Business Education: Want to Get Into Business School?

Write Less,
Talk More
By Adam Rubenfire
902 words
3 July 2014
The Wall Street Journal
J
B1
English
(Copyright (c) 2014, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
Business schools want to know more about their applicants. So, they're asking
them to do less.
Some elite M.B.A. programs have been cutting the number of required essays for
admission, while others have trimmed or streamlined requirements for
recommendation letters.
Paring down requirements can help pump up applicant volumes and ease the
burdens on admissions staff, B-school consultants say. But schools also say the
changes reflect a renewed focus on interviews, videos and other live interactions
to get a sense of how applicants really think -- and not what admissions officers
want to hear.
Babson College and the business school at University of Michigan are both eliminating
one essay this year, while in the past few years the University of California at Los
Angeles' Anderson School of Management, the University of Virginia's Darden School of
Business andHarvard Business School have done the same. Even recommendation
letters, which students solicit from mentors and managers, are streamlining, with
some schools cooperating on common recommendation questions.
Soojin Kwon, the admissions director at Michigan's Ross School of Business,
said the three required essays turned up limited insight for application readers.
Current applicants must write two short essays, for a total of 800 words.
"Applicants increasingly tell us what they think we want to hear," Ms. Kwon said.
"They have become quite cookie-cutter."
Ross is also asking applicants to provide one recommendation letter, instead of
two. Ms. Kwon said the additional letter often didn't yield new, worthwhile
information. Meanwhile, she said Ross will shift its emphasis to one-on-one
interviews and team exercises in their evaluation of candidates.
Harvard Business School last year asked applicants to provide only one essay, and
even made that optional. Dee Leopold, managing director of admissions and
financial aid at HBS, said the changes made the application more "sensible" for
both officials and applicants. Fewer than a dozen applicants chose to skip the
essay; one of those was accepted, she said.
In 2004, the school asked applicants to complete six essay questions. Since
then, said Ms. Leopold, one-on-one interviews have given officials a better sense
of whether applicants are Harvard material. They're not totally off the hook,
however: applicants who win interviews must write a short essay, reflecting on
the interview conversation, to be completed within 24 hours.
The exercise showcases applicants' ability to think quickly, which Ms. Leopold
said is "more appropriate than having months to craft responses to personal
essays," and more in line with the type of deadlines M.B.A.s will face in the
classroom and in their careers.
Some schools just want to keep applicants' focus on them. Sara Neher, assistant
dean for M.B.A. admissions at Darden, said the school cut down to a single
essay three years ago from two essays because, she found, applicants were
writing one essay specifically for Darden and then recycling essays from their
applications to other schools.
And others seek straight answers. Columbia Business School now asks applicants to
summarize their "immediate post-M.B.A. professional goal" in 75 or fewer
characters -- about half the length of a tweet.
At Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, applicants must
write two essays and then respond to two different questions, with a one-minute
video for each question recorded via webcam.
The videos allow the school to meet applicants "face-to-face" before the interview
process, said Kate Smith, the school's assistant dean of admissions and financial
aid.
Shortened applications may also entice more people to apply to M.B.A.
programs. Travis Morgan, director of admissions consulting at test-preparation
firm Veritas Prep, said that a bigger applicant pool can make a program look
more selective.
UCLA's Anderson School of Management has seen a 60% increase in full-time
M.B.A. applications over the past four years, in part due to its simplified
application, an admissions official said.
Abby Speicher, 23 years old, a rising second year M.B.A. at Babson College,
estimated that her Babson application took two months to prepare, so she didn't
end up applying anywhere else. While she spent less time preparing for her
interview, she said the session was a better demonstration of her skills and
personality.
"I absolutely think that someone being able to think on their feet and being able
to be asked a tough question and come out with a well-thought-out answer is
much more indicative of whether they're a good candidate," Ms. Speicher said.
New York University's Stern School of Business, which dropped one required
essay last year, has no immediate plans to cut the remaining two essays.
Applicants, however, can submit a non-written answer like a video or piece of art,
in lieu of writing in response to one of two question options for the second
required essay.
Because most B-school applicants come from the working world, the personal
statements help admissions officers understand why a candidate is pursuing a
particular path, said Isser Gallogly, Stern's assistant dean of M.B.A. admissions.
"I don't think that asking someone to write two essays for each of the schools
they want to go to is terribly arduous," Mr. Gallogly said.
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