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DECEMBER 14, 1999 B-SCHOOL Q&A: ADMISSIONS Meet Duke's Admissions Director A Conversation with Elizabeth Riley, Director of MBA Admissions at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business
Q: Is the MBA degree becoming more popular these days? Is Duke's Fuqua School receiving more applications than in the past? A: The MBA is still a still popular degree. People do have lots of faith in our economy... [but] an MBA seems like a realistic opportunity for most people. We've seen a steady increase in applications for the past seven years that I've been here, and [thus far] this year, we're seeing about a 9% increase in applications. Q: Will you adjust the size of the incoming class if that 9% increase holds up until the end of the application season? A: No. Our goal is not to increase the size of the daytime MBA class. Obviously we want more applications so we can be more selective, but the goal has not been and will not be to increase the size of the class -- 325 to 330 students is optimal for us. Q: Business Week's 1998 and 1999 surveys revealed a small increase in the number of students that Fuqua enrolled -- 662 to 670... A: Right. In 1998 and 1999 we actually over-enrolled our programs. More people took us up on our offer of admission than we anticipated. Q: Let's talk a bit about diversity. How do you ensure that the people who ultimately enroll at Fuqua will comprise a diverse class? Do you keep a quota in your head when you're looking at applications and think, "All right, we need more women," or, "He's from South America," add that person in?" A: It's my responsibility to ensure that students who come to our program are getting the maximum benefit from their education. And since the majority of the education takes place inside the classroom with the discussions, you don't want to go to school with people who look exactly like you, who come from the same background as you do, and who did exactly the same thing before you came to business school. Diversity is not just race and ethnicity, it's geographic background, it's also professional background -- it's a number of different things. When we read applications, we look for the things that differentiate an applicant from the next person. And those are the things we discuss in the admissions committee. That's also probably the hardest thing for applicants to do, to differentiate themselves from this huge pool of 3,500 applicants.
Q: What factors can help a candidate stand out? Do starting a company or traveling the world qualify? What captures your attention? A: It could be those things, but it also could be the fact that they're really passionate about the volunteer work that they do within their community. It could be the fact that they work in a nonprofit organization. It could be any number of things. For instance, I read an application from a woman who grew up in a prison camp! We want the students to tell us their stories. Q: What does your ideal first year class look like? A: Our target for this year is to hopefully enroll a class comprised of about 35% women, about 25% minorities, and about 30% international -- overall. (Editor's note: Fuqua includes Asian Americans in its minority category) Q: A 30% international student constituency would be a 5% increase from the school's Class of 2001. A: We're actually at about 25% pure international right now. We also count dual citizens and permanent residents in those statistics, which takes us to about 31%. So in some combination, we hope to be about 30% international, with a good diversity of countries represented. Q: Where do the majority of Fuqua's international applicants hail from? A: When I first came [to Duke] in 1993, the international population consisted of 23 students from Japan. Today, the largest percentage of our students still probably comes from Japan and the People's Republic of China. But we've also increased our representation of students from Africa, Europe, and certainly from Latin American countries. There are over 50 different countries represented in the two year MBA. Q: Does Fuqua offer alumni interviews to applicants living abroad? A: Yes, and also on the West Coast. Q: Is Fuqua recruiting more heavily abroad? A: We put together a pretty heavy-duty recruiting plan for our international populations this year. Historically, we've done a tour in Asia and Latin America. This year we're doing the same, but we also opened up the Middle East for the first time. We did a pretty extensive tour in Europe as well. We're also doing reception-type work in Australia. Q: Do Fuqua's forums and receptions allow a candidate the chance to make an impression on one of your admissions representatives? A: This year we did 25 receptions, domestically and internationally, and came in contact with approximately 10,000 people. I did a good bit of the receptions, and honestly, I'm horrible with names. If you tell me more about your background I'll probably remember which reception I met you at, but to meet applicants in an informal setting like that and remember their name when it comes time for committee ... is very difficult. Q: Will Fuqua offer more receptions next year? A: It depends. We'll take a look at where the inquiries are coming from, and where our applicant pool came from this year. Over the summer months we'll be evaluating which cities to do receptions in. We'll probably increase them internationally because it's tougher for those people to get to the U.S. to interact with an admissions committee member. Q: Are more African Americans -- historically a very small subset of the B-school population -- applying to Duke? A: Yeah. Actually, that's one of the things we're probably most proud of, in terms of just looking at the raw numbers of students who are applying to Fuqua. Over the past five years, the number of African Americans applying to our program has increased, and the quality of that particular sub-pool has also increased tremendously. We've got a number of pipeline programs which have really helped with that. Our alumni are supportive and helpful in terms of spreading the word about Fuqua's reputation for people of color. We also do a pipeline program called the Ford Minority Workshop, which is a three-day program sponsored by Ford Motor Company here on campus. We invite prospective minority applicants on campus to experience a day in the life of an MBA student. They sit in on classes, do roundtable discussions with current students and also with alumni and Ford representatives. We do career panels. [The entire event is] a soft sell on Fuqua, but a major sell on the MBA in general to try to increase the representation of minority professionals in corporate America. Q: Is an application sent in by a Ford Program participant looked upon differently than other apps? Is it a plus that he or she attended the program? A: Certainly. Mainly because we've spent a couple of days with them, so we know a little bit more about them than the applicant who maybe hasn't come on campus for an interview or a class visit. There is lots of informal time that we actually get to spend with them at some of the meal functions and social activities as well. Q: Let's move to the actual application process. What elements tend to stand out in a successful application? A: Out of all the things we look at, there really isn't any one thing that we care about more than the other -- we care about them all. We look at the GMAT score and the undergraduate record, the work experience, the essays, recommendations, interview, leadership and community activities, and potential for success in our program. We care about all of those factors. We don't look at a poor GMAT score and say that person won't be admitted, or that an 800 GMAT will automatically admit him. We deny lots of people with 700 GMATs. One of the toughest parts of this business is that we have to say no many more times than we're able to say yes. But certainly we look for applicants who have the ability to contribute to our program and who want to make a difference. We're looking for potential for leadership. We're looking for people who have had the opportunity to have some impact within their professional or their personal lives, within their communities. Also, the timing of an application plays a very important role in the eventual decision. Q: How so? A: We have five application deadlines. Our first one was on Oct. 25, and our last one will be in May. Obviously we have many more spaces available in October than we do in May. We received 550 applications during our first application deadline, an increase of 9% from last year. By the time we get to Round Three, we're going to have close to 1,500 applications to review. You have to ask yourself: Do you want to be one of those 550 applicants vying for, say, 120 spots in round one, or do you want to [fight it out for] the last few spaces that might be available in later rounds? Generally speaking, if you're a strong applicant in round one, you're still going to be a strong applicant in round three, but we'll have fewer spaces available. Q: Duke offers its applicants the opportunity to apply online. How's that going? A: Well. There are a number of ways that an applicant can apply to Fuqua. One is to get the hard copy of the application through the mail. You can also download the application from our Web site in a data processed format, so you can enter the information on your own computer. And then you can also apply online, where you actually submit all your materials electronically. Q: Do you prefer any one method? A: We offer the different formats for the convenience of the applicant. It doesn't have any bearing on the admission process, but our applicant pool has demonstrated that they'd like to have different ways to submit their information, and certainly we want to be able to provide that as a level of service. Q: How do the majority of Fuqua's candidates apply? A: This is the first year that we've actually had an online application. So last year, obviously, the majority of them came in on paper. This year, for the first deadline, we got about 25% of applications online, which is about what we were expecting. Q: Last year, 40% of Fuqua's applicants completed an interview. Does sitting down for an interview really boost a candidate's chances of acceptance? A: I think so. It's that one additional thing that an applicant can do that can hopefully enhance their chances of being admitted. Interviews are not required at Fuqua, but they're strongly recommended. If you look at this whole admission process, there are lots of things that applicants have the ability to control, and then there are some things they absolutely do not have the ability to control. My advice to a prospective applicant is to focus on the things that they have the ability to control. For example, take advantage of the opportunity to interview. Carefully choose who you get to recommend you. Focus on your essays. If we've got one space left and two applications that are very similar, and we've interviewed one applicant and not the other, we are probably going to admit the applicant who's interviewed. We do that mainly because we have a little bit more information than we do about the candidate who has not interviewed. Q: Generally, how long are Fuqua's interviews? A: They usually last anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes. Some can take as long as an hour. Q: Are they considered informal? Or should a student arrive dressed in professional attire? A: We ask students to wear business attire for the interviews. It's a very serious process and there is an evaluation part of this whole process. We hope that they're also getting their questions answered at the same time. So while we are doing an evaluation piece during the interview, there is time for Q&A, and there is time to do some assessing of fit, both from the interviewer's standpoint and from the applicant's standpoint. Q: If I'm an applicant slated to have an alumni interview, should I be concerned? Is the alumni interview weighted differently than the traditional on-campus interview? A: No, they're both weighted the same. Each year at Fuqua we choose anywhere from 20 to 30 students to be admissions fellows. They go through a pretty rigorous selection and training process to become part of the admissions committee. Our alumni interview pool is comprised of graduates who have served on either the admissions committee [as students] or who are part of the Fuqua Alumni Ambassador's Program. They also go through a training process and are usually students who have graduated within the past five to six years, who are pretty current with what's going on on campus and keep in close touch with the admissions office. Q: Is it a big red flag to have missed your interview? A: Plenty of people have missed their interviews. Most people are pretty responsible, so they usually call us and say, "Something's come up with work," or in the rare instance, a personal tragedy has come up and they're not able to make their interview. But the opportunity is limited -- in terms of the scheduling. Q: Are thank you notes a necessity? A: They're not to me. It's a nice gesture, but it's not going to make or break someone's status in the admission process. Q: Now that the GMAT is computerized, applicants can take and retake the exam (a favorite pasttime) literally as often as they like. On average, how many times does an accepted Fuqua applicant take the exam? A: We don't track that kind of data, but I would say at least twice. We only see three scores being reported at a time (GMAC only reports an applicant's last three test scores), and only take into consideration the highest score. So if an applicant takes it three times, we're only going to use the highest score in their evaluation. The most that I've ever seen anyone take it is three times. Q: Fuqua's MBA students have an average of five years' work experience. How can applicants with less professional experience beef up their resumes and their applications? A: The average is five, but that doesn't mean if you don't have five years of work experience, we're not going to look at you. Most of our students have anywhere between two to seven years of work experience. That's a pretty wide range. We do not, however, admit many students without any post-baccalaureate work experience. That's mainly because of the dynamic of the MBA and the MBA classroom. It's a very participatory kind of interaction -- if your classmates have on the average five years' work experience and you're coming into the program with none, it puts you at a disadvantage, especially if they're talking about projects that [students have] worked on at Fortune 500 companies, and you're coming straight out of undergrad. If we do admit a student who doesn't have any post-baccalaureate work, they're usually in our joint degree programs, either with the medical school or the law school. Those are the two largest joint degree programs, and those students have significant summer internship experience ... so their ability to contribute and their potential is high. Q: What about people who have post-undergraduate work experience outside of business? Let's say they were teachers ... A: Speaking of diversity, that's okay for us. We've enrolled some teachers and other people who have run non-profit organizations. We're not in the position where we're necessarily trying to assign "good" or "bad" to anybody's work experience. We want to know what opportunity you had to impact a change within your organization. If you were a teacher, what kinds of programs did you implement within the school system that helped your students? If you ran a non-profit organization, tell us about the population you serviced and what kinds of innovative things you did there. So, along with the consultants and investment bankers and the people who have worked in traditional business fields, it all makes for a very interesting and positive mix. Q: Speaking of that mix, do you ever think, "We need more marketing folks, or we need more people with consulting and finance backgrounds?" Do you look at work experience as a quota to fill? A: Well, not necessarily a quota ... [more like] targets that we shoot for. Again, we don't want 80% of the class coming from any one particular field and who want to go into consulting after they finish the MBA program. We're trying to build a diversity of students in the classroom and we're also looking at what they want to go into after earning their MBA. Fuqua's reputation has been that, at least with the corporate community and the companies that recruit here, there's always been a pretty good diversity. 80% of our students aren't going into investment banking or consulting. There are some people who want the traditional marketing and financial services positions, and there are others who want to work in E-commerce or start their own companies. Q: What field do the largest percentage of Fuqua students come from? A: If I had to generalize, marketing, finance, and consulting are the largest ... but not by more than 30%. Q: What's the secret to writing a good essay? What are you looking for when reading over Fuqua's three required essays? A: We're definitely looking for clarity, and we're looking for any type of innovative ideas they might have. The essays are designed for the applicant to tell us a little bit more about themselves. Essay number one is designed for them to highlight their career path, what they've done and why they want a Fuqua MBA. That's the most important thing for an applicant to tell us: Why they want our MBA and what they hope our MBA will be able to do for them. In general, the essays are an opportunity for applicants to tell us more about themselves that might not be evident from the data processing forms that they submit. [Editor's Note: The essay questions in Fuqua's 1999-00 application include: (1) Please discuss your previous professional experiences, your long-term career goals and the role the MBA will play in those plans. Why are you interested in the Fuqua School of Business and what do you hope your contribution will be to an MBA environment? (2) Tell us about the most challenging team experience you have had to date. What role did you play? What factors made it a challenge for you? How did you and the group address these same issues? What did you learn? (3) Choose one of the following questions: a. Discuss a personal failure that had an impact on your professional practices or management style. Why do you consider the situation a failure? How did you resolve the situation? Did it change your professional outlook? If so, how? b. Discuss the most significant or professional risk you've taken. What was the outcome? How did this change you as a person? c. The Fuqua Admissions Committee defines leadership as having a measurable, positive impact on one's community or professional organization. How do you exemplify this definition of leadership?] Q: Could an applicant's essay responses be a tie breaker? A: They could be a tie breaker, especially as you get into finding out more about their potential for leadership and contribution to the program. Q: What are common essay mistakes that you've come across? A: Probably the biggest faux pas anybody could commit is to not pay close attention to the details. If you're submitting an application to Fuqua and say in your closing statement, "I really want to attend Harvard Business School, because" -- and you'd be surprised how many times that happens -- it doesn't totally knock you out of the running for admission, but it shows us you haven't really paid attention to the details. [That happens] because people cut and paste. The other part is that sometimes people just don't answer the question. If we're asking about your career goals and you're really vague, or you don't state your career goals, it's really hard for the admissions committee. Have someone you trust -- someone who might catch sentence fragments or misspelled words -- take a look at your essays before you submit them. Have them check for clarity, to make sure your essays are concise, and that you're not rambling. We attach a page limit to each of our essays because we feel like you really can tell everything you need to tell us [in the allotted space]. It's not the kiss of death if you go over that limit, but don't submit a 20-page essay when we've asked for four. It takes a tremendous amount of time to read [an essay of that length] and again, you really can do it in four or five pages. If you submit 10 or 15 pages, that means that you haven't really gotten the gist: We don't want long and rambling, we want short, brief, and to the point. Q: Will the Fuqua admissions committee push back a decision on a first round applicant to the second or the third round? Or will it take a vote and deliver the verdict in the first round and then move on? A: In the first two rounds, we do not wait-list candidates. Instead, we defer the decision for about 50-75 people. In the later rounds, we do wait-list. Last year we had about 200 people on that wait list, maybe 250 at one point in time. We try to narrow that group down to less than 100 for the summer months. If we defer you early on, it's usually because we want see what the pool looks like [in the later rounds]. It means that your application is fairly strong, but maybe not as strong as some of the other applications that we're seeing at that time. For people who apply in rounds one and two, the quality is way up. These are the people that have probably been researching MBA programs for at least a year. They've taken the GMAT, and have already come on campus for their interview ... If we wait-list you at that point, it means that you're still strong, you're still a contender, but maybe not as strong as some of the other applications that we're seeing. Q: How soon can an applicant expect to hear whether they've made it off the wait list and onto the class roster? A: It could be at any point in time. If we [defer] wait list applicants in round one, before we make decisions in round two, we go back and look at the group from round one. Once we know what the quality of the next pool looks like, we can make some comparisons. Q: How many deferred candidates are eventually admitted? How many of the 200 or 250 people put on the wait list in later months receive thick envelopes over the summer? A: 20-25% of that initial pool of deferred candidates are admitted. Last year we were very conservative with the offers of admission, and we took about 50 people total from the wait list ... That was after our [admissions] process was completed and we found out from the people who were admitted how many were actually going to join us at Fuqua. Q: That said, what is the best approach to getting off of Fuqua's wait list? A: If a candidate is wait-listed and they haven't had an interview, they should definitely come to campus for one. That indicates their interest. And then they can also send us information that gets documented in their files. For instance, if something really good happens at work -- say, you receive a promotion on your job or some type of commendation professionally -- send a copy of that in, and we'll make sure that it gets into your file. If you just want to touch base with us once a month to say, "I'm still here, yes, I'm still interested," then every time you call in, we document your file. So when it comes time to take a look at the students who've been wait-listed, we have some type of indication of their interest. Q: Let's say a student gets "dinged" this year 'round, and decides to reapply the following year. Do you give his application any special consideration? A: There's certainly something to be said for the level of interest a candidate has in Fuqua. We don't encourage everybody who's applied in a previous year to reapply for admission, though. It depends on their individual circumstances. We're one of the few schools that will offer feedback to a candidate after they've been rejected for admission. They can call us over the summer and we'll sit down with them and have a 15 to 20 minute appointment, and tell them specifically: these are the strengths of your application, and these are the weaknesses. If we think that you might need to consider another school that is maybe not as competitive as Fuqua, we'll tell you that too. It's a pretty honest conversation. Q: Have there been any other changes in the admissions calendar or the admissions process that are new to Fuqua? A: No. We did move our round one application up about a week. But that was just to spread out the processing timeline. It probably takes us anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes to read an application. Because we want to pay attention to all the detail in the things people submit, we want to make sure that we have enough time to turn around the decisions. We usually give ourselves anywhere from four to six weeks. In round three we give ourselves eight weeks. We moved the deadline up for round one by about a week, just to allow for that kind of processing time. Q: Liz, what final message do you have for prospective Fuqua students? A: There are a number of things that make Fuqua distinctive among the top ten schools. We have a uniquely collaborative culture. There are a lot of schools that tout teamwork now, but hopefully an applicant coming on campus and visiting our program will get the sense that teamwork is not just something we talk about, it's something that we live here at Fuqua. That's extremely important to us, in addition to the top tier faculty and the flexible and innovative curriculum that we offer. We're also one of the few schools that allows students to take elective courses in their first year. That becomes a pretty strategic advantage to students going into their summer internship component. Also, if you look at the outplacement side, our Career Services and Placement Office has outstanding results to report about the companies that are recruiting on campus and the success they're finding here with our students. A lot of that has to do with our diversity. 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  | | DECEMBER
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