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MARCH 3, 2000 B-SCHOOL Q&A: ADMISSIONS Meet University of Illinois' Admissions Director A Conversation with Camille Chang Gilmore, Director of Marketing, Recruiting, and Admissions for the MBA program at the University of Illinois
Q: Camille, you are relatively new to the role of director of admissions. What are your goals going forward? A: As a graduate of the program, I'm very invested the program's success. One goal was to make sure that we brought in the best and brightest students that were out there. The second was to make sure that we had the involvement of current students to recruit more applicants. In 1996, Illinois had a surge of student involvement that increased the [number of applicants] to the program. [Their involvement helped to give] applicants that personalized touch. So when applicants had a question, they got that candid answer that often comes from a student who's already in the program. The third goal was to make sure that everyone was aware of the strides that we made from 1995 to start an integrated curriculum and how much success we were having with that. The fourth goal is to bring back an overall culture, which creates a family [atmosphere], to the program. We want to recruit the individual who not only has [an engaging] personality, but who also meets the market demand for what companies are looking for. And they are looking for the students ability to communicate, to hold their own in specific fields of expertise and the ability to convey that [expertise] constructively in board meetings and in one-on-one interactions with colleagues. Q: Over the past year, what challenges has the school faced recruiting fresh blood to Illinois? A: I thought it was going to be a lot harder this year. It ended up being that although some of the challenges were won, a lot of people still didn't know about the Illinois MBA and what our specialties are. Illinois is strong in accounting, finance, and marketing. The program also has a strong emphasis in technology. Q: Many schools use applicant recruiting as a chance to diversify classes. Illinois already has a strong component of non-U.S. students, with 44%. Minority students make up 20% of the class of 2001, which is high for a business school. Thirty-three percent of the class is female. What diversity goals has the school set for the future? A: We took an aggressive approach to ensure that we maintain the diversity of our international pool, as well as our domestic pool. The first thing I did was to recruit Paul Magelli, who used to work in admissions at Illinois and has been in the industry for over 30 years. He knows what students in various countries are looking for in an MBA program. Now we ensure that we visit Latin America and Europe. In Europe, Paul visited Paris twice, so that students knew about the Illinois MBA program and that we got the visibility that we knew we could gather in Europe. Now, we're seeing such a surge in applicants. Q: The school has demonstrated that it can attract minorities, but what are its target zones for diversity? Where would the school like to see those numbers fall in two years? A: I want as much of a diversified school as we can get. Having a class comprised of 100 international students with ethnic diversity, then at least 30 of the 140 students remaining be minorities.
Q: In 1997, the school received 1,300 applications, 1,000 in 1998, and 757 in 1999. How many applications does the school expect to read in 2000? A: We are already above [our] 1999 numbers. I expect to receive 1,500 by the end of the admissions cycle. Q: Where do the majority of the school's international students hail from? A: A large pool comes from Asia -- Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. We've increased our pool from Latin America, where we're seeing a surge in applications from Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. Q: Will the total enrollment of the MBA program change this year? In 1996, the school decided to up the combined enrollment to 500 students. In 1999, enrollment dipped back down to 391 students. A: The application pool peaked about two years ago, and significantly declined last year. The decline was due to a couple of things. Three years ago, U.S. News & World Report was confused about some of the data that we submitted. Then the school reduced its presence internationally. Now, we attack that market. The program was also re-engineered at that time. The college administrative team set each class' size at 280-290 (to total 560). After two years of bringing in classes of this size, the issue of class size was revisited. The MBA program proposed then to reduce the class size back to 200-210 [per class]. Eventually, a class size of 220-240 was agreed upon. We wanted to concentrate on improving the quality [of students], not just the size of the class. We've made a conscious effort this year to ensure that we go for a class size of 240, with 60 students within each section. That means that we're being specific about the candidates we target for recruiting -- especially with international applicants. For instance, the interview at one point in time was not required. Now, it's an inherent requirement broad. That way, we can identify who the stellar candidates are and whether or not they fit our culture. Q: When an application arrives on your desk, in what order is it evaluated? A: The first thing we do is to separate each application in two: qualitative and quantitative [areas]. For the quantitative, we look at the GMAT, TOEFL scores, and the undergraduate GPA. As far as the qualitative factors, we consider the length and depth of the [applicant's] work experience, career goals and aspirations, leadership abilities, communication skills, organization skills, and presentation skills. We can use the interview to assess these skills, too. In addition to that we look at the letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, and the ability to balance work and life. Q: How does Illinois evaluate the GMAT score? Is it broken down into its different areas (quantitative, verbal, and Analytical Writing Assessment), or is it evaluated holistically? A: We evaluate it in parts. Q: What are good percentiles for applicants to meet in the quantitative and verbal sections? A: Most of our students are in the 90th percentile in the quantitative area. With the verbal section, [the students fall] anywhere from the 70th to 80th percentiles. Because our program is so quant intensive, about one third of the students are in the high 90s. Q: How is it looked upon when an applicant takes the GMAT more than one time? A: It's not looked upon negatively. People have often taken it more than once. Q: And what's a good score to get on the TOEFL exam for international applicants? A: A 670 [is a good score]. Our department's minimum score requirement is 600. Anyone that scores below a 620 has to go through our Preparatory English Program. Even if they score above the 620, we recommend that they go to the Preparatory English Program to become comfortable in the U.S. We've seen major improvements in the international students' ability to communicate in the classroom and to be more participative. Q: How much weight is given to applicants' undergraduate GPAs, their majors, and their institution? A: It's important. We're a big ten institution, so we respect all the other big ten universities. If we see a candidate that's coming from, say, Michigan with biology, that's a pretty intense program. In situations where we do see candidates like that, we're intrigued that they've gone to another big ten institution and feel that they would be able to hold their own here. I've seen the gamut: Some of our best students come from schools that don't rank high. Some of the poorest students come from the higher ranked schools. Q: What is work experience that signals an applicant is worthy of admission, and what is work experience that needs improvement? A: Compelling [work experience] is when the applicant is moving up the ladder and getting promotions and the intense projects that give their work experience depth. It's compelling when someone makes sure that they're learning all aspects of a business. On the other hand, I've seen people with five years of work experience that have had no depth. They've never moved. And I've seen applicants who have gone from one company to another but haven't progressed their career. Q: What can the person who lacks traditional business experience do to show Illinois that they're up to par? A: They should show initiative and take some extracurricular courses at a community college in statistics or calculus. For all applicants, I look for math courses: accounting, finance, economics. I'd like to see an A. Also, going to a community college before applying to an MBA program can tell the applicant if an MBA is really what they want. Q: Earlier, you mentioned the importance of demonstrating strong career goals and leadership. What's an example of an applicant that did that well? A: One of our applicants knew he wanted to go into consulting and wanted to surround himself with things that would increase his skill set. He knew we had the Office Strategic Business Initiative, and that we have clients that would give him a chance [to experience] project management. For the OSBI projects, Illinois is hired by such companies as Lucent Technologies, Dow Chemical, Allied Signal, NASA, and Garage.com. He eventually took on leadership roles within OSBI, and helped those businesses that needed consulting expertise. That is someone who came focused and [to whom] we could offer something. It's no different from a student who says he wants to do human resources. Although Illinois doesn't offer a human resources track, we have a strong HR institute. There's no reason why students can't complete a joint degree. When applicants come to campus and talk to us one-on-one, we can tell them what other opportunities there are for them. Q: In past years, few Illinois applicants completed formal interviews. This year, 60% of the school's applicants have been interviewed. How can applicants prepare for the interview? A: They can prepare for the interview by knowing the school and what it offers. And they should [be ready to talk about] their goals and aspirations. In an interview, sometimes I just know the person is not right for the Illinois MBA Program. They may be a great fit for another MBA program, because I know the market. And I can tell this when we talk about career goals: "What is your goal? What is your short-term goal? What is your long-term goal? Is this MBA program a fit for you?" For example, if you're looking for technology, we're it. We use technology in the classroom and leverage technology beyond the classroom as well. If you're looking for project management, we're it. If you're looking something that's more specialized, like in journalism or something, maybe we're not it [laughs]. Applicants should also come with questions that challenge us to come to the root of what they're looking for in an MBA program. Oftentimes, I get soft questions, when I'm looking for the harder ones. People who come at you with the harder questions have done their homework. Q: How long do the interviews usually last? A: I've had interviews that range from ten minutes to two hours [laughs]. My two-hour interview was with a stellar candidate. We had previously talked at a forum, and I knew then that he was a perfect fit for our culture. His goals were to have an MBA with a technology emphasis, but he also wanted to dabble in accounting. He had a number of years of work experience, the depth and the breadth of which were outstanding. It just gave us a lot to talk about. Q: Illinois requires applicants to complete four essays. What does the school want to learn about the applicant from the essays? A: We're looking for [good] writing and communication skills, creativity, and sometimes a sense of humor. And we [can] even assess that through the e-mail correspondence that we receive daily from these individuals -- especially from international students. Q: What are common mistakes that applicants make on the essays? A: They don't proofread. Others don't answer the questions. For instance, the third essay question [asks applicants to explain] a work situation in which they failed and how they overcame it. Applicants think that's a trick question. But what I'm looking for is their ability to say: "This project did not go through or this situation did not work out the way I wanted it; however, these are the steps I took to rectify the situation and to build credibility back up." This essay question has been the [deciding one] for me in a lot of cases, as to whether or not the [candidate] has managerial capabilities. Q: The Illinois MBA program is strong in finance, marketing, accounting, and also agribusiness. Does the admissions committee segment the application pool according to industry goals to ensure a diverse class? A: We try to balance the class in terms of technical backgrounds, geography, industry, ethnicity, and racial makeup. A mix ensures that we don't have too many business students or too few engineering students. In past years, we've had mostly business and economics, engineers and scientists. Now, we're seeing a few more applicants with liberal arts backgrounds. We even have someone from food sciences this year. You don't realize what a commodity that student is until the Quaker Oats and Proctor & Gambles of the world are looking for MBAs with a food science background at career fairs [and your school has one]. Q: Second-year students at Illinois have quite a few choices: they can study abroad, pursue a professional track, or pursue a joint degree. What's the most popular route? A: We're seeing an increasing [number of second-years pursuing] dual degrees. We still have a strong hold on finance, accounting, and marketing, since we recruited more top faculty. Q: What new electives are Illinois MBAs jumping to enroll in? A: New marketing courses. There is a need for more general-management or process-management types of courses, so some new courses [are being added] in general management, management consulting, process management, international business, and human resources. Those will be offered for [second year] students following the professional track. Q: How many applicants are placed on Illinois' wait list every year? How many make it off? A: It ranges. About 100 [applicants are placed on the wait list]. About 20 to 25 make it off. Q: What can waitlisted applicants do to better their chances of being admitted? A:Visit the campus and assess whether or not this is the place for you. Meet with the admissions committee. If you're on the wait list, that means we haven't seen you. If applicants want to interview, we're willing to grant them an interview. Q: When acceptance and denial letters are inked, what is it that separates the winners from the losers? A: Defining factors are persona, style, the ability to convey concepts and to communicate. Within our program, [those qualities are] critical. The style and flair of [our students] make people want to go up and talk with them. We have candidates who walk into a room and have a presence. That's something companies look for: a strong presence, along with intellectual capability and the fundamentals on how to do business. Q: What final words of wisdom do you have for applicants? A: Make sure that whatever school you choose to go to or are interested in applying to is the right fit for you. We all have a different culture, and it's really important [to determine your fit], because it determines your success within that MBA program and thereafter. Whatever program applicants choose, they should know how to leverage themselves. 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  | | MARCH
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