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JANUARY 29, 2003 B-SCHOOL Q&A: ADMISSIONS A Talk with Purdue's Admissions Director [Page 2 of 2]
A: About 32% this year came from the Midwest, 36% were international students from 24 different countries, 10% were from the South or the Southwest, 13% were from the West Coast, and 9% from the East Coast. Q: Some admissions officers tell me that they're trying to get students from nontraditional backgrounds. Are you? A: We always like to get the widest variety of people that we can, but I don't know of a cookbook method to do that. We do attend lots of MBA events around the country and even around the world to cast our net over the widest, most diverse group of students possible. We try to emphasize the fact that you don't need any particular background to get an MBA or one of the other two degrees we offer. If you've got a degree in psychology or sociology or communications, you may actually have a very good background. If you're a French major, certainly you don't need to rule usout. And we've even had people from musical backgrounds, or from a background where they didn't have to take math or statistics. They may have concerns about how they're going to do in a program like this, but we try to assure them that if they had a good high school math background and did reasonably wellon the quantitative portion of the GMAT, they have nothing to worry about. Q: Last year's average GMAT score for admitted students was 651. If applicants have, say, a 600 or a 610, should they retake it? A: I wouldn't say yes or no until I knew more about the person and the kind of preparation they did. If someone approaches the GMAT seriously and does the preparation, reads the literature, does everything they can, really, to get themselves ready to take the test, and they go in and give it their best shot and they feel like they didn't panic, they didn't clutch, they were prepared -- then, I would say, no, don't retake it. But if you think you could do better, it's always better [to retake it] because that could open up opportunities for you. Not just in admissions, but perhaps in terms of scholarships or graduate assistantships. And some employers look at the GMAT score as another measure of a person. Q: Purdue offers an MBA degree now, but that's a pretty recent development for the school, right? A: That's correct. [The B-school] was started back in 1956. The idea was to offer all of the general management training, primarily to technical people -- like engineers -- in the shortest time possible. So the 11-month program, the Master of Science in Industrial Administration (MSIA) was the only degreethat was offered until about the mid-'70s. Then, the popularity of the MBA started to take off [and] the two-year program was implemented. It was a Master of Science degree -- we just didn't stamp MBA on it, but it was an MBA program. [Editor's note: Two years ago, Purdue changed the degree awarded from MS to MBA.] So now, most of the students do the two-year program, and the 11-month MSIA program is still available for those who have a technical background or significant work experience and want to go through very quickly and get back into the job market. Q: The popularity of the MBA degree has skyrocketed since 1984, when you started directing admissions at Purdue. A: Anywhere, just about, in the world, people conjure up an idea of what [the MBA degree] means. They may not be right. But it's probably, I think, the most universally recognized degree. I mean, if you say you've got an MD, many people know what that is. But if you have an MS, you know, it can be in all those areas. But MBA -- people understand what that means, or think they do. So that has wide appeal. Q: Is that the single biggest difference since 1984? A: I don't know if I'd say that's the single biggest difference. It would be hard to focus on one thing. But certainly the popularity of the degree has continued to grow and grow. And even during down cycles and during periods when you would think that maybe the degree is going to fall out of favor or that the market is going to become saturated, it seems to just be resurgent. Q: Are there any myths about Krannert that you would like to dispel? A: Oh, I would say that one misconception might be that it's a program that caters to "quant jocks," if you will. I think that probably came from years ago when 90% of the class was engineers, were males, and had been working as engineers. That has changed dramatically. We do still have a strong reputationfor people that have good operations skills and good techno-skills, plus good analytical skills. You do learn how to approach a business problem, how to think analytically. But you don't need to be a quant jock to do well in the program. That shouldn't frighten off those who don't feel like they fit in that category. Q: What would you say to a person who's coming from New York City or San Francisco or some other big city and maybe has second thoughts about moving to West Lafayette for two years? A: Well, it's a great community in the sense that it's very safe, very quiet, there are a lot of good people here, and a lot of culture for a community this size. It's easy to get in and out. American Airlines serves the Purdue airport. We're two hours south of Chicago by car, an hour north of Indianapolis. We get a lot of people who are amazed at how picturesque it is. I can't think of anyone, really, who didn't think it was a great place to live and a great place to study. All of the feedback has been positive. That doesn't mean people liked it right when they got here, but usually they find the people very friendly and approachable, and they like that. It's a place that's big enough to find anything you need but small enough that living here is relatively easy and relatively inexpensive. And that means you can devote your energy to the MBA program, to your friends and acquaintances and your projects here.
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