Be Prepared for Arizona State

Rudy Pino, director of admissions for the full-time MBA program at Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business, knows firsthand that alumni take pride in the school. He's a 1997 ASU graduate who spent two years working in human resources for the university before taking his current job three years ago.

Natalie Grinblatt, assistant dean for MBA recruiting and admissions, joined W.P. Carey six months ago. She has worked in admissions, student services, financial aid, and corporate relations for 18 years, at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and Cornell University's S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management.

As the W.P. Carey MBA program expands, Pino and Grinblatt seek to fill the class with focused, driven leaders who will support their fellow students during and after B-school. They spoke to BusinessWeek Online project assistant Meredith Bodgas just before the Round Two deadline for the full-time program. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow:

Are you seeing more applications this year than last year?
Pino: Yes, and we expect this trend to continue (see BW Online, 12/7/05, "First-Round Frenzy"). Even though there is only a slight jump in the overall number of people taking the GMAT from the previous year, there has been increased interest in our MBA program.

When are your next deadlines?
Pino: Our Round Two full-time program deadline is Jan.13. Round Three, the final deadline for international applicants, is March 15. Our final deadline for domestic applicants is May 15.

	Natalie Grinblatt

What's new at W.P. Carey?
Grinblatt: There are new sources for full and partial scholarships for full-time students, as a result of initiatives by new Dean Bob Mittelstaedt, who came to us in July, 2004. He has been integral in creating new programs, including a real estate program that will begin next fall. We will also begin to offer an online dual degree with our college of engineering. In addition, we have 12 new faculty members from schools like University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, and Emory University's Goizueta Business School.

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