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JANUARY 25, 2000 B-SCHOOL Q&A: ADMISSIONS Meet University of Texas' Admissions Director A Conversation with Carl Harris, Director of Admissions at the University of Texas Graduate School of Business
Q: Carl, you've participated in UT-Austin's MBA admission process for nearly a decade. What differences do you see between the classes you shaped in the early 1990s and the class that you're admitting in 2000? A: The profile has changed. Applicants in 1990 had about 2-2.5 years of work experience. Now, there is a requirement that no candidate with less than two years of work experience be offered admission. When I came to Texas, we were admitting people straight from the undergraduate experience. It was much younger crowd. Back then, the average GMAT [score] was 610. So we attracted a different clientele. At that stage of the program's maturity, UT-Austin was best known among candidates and recruiters as being a producer of entry- and mid-level type graduates. Today we have notched the program up. Last year, our average GMAT was 675, with an average of five years of professional work experience. We've intentionally increased the strength of the class profile so as to give our recruiters an opportunity to stay with us. We could have very easily ratcheted it up all of a sudden, but our employers wouldn't have known what to do with the new caliber of people. They had a tendency to come here to do joint shopping, because we also have a very strong and large undergraduate business program. And there's a whole different set of recruiters that come to the Texas program now, looking for a more sophisticated, capable, autonomous, and energetic graduate. Q: Looking ahead, say one more decade, what does the Texas MBA program hope its class profile will look like? A: We have three strategic emphases at the moment. Our best known strength is technology, seen in our Techno MBA. The second focus is entrepreneurship, and the third is globalization. We will expand those avenues and apply them in a way that is [appropriate] to a global economy. We have a special interest and focus in Central and South America, primarily because of our geographic location. But that does not change our worldwide focus. Last year the Texas program was fortunate to have applications from 79 different countries. As you walk down our hallways, you'll probably pass [classmates from] 40 to 45 different countries. And that's from a total enrollment of about 850 between the first and second year students. Q: In light of UT's three specialties -- technology, entrepreneurship, and globalization -- what kind of person is right for the Texas MBA Program? A: Today's candidate is really in the buyer's seat, with such a large number of aggressive, strong, and excellent MBA programs [out there]. The Texas program has its unique areas that the faculty chose to distinguish and to take us in the directions of our traditional strengths. You can get a good MBA study degree at many schools. But finding a place that you can be comfortable with for the two years [of the program] and be happy with as a lifelong alumnus, is something else. The culture, the experience, the setting, and the values match a particular personality, and candidates should demonstrate how they fit with UT-Austin. My task is not so much to find the candidates that can actually be successful once they are admitted, but to find the ones that will [eventually] prosper, and be happy when they graduate.
Q: Does the successful applicant show a combination of strengths in all three of UT's concentrations: technology, entrepreneurship, and global business? A: Those are all attractive characteristics. What's most important for an applicant [to do] is to take a program's application not only seriously, but literally. One of the things I'm often asked is, "What is the worst thing you can do when you're filling out an application to a program?" And that is answering the question that you think is being asked, as opposed to what is really being asked -- this happens a lot on essays. As various programs around the world try to distinguish themselves, they are becoming sophisticated in their recruitment and admissions processes. They literally screen out candidates who are admissible, but who don't fit, or who would not make the most [distinctive] contribution. The Texas program asks some very specific questions. While candidates find that the questions are somewhat similar to other MBA applications, they should be very careful. The essay [questions] in our program have been carefully worded. The questions approach a desired information topic from a direction that is most compatible with the kind of personality we want. We want [applicants] to honestly answer exactly what is being asked because it is only through the admissions committee review and interpretation of the responses that the committee can get a feel for how [much of a fit] an individual is [with the school]. We might get a candidate with a 780 GMAT, a 3.9 GPA, and five years of work experience in the financial sector. They might, however, have a stated interest in a particular degree plan or emphasis that is not one of the strengths of the Texas program. If admitted, that individual would find that what they thought they were going to get as a Texas MBA wasn't available or was better at another school. Which means for two years, I'd have an unhappy student, and then for the rest of his or her life, I'd have a grumpy alumnus. The [essay] questions are not only asking you to demonstrate an ability to communicate and show that you have given some thought to getting an MBA, but also to put it into terms that tend to reflect a personality type, so that a match can be made. (Editor's note: Texas requires three essays. They include: 1. "Explain how obtaining a Master's degree will assist you in further defining and achieving your primary personal and/or professional life goals. Why is now the best time for you to pursue this degree? Your explanation should include, but not necessarily be limited to, a description of both your intermediate and longer-term career goals, as well as a current vision of your desired employment upon graduation. Be specific." 2. "Identify the five (5) most significant personal and/or professional skill areas you currently possess and explain how each will enable you to contribute to making your enrollment at TEXAS a memorable experience for both you and your fellow classmates." 3. "You are sitting before an organization's Board of Directors being interviewed for appointment to a recently vacated seat. This Board has expressed their satisfaction with your professional experiences and work background, but wish to learn more about your human skills and personal motivations. Tell us the name of the organization, the mission it serves, and why you are interested in becoming one of its Board members. What will you tell the Board about your non-work related interests, personal values, major life experiences, and 'challenges faced and conquered?'") Q: Top b-schools make an effort to distinguish their campus culture from other schools'. What sets UT-Austin apart from the competition? A: Texas MBAs tend to be friendly, easy going, competitive but cooperative, technically proficient, self-directed, and self-starters. One of the things we're pleased with is that our recruiters refer to our graduates as ready to hit the ground running. [Recruiters say] that [our graduates] are comfortable doing the work, and that they're capable of doing it. The experience here at Texas has value. It's a great life platform. Q: What steps has UT-Austin taken to diversify its candidate pool? A: We market the program worldwide. The three strongest contributors that candidates use to make a decision to attend Texas are word of mouth from our alumni our international marketing through our Web materials, and our mailings. We also have joint degree relationships with 27 different schools around the world now. And it's just not a one-way flow from the international students coming here. We have a number of candidates who are admitted to the program because they've specified a particular interest in a global setting that happens to be in a geographic region where we have a presence. Q: Five percent of UT Austin's first year students are minorities. Where does the MBA program want to see that number in another five years, and how will the school arrive at that target? A: We'd like to see it as high as it can go. There are two things UT-Austin is doing. First, we have a director of recruitment and diversity affairs, George Johnson, who is also the dean of the program. A [huge] amount of effort goes [into] the recruitment and networking that's available through an organization we're a member of, called the Consortium of Graduate Study in Management. We also do our own diversity tours with five other schools. There's a limited pool of diversity applicants and hundreds of MBA programs, all of which target different kinds of profile characteristics, are after those minority candidates. That narrows the population [of minorities] down even further. Also, Texas is under a unique limitation that many schools across the country are not, and that is the 1996 Hopwood decision in the fifth circuit [court]. That is why there is a separate director for minority recruitment admissions. I am, by law, not allowed to do the primary thing that most admissions directors do: establish a pre-decision relationship with a [minority] applicant. Q: At which deadline do the majority of Texas' MBA applications arrive? And once UT has its applications, how soon will the program be filled? A: Our applications come in a sequence, but with two peak periods. One being mid-January, and then the first and second weeks of February. The Texas program fills up on a rolling basis, so we'll look at an application regardless of when it walks in the door. The process is what we call "elegant," rather than "complex." Each year, we establish the admissions target of the profile of the next year's class using the current class's profile as a base, and work to make the next class more interesting. So, if you're the first application that comes in the door, and you meet or exceed that hypothetical profile for the next year's class, you're admitted. The first day of reviewing and receiving applications, which occurs as early as October and November for the next year, we know if an applicant will be a good fit. That tends to [suggest] that the sooner you apply, the better off your chances will be. And the answer is yes, because around the first of March the class will probably be about three-quarters full. By the middle of March, it will be about 90% full, and by the first or the 15th of April, the class is done. We continue reviewing applications after that, and it is at that point where the wait list starts taking [on] importance -- because candidates coming in that are still attractive and admissible, what we'll do is we'll tell them, "You are attractive, you are admissible, we don't have room. We offer you the opportunity to be on the wait list." Q: How many different ways can a UT aspirant apply to the school's MBA program? A: We have four different ways that you can apply to this program. The first way is online. It's the fastest and hopefully the easiest way to apply. At Texas, the online application is preferred because it creates less to image for the admissions committee. And it moves a little bit faster through the process sometimes. We're in the process of beta testing what we call an electronic admissions process. And that is taking all of these pieces [of the application] and dropping them all down to electronic images. What we do is if a letter of recommendation is mailed in, in support of an electronic application, is we image it and attach it to that electronic file. Both management and we [in admissions] are very excited about the potential success [of this process]. I expect it will be online next year. The other three ways you can apply to the Texas program are the traditional paper application that comes as part of our regular, shiny picture program brochure. This can be requested by phone, letter, fax, or via our Web site. Then there's Multi-App. And finally, applicants can download a .PDF file of the entire application from our Web site using AdobeAcrobat... and then submit it as a paper application. Q: In what order is an application assessed when it lands on the desk of a Texas admissions representative? A: When a file is actually placed in front of the admissions committee, it's put in a particular order. There's a summary sheet on the top of it that reflects many of the candidate's raw numbers, years of [work] experience, academic history, and the kinds of things that make up a boilerplate summation. The next document is the resume, then come the essay responses, and so forth. Q: One the summary page, what are the first numbers UT looks at to get a superficial picture of the applicant? A: The first page articulates things that we need to clarify in the rest of the application. For example, on the first page, if we saw a candidate with a 710 GMAT and a 2.5 undergraduate GPA, we know that something unusual might have happened during the [candidate's] undergraduate experience -- for instance, a personal or professional distraction. Or the applicant's particular academic institution might have had a history of [being a tough grader]. For instance, a 2.5 at one of the military academies is a very good GPA. Then you just start distinguishing and seeing what the candidate has to say -- and one way to [address, say, a low gpa] is through an essay. Hopefully, a candidate will say, "Hey, this is what happened while I was in college. No excuses, but I can tell you it's not going to happen in the graduate experience, and this is why." That's what we need to hear. Don't presume that the admissions committee will translate seven years of chronological age into maturity. We will not make assumptions, either good or bad, on behalf of a candidate. Q: How does UT-Austin evaluate the GMAT? A: We do it in several modes. We use it in conjunction with an academic history as well as any reference's comments [that] speak to a candidate's ability to learn or adapt to new experiences. There are three things one tends to do when trying to meet an admissions goal. Our first task is to attract the largest, best qualified, and most diverse pool of applicants that we can. The second task is identifying those who have the ability to succeed and graduate. But since we don't have the space for all the qualified applicants, the third thing we do is to select those applicants with the best combination of academic ability, high potential for success, ability to contribute to the educational experience, and the most potential for benefiting from the experience that they will have during an MBA program. The GMAT can be used as a point of competition. The GMAT also tends to either complement a presumption [drawn from] a strong undergraduate academic history, or if it is in conflict with it, then you try and figure out through the remaining materials [what happened]. Q: Does UT break the GMAT score down to evaluate the quantitative score, the verbal score, and the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) performance? A: We can. It depends on the focus of the candidate. If in their essays they're saying that they want to be in marketing, the quantitative score doesn't become that important. That's why we hope their essays will identify what their focus is. Then we'll know what pieces of the rest of the [application] material to apply as "valuators" or "distracters." One of the most difficult situations I had was a candidate with a strong GMAT score, and a not so strong undergraduate academic experience. The candidate had an undergraduate degree in English and had been a high school English teacher for four years. At that point, the candidate wanted to become -- cold turkey -- an entrepreneur in the high tech industry in telecommunications. Texas is good in that area, but there needs to be just a little bit of a basis upon which to build. That candidate probably wouldn't be the strongest contributor to the program. In the end, the person I let in the door is the person the faculty have to work with. This is who the faculty teach, this is who they hire as their research assistant, this is who they have [intellectual] exchanges with. The person I let in the door is the person a career services [department] places with our recruiters. And the person I let in the door is our lifelong alum. So we need to be very careful about who we say yes to because it's not just the task of admissions an application [initiates], it's a lifelong relationship. Q: How important is the nature of an applicant's work experience? For example, does UT-Austin prefer candidates who spent time in the more traditional business world? A: The nature of the work experience isn't all that important. What's important is the length. A while back, the faculty approached the admissions [committee] to say they wanted candidates with no less than two years of professional work experience because those people would have a professional maturity. At that point, a candidate has graduated from their undergraduate school, where most of the information learned is theoretical, and has gone out to practice the academic skills that they learned in school. At work, they encounter certain fundamental levels of human skills: interpersonal communications, group dynamics, leadership, problem solving, creativity, mediation, conflict resolutions, etc. And candidates will have encountered those things both by doing well and not doing well in the real world. Q: Indeed, professional development is an important criteria at many B-schools -- as you mentioned, UT-Austin's latest batch of students average five years of work experience apiece. Where is the best place for candidates to demonstrate that maturity demonstrated in the application? In a resume, a recommendation, or an essay? A: There are three ways a candidate can demonstrate [their professional] maturity. The resume would be the first place. It's nice when a candidate can demonstrate a chronological evolution of a career path and a positive progression in the career path. But that's what you might call the more traditional candidate. An entrepreneur won't have that. Many times an entrepreneur will have done a year or two [at one job], and then gone on for a year or two [at another job]. Each position will be an exploration of a different facet of an entrepreneurial venture that they are developing and getting ready to focus on. While a resume can be a first indicator, the essays will provide the depth and clarity as to what was going on in this career path progression. There may be a strong reason why this candidate has had a two-year longevity in every job they've ever had. For instance, we've had a number of candidates who were doing their best to find somebody that could keep up with them. Instead of sticking around, they kept outgrowing their current work setting and moving on to one that was a little faster paced or had a little more risk management and risk willingness. The next job would allow them to venture on into some more aggressive kind of business ventures. The next set of documents are the letters of recommendation. And finally the actual [undergraduate] transcript. Anything after that, any additions, any materials that a candidate might have submitted that were not specifically asked for in the application, are taken into consideration. That's a standardization of what a file is, but it's certainly not any prioritization. Q: The admissions office recently added its own twist on MBA interviews: the AdmissionVisit. How are these interviews different from those held at other B-schools? What should applicants expect to talk about during an admission visit? A: The Texas program has always been resistant to interviewing because it's a tremendous commitment of both human and fiscal resources to set up a worldwide process that is equitable, standardized, and can result in a predictable set of responses. We get out of [admission visits] the same thing that [other schools] get out of an interview. If an applicant wants the opportunity to personalize a portion of the application, or to verbally articulate what they feel are their strengths, the applicant comes to Austin or visits with an alumnus close to where they live. This is the first year that we've done it. And we do it because we have, for a number of years, had requests from candidates, students, and alumni to promote the program and answer the questions that perhaps we don't completely cover in our promotional materials. Candidates are asked four specific questions by the program contact. (Editor's note: UT-Austin's Program Contacts ask candidates the following four questions, in addition to "off-the-cuff" questions: 1. "If you were charged with building a team to accomplish a particular task, how would you select the team members? What are the most important general characteristics you would want?" 2. "Texas has a STRONG tradition of student involvement in shaping the direction of our program; as a Texas MBA candidate, how would you choose to make your mark/contribute?" 3. "What did you enjoy most about your academic experience as an undergraduate? What was the most challenging? What was the most memorable and rewarding?" 4. "What are your favorite non-work activities -- both recreational and civic/community service?") At the conclusion of an admissions visit, the program contact is given access to a Web site to record their observations on the nature of the visit. Then the form is dropped into the applicant's admissions materials and it takes on the [function] of an additional letter of recommendation. This is an attempt to standardize as we evolve to an interview [set-up] -- we're first making the visits voluntary. Q: How is attendance at UT-Austin's forums or receptions viewed by the admissions committee? Is it considered a sign of interest? A: Well, yes and no. We keep track of people who we encounter at the forums, we keep track of people who are in contact with us. But we don't use it as a measure of interest. So the mere fact that somebody didn't get to campus isn't going to be used against them. But, yes, we do keep track of it, and yes, it's just another piece of the composite profile of the candidate. Q: I've always been curious: Many schools ask candidates about their family members' education. How is such information used when UT-Austin evaluates a candidate? Is it looked upon as interesting or favorable if an applicant is the first member of a family to receive an MBA? A: Yes. It can be very much.The candidate always finds a way of telling us where they are currently positioned, where they would like to be, and how the MBA can get them there. For one person it's a small step to get to where they are. For another, it's a major leap. And the size of the leap, if it is adequately described in terms of family situation, in terms of geographic background, in terms of gender or of diversity, [is of great interest to us]. There's a culture here at the Texas program, and part of the way we measure compatibility with that culture is how much of a fighter you are to get here. We like fighters. Q: How long should applicants expect to wait for an admission decision after submitting their application? A: Four-to-six weeks. And again, it depends on the peak. As director of admissions, I have for the past two years personally sent an e-mail or called accepted applicants to welcome them to the class. This gives them a little bit of information and insights about what that [acceptance] means and what they can expect to happen over the next two or three months. Q: Texas employs a wait list. How many applicants are placed on the wait list ... and how many make it off? A: The wait list is a difficult scenario to deal with. The Texas wait list tends to be a reflection of the "not quite admissible" [crowd]. The only reason they're placed on the wait list is because either the class is already full or is almost full of a particular facet of the class's [eventual] personality. There are only so many high tech entrepreneurs who want to focus in Central and South America that we want in the program. I don't want 420 identical people. So while we have stated particular focuses, I need to keep track of the entire array, so that there will be that catalytic quality among the students when they sit down in a classroom. Every year, we have as many as 50 to 75 people that might end up on the wait list. Out of the last four years, maybe ten people have made it off the wait list. And three out of the four years, we never opened it. That has to do with the high acceptance rate that we are blessed with from our applicant pool. Q: How do wait listed candidates fare when they reapply to the Texas MBA program in following years? A: People who are on the wait list are admissible folks. We contact some of these individuals and say, "If your personal and professional circumstances merit it, and you can wait, we give you the opportunity to be early-admitted into next year's class." It's not a guarantee if you're on the wait list - there may be two to five wait listed candidates that are not offered the opportunity - but I would say 95% of the people who make it onto the wait list are considered for advanced admission for the next year. And for everyone we do offer it to, they're in. They don't have to reapply to the business program, though they do have to complete a central university admissions office application again. So unless they spent the time between last year and this year behind bars, we would probably go ahead and give them the nod. We talk numbers and masses and averages and everything, but you can never lose track [of the fact] that there's a person behind every one of these individual numbers. And it's amazing how many people, four years into their professional work cycle, will look around and see the benefits that can be accrued from experiencing a full-time residential MBA degree. It's one thing to think you want to do it, but it takes a strength of will to drop out of employment, a cash stream, and go back to what I like to refer to as the last bastion of the benevolent dictator -- the academic classroom. A good portion of our people in the admission cycle make excellent MBA candidates, but they sometimes are appreciative of an extra year to make their lives a little bit more focused, to [take care of] some loose ends. There are many reasons why people would be attracted to a year-in-advance admissions option. And it has worked very well for us because it's one of the indicators of the personal approach that Texas has in its admissions process. 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. 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