How Kellogg Makes Its Cut

The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., earned the top spot on BusinessWeek's 2004 list of best B-schools, and remained selective even during recent lean years. Only 23% of 4,299 applicants received offers of admission in 2004, and the school reports that applications are on the rise after the recent first round application deadline (see BW Online, 12/7/05, "First Round Frenzy").

Beth Flye, assistant dean and director of admissions & financial aid at Kellogg, and second-year student Brent Young recently fielded questions about the admissions process from B-schools channel editor Francesca Di Meglio and audience members at a live chat event. Here are edited excerpts from the chat:

How does round-one application volume this year compare to last year? How does this impact applicant selectivity for round one?
Flye: I'm pleased to report a slight increase in round-one volume vs. last year. The quality remains outstanding. We're optimistic not just with the current volume but also the quality of that pool.

There's always competition, and not just among schools. The job market is always a competitor, whether it's doing well or not. Reflecting on the late '90s, when schools were enjoying a steady volume of quality applications, one sees that at the same time, people had great job opportunities. Some people chose to stay in those good jobs.

Conversely, in recent years, with a not-so-good economy, students have been questioning the opportunity cost. It's always competitive when you have a school as strong as Kellogg.

I noticed in the online forum that you will begin releasing round-one decisions the week of Dec. 12. Can you provide a bit more information on what the flow is likely to be, and also describe the application-review process?
Flye: We do anticipate to begin releasing decisions the week of Dec. 12. Then, before Christmas, we will take a pause for the holiday and resume with a steady flow of decisions right up through Jan. 16. Although we will be celebrating the holidays, we will be busy reviewing applications.

About the review process: The large majority of applications are read by at least three people. We have a team of roughly 40 students that make up our student admissions committee. They will do the first read. The second read is done by one of the admissions officers on my team. Then I do the third read. In some cases, we may seek a fourth evaluation. And that may be done by another member of the student admissions committee. We invest a lot of time and great thought in making our decisions.

Does Kellogg have a pre-term intensive math program for students who are entering the program with less quantitative experience than others?
Flye: We do not. What we do have is an online math course that we provide to all admitted candidates to get them up to speed for the quantitative rigor. And this is something that's optional, so it's not for credit.

This question comes via e-mail from a user, who couldn't join us today: I'm applying to Kellogg for the two-year full-time MBA program. Even though I have an excellent career profile -- I'm the youngest vice-president and head of department at my bank in Karachi, Pakistan -- my grades and my GMAT score (590) might not appear competitive. Kellogg is my absolute first choice for a variety of reasons and I'm really keen to know if I would be eligible to even apply?
Flye: Is he eligible to apply? Of course, he's eligible to submit an application. I would advise him to try to identify areas where he can be proactive in strengthening his candidacy. If he has taken the GMAT only once or twice, he should consider a prep course and take it again.

Regarding undergrad grades, if he hasn't taken stats or quantitative analysis, then he should take a course like that to demonstrate that he has the intellectual ability to perform well academically.

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