If you have been hunting for information on B-Schools you’ll have realized that many schools have released their application essay topics. Many schools also release GMAT blogs that are full of tips with how to write a strong application essay. Stanford, however, has taken the opposite approaching and provided mistakes to avoid while preparing your B-school application essay. Here are their tips, slightly modified so you can use them for any school application:

1. Making your essays to general. Often one of the essays you’ll be asked to write will ask you a direct question about why this school. Why Chicago Booth’s MBA program? What appeals to you about Stanford’s leadership philosophy? If you’ve been asked to explain why you want this school above others be sure to address that in your essay.
2. Using out of date examples. When using examples from your own life, make sure they are recent and relevant to the topic of discussion. Some schools will even provide you with a set number of years you can work back to.
3. Combining your short essays into one long essay. If you’re asked to write a number of short answer essays (Stanford, for example asks people to pick 2 out of 5 topics to discuss), make sure you’re following instructions and writing separate pieces.
4. Cutting and pasting from other essays. Cutting and pasting text, even your own, can be a big risk. You may interrupt the flow of the essay, risk not properly addressing the question, or worst of all, entering the wrong name of the school. Always write original text for each essay, even if the ideas are they same.
5. Not being genuine. Don’t write about what you think the right answer should be, or what you think the readers want to hear. They want to know what you truly believe the school should know about you.
6. Messing with the format. Always double space, always use 12-point font, always chose Arial, Courier or Times New Roman fonts, first to ensure that your essay can be downloaded by the reviewers, and second to ensure they can easily read it.