Northwestern Kellogg MBA Essay Questions & Analysis 2025 - 2026

Malvika Patil
Jul 31
6 min read

Northwestern Kellogg has released its MBA essay questions for 2025 – 2026. The essays are unchanged from last year.

Note that Kellogg also has a video essay comprising 3 questions that applicants will need to submit within 96 hours of submitting their application.

Here are the Northwestern Kellogg MBA essay questions and analysis for 2025 - 2026.

Kellogg MBA Essay 1

Intentionality is a key aspect of what makes our graduates successful Kellogg leaders. Help us understand your journey by articulating your motivations for pursuing an MBA, the specific goals you aim to achieve, and why you believe now is the right moment. Moreover, share why you feel Kellogg is best suited to serve as a catalyst for your career aspirations and what you will contribute to our community of lifelong learners during your time here. (450 words)

This is a classic career goals essay, expanded to explore motivation, timing, school fit, and contribution. A strong answer will not only outline your goals but also explain why those goals matter to you, and how Kellogg fits into that plan. There’s a lot going on here (especially for an essay of only 450 words), so let’s break each part of this prompt down.

Start with the “why”: Reflect on the key moments, influences, or problems you've seen in your work that sparked your career ambitions. Ideally, you’ll do this in the form of an engaging story that opens your essay. The story will define the larger impact you hope to create through your career – something we like to call your “professional purpose” or your mission in life.

Define your short- and long-term goals: Now that you have your mission, what roles are going to help you achieve it? Be specific with your short term goals; mention the role, function, and industry you're targeting, ideally with a sense of where (region or type of organization).

Show progression: Your long-term goal should grow logically from your short-term one and connect back to your mission or motivation. You don’t need to have figured out exactly what it is you want to do in the long run already, but it should be something that directly links to the mission you’ve established earlier.

Explain why now is the right time: Perhaps you’ve reached a plateau in your current role, need formal business training, or want to make a pivot that requires new knowledge or networks. What are the skill gaps that are driving you towards an MBA?

Demonstrate “Why Kellogg”: You know you need an MBA, but why do you need it from Kellogg? Show deep research into Kellogg’s curriculum, experiential learning (like the Growth & Scaling pathway or Global Lab), and leadership opportunities. That includes referring to the students and alumni at Kellogg you’ve had meaningful chats with. Align your needs with these specific offerings.

End with your contribution: Kellogg is a highly student-driven community. Describe how you plan to engage with peers, lead initiatives, or add to the classroom conversation. Ideally, you’ll draw from past experiences to show that you have a track record of stepping up and creating value.

Kellogg MBA Essay 2

Kellogg leaders are primed to tackle challenges everywhere, from the boardroom to their neighborhoods. Describe a specific professional experience where you had to make a difficult decision. Reflecting on this experience, identify the values that guided your decision-making process and how it impacted your leadership style. (450 words)

This essay assesses your potential for leadership and the values you lead with. Kellogg is asking: How do you behave under pressure? What principles shape your choices? How have difficult moments helped you evolve, and how does this predict your future potential as a leader?

Choose the right story: Pick a professional situation where you faced a real dilemma. That includes conflicting priorities, people issues, ethical trade-offs, risk-taking, or uncertainty about a certain strategy/policy. Ensure that you were central to the decision-making and its consequences.

Use a SCAR structure (Situation–Challenge–Action–Result):

Situation: Set the stage clearly but briefly.
Challenge: Explain the conflict or stakes involved. What made this decision difficult?
Action: Highlight what you did, how you thought through the trade-offs, and how you brought others along.
Result: Share the outcomes, ideally including measurable results and long-term effects on your team or project.

Connect to values and leadership style: Reflect on which values guided you. For example, you could lead with integrity, empathy, long-term thinking, inclusion, and accountability. Then, describe how the experience shaped your leadership. Did it make you more confident, more collaborative, or more strategic?

Avoid generic traits: Don’t just say “I learned to be a better leader.” Be specific about how your leadership evolved and why that matters for your future career and for Kellogg.

Kellogg MBA Reapplicant Essay

Since your previous application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? (250 words)

This essay should demonstrate growth, self-awareness, and a proactive approach to improvement.

Be honest and specific: Identify key areas that may have held you back—test scores, clarity of goals, leadership depth, or lack of school engagement—and show what you’ve done to address them.
Highlight accomplishments: Include any promotions, new projects, community involvement, or skill-building experiences.
Show continued interest in Kellogg: Mention new interactions with alumni or students, events you’ve attended, or new ways you’ve engaged with the Kellogg community.

Kellogg 1-Year MBA Applicant Essay

Please discuss your post-MBA career goal, the current experience you will leverage to support the transition, and the Kellogg 1Y opportunities that will help you reach this goal. (250 words)

The 1Y program is for those who want to accelerate their careers, not those who want to make pivots to different industries. This essay should reflect a candidate who knows exactly where they’re headed.

State your post-MBA career goal clearly: Include industry, geography, and function.

Explain how your current experience already aligns with this goal: What have you done that demonstrates readiness to succeed in that role?

Show how the Kellogg 1Y program fills the gaps: Focus on specific electives, faculty, global experiences, or leadership opportunities that will prepare you for the next step.

Keep it focused: With only 250 words, there’s less space here for storytelling or community contributions.

Kellogg MBA Video Essays

Guidelines:

Three questions will be available post-application submission and payment.
Essays are due 96 hours after the application deadline.
For the final assessment, join through an internet-connected laptop or computer with a webcam and microphone.
Answers should be consistent with your application, but try not to repeat yourself verbatim. For example, feel free to refer to a project you already wrote about, but if you wrote about it from a leadership standpoint, best to use it from a different angle such as teamwork.

Northwestern Kellogg Video Essay 1

Please introduce yourself to the admissions committee.

Think of this as your elevator pitch. Share with the admissions committee what makes you different. Talk about some key aspects of your professional role and what you do outside of the office.

Northwestern Kellogg Video Essay 2

What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you?

Begin by explaining your career goals. These should be clear to you by now. Avoid sounding overly committed, but show that you’ve done your research. If you’ll be taking on a new job after MBA, a good idea is to refer to 3 specific companies or roles which you would consider. Then talk about the skills you’ll need and how an MBA at Kellogg is going to give you these

Northwestern Kellogg Video essay 3

This question will be based on a challenge you've faced and what you've learned from it.

For this behavioural question, stick to the SCAR format. Describe the situation, explain the challenge, what you did and what the result was. A good story will demonstrate one or more of the 12 key traits.

Check out our Kellogg MBA Interview Guide for in-depth insights into Kellogg's interview process, what they're looking for in prospective candidates, interview schedule and questions for 2024, and tips to ace your interview.

For the full Northwestern Kellogg MBA application course with example essays based on real essays by previous applicants, check out the Kellogg application program on MBAconsultant.com.

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