MBA Insider: Admissions Q&A July 10, 2008, 9:54PM EST

How Northwestern Handles Admissions

Kellogg's Beth Flye explains how the B-school sizes up applicants and talks about who is likely to make the cut

Beth Flye
Financial Aid/Admissions Director
Kellogg School of Management

Story Tools

Beth Flye is director of admissions at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. She has been working in MBA admissions since 1996 and has been at Kellogg for five and a half years.

Flye recently discussed Kellogg's admissions process and its holistic approach to reviewing applications with BusinessWeek Project Assistant Daphna Behar. Here are edited excerpts of the conversation.

Are there any major changes to the application process this year?

We have not made any major changes at all. We always review our application, the entire process, shortly after each season. We made some minor tweaks but no extreme changes for the 2008-09 application season.

Are you seeing more applications now than in the recent past?

We had a 20% increase in applications this past year. We know, based on industry data the past few years, that the trend is upward, and we had more applications than anticipated. That was a positive thing. Most importantly, the critical element we ask is: "Do you have the right people in the applicant pool?" And we had another year of really great candidates. Kellogg is already selective, and when you add more great applicants to the pool, it makes our jobs that much harder. But that's what I call a "positive dilemma."

So who is the so-called right, or ideal, applicant?

There is no absolute, black-and-white answer to that question. We assess many different dimensions of each applicant. We like to see demonstrated evidence that the person has the intellectual ability to handle the rigor and challenge of our program. We also want to see a great background of work experience. The better word is quality. By quality, I mean more than just a person's title and where they worked. It encompasses what a person was doing, what they've learned, how they have had an impact, and whether there is evidence of progression. How does that person's background link up to what their post-MBA career aspiration is? There are also a number of what we call "intangibles." We don't just want great people who are going to be the next leaders of companies worldwide; we also want people who are good fits for Kellogg. This is a team-based, leadership-based, collaborative-based environment. It is also the type of program where we want students to learn from each other. We want students who can roll up their sleeves, dive into the Kellogg pool, and be willing to be challenged, for the sake of learning, as well as to challenge others. A lot of that comes through in the application, in the essays, in the interview, and in what the two recommenders tell us.

What's the most unusual or difficult essay question on your application? What's your advice to students on how to answer it?

I don't think our questions are about difficulty. They are about reflection. A lot of people find it difficult to talk about themselves. That is the whole purpose of the essay—to have the person respond to us in his or her own words, based on who they are. For a lot of people, that is a challenging thing to do. Granted, it's subjective, meaning we have no template for right or wrong answers. But what I would describe as a great essay is one that is insightful—that the person really thought about the question and was authentic and honest in putting what he or she thinks on paper. Applicants sometimes step into the trap of trying to tell us what they think we want to hear. But what we truly want are their thoughts.