What Reviewers Look For in the MBA — MIT Sloan Cover Letter
This rubric evaluates whether your letter makes a direct case for admission in standard business-letter form and uses professional experience as evidence. It also looks at whether you explain what you did, what followed, and how that evidence connects to MIT Sloan and your potential contribution.
What We Check
Evaluate whether the response performs the governing admissions task directly in the requested professional form.
Evaluate every professional example requested by the governing prompt for action, judgment, interaction, or contribution you own and a bounded consequence or interpretation.
Evaluate whether the response interprets selected professional evidence against the governing reader criteria and intended effect on the reader's community while using the stated limit.
Mistakes We Flag
- Using letter formatting without making an admissions case
- A date and salutation are not enough if the body never clearly seeks admission or explains why your experience supports your application.
- Taking full credit for a team outcome
- Reviewers need to understand your specific decision, analysis, communication, or deliverable while recognizing the team and other conditions involved.
- Relying on job titles or traits
- A title, employer name, or words such as collaborative or innovative do not show what you actually did or why it mattered.
- Listing MIT Sloan qualities or praising the school
- Connect the characteristic you choose to a professional example and to the contribution you intend to make, rather than using labels or general praise.
- Letting setup crowd out evidence
- Repeated background, resume history, and broad future claims can take space away from the professional example and interpretation the letter needs.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can my cover letter be?
Under the stored prompt, the body must be 300 words or fewer, excluding the address and salutation. If you provide a current official prompt that differs, its limit governs.
Who should I address the letter to?
Under the stored prompt, address it to the Admissions Committee.
Do I need more than one professional example?
No. Under the stored prompt, one or more professional examples are requested, and one well-developed example can support the letter.
Do I need to cover every MIT Sloan characteristic?
No. One developed connection between your professional evidence and a stated MIT Sloan characteristic is stronger than a superficial list of labels.
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