Bloomberg Businessweek
Go To Businessweek.com
During the past 20 years, the author has watch China move from being a developing country into an industrial superpower
Money Moves, 5/24: Chocomize Co-Founder Fabian Kaempfer talks with Bloomberg’s Deirdre Bolton about the business of customizing chocolate
The president's campaign has a new rule—no cell phones allowed
In honor of remote control inventor Eugene Polley, we recognize other influential but neglected inventors who have felt the sting of stolen glory
Forget Adderall. Traders now pop chia seeds to stay focused and energized
The Italian automaker and others are adding hybrid technology to elite cars
The storied bridge that links San Francisco and Marin County changed the face of California
Schools cultivate ties with startups before they're big successes
Dave McClure's traveling venture capital show scours the world for promising startups
Many of the MBA applicants Julie Barefoot interviews were toddlers when she started working at the office of admissions for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School (Goizueta Full-Time MBA Profile). Barefoot, the admissions director for the school, recently celebrated her 23rd year with Goizueta. The job doesn’t get old, Barefoot says, adding that she looks forward to reviewing applications.
When Barefoot received her MBA from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School (Kenan-Flagler Full-Time MBA Profile) in 1983, she had little prior work experience and went into a three-month training program with her employer after graduating. Now employers expect MBA students to hit the ground running. For them to do that, Goizueta overhauled its curriculum three years ago and holds annual roundtables to find out from recruiters and students what it can do better.
In an interview with Businessweek.com reporter Kiah Lau Haslett, Barefoot described how Goizueta looks for applicants to add value to the school and their future employers, how its small size is an advantage, and what mistakes not to make when applying.
Describe Goizueta in one sentence.
Goizueta is a personalized, high-value MBA program that prepares candidates to add value from day one in their post-MBA job.
What does Goizueta look for in an applicant?
We look for individuals who are academically prepared for the program, but a lot of people who apply to our program can do the work. Best-fit students have progressive work experience, understand what it means to add value, and demonstrate initiative.
A progressive career means from when you graduated from college to what you do now, you have continued to work and grow in the responsibilities you have.
They also have strong interpersonal skills. They want to be in a team and work with others. A key trait of our students is that they want to make a difference outside of themselves and give back in different ways. I can think of examples in every class where students left the school for the better because they were there, either through the board fellows program [where MBA students serve on nonprofit boards of directors], leading an international trek, or starting a nonprofit business. Our students have a lot of self-initiative.
What are the demographics of the school? How diverse is it? How have you worked to increase diversity?
Our school is quite diverse: Typically a third are women. About 10 percent to 12 percent are American minorities. In terms of work experience, five years is our average, with a range of two to six years of experience. About 35 percent of students are international.
Why is the admissions interview so important, especially when it’s done early in the application process?
Interviews are conducted before the application is completed. One way we’re a little unusual is interviews are done mostly by members of admissions because we believe so strongly in the importance of the interview. I think it’s helpful for consistency and when the final application is reviewed by the committee, there’s an advocate there to answer questions about the candidate.
What are key mistakes applicants make?
The most common mistake we see is students mixing up the names of schools in the essay. We totally realize people are applying to more than one program but this shows a lack of care. Along those same lines, candidates in an interview will do a lot of research but then ask a question whose answer is readily available on the Web or in a brochure.
We notice a lot of résumés where it’s difficult to discern exactly what applicants did at their job and how they added value. Or their résumés aren’t sequentially written. And if you’re less than 30 years old, your résumé should be one page.
