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AUGUST 23, 2000 B-SCHOOL Q&A: ADMISSIONS Meet Harvard's Admissions Director "My favorite applications are the ones that 'dance.' You read them, and this individual, whoever they are and whatever they've done, jumps off the page."
Q: Kirsten, you became head of admissions after four years as director of career services. What does that experience bring to your current role? A: Personally, it's brought inspiration. I've attended the [MBA] program [at Harvard] and in the last four years, had an opportunity to work with students, help them figure out what their dreams are, and help them plot a course to get there. I've seen wonderful success stories. Things people didn't think were possible and then watch them come to reality. It's been a lot of fun for me...doing outreach with prospective [students] and be inspired about what the school offers and how folks can dream big. Q: And professionally? A: The career-services background has helped me on the evaluation side as well as on the marketing side. In evaluation, I'm able to understand the day-to-day experience of a given applicant in their companies. For example, what does it mean right now to be working at a dot-com? That's been very helpful in being able to judge their contributions vs. other people in the pool. We are looking for leaders, people who are going to go out and change the world. Our mission is to develop outstanding leaders who will contribute to the well-being of society. And for me, it's helping students to understand what they value -- what ocean they want to swim in. It's important to help students to understand how they can turn that into a leadership contribution. And our placement statistics have been shifting dramatically in the last five years. When I started in career services, maybe 8% entered into the high-tech [industry]. Now, our draft numbers are 32% going into high tech. Q: Indeed, Harvard's first essay question asks applicants to talk about leadership. What's your definition of a leader? A: In essence, a leader has to be able to set a vision, empower others to reach that vision, and then achieve results. That said, leaders come in all shapes and sizes. No matter what industry an applicant is from, what university, what they studied, or what they're doing in their communities, they have an ability to demonstrate those kinds of capabilities. Evaluation is an art, not a science. Especially evaluating leadership. That's at our core and it's probably one of the most difficult things to put into black and white. We will rely on looking over their past history and having them articulate for us how they have been a leader in the past. (Editor's note: Harvard Business School has five required and one optional essay: 1. Choose a recent experience in which you acted as a leader. Briefly outline the situation then describe your leadership role, how you were effective and what you learned. 2. Identify someone you regard as a hero, a leader, or a role model whom you admire. Describe how this person has influenced your development. 3. We all experience "defining moments," significant events that can have major impact on our lives. Briefly describe such an event and how it affected you. 4. Describe your three most substantial accomplishments and explain why you view them as such. 5. How would a Harvard Business School education help you reach your professional goals? 6. (Optional) Is there any other information that you believe would be helpful to the Admissions Board in understanding you better?) Q: Can you give an example of an applicant that you've evaluated recently that possessed those qualities? A: Leadership could be demonstrated by something as small as working in a consulting firm and identifying a problem to some of the partners in the organization and then helping to start a committee to solve it -- whether it's issues that they're facing in recruiting, what the culture is for women, or even whether or not business school is being paid for by a particular firm. All of those would be examples of how people have had an impact in their community. Or it could be something much larger. An individual I remember recently in admissions founded a company a few years out of college and that company has grown to 40 people. It takes leadership to build an organization. Q: What are the common mistakes Harvard applicants make on the essays? A: One of the biggest mistakes is writing about generic work experiences without [mentioning how] they contributed to the project, deal, or the launch of a product. They explain what a team or a group did or something that their department has done, but not what their individual role was. For example, you might have someone who's coming from consulting and has worked on three or four big projects, and you'll hear what the team accomplished for the company. But at the end of the day, I've read those three essays and I know very little about the individual. The second thing is being scared to share with us things about themselves as individuals. What do they value, and why did they make the decisions they've made?
Q: Around 30% of the graduates are leaving Harvard Business School to go into high-tech. How does that changing dynamic affect admissions? For instance, would an entrepreneur have a better chance of being admitted now than in the past? A: Our mission is to find people who are going to make a difference. I'm looking into people's pasts for evidence of that, no matter what they've done. I'm certainly seeing some of that from dot-coms, because that's a place where there are opportunities in our economy. But I'm also seeing it from people who are nonprofit, who are in government, who are in social work or religious organizations. The people out there who are setting the world on fire. When they arrive, I need to make sure that we have richness in the community from a learning perspective. That has not been a difficult challenge. As we look across the board to find the highest potential leaders, they come from a variety of industries, countries, and ethnicities. Q: Since you stepped into the position in 1999, how has the admission process changed? A: The operative word there is change. We're working on initiatives across the board, in our evaluation, marketing, operations, and technology areas. Most important, from the candidate's perspective, is how we're looking at the evaluation process. I've had a great opportunity to work with our staff, faculty, administrators, and students on campus to get their feedback about how we should review the evaluation process. One thing that has been very dramatic is looking at changes over the last 20 years with regard to the number of years of work experience [the classes have]. In the early 1980s, over 55% of our population had two or less years of work experience. Now, that figure is about 5%. That's a dramatic shift. Faculty and others say that it would be wonderful to create a diverse community in levels of work experience. Some folks might come right from college, others will have a couple years of work experience, and then [there will be others] with four to even 12 years of experience. But as I reflect on our pool, in the last decade, there has been a shrinking number of applicants who, after just a year or two [of work], are applying to business schools. This year, we are encouraging that population to apply. The one dramatic change for Harvard Business School this year will be actively looking for people, and encouraging people right from college or with just a couple of years [in the workforce] to think about applying. For the first time in a long time, we'll be traveling to 20 or 30 colleges this year to talk to sophomores and juniors about applying to business school. People can apply to business school when they're ready. They don't necessarily have to wait four or five years. In addition, we've never done corporate outreach. We'll visit 20 or 30 companies as well to deliver that message. Q: If you had your druthers, would the colleges Harvard targets offer a pre-business program? A: We're looking for people who are going to be the highest potential leaders in the world. Many of our applicants are from a liberal arts background. A candidate should study what they're most interested in. I hope that our candidates can show evidence of quantitative abilities -- taking statistics, economics, or a calculus course. But by no means should they necessarily focus on business to get into business school. It's our belief that some people who are more interested in some of the less traditional business areas may be less likely to think about getting an MBA. Our Leaders for a New Millennium brochure, launched two years ago, was an early effort to target both college-age and younger students and show them the potential of the degree. And also what they can do now, early on, to prepare to be accepted into a program such as ours. Q: What are those 20 or 30 colleges that Harvard is targeting? A: We've gone back over the years and [determined] Harvard's top feeder schools, and then looked to our diversity needs. There will be a range of Ivy League, state, private, and predominantly minority colleges and universities. Each year, our list of top feeder schools will change. However, I can give you an indication of some schools that regularly make our top 30 list. They include: Columbia University; Georgetown University; the University of California, Los Angeles; Duke University; Harvard; Princeton University; Stanford University; UC-Berkeley; Oxford University (Britain); Cambridge University (Britain); the U.S. Naval Academy; the University of Michigan; and the University of Virginia. Q: When you're looking at applications, which criteria stand out most: work experience, essays, GMAT scores, or references? A: Applicants considering Harvard Business School should figure out whether there's a good fit between our mission and what they want to get out of business school. We're focusing on people who are going to change the world. The essence of the application is to learn whether they have that potential. We look at that in a variety of ways. We see it in the [applicant's] professional experiences -- what have they done at the organization that's had an impact? -- their references, and we also look at their university experience and what they're doing presently in their community. Sometimes it's hard, when someone has only been working one or two years, to be a leader with a capital L. So what have they done in other parts of their life to show us their interest in working and leading others? Q: Knowing what you know, if you were a prospective MBA, what would you do on your application to stand out? A: No. 1 is to understand what that school is looking for. Candidates often write, "Dear Kirsten Moss, you've made a big mistake. I've been admitted to these other schools and I haven't been admitted to Harvard." I'll pull their file and look at [their understanding of Harvard Business School] and recognize that schools have very different philosophies for evaluating talent. Second, they have to step back and ask, "When in my life have I demonstrated leadership ability? When in my life have I demonstrated excellence?" In the essays, persuasively describe that. Candidates often tell us what they've done, whether it's at work or in a club, but not how they've done it or how they've managed to get results. Q: There's the interview to make that point, too. However, Harvard Business School doesn't interview everyone. If an applicant does get a call for an interview, is it a good sign? A: Absolutely. The majority of candidates that will be admitted will be asked for an interview. Q: What questions can a candidate expect to hear during an interview? A: Current students say that their interview experience at Harvard was very different than at some of the other schools. Before an applicant comes for an interview -- by invitation only -- their folder will have been read three times through. Each evaluator will have made notations about what they're most interested in probing further. The interviewer will have a set of questions that are very specific to that particular application. It may be something described in an essay that we need to further understand. It may be why this person has made the choices they have in regard to their career. It may be hearing more about a community activity that they've been involved in and getting more details. The bad news: It's impossible to prepare for a set list of questions because they will always be different. Understand how you wish to present yourself, what you've written in your essays, and how you can speak to important questions about that presentation. Q: How important is it for the applicants to attend the open houses that Harvard Business School holds worldwide? And could it help someone when the admissions committee is on the fence? A: When an applicant is applying to schools, they obviously need to do their own homework about which school is going to fit them best. One of the best ways to do that is to either visit the campus or attend open-house events. To me, that's a critical piece of being able to articulate to the admissions committee why they're interested in Harvard. Does the school pay attention to who came to a particular event when we say yes or no to a file? No, we're not doing that. But are folks who came to those events better prepared to put their best foot forward? Absolutely. Q: Where does Harvard recruit the most non-U.S. MBAs? A: Some of our leading countries would be England and Canada. In Latin America, it might be Brazil. In Asia, China would be a leading country. Q: At many other schools the applicant pool of international students can rest at nearly 50%. Will we see more international students in the profile of Harvard Business School's MBA class of 2002? A: This year, we'll end up at about 32%. The school is beginning to wrestle with [this issue]: Are we an American school with a global reach or are we a global school? This will be a rich topic for the school to think about over the next few years. At this point, we are indifferent as an admissions committee on whether you have an American passport or are from another country. We are trying to find the highest potential leaders. Q: What areas of the world are not well-represented at Harvard? A: This year, we've gone from having 65 countries represented to 70. Candidates are applying from countries that we haven't seen strong applicants from before. One of the things that has supported this [trend] was the launch of our Citibank loan program three years ago. Any international student is able, with that letter of admittance, to secure all the funding they need to come. That's begun to awaken interest in countries we would not have seen before. We continue to look for as great a representation as possible within all of the African countries, the Middle East, and even in Latin America, where certain countries aren't well represented. But I should be very clear, this is just after one year of experience. When we read an application, the country of origin is one out of the 50 data points we consider. We truly ask if [the applicant] is going to be one of the highest potential leaders we can find, and that's 95% of the decision. At the very end of the process, as the director, I work with others on the board to make sure the composite is a rich one. But just because someone comes from a country in Africa that we haven't had represented in years past is by no means a reason to admit [him or her] in and of itself. Q: Your position involves financial aid, as well. What percentage of admitted Harvard Business School MBAs receive some sort of aid and who supplies it? A: About 70% of our students will be on some kind of financial aid. The average fellowship over the two years is $15,000. If you're a domestic student, a good portion of financial aid comes from government-sponsored loans. Those can be supplemented with Citibank [loans], which [non-U.S. MBAs] tend to use. Harvard has always been completely need based, regardless of country of origin. International students would be evaluated in exactly same way as a domestic student. Q: What advice can you offer to foreign MBAs looking for a hand with financing? Are there alternatives to the Citibank program? A: The rate on the Citibank loan has been competitive enough that most of our candidates will take that loan. On the fellowship side, do your homework. On our financial aid Web site, we have many different fellowships. There's some for students from the city of Buffalo, for example. One because you had a particular kind of work experience. And there are definitely those for international students. There are alumni who have come together to make sure that candidates from certain countries get additional financial aid. Q: Harvard Business School recently did away with its January term. How does that decision impact your office? A: In 1999, we made a decision for any applicant about whether they were strong enough to be in our program. After that, we made a decision about which cohort we would place them into [January or September]. This year, it will be a little easier. We will admit all [accepted] applicants to the September cohort only, and we will select a class of 880, the same size as last year. Q: If you had every applicant for those 880 spots in one room, what advice would you share? A: My favorite applications are the ones that "dance." You read them, and this individual, whoever they are and whatever they've done, jumps off the page. Those come from people who have taken time to really think about what is important to them and how they are special. Don't be afraid to show how you're different. Don't be afraid to show us what you care about. You are not just a resume -- you will bring a unique perspective and set of talents to our community. Help us understand what you will bring.  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  | | AUGUST Learn about your online education options |
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