Georgetown McDonough essays, given the DC location?
- Should I mention my religious background in a Jesuit school application, or keep essays strictly professional?
- Can I go over the word limit for Georgetown essays?
- How many essays are there for Georgetown?
- What’s Next?
What Are the Georgetown McDonough MBA Essay Prompts for 2026?
The Georgetown McDonough Essay Prompts
Georgetown’s MBA application requires 1 written “Personal Essay.” Specifically, candidates can choose 1 of 3 options:
- Georgetown Community: “Our mission is rooted in Jesuit principles of equality and respect for everyone and an ethos of caring for the whole person. Inclusivity and diversity are core to supporting a community of people with an intersectional understanding of themselves and the world around them. Share how your educational, familial, cultural, economic, social, and/or other individual life experiences will contribute to the diversity of perspectives and ideas at Georgetown University.”
- Cura Personalis: “As the oldest Jesuit institution in the United States, cura personalis is a Latin phrase deeply ingrained within our community and translates to ‘care of the person.’ It encompasses a profound sense of care and responsibility for one another, rooted in personalized attention to each individual’s needs, unique circumstances, gifts, and limitations, fostering the growth of each person. Please reflect on a specific instance where you exemplified cura personalis by supporting a teammate or coworker. Describe the particular actions you took to guide them and explain the impact of these efforts. Additionally, discuss how you would leverage these experiences to contribute to the collaborative environment at Georgetown McDonough.”
- Achieving Excellence: “Georgetown McDonough is committed to achieving greater excellence to enrich the legacies of our students and alumni. Please reflect on a professional experience from your resume where you achieved outstanding results. Describe why this experience exemplified excellence, highlight the strengths or skills you utilized that contributed to this achievement, and share how these qualities will help you leave a legacy at Georgetown.”
The Video Essay
Additionally, Georgetown MBA applicants must create a video essay:
“We believe a vibrant community is built on diverse and unique individuals, and we want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. We’ve learned about your professional and leadership qualities throughout the application, but now we want to know more about you beyond work. Whether it’s a new hobby, a fun adventure, or a simple pleasure, in one minute, share what has recently brought you joy outside of work.”
Finally, candidates may submit an optional essay and a reapplicant essay, as applicable.
KEY FACT:
Georgetown McDonough MBA applicants must submit 2 required essays: a personal essay and a video essay.
How to Approach the Georgetown McDonough Main Essay
To start, let’s discuss how to write the Georgetown McDonough essay. Specifically, Georgetown’s MBA application provides opportunities to share different perspectives or aspects of your experiences:
- community contributions
- care for others
- impact
Before you start writing, determine what you’d like the reader to understand about you and your values after reading your application essays. Ultimately, what you decide will determine a theme and may lead you to the best prompt for your personal essay.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these prompts:
Georgetown McDonough Main Essay Options: What Each Prompt Is Really Asking
- Essay Option 1 — Georgetown community: At first glance, this may come across as a simple demographic question. However, the prompt is much more nuanced. Instead, the admissions committee would like to know about your past and life experiences to understand what you’ll bring to the Georgetown community. So, the best responses not only detail specific aspects of your background but also reflect on how your past has shaped how you’ll show up to Georgetown.
- Essay Option 2 — Cura Personalis: Initially, this prompt appears to be asking whether you’re a “nice” person. However, the question really digs into how you take responsibility for other people. Take note, Georgetown’s MBA admissions committee is looking for a specific instance, along with your actions and the impact. So, ensure that your response is centered around a specific story. Finally, reflect on how these experiences will influence your contribution to the Georgetown community.
- Essay Option 3 — Achieving Excellence: At its core, this essay is asking for an example where you achieved outstanding performance and professional results. Therefore, a strong professional story that showcases professional excellence is a great starting point. However, the essay must also describe how you specifically contributed to this achievement and how these strengths will enable you to contribute to Georgetown.
As you might have noticed, each of these essays must lead into your intended contributions to the Georgetown McDonough community. So, it’s critical that you connect your past to the present and future.
How to Choose the Best Georgetown McDonough Essay Option for Your Profile
If you’re stuck, here’s an easy framework to help you choose the best Georgetown McDonough MBA essay:
- Choose option 1 if you believe that your perspective helps you make a unique or differentiated contribution. Specifically, choose this topic if your background, experiences, and perspective help you drive better decisions and/or outcomes.
- Choose option 2 if you have experience facilitating or owning someone else’s success. For example, this may be through mentorship or advocacy, or by developing and/or rescuing a project.
- Choose option 3 if there is a measurable and specific achievement on your resume that resulted from your decision-making. Additionally, choose this option if you can discuss how you achieved the result.
If you’re stuck, get help from a professional. TTP’s experienced MBA admissions consultants can brainstorm with you and help determine which essay option is right for you.
TTP PRO TIP:
Choose the essay option that allows you to be most specific about your impact, decision-making, or contribution.
How to Structure a Strong Georgetown McDonough Main Essay (Step-by-Step)
Once you settle on an option and topic, it’s time to start writing! However, we know it’s daunting to start from scratch. Therefore, we recommend creating and following an essay outline.
So, consider the following outline for your Georgetown MBA essay:
- Open with a strong hook (1–3 sentences): Set the scene to grab the reader’s attention.
- Provide context (3–6 sentences): Add detail about your situation and stakes, along with why they’re important.
- Detail your actions (the core of your essay): Describe what you did, why you made certain decisions, how you navigated trade-offs, and more.
- Summarize your impact: Provide quantitative and quantitative results or outcomes for the examples you discuss.
- Reflection: Discuss what your examples reveal about your values or leadership style, as applicable.
- Connection to McDonough: Provide ample space to connect your experiences and values to the Georgetown community. Specifically, describe how your past connects with how you’ll contribute to the MBA and university communities.
The word count limit for this essay is 500 words. Therefore, for essays 2 and 3 especially, you do not have space to share multiple stories. For these responses, go deep on a single example.
TTP PRO TIP:
An outline helps accelerate the essay writing process by providing a strong roadmap to guide your narrative.
How to Show Fit with Georgetown’s Jesuit Values and “Hoyas Helping Hoyas” Culture
To demonstrate fit with Georgetown’s Jesuit values in MBA essays, revisit the prompts. Specifically, the prompts address Georgetown’s values explicitly, which include equality, respect, diversity, inclusivity, “care of the whole person,” and a collaborative community.
Of course, your challenge is to show fit with Georgetown McDonough School of Business without sounding too generic. Therefore, we recommend connecting your shared values with your past experiences and behaviors.
For example:
- Inclusivity: Share how you expanded hiring criteria to ensure that your company considered a range of candidates for a particular position.
- Cura personalis: Discuss a specific scenario where you supported another individual, including what you identified in that person, what you did, and what changed as a result.
- Hoyas helping Hoyas: Demonstrate how you build community through specific examples, like peer coaching, onboarding new teammates, connecting people to opportunities, etc.
To demonstrate a strong fit, you don’t need to simply agree with all of Georgetown’s values on a superficial level. Instead, leverage your examples to discuss how you contribute to communities and how that behavior will show up at Georgetown.
Georgetown McDonough MBA Video Essay: Prompt, Sample Outline, and Delivery Tips
As a reminder, the Georgetown McDonough video essay prompt is:
“We believe a vibrant community is built on diverse and unique individuals, and we want you to bring your whole self to Georgetown McDonough. We’ve learned about your professional and leadership qualities throughout the application, but now we want to know more about you beyond work. Whether it’s a new hobby, a fun adventure, or a simple pleasure, in one minute, share what has recently brought you joy outside of work.”
Take note, this essay is not about your professional experience and achievements. Instead, it’s about sharing who you are and what you care about outside of your professional experience.
Therefore, we encourage you to consider your passions, hobbies, and interests. Then, choose one that you’re most excited to talk about.
Here are some tips to consider while developing your video response:
- Find somewhere to film your video with strong lighting and clear sound.
- Avoid reading verbatim from a script — it’ll be obvious to the viewer and less interesting.
- Practice your video essay using bullet points so that your response is conversational, but not too rehearsed.
- Do not repeat something that is covered extensively elsewhere in your application.
The strongest Georgetown McDonough video essays are often the most authentic. So, don’t be afraid to share your personality!
TTP PRO TIP:
Film your rehearsals and watch yourself on video to spot opportunities to improve.
Optional and Reapplicant Essays: When to Use Them and What to Say
Now, let’s take a look at the Georgetown supplemental essay prompts.
First, the Georgetown McDonough optional essay asks applicants to:
“Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included.”
So, you have 300–350 words to address:
- gaps in your professional experience
- your academic record, including your GPA and test scores
- your quantitative capabilities (if you come from a non-quantitative background)
- meaningful information that provides context about your experiences and might shape your candidacy
However, avoid the temptation to paste in another essay. Instead, be strategic about what you choose to include.
Next, Georgetown’s reapplicant essay asks:
“How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally.”
So, you have 300–350 words to include information such as:
- material changes in your professional experience, such as a promotion, new role, major project, etc.
- development of your skills, which can be quantitative or qualitative
- community contributions and commitments since your last application
- reflection on how your candidacy has improved
- updates on your career goals and networking strategy
TTP PRO TIP:
For the reapplicant essay, take stock of what didn’t work in your last application and discuss how you’re a stronger candidate this year.
Common Mistakes in Georgetown McDonough Essays (and How to Avoid Them)
Here are some of the common mistakes people make in their Georgetown MBA essays:
- Answering all 3 prompts in 1 essay — Pick 1 story, theme, and prompt. Then, execute well on your response.
- Talking about your values without evidence — Instead, show your values through your storytelling and real examples.
- Recapping your resume at length — Leverage your essays as an opportunity to complement, rather than repeat, your achievements.
- Relying too much on AI — Georgetown’s MBA admissions committee is looking for authentic responses that share your true experiences. AI tools can be useful to brainstorm and refine your written materials. However, MBA admissions committees know when you’ve gone too far. So, avoid outsourcing the heart of your essays to AI.
TTP PRO TIP:
Avoid the temptation to use AI tools as a crutch when writing your essays.
Final Checklist Before You Submit Your Georgetown McDonough Essays
Before submitting your Georgetown MBA application, ask yourself:
- Have I answered just 1 prompt — fully and effectively?
- Do my essays use strong hooks to engage the reader (or viewer)?
- Does my main story share concrete actions and outcomes?
- Do my responses show fit with the McDonough and Georgetown community?
- Are my essays within the word count limit?
- Do my essays sound like me?
- Is my video ~60 seconds, with clear audio, decent lighting? Does it feel like me?
If your answer is “no” to any of these questions, evaluate your opportunities to improve.
Ready to Tackle the Georgetown McDonough Essays? Next Steps for Applicants
When you’re ready to tackle the Georgetown MBA application:
- Pick a prompt for essay option 1 that resonates with your experiences.
- Write a 1-sentence theme statement and create a first draft.
- Revise according to the Georgetown MBA essay tips and strategies we’ve shared in this post.
As you plan your broader MBA application strategy, review our resources for how to get into a top MBA program and an MBA application timeline.
Once you receive an interview invite, prepare your responses to common Georgetown MBA interview questions using our MBA interview guide.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Do the Georgetown McDonough essay prompts change every year? How early should I start drafting?
Essay topics can change from year to year. So, we recommend confirming the essay prompts for your application year. Also, don’t work too far ahead if the application isn’t released — you could end up spending too much time on essays that are no longer relevant.
If you’re ready, start drafting your Georgetown McDonough essays as soon as the application becomes available. Generally, candidates allocate 6–8 weeks to the process so that they feel confident in their responses by the time they submit.
How heavily do essays weigh compared with GMAT/GRE, GPA, and work experience at Georgetown?
Each of your application components — including your essays, test scores, GPA, and professional experience — play an important role in your application.
Georgetown’s MBA admissions committee “takes a holistic approach to the evaluation process.” So, consider your essays as important components of your application package.
Is it OK to write about politics or social issues in my Georgetown McDonough essays, given the DC location?
If these topics are part of your background and experience and/or are relevant to your goals at Georgetown, you can write about them. If not, you need not write about politics or social issues.
Remember, candidates from all over the world seek an MBA education at Georgetown. So, you should expect a diversity of thought, backgrounds, and perspectives.
Should I mention my religious background in a Jesuit school application, or keep essays strictly professional?
It depends. If your religious background played an important role in shaping your perspective and behaviors, it may make sense. Otherwise, you can directly address Georgetown’s essay prompts using examples from other areas of your life, including your professional experiences.
Can I go over the word limit for Georgetown essays?
We do not recommend going over the word count. Remember, the word count limit for essay 1 is 500 words, and it’s 300–350 words for the optional and reapplicant essays.
How many essays are there for Georgetown?
For the 2026 application cycle, Georgetown requires 1 written essay and 1 video essay. Additionally, you may submit an optional essay and/or reapplicant essay, if appropriate.
What’s Next?
If you’d like professional guidance for your Georgetown McDonough MBA and other top MBA program applications, we can help! Request a free consultation with an experienced admissions consultant today.
