BW Online | November 27, 2001 | Idle Hands and Eager Minds

NOVEMBER 27, 2001

B-SCHOOL NEWS

Idle Hands and Eager Minds
As a tough job market inspires a deluge of MBA-program applications, harried admissions directors are struggling to cope with the rush

STORY TOOLS

Competition for a seat in a full-time MBA program is becoming more heated than ever. The first round of application deadlines has passed at many B-schools, and directors of admissions are noting dramatic increases in the number of applications crossing their desks.

Duke University's Fuqua School of Business received more than 1,000 applications before its first deadline of Nov. 1 -- more than triple the number for last year's first round. The University of California at Los Angeles' Anderson School of Business is sorting through 1,400 applications -- 90% more than it received over the same period in 2000 -- for a new class of about 330 MBA candidates. Anderson's California neighbor, UC Berkeley, notes a 76% uptick, Columbia Business School experienced a 70% increase, while the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University tallies about a 65% jump.

AN AVALANCHE OF APPLICATIONS. It's normal, when the economy weakens, to see more people returning to school for graduate degrees. But this year's rise in applications is unlike anything that Linda Baldwin, Anderson's director of admissions for the past 11 years, can recall. And the fact that so many prospective students have applied by the first deadline indicates an urgency that schools rarely see. "There are a greater number [of applicants] who have more time to commit to filling out an application earlier, because they're unemployed or don't have anything to do at work right now," says Baldwin.

The dramatic change is "killing" Elizabeth Riley, director of MBA admissions at Fuqua, which plans to mail decisions to first-round applicants by Dec. 14. Fuqua reads applications twice, and Riley says the task is more difficult this year because "I haven't read a dud yet."

Another factor contributing to the volume of applications is that prospective students -- sensing the heightened competition -- are applying to as many B-schools as possible. That's not surprising, says Rod Garcia, director of MBA admissions at MIT's Sloan School of Management. "If I heard that applications were up," says Garcia, "I'd apply to more schools to increase my chances."

EYES FOR HIRE. Tougher competition is no reason for MBA hopefuls to shy away, administrators say. "We have to be very careful not to discourage people from applying," adds Garcia, who expects to see an increase between 30% and 50% in Sloan's first-round applications. Says Baldwin: "If you're a qualified candidate, the likelihood of your being selected is good. There are a lot more people who probably aren't as terrific as in years past, but have decided to apply because they want the option."

The flood of applications -- after relatively flat growth during the past three years -- has directors of MBA admissions hiring extra people to handle the workload. Schools such as Anderson claim to read each MBA application cover to cover at least three times. Baldwin says she plans to add about four alumni readers and an extra five student readers -- on top of 20 total in a normal year -- to the school's review process. Fuqua has hired a handful of new readers, and Michele Rogers, Kellogg's MBA admissions director, has rehired five former employees.

Because of the influx, B-schools are becoming more careful about making early offers. While many admissions decisions have already been made at Kellogg, they won't be shared with prospective students until the school can gauge the size of its second pool of applicants. "A larger percentage of our decisions will go out closer to the decision deadlines [Jan. 14 for round one applicants]," says Rogers. By contrast, she adds, "last year by this time we had sent out hundreds of decisions."

HOW MANY MORE? Fuqua, on the other hand, tends to get its highest percentage of acceptances from people who apply early, so "we'll probably take more people in round one" again this year, says Riley, "especially since we have more applications to choose from." By the end of Fuqua's first application round of four, "we could accept 250 people," she adds. Fuqua enrolls about 340 new MBAs every fall, about 57% of those it accepts.

Just because first-round applications have swollen so much doesn't mean schools will necessarily see the big numbers through the last rounds, which close as late as June, 2002. "I'm guessing that when everything settles down, we'll have maybe a 25% increase," says Anderson's Baldwin. Whatever the numbers, one thing seems certain: Employers who'll be in the market for MBAs come two years from now will have a high-class group of grads from which to choose.

Mica Schneider in New York

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