Kellogg MBA Essays and Video Questions for the 2026-27 Cycle

What Kellogg changed for the 2026-27 application cycle

Kellogg cut its written requirement by 39 percent and nearly doubled the spoken one. Two 450-word essays became a single 550-word essay, and the video component went from three questions to five. The required essay is answered in one response with two parts.

• Part I. Tell us about the pivotal experiences and decisions that have brought you to this moment in your career, how they have shaped your ambitions, and why now is the right time to take this next step.
• Part II. Now turn the lens outward. Beyond what you hope to gain, what do you hope to contribute to the students who will learn alongside you?

Reapplicants write an additional 250 words on how they have grown since their previous application.

The subtraction matters more than the new word count. Kellogg used to ask for a standalone story about a hard professional decision and the values behind it. That prompt is gone, and the evidence it carried now has to travel through your recommendations, your video answers and your resume. If your strongest material is a single tough call you made, it no longer has a dedicated home in the written application, and you have to place it somewhere deliberately rather than assume the admissions committee will find it.

How Kellogg reads candidates beyond the application form sits on our Kellogg School of Management guide.

How to write the two-part essay in 550 words

Write it as one argument that turns outward at the end, and budget roughly 350 words for Part I and 200 for Part II. Kellogg reads the whole thing as a single response, so a hard reset between the two halves burns space you do not have.

Part I, the decisions that brought you here

The prompt asks for pivotal experiences and decisions rather than a career summary. Pick two or three moments where you chose something, say what the alternative was, and show what the choice cost you. A role you turned down carries more weight than a promotion you were handed. The why-now clause closes the argument, so name the capability gap that makes this the year you apply instead of next year.

Part II, what you bring to the class

Answer with things a classmate would notice. Kellogg is asking what the students sitting next to you get out of your presence, so name the club you would build, the recruiting path you can open for people, the skill you can teach your section. Broad community language reads the same across a thousand applications. A concrete contribution is checkable against your resume, and the adcom can verify it.

This is also where the retired leadership essay gets absorbed. If the hard decision you would have written about shows character more than ambition, brief a recommender on it and let them tell that story, then spend your own 550 words on trajectory and contribution. Our MBA application tips cover how to run that briefing without scripting the people writing for you.

Five video essays, due 96 hours after the deadline

Kellogg requires five video responses of up to one minute each, and the full exercise runs about 30 minutes including setup. They are due 96 hours after the application deadline, which means your application is not finished when you hit submit. Several well-known admissions sites still describe three video questions. It is five.

You get a brief moment to think before each answer, and Kellogg deliberately declines to publish a prep time because it wants unrehearsed reflection. Practice questions are available beforehand and you should use them. There are no retakes on the real set, so the first take is the only take.

Prepare without a script. Build a bank of stories you know cold, then work on landing a point in 50 seconds so the clock never catches you mid-sentence. A few things that help.

• Record yourself answering them and watch the playback with the sound off, to see what your face does while you think.
• Test the camera, lighting and microphone the day before, since the 30-minute estimate includes setup.
• Block the 96-hour window on your calendar and finish inside the first 48 hours, so a technical problem does not become a missed requirement.

Deadlines, testing and what the class profile tells you now

All three rounds close at 5 p.m. Central, and the dates are identical for the Two-Year and One-Year MBA.

• Round 1. Apply by September 9, 2026. Decision December 9, 2026.
• Round 2. Apply by January 6, 2027. Decision March 24, 2027.
• Round 3. Apply by March 31, 2027. Decision May 12, 2027.

You need two recommendations and a GMAT or GRE score from a single sitting. Kellogg does not superscore, so a strong quant section from one attempt will not combine with a strong verbal from another. Scores stay valid for five years. The application fee is $250, waived for active-duty military and veterans and for candidates who worked in the last three years at Teach For America, a Title 1 school, AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps. Every M7 program runs its own calendar, and we keep the full set on our application deadlines page.

Read the Class of 2027 numbers carefully, because Kellogg publishes averages rather than medians and the two are not interchangeable when you judge your own position. 534 students enrolled. The average legacy GMAT is 733 and the average GMAT Focus score is 687. GRE averages are 162 quant and 162 verbal. Average GPA is 3.7 and average work experience is 5.1 years. International students make up 37 percent of the class, and US military veterans 9 percent.

Kellogg has also stopped publishing percentage women, along with URM, LGBTQ+ and first-generation figures, starting with this class. Its stated reason is that it reports publicly only what it uses in admissions review, and it ended its Forte Foundation and Consortium partnerships in 2025. Any guide still quoting a Kellogg percentage-women number is quoting something the school has withdrawn.

The One-Year MBA has no separate application. Eligibility is what differs. Statistics and Economics coursework has to be complete before the summer quarter starts, at a grade of B or better, from an undergraduate or master's program taken within the last ten years. Work experience, AP credit, CFA coursework and online courses do not count. Kellogg runs an eligibility verification with roughly a week of turnaround, so start it well before you plan to submit.

Kellogg handed applicants fewer words and more airtime this year, and the applications that struggle are the ones built on last cycle's structure. If you want a second read on where your hardest story belongs now, that is the kind of placement call we work through every cycle. Book a free consultation on our services page and let's map it out together.

Frequently asked questions

Should I target Round 1 or Round 2 at Kellogg?

Both are full-consideration rounds, so the choice comes down to readiness. Go in Round 1 if your score is final and your recommenders can write well in August. Take Round 2 if waiting buys you a retake, a promotion or a stronger recommender, because a January 6 application with better material beats a September 9 application you rushed. Round 3 is worth avoiding if you need visa lead time or you are competing for scholarship money.

Do the legacy GMAT and the GMAT Focus both count?

Yes, and Kellogg publishes an average for each, 733 for the legacy exam and 687 for Focus. Take whichever you prepare for best. The score has to come from one sitting, and since Kellogg does not combine your best sections across attempts, a retake has to beat your previous total outright to help you.

Can I practice the video questions before the real ones count?

Yes. Kellogg makes practice questions available beforehand and you can run them as often as you want. The five graded responses are a separate exercise with no retakes, due 96 hours after your round's deadline. Use those runs to get comfortable with the interface and the one-minute limit, not to memorize answers you plan to deliver word for word.

Do I need a second application for the One-Year MBA?

No. You apply through the same application on the same deadlines. What changes is the coursework prerequisite in Statistics and Economics, which Kellogg verifies on its own timeline of about a week. Start that verification early, because a September 9 deadline does not move while your transcript review is pending.

Who should write my two recommendations this year?

Choose the two people who have watched you make decisions. Proximity to your work matters more than seniority. With the leadership essay retired, your recommenders are the main place a tough professional call gets documented by someone other than you, so give each of them your resume, the situations you want described and enough lead time that they are not writing in the last week.