How I Framed My Story for a Holistic Admissions Application

When I began working on my business school applications, I treated each essay like an isolated problem to be solved. A leadership question needed a leadership story. A diversity prompt needed range. A career goals essay needed ambition and polish. My assumption was simple: if every answer sounded strong on its own, the application would come together naturally.

It didn’t.

When I reread my early drafts, what stood out was not weakness, but noise. The application felt busy rather than coherent. I had mentioned several roles, achievements, and experiences, but the logic behind my choices and the way I navigated uncertainty was missing. I was responding to prompts, not telling a story. Somewhere along the way, I had also started writing toward an idea of what an “ideal applicant” should sound like, instead of writing from a place that felt genuinely mine.

Thinking Beyond Individual Essays

The shift came after a conversation with a mentor who reminded me that admissions committees do not read essays in isolation. They read applications holistically, looking for patterns in values, decision-making, and learning. That changed how I approached the process. Instead of asking myself whether I had included everything important, I began asking what each response revealed about how I think.

Closely tied to this was a question I kept returning to, while editing: does this sound like me, or does it just sound impressive?

That question became a filter. I started removing achievements that were either expected or hard to explain meaningfully within a tight word limit. I cut out generic preparation phases and routine responsibilities, even when they had taken considerable effort. I also resisted the urge to exaggerate situations just to make them feel more dramatic. What remained were fewer examples, but ones where I could clearly explain the challenge, my response, and what I learnt without pretending to be someone else.

Writing for a Reader Outside My Context

Another realisation followed soon after. While I lived inside my experiences, the admissions reader did not. Earlier drafts tried to solve this by adding more background, justification, and explanation. Later drafts did the opposite. I focused only on the context necessary to understand my thinking and decisions, trusting that clarity and honesty mattered more than completeness.

Over time, this approach allowed different parts of my application to speak to each other. Leadership, uniqueness, and career goals stopped feeling like separate narratives. They became different lenses on the same person navigating uncertainty, responsibility, and growth.

What Holistic Framing Really Means

Framing my story holistically did not mean simplifying my journey or smoothing out its edges. It meant respecting the reader’s attention and staying true to what had actually shaped me. The application became stronger, but more importantly, it began to feel accurate.

Looking back, that mattered more than sounding impressive.

Synopsis:

In this reflective piece, ISB’s PGP YL student Aryaman Shah shares how he rethought his admissions application by moving away from isolated, achievement-heavy essays to a more holistic and authentic narrative. By focusing on coherence, decision-making patterns, and clarity of thought, he explains how framing one consistent story helped his application genuinely represent who he is.