Tepper School Tightens Up the Rolls

Laurie Stewart knows a lot about what makes the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh stand out. In addition to serving as the current executive director of Master's Admissions, she has worked for the school since 1991, and she earned her MBA there in 1987. In between graduating and returning, she worked for General Motors (GM ).

Stewart says the students who take the time to look within themselves to fully understand their goals -- and how Tepper can help them -- tend to fare well in the application process. She recently spoke with BusinessWeek Online project assistant Meredith Bodgas about what Tepper has to offer and who the school hopes to include in next year's class. An edited version of their conversation follows:

Are you seeing more applications than in the recent past?
We just had our first application deadline on Nov. 14, and our applications are up from last year. The MBA job market has shown some positive trends in the last couple of years, and I think that has been encouraging to candidates.

Tepper has application deadlines in November, January, March, and May. Is there a best time to apply?
You need to apply when your application is ready. Sometimes candidates feel like rushing to make an early deadline, but if they wait for the next one, they could put more time into polishing their application. The most important factor in our admission decision is the quality of the content, rather than when we receive the application. We have space through all of our rounds for candidates to be offered admission.

What's new at Tepper?
We received a landmark gift from David Tepper that named the school a couple of years ago. Last year two of our faculty members were recipients of the Nobel Prize (see BW Online, 11/10/05, "Heard on Campus"). We have a new track for the class that's entering in 2006 called Technology Leadership, which gives students the chance to earn an MBA while enhancing their technical skills through coursework in Carnegie Mellon's world-renowned school of computer science.

How have admissions standards changed over the past few years?
Two years ago, we reduced the size of our full-time class, which has made the process more competitive for candidates. We felt a smaller class would allow for better use of faculty time and our facilities.

But the things that we're looking for in applicants haven't changed. We still want candidates who show strong potential for academic and professional success, make a strong case as to why Tepper is the right place for them, and have leadership, teamwork, and communication skills.

What do the strongest applicants have in common (see BW Online, 11/11/05, "Boning Up on Admissions Strategy")?
They put a lot of time into introspection. They develop a strong understanding of their goals, experiences, and strengths. They also do their research about what kinds of programs are going to help them get where they want to be. Once applicants invest that time, they're better prepared for the essays and other components of the application.

How can an applicant make up for a low quantitative GMAT score or few undergraduate math courses?
Take a quantitative course, like calculus or statistics, at a local college or university. We make admissions offers every year to candidates who we think will be successful here, but we want to make sure they have the math background that they'll need, so we add a provision to complete a math course before the start of classes as a part of the admission offer.

How many references do you require?
We ask candidates to submit two letters. They can be submitted online or on paper. We would like one letter to be from a current or past supervisor, so we can learn about the impact that person has been making in their professional life.

Professional references are most helpful to us in the admissions process, but candidates may also choose someone from a community activity where they have been keenly involved in showing leadership. Applicants may also get an academic reference from a faculty member with whom they worked closely.

How important is the amount of work experience you have?
In the past few years, we have become more receptive to candidates with less experience. We're looking for a range in our MBA program because we think experience is another dimension of diversity.

Most of our students tend to have between two and eight years of work experience. We're not focused so much on the number ason what the candidate has been doing and what he or she has learned.

How do interviews work?
Anyone who has been offered admission has been interviewed by a member of the admissions team. Some candidates get concerned when they don't get an invitation for an interview right away, but some people may not receive an invitation until the point when they're expecting an answer about their application.

We try to meet as many people as we can in person, so we travel to some key cities to conduct interviews. Many candidates come to campus as well. If we can't meet someone in person, we do some interviews by telephone. If someone hasn't had an interview by requesting one earlier in the admissions season, we may extend an invitation for an interview at any time.

How are you bringing underrepresented minorities to Tepper?
We have been part of the Consortium for Graduate Study & Management for the past few years, and we have collaborated in recruiting activities. Since 1995 we have hosted a weekend where prospective African-American, Hispanic, and Native-American students can visit our campus and get to know us.

Our first-year class has the highest proportion ever of [minority] students, at just over 9%, and we're hoping to continue to build on that. We also partner with current students and alumni to get the word out about our program.

Only 22% of full-time students at Tepper are female. Are there any efforts being made to attract more women? (See BW Online, 10/30/05, "What Women MBAs Want.")
We have participated in recruiting events through the Forté Foundation, an organization that partners with many schools to encourage women to consider business careers. We joined last year. We also have developed a brochure that shows potential applicants inspiring success stories of our female students, as well as details about our program offerings.

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