MBA Insider: Admissions Q&A September 30, 2010, 5:14PM EST

Admissions Q&A: MIT

Sloan admits a tiny percentage of applicants to its MBA program. Find out what it takes to get in

Rod Garcia

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MIT has a reputation as a place for scientists and math geeks. But Rod Garcia says that shouldn't stop anyone looking for a good business education from applying to the Sloan School of Management (Sloan Full-Time MBA Profile) in Cambridge. "I don't think this place is more quantitative than other schools," says Garcia, Sloan's director of MBA admissions.

Applicants had better be prepared, however—about 12 people apply to Sloan for every seat available in the incoming class. Garcia, who has worked in Sloan admissions since 1988, says the school is often forced to turn down good applicants. "Very often someone is not admitted not because they are not qualified, but it's that we just don't have room for qualified candidates," he says.

Garcia recently spoke with Bloomberg Businessweek's Zachary Tracer about how Sloan evaluates candidates and also offered some tips for international applicants. Here is an edited transcript of their conversation.

What makes someone a good fit for Sloan, as opposed to any other MBA program?

I think fit is best felt [rather] than described. At the end of the day I think applicants make a choice which school feels right for [them]. We'd like to think we have room for people who are non-quant, and we do. We do have people who went through our program, and some of them did initially struggle, but they made a conscious decision to come here because they wanted to address that weakness, which is that they don't have a quant background.

How quantitative is the school?

Pretty much all business schools are quantitative, no doubt about that. But I don't think this place is more quantitative than other schools. You will have people here who have strong quant backgrounds, quant preparation. The game is much different than in other schools, where they may not have the same proportion of students that we have here who have quant backgrounds.

MIT receives some 4,000 to 5,000 applications for Sloan each year. Given the number of applications, how can an individual stand out?

That of course is a challenge. Two things will make someone stand out. One is what we call demonstrated abilities or demonstrated success, the things that are clearly visible when you look at the application—that is grades, your score on the test, your work experience, reputation of the company, quality of the school, quality of the degree. And then there are things that are not easily visible, and these are what we call "beneath the water." The beneath the water characteristics are ones that are a little bit more difficult to find. [One characteristic is] trust-building skills, so you look for evidence of candidates who are good at building trust, mentoring, coaching, advancing relationships. You're looking for achievers, people who are not satisfied with the status quo. You're looking for people who are not just planners, but executors. But we're also looking for people who can think outside the box. When you look at all 5,000 applications, the first things you look for are things you can easily sort, something that's clearly visible to you. Once you're past that, you need to start doing a deep dive and finding out what more is there.

Do you have a minimum GMAT score or a minimum number of years of work experience?

No, because you look at [the application] as a portfolio. Of course, it has to be within reason. Let me give you an example: One might have a 2.8 GPA and a 780 GMAT, so you don't necessarily eliminate that person, you dig for more data, and really the question that we answer is, is this person a 780 person or a 2.8 person.