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JANUARY 11, 2000 B-SCHOOL Q&A: ADMISSIONS Meet Olin's Admissions Director A Conversation with Pamela Wiese, Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid at Washington University's Olin School of Business
Q: Pamela, you've been in the admissions business for some time. What kind of applicant are you trying to recruit to Washington University's Olin School of Business these days? A: We want interesting students, we want students who are going to come and really participate at Olin, make Olin better. But we're looking for students who have a history of success -- who will bring something interesting to our small class. Q: What's does an "interesting" applicant -- one who ultimately gains admissions to Olin -- look like? A: Because we have such a flexible program, we attract students with very diverse backgrounds. We've seen ex-military [officers], we've seen ex-teachers. We've also seen people coming from backgrounds in law and in medicine. And certainly we see the traditional business students, as well -- those who have gone through wonderful undergraduate business programs, become analysts, and now want to move forward in a finance career or a consulting career. All those different perspectives make the classroom and the out-of-classroom experience here exciting. Q: You were once an Olin MBA yourself. How do you and the rest of the members of Olin's Class of 1991 differ from today's students? A: There are a couple of differences. [Current students] are more focused, they have more work experience, and also they're more international. They're not only international, as in they come from lots of different places, but they have a strong interest in international perspectives and international studies. Q: Since 1997, Olin has seen a steady increase in its number of applicants. The school received 1,060 applications for the Class of 1999. Another 1,088 came in for the Class of 2000. And last year, 1,361 people applied to become a member of school's the Class of 2001. Are you seeing that same upward trend in the early going of this admissions season? If so, where are most of Olin's applicants coming from? A: We are, and we're not surprised by it. In fact, [application increases] should be happening, because we're running like crazy people around the world. We're doing additional outreach, [and that is] probably having the biggest impact on [application growth]. We're traveling abroad, when we used to just attend forums domestically. We've added 15 additional cities [to our recruiting itinerary]. Other things like attendance at, for instance, National Black MBA events help as well. We really are focusing on traveling, advertising, and spreading the message about Olin. That's paying off for us. The second piece [that is possibly having an effect on appliations] is our new Wood Leadership Fellowship Program. The generosity of our alumni, Howard and Joyce Wood, has just been tremendous for us. The program is really catching the eyes of some top applicants. It [awards] full scholarships to 15 applicants each year. All of our applicants--domestic and international--are considered for that program. We announced it in January of last year (1998).
Q: Where have you seen the largest growth in Olin's applicant pool? A: Our non-U.S. applicants last year were up 25% over our record numbers in 1998. In addition to a really nice increase internationally, we also saw a strong increase domestically. And since lots of other schools have been reporting flat numbers there, we're particularly proud of that. Q: Indeed, Olin has historically enrolled a high percentage of non-U.S. students -- at one point, as many as 40% of the school's incoming class was comprised of internationals. That figure has since dropped to 34% of last year's entering class [Class of 2001]. Where do you want Olin's international student composition to fall in the future? A: On balance, for us, we're happy having [foreign students comprise] somewhere between a quarter and a third of our class. That's a nice, manageable percentage ... manageable in terms of being able to help our international students with their special needs such as (job) placement. [Those percentages of international students] also give our domestic students interesting perspectives. We've seen more countries represented lately and are doing more recruiting internationally. We're trying to make the best matches for students. Even though the numbers [of international applicants] are very strong, there's a lot of competition for the best students. So we're out there waving the Olin flag, trying to get our [school] name recognized and help applicants make [informed] decisions. Q: What does Olin offer to its international community? A:Olin is a friendly community. It's not a place where anyone can easily get lost. That alone for an international student is comforting. Somebody is going to be here to take them under their wing, answer their questions, show them new things, and be excited to learn from them. We do encourage enrolled [international] applicants to take English as a second language (ESL) courses, if they need that, over the summer. Typically, we send them to other schools that have well-developed, MBA-focused English programs. But once they get here, we really work hard to make sure that they're acclimated and have everything they need. Our International House does a beautiful job with orientation of international students through social events, and introductions to St. Louis. St. Louis is a really easy place to live. Because housing is affordable, food is affordable, and there are lots of free resources close to the campus, like the art museum and the zoo. In addition, we have an international advisor in our career center, someone who focuses specifically on the special placement needs of our international students. Q: Are Olin applicants concerned about the school's placement prospects? Last year, just 77% of Olin's grads received job offers by graduation. A: It is something they're talking about. Q: What do you tell these folks to counter their concern? A: We have a new director of our career center on board, Greg Hutchings, who came from the corporate community. He's brought new energy and new ideas. There's a lot going on in our career center right now. One of the things that we're doing, as I said, is outreach. [Greg] has been on the road almost constantly since he's been here, and he knows our students really well. Our students are now actually having tremendous success, and they're excited about their opportunities. They are, for example, looking at dot.com companies that are doing just-in-time recruiting--something that all MBA programs, I'm sure, are experiencing. Additional outreach that [Greg is] doing is also going to open doors for students. For example, he's partnering with the [student] clubs and organizations. We did three new road shows this year, which means that we took [select] students on the road with us, traveling to different [geographic] areas that are of most interest. One trip this fall was to San Francisco with our technology club. [Students] were able to visit lots of companies, friends of the school, talk about opportunities, and really open some doors. We took our finance club to New York, and did the same kind of thing on Wall Street. And we also took the consulting club to Chicago. [All of the trips were] a tremendous success. We've had really great responses, not only from employers about the trips, but certainly from our students. We'll continue to do programs like that, to look for ways to help our students market themselves, and generally help them open doors. Lastly, the flexibility of the curriculum, and our experiential learning opportunities have people talking. Q: Once a prospective student has decided that he matches up well with the Olin School, what types of applying options does he have? A: Applicants have lots of choices. We accept online applications from Embark.com and GradAdvantage. We also have our application on MBA Multi-App. We have our own forms out there in PDF format on the Web. And, of course, there's also our traditional paper application. Q: If you had it your way, which format would applicants use all the time? A: Whichever format is most convenient for them. We don't discriminate at all against different types. Q: How do the majority of Olin's applicants apply? A: There is a nice mix. We have a number that fill out the regular paper applications because they still want to see it and handle it and look at it and make sure everything is perfect before they mail it in. Others are using Multi App, where they still have that opportunity, but they don't have to search around for a typewriter. (They can, however, still print their forms out, look at them, and make sure everything is perfect before they mail them in.) But we're seeing a good number of applications streaming in from Embark and GradAdvantage, as well. Q: What other online assistance does Olin offer to its applicants to make their application experience more personal? A: In addition to the different online options for applying and getting financial aid information that Olin provides, I work extensively with domestic and international applicants to answer questions via e-mail. And we get a lot of compliments that we're tremendously responsive in that regard -- part of that is because of our size. We are a smaller program, which means that by the time a student is admitted we're going to be able to offer a whole lot of individualized attention. We're also, for example running what's called the Joe Student e-mail account. Our current students love to talk about Olin, share their experiences, and help people make great choices. And the account allows interested Olin applicants to get a current student's perspective of the school. But even when applicants are just doing their discovery work [ie. background research] about programs we try to answer questions -- primarily by e-mail. Lots of applicants call us, but usually our international applicants are communicating via e-mail. They'll shoot us off questions and we give them a personal response. Q: No matter which application method I choose, when should I try to get my completed application in? Generally speaking, is it always better to shoot for the earlier deadlines? A: We have five different deadlines. We try to keep them equally competitive. Obviously, if there are any surprises with yield, that's not controllable for us. But we try to make opportunities available during all five deadlines. I'd say for international applicants, apply in rounds one through four. But apply when you are ready to apply. There's no need to break your neck and do a sloppy or incomplete job on the application to meet the first deadline. That's clearly not to your advantage. Q: Is the acceptance rate in the first round higher than in later rounds? A: I wouldn't say that we're admitting more people at that point. There's the possibility in the first round that we would hold a student's application either until the next round or place them on the wait list. We don't have as strong a sense of the pool yet, so I don't think that the admit rate is dramatically stronger. Now, there's probably a phenomenon where there is a large number of strong applicants in that [first round] group that are the early birds who have done a whole lot of research and have done all of their shopping and are ready to apply earlier, which is fine. But I don't think [they are applying] because our admission standards are different at that point. Q: Is it fair to say there are more class spots available in that first round? A: Not really. We try to keep it equally competitive. If there's a marginal candidate who applies during the first round, we're probably going to be fairly conservative because we want to be able to look out and make offers to the top candidates out of that fifth [round] group. We do use our wait list. It's not a sign of doom for an applicant. We use it just because there's uncertainty in the process. We would place a candidate on the wait list if we had a sincere, genuine interest in having her here as a student, but we're not entirely confident yet that we will have a space for her. But in terms of selectivity, no, I wouldn't say that there is a dramatic difference in any of our deadlines. Q: What does an applicant need to prove to the school's admission committee to successfully gain entrance into Olin's MBA program? A: The focus is leadership. We're looking for applicants who have done interesting things with their professional careers. Above and beyond that, they should show a commitment to community, a commitment to professional associations, and they should demonstrate leadership [in both of those areas]. Q: How can a student best demonstrate their interest in attending Olin? A: There are a couple of ways that candidates can show great enthusiasm. First, they can come and visit. Second, they can sit down for an interview, usually with the admissions committee. The interview [allows candidates to] share the neat things about themselves with us, and describe how they hope to contribute to the program. Just as importantly, the interview also allows applicants to ask questions about the program. Come to visit, interview, ask good questions, and stay in contact with us. Q: I've learned from my previous conversations with admissions officers, that the successful applicants are usually the ones who have done their research. How much time should candidates spend researching Olin before they ink their applications? A: I don't know that it's necessarily a by-product of time. Certainly doing a thorough job in research has a lot of components to it. What I encourage candidates to do, for example, is to create their own rankings. Decide what factors are important to you in a program, and do your market research. Use the Web, use the rankings, use students and alumni feedback, and use [advice received from] professionals in their field. Narrow your choices just by virtue of the research that you've done. A school visit is critically important. At Olin, we try to create opportunities for applicants to get the best impression and the best information about the school. We offer regular host visits at any time. We work with [prospective students] to organize a day so that they can come. [Visiting applicants] meet with current students, can visit a class, can do their admission interviews, and are taken to lunch. They really get a day-in-the-life kind of feel for the place. We also offer student-organized preview weekends where our current students show off all that Olin has to offer. So how long should a prospective student spend researching a school? I don't know. It probably depends on the candidate. There are applicants who say, 'I've always thought about doing an MBA, my parents have MBAs.' Or, 'everyone in my company has an MBA and I've been thinking about it, really, since I graduated from college.' There are other applicants who say, 'I just heard about the MBA program. It seems like something that might be interesting for me,' and they start doing their homework. Probably, on average, candidates spend at least, I would guess, six months to a year, thinking about [the MBA degree and related programs] in a serious way. Q: How important is it for prospective students to attend Olin's student weekends, forums, and receptions? When you're sitting down to decide between Candidate A and Candidate B, and Candidate B has gone to the reception in Boston, is that a one-up? A: It doesn't hurt, clearly. And certainly we track who we've seen to measure the successfulness of our different initiatives. But I don't think that it's a strike against someone [if they don't attend receptions, forums, etc.]. For example, there are places we simply don't visit. There are applicants who are not able to make it to campus. So we really do try not to discriminate against applicants. It's not terribly damaging to someone if they haven't taken advantage of those opportunities. Q: Olin strongly suggests that MBA candidates sit down for an interview. Sixty-one percent of the school's admitted students were interviewed in person or over the phone. What's the key to a successful interview at Olin? A: What we're really looking for is an opportunity to get to know applicants better. We want to understand their motivations and their goals. We want to start to assess their fit with the program. We want a sample of their communication skills and we want to explore what they hope to contribute. It's really an opportunity for us, as well, because we get to help fill in the holes for them, help answer their questions and sell our program, talk to them about what makes Olin special. That's really the gist of an interview. Q: Pam, you personally interview candidates. What kind of questions can a candidate expect to be asked? A: I really try to stage it more as a conversation. What do you hope to do with your MBA? Where are you going to be after your MBA? What's motivating you to do an MBA? What kind of skills do you hope to develop during the MBA? I try to assess experiences that they've had ... interesting experiences, unique experiences. I try to engage them in conversations about their skills, and their area of interest. Q: Is it a no-no to skip an interview if you've scheduled one? A: To no-show for an interview... oh, it's one of my favorites. You end up with some very interesting notes in your application if you do that. Someone who doesn't even cancel an interview [causes] me a lot of concern because [that makes me question] their ability to make contributions to the program, and their overall commitment to the application process. It makes me think that when they represent Olin at an interview years from now when they're doing a job search, they're going to no-show on an employer, and make a bad name for the school. It's really a terrible thing to do. Q: How is tardiness to an interview noted in an application? A: It's not ideal. There are sometimes excuses for being late and how a student handles that and recovers from that is probably more important than that they were actually late. Q: Let's move on to the nuts and bolts of an application. Which piece, in your eyes, is most important: the GMAT, the essay, the recommendations, or work experience? A: We look at all of those pieces together. Probably the most important piece is the work experience, which includes the resume, work history, teamwork, and community service. But then we also do look at the academic preparation, meaning the GMAT, GPA, essays, and interview. Those factors give us an indication of fit. But also, [understanding applicants'] motivations for pursuing an MBA and their ability to communicate is quite important too. The recommendations are just going to tell us a little bit about the validation of their readiness for an MBA. So all of the pieces really do fit together for us. Q: Say I'm an applicant without a business background -- I don't have an undergraduate degree in business nor do I have experience as, say, a consultant or a i-banker. What do I need to show Olin in my application to compensate for that lack of business experience? A: We look for quantitative preparation and we look for motivations for pursuing an MBA. Are you a person who has done your homework, who really understands what kinds of skills you want to develop, and where you want to go with your career? Q: Do applicants need to show development or progress within an organization? A: It really does come back to that. Setting and achieving interesting goals for some people means a really well-defined career path. For a teacher, it may mean spearheading interesting initiatives at their school, or community involvement. But it really is a broadly-defined concept. Q: The average GMAT score in Olin's admitted Class of 2001 is 642. That's up a bit from 624, Olin's Class of 2000 average. Given the increase in GMAT scores, should applicants with a 500 GMAT score even bother to apply? A: If you're a student with a 500, you have to start thinking seriously whether that 500 is indicative of your potential on the exam. So if you've taken the exam three times and you've gotten a 490, a 500, and a 480, then you're obviously not going to want to retake [the GMAT a fourth time]. But if you're a student who's been scoring a 610 on the prep exams and you had a car accident on the way to the test center, you're going to want to think about retaking the exam. Now, that's not to say that the GMAT is the most important piece that we look at, but it is to say that it's an awfully controllable piece for an applicant. We and most other schools really look at applicants' highest GMAT score. There's no need to take the test 40 times. But you're going to want to use your knowledge of your skills and your aptitude on the test, based on your preparation work, to make some good choices about whether or not retaking the GMAT is a good idea. Also, Olin's GMAT average doesn't mean all of our students score between 640 and 650. There is a wide diversity of scores, and we look at what a student brings to the table. If I'm evaluating an applicant who's just a ghastly test taker but otherwise has wonderful credentials, then there's no reason that we might not think that they're a good fit for the program. Likewise, a student with a stellar GMAT who really isn't a match for our program is not going to be admissable either. With a class of 150 students, mismatches are really obvious and really impact the dynamic here. So there's a whole lot that goes into assessing the fit, a whole lot more than the GMAT. Q: Of course, it's not beneficial to take the GMAT exam 40 times, but is taking the exam three times detrimental if the applicant's score hasn't improved much? What is the average amount of times Olin's admitted candidates take the GMAT? [Editor's note: GMAC reports only the last three scores to schools.] A: That's not a statistic I have that's readily available. An applicant who has a weaker GMAT should talk to me about that in an essay -- we have an optional essay question that says, basically, tell us something that we didn't ask you that's important to your application. If the student takes the exam one time and says, 'I'm a terrible test taker, I was delighted by this score, but I feel my other credentials are stronger and more indicative of my abilities,' then I'm going to [have more to go on] and better understand [the applicant as a whole]. If a student takes the test three times, I'm guessing that they did preparation work in between, otherwise they're throwing their money and time away. Again, if the student takes the exam once and it's a low score, I sometimes wonder whether they got bad advice, and question why they didn't retake the exam. Usually they tell me about that. But I certainly don't look negatively upon someone who has attempted to control that piece. Q: Should applicants try to have their recommenders write them a glowing recommendation? What kinds of things should applicants tell their recommenders to mention or describe in their recommedations? A: Applicants should to pick their recommenders carefully. That means choosing someone who knows you well and can speak about your skills, areas that you still need to develop, and reasons that you're interested in an MBA program. [Providing that information] is a whole lot more important than coaching [your recommenders to just write superlatives]. We require two recommendations. We prefer one to be from a supervisor, although that's not always possible for some applicants. But certainly with professional recommendations, people can speak to your ability to make contributions professionally. Q: What happens when an applicant chooses a recommender who writes a recommendation that isn't so hot? Let's say that the applicant has strong GMAT scores, strong essays, and a solid undergraduate record. A: There are a couple of different things that we can do. We'll look at how long the candidate has known the recommender. It's entirely possible that we might call in the applicant to do an interview if that hasn't already been done. But, again, all of the [application] pieces are going to work together. So if there was something in the recommendation, for example, that said that there were concerns about teamwork, then that might be a question that we would really focus on in an interview. Or we would look at that in their essays and we would look at that in their other recommendations. Q: What kind of mistakes do you typically see in an essay that can prove detrimental to an application? A: We don't really see so many essays that have glaring weaknesses. The essays are an opportunity for applicants to share something about themselves with us. They offer the opportunity to talk about special accomplishments, challenges, and what they've learned from them. Typically, they're actually pretty interesting. Pat answers and canned responses, however, where we really don't get to know the applicants, defeats the purpose for us. Our final essay question is probably the most interesting. Candidates can be creative, they can share something with us that we've missed somewhere else in the application. It really is my favorite. [Editor's note: Olin requires applicants to respond to four "Personal Statement" questions: 1. Describe your career goals. Explain how the Olin School will help you meet your objectives. (under 400 words) 2. Outside your career, what accomplishment brings you the most personal satisfactions? (under 400 words) 3. Discuss a challenge in your life, why you considered it a challenge, and what you have learned from it. (under 400 words) 4. Please answer each of the following: a. Of all persons past and present, I would most like to meet (under 150 words) b. In my leisure time I... (under 150 words) c. I wish the admissions committee had asked me...(under 150 words)] Q: Are you disappointed if an applicant chooses not to answer the optional essay question? A: No, not at all, it's optional. If they've covered everything else in other places, then there's no reason for them to spend a lot of time contriving something for my benefit. If we miss something, then [that essay question] provides the opportunity to talk to us about it. Q: Pam, you typically admit 360 applicants per class. Ultimately, what is it that sets your pile of accepted applicants apart from you pile of denied applicants? A: Usually it's fit. Our applications have been strong. So [being denied] is not usually the result of a glaring omission or problem with the application, but it's just simply that there's someone else that we could serve better or who's a better match for our program. Q: What is that good "match" for Olin? A: We're looking for students who are interesting, who have done interesting things, and that want to come and make contributions, again with a small class. We really expect that every individual is going to make a difference. We want applicants to bring something to the table, we want them to be excited about Olin, we want them to know what they want to take away from Olin. I'm looking for people who have had a history of setting and achieving interesting goals. Q: How many applicants do you usually put on the wait list and how many get that thick packet at the end of the summer saying that they've gained entrance into Olin's fall class? A: We take some every year off the wait list. It's possible that that won't happen, however, if the yield rate is higher than we expect. Yield is the issue at wait list time. The wait list is used because of the vagaries in the application process; in particular, yield: How many of the applicants that we made offers to will tell us yes? We probably place between -- I'm just guessing -- 50 to 75 applicants on the wait list. And last year, we took a number of them off the wait list. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but I would say that about a quarter is a fair number. It's going to vary dramatically by year, though. Q: Are many of Olin's accepted applicants deferring their enrollment for work opportunities? A: We do have students that request deferrals, though it's typically a fairly small number. We work with them on a case-by-case basis. Essentially, they petition the admission committee. A student who's having a horrendous problem despite multiple efforts to secure a visa is a good example. A student who's pregnant and decides that they'd like to postpone enrolling and other kinds of family crises are [other examples of suitable deferral requests]. Q: Forty-two percent of Olin's admitted candidates eventually enroll. Where do the other 58% go? A: Because of our central location and because of the flexibility of our curriculum, we really compete geographically and programmatically with a wide range of programs. Examples of places our applicants have an interest in include Michigan, Kellogg, Tuck, University of Chicago, Duke, Wharton, Columbia, Indiana, the Univeristy of Missouri-Columbia, Vanderbilt, and UVA. Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | JANUARY
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