Kellogg Launches ‘Ask an Admissions Officer’ Initiative on Social Media
Are you curious about the Northwestern University Kellogg admissions process? Do you want to know if it’s better to apply in one round or another, what the committee is looking for, or how you can apply to more than one program at a time? Kellogg’s new social media initiative, “Ask an Admissions Officer,” offers answers to these burning questions and more.
“Simply put, we are giving people an opportunity to send us questions via Instagram direct message (DM),” explains Kellogg Communication Specialist Rebecca Rogalski.
“Then, our social team is going to collect the best and most frequently asked questions, creating a short series of videos with the Kellogg admissions officers answering those questions.”
Kellogg applicants who want to submit their questions over the next week should do the following:
- Follow @KelloggSchool on Instagram.
- Send the school a question via direct message.
- Check back in early August to see if your question was answered.
This is an ideal opportunity for Kellogg hopefuls to get answers to all their burning questions before the Round 1 deadline on September 19, 2018.
Pro tip: Before you submit your question to Instagram, make sure it doesn’t have an answer that can be easily found on the Kellogg website. We suggest checking the Admission Facts & Tips section first if you need intel on …
- The best time to apply
- Deferrals
- Applying with a partner
- Work experience recommendations
You can also check out last year’s Clear Admit post where Kellogg’s Director of Admissions for the full-time MBA and MSMS Programs Melissa Rapp discussed application essays, female enrollment, and more.
Remember to stay tuned later this month for the Kellogg admissions team to provide video answers to the most frequently asked questions.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
MBAs Hold High Expectations for B-School Admissions Process, Survey Finds
According to the 2018 MBA Applicant Survey conducted by the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), MBA applicants expect a lot from business schools as they make their way through the admissions process. Not only do they want the schools themselves to be more transparent—including providing status updates, feedback, and earlier wait list decisions—they also want more consultant advice and interaction.
“More transparency in terms of the status of the application will be appreciated,” wrote one survey respondent. “Leading schools like [schools] were notoriously quiet about the application for more than 5 weeks.”
Even applicants whose bids for admission were unsuccessful want more from schools. “Feedback at some point would be fantastic,” wrote one. “At least some indication of what portion of an application was below expectation would be helpful even just for personal development.”
The latest annual AIGAC survey drew almost 2,000 responses from applicants to more than two dozen leading business schools. Results were released as part of the admissions consultant group’s annual conference, which took place last week at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
Where Do MBA Applicants Look for Admissions Information?
According to the survey results, school websites are a primary source of information for 80 percent of applicants. After school websites, online information sessions, student and alumni referrals, and admissions teams are where applicants are most likely to turn. In terms of what they are looking for, applicants are most eager for information that helps them set expectations for the admissions process, but finding it isn’t always easy. As one survey respondent said, “[School]’s application process was steeped in mystery.”
Outside of school resources, students look to social media, online communities/forums, MBA rankings, and then family/friends/work colleagues. They also look to the blogs and websites of admissions consultants as well as printed viewbooks and brochures. And many applicants look in as many places as possible to find the information they crave.
“Videos, interviews, and current or alumni experiences are very valuable,” wrote one survey respondent. Another underscored the importance of school websites being “very easy to navigate.” Online seminars that only reiterate information available on the schools’ websites are less valuable, shared another.
In the social media sphere, more applicants look to LinkedIn for information than any other channel, followed by YouTube and Facebook. Quora follows, trailed by Instagram and Twitter.
Schools That Get to Know MBA Applicants Best
Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, UVA’s Darden School of Business, and Dartmouth’s Tuck School scored the highest marks in terms of how well they get to know applicants as part of the admissions process. Notably, some of the most highly ranked business schools fell short in this regard, with Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School bringing up the rear. As one candidate explained, “Though I fell in love with [school] during my campus visit, I felt that their application process was very impersonal, and I didn’t feel like I had enough of an opportunity to show the school who I was with a video and a [short essay] …”
Why the MBA? Why a Particular School?
The survey also sought to understand what most motivates applicants to apply to MBA programs in general. More than half—57 percent—seek to acquire new information, skills, and knowledge. Forty-nine percent, meanwhile, want access to job prospects. And 48 percent are seeking a stronger network or to advance their careers.
As for the top factors influencing which schools applicants choose to target, reputation reigns supreme, cited by 66 percent of applicants surveyed. School rank was a top factor for 61 percent, and school culture, for 53 percent.
To learn more about the survey results and to read more personal responses from applicants, consult the full survey here.
This article was edited and published with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
Kellogg Admissions Director Shares Insights on 2019 MBA Application
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management is one of several leading business schools to release its 2019-2020 MBA application online within the last week. At Kellogg, deadlines for the upcoming admission season are as follow:
- September 19, 2018
- January 9, 2019
- April 10, 2019
To help you get started, Director of Admissions Melissa Rapp provided insight into the 2019 MBA application along with some great advice on how to prepare. We’ve shared some of the most pertinent details below.
Written Essay Questions Remain Unchanged
The Kellogg written essay questions remain the same this year as last. Applicants will need to answer the following two questions.
- Tell us about a time you have demonstrated leadership and created lasting value.
To answer this question, MBA applicants should think about a specific challenge they have faced in their career and how they overcame it. Specifically, Rapp advises applicants to think about their contribution to their organization and the lasting value they created.
- How have you grown in the past? How do you intend to grow at Kellogg?
This question is about looking at both past performance and future behavior. Remember to keep in mind the reason why you’re pursuing an MBA in your answer.
Video Essay Advice
For four years, MBA applicants have been expected to complete a video essay, and this interview season is no different. Rapp recommends using your video essay as your chance to tell your story in your voice. In the video portion, you’ll answer three questions:
- What path are you interested in pursuing? How will you get there?
- Why is this program right for you?
- Randomly generated question about overcoming obstacles.
When answering these questions, Rapp encourages applicants to speak from the heart and to avoid repeating phrases from their written essay. You’ll have a few practice questions to help you get comfortable; then, they’ll dive straight into the official questions. Think of the video portion like an interview more than an essay.
As for the technology, the Kellogg technical team is available 24/7 with questions or concerns, though Rapp says few if any candidates struggle.
Focus on Your Unique Qualities
In this most recent blog post, Rapp also underscored Kellogg’s focus on diversity and inclusion. Specifically, she explained that the school is interested in a broad range of backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and opinions. So, be confident in telling your story and what makes you unique. That’s what the admissions team wants to hear all about.
To read the full article and learn more about the 2019 MBA application, visit the Kellogg website.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
Should a Business School Scholarship Impact Your MBA Choice?
A brief look at Clear Admit MBA DecisionWire appears to indicate that more and more leading MBA programs are offering scholarship money, either need-based or merit-based, to encourage admitted candidates to enroll. This may be the result of competing for a smaller pool of top applicants amidst declining application volume (particularly in the USA and Europe).
This scholarship money reduces the price of the MBA, and therefore alters the calculus in terms of the cost-benefit analysis of the program. If you do have admissions offers from multiple programs, some of which include scholarship money, you will need to weigh whether the reduced cost alters your order of preference for schools.
Cases where scholarship dollars can alter your order of preferences include:
- Career Goal Impact: When your career aspirations, both short-term and long-term, are not impacted by choosing the program that would be from a lower-tier. For example, you are not seeking a career in consulting at the elite consulting firms, which generally focus their recruiting at the very top schools. Nor are you seeking opportunities in private equity and venture capital – jobs in this field are scarce and very much limited to top schools with strong networks in the domain. Perhaps you know where you plan to be post-MBA regarding geography, and the school that is offering you scholarship has a significant alumni presence in that region which would facilitate achieving your goals.
- Scholarship Prestige: The scholarship award is prestigious at the school, and offers you opportunities at that program that are not available to the general student body. For example, you may have access to a special mentor program. A ‘named’ scholarship is also something you can place on your resume, helping you to stand out from other students at the school. These advantages might be enough to sway a decision in favor of a lower-tier program, but they are only really compelling if your recruiting goals are not geared towards the firms that concentrate their hiring at the very top programs, as noted above.
Fundamentally, it is important to weigh a scholarship offer from both a short- and long-term perspective. While it might be compelling in the short-term to graduate from your MBA program with $100,000 less in debt thanks to a scholarship, that $100,000 in savings, discounted over a 40 year post-MBA career, may be small compared to the better career opportunities afforded by a more prestigious MBA program. This is exponentially more important when your career goals are targeting the high-paying careers of consulting, banking and tech – not to mention that those jobs often come with significant signing bonuses which can instantly help with some of those tuition loans. However, if your career is targeted to social impact and non-profit, and other careers that generally don’t pay as high a salary, the value of the scholarship, and reduced debt upon graduation, is more appealing.
Finally, if you are an international student, you need to factor in your desire to remain in the country or region of your MBA program, and how important that is, based on your potential to earn the same salary in your home country. A number of international students are using the MBA to help them relocate, but given the current immigration environment, the potential for doing this may be more limited. A scholarship, lowering the cost of the MBA, reduces the risk to the student who has to return to their home country upon graduation. The counter argument is, the more prestigious the MBA program to which you gain admission, the greater your opportunity of getting an offer that allows you to remain in the country of the MBA.
Overall, it can be tempting to jump at a substantial scholarship – especially when the loans one takes for an MBA program seem truly daunting. But in the end, just as with investing in the stock market, a long view is needed when computing the true value of such scholarships.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
How To Begin Your MBA Search, Pt. 3: Recognizing the Best Resources
You can find the first and second installments of our ongoing “How To Begin Your MBA Search” here.
So, you’ve narrowed down the list of business schools to which you’re applying, keeping in mind location, student body make-up, potential networking opportunities, the return on investment, and your professional goals. But while there are an additional host of ineffable qualities that guide a prospective MBA to one program or another, you must also keep in mind the resources of the programs that make up your short list. The importance of these resources will certainly depend upon your own subjective needs, but most potential MBAs will find it necessary to consider the following factors before making decisions on program choices.
Money, Money, Money
Suffice to say, business school is not cheap. Tuition at some programs can soar north of $60,000 USD per year, and unless you are currently working and your employer is chipping in, you will probably worry about how you will pay for school (particularly if you’re out of the workforce). Thus, sussing out which schools provide merit, and finding need-based scholarships is a good method of finding which schools might make the top of your list. And while a significant return on investment is almost guaranteed with an MBA, it goes without saying that graduating with less debt is preferable to graduating saddled with loads of it. Luckily, according to U.S. News & World Report, many more schools are offering such financial assistance, so if you do your research and get busy applying for fellowships and awards, you might be able to lighten the dreaded b-school burden!
I Went Looking for a Job and Then I Found a Job
Hillary Schubach of Shine MBA Admissions Consulting says that potential b-school applicants should ask, “Are there campus resources, student organizations, and activities that align with your interests?” As discussed in the second part of our series on starting the MBA search, while building a network is important, a b-school’s career services resources are also well worth researching. Where are alumni placed? Does the career services office seem robust and well-staffed, and are the advisors in-house or outsourced? These should be pertinent questions to you and any future MBA.
Know Who You’ll Be Learning From
Finally, before settling on any program, identify the professors whom you’ll most likely be learning from, and maybe try to find out more about their teaching style. Stacy Blackman of Stacy Blackman Consulting suggests asking, “what teaching methods appeal to you? Are there particular teachers, courses, fields of study or extracurriculars that appeal to you at certain schools?”
While some of these questions might have been answered when you asked yourself questions regarding where you want to end up after graduation, it is worth reiterating that if you’re unable to learn in certain environments or within certain teaching styles, you won’t be able to achieve your goals as smoothly.
Schubach gives the following advice :
“Core classes and electives that fit your career goals are extremely important. Do your needs align with the academic strengths of the school? Are you looking for a general management program, or one where you can select a concentration in your target field?”
In other words, it isn’t just the professors, but the structure of the program itself that is worth looking at closely— are the core classes suitable to your end goals? Do you need more or less structure in an academic setting?
While it seems like there are an infinite number of factors to weigh when finding the right MBA program, remember that on graduation day, you will want to look back on your b-school experience as one that was well worth it, which makes the questions all the more necessary.
Here Are The 7 Hardest MBA Admissions Interview Questions
Clear Admit recently explored seven of the hardest MBA interview questions you may encounter, with helpful tips on how to handle them.
We recently shared our list of the most commonly asked MBA admissions interview questions, along with extensive advice on how to approach such queries. In light of the popularity of that piece, we’ve decided to up the ante this time around and spend some time deconstructing the absolute worst, totally unfair, just all-around-tough MBA admissions interview questions.
How did we do this, you ask? We called on three members of our team—all of whom have significant admissions experience at top schools—to comb through our extensive Clear Admit MBA interview archive and hand pick a set of particularly challenging questions. The only ground rule was that they needed to be questions posed to applicants with some degree of regularity, as opposed to one-off, oddball questions from an ‘off the reservation’ alum.
Arriving readily enough at a set of incredibly tough questions, our team of former admissions officers then crafted extensive guidelines on how to approach each one.
WARNING: Some questions on the list appear very sweet and innocent. Be aware that looks can be deceiving.
If you’re preparing for an upcoming interview, you won’t want to miss this valuable insider advice. It can help make answering even the most challenging questions feel like a walk in the park.
The Seven Hardest MBA Admissions Interview Questions
1. Describe a failure in which you were involved.
Why It’s Tough
Most candidates, when preparing for an interview, focus on the positive aspects of their story. They cannot wait to share their successes and highlight their strengths. So when asked directly to describe a failure, they can be unnerved at best and completely thrown at worst, especially if they haven’t given such a question any thought.
Key Considerations
The type of failure, the time frame of the failure and what you learned as a result will all be relevant in terms of addressing the question.
Risks:
- Picking a failure that is really just a veiled success story, i.e. not a real failure. “We missed one deadline (failure) but we shipped an outstanding product (success).” This type of answer can be perceived as avoiding the question.
- Picking a failure that is so substantial, and recent, that the interviewer genuinely worries that you might make the very same type of mistake again—either due to incompetence or because you just simply haven’t had time to learn from it yet.
Planning Your Response
Make sure you prepare to address a real failure that you played a part in and acknowledge your direct role. While the failure should be substantial, it should not be catastrophic to an organization. Address the process you went through in terms of deconstructing the failure and how you have learned from the experience. Finally, discuss a more recent success that demonstrates your use of the lessons learned from the earlier failure.
2. What other schools are you applying to?
Why It’s Tough
Many professionals in the admissions community feel that this question is simply unfair. There are several reasons for this, one of which is that applicants don’t really know how the answer is going to be used (more on this below). In addition, it’s not as though candidates are allowed to ask their interviewer about the other applicants the committee is considering…
Key Considerations
Fair or unfair, let’s unpack the purpose of the question a bit: Is it to determine your likelihood of attending the program you are interviewing for? Is it to assess whether you are ambitious in terms of school selection or more conservative? Is it simply to see if your list of target schools makes sense and demonstrates a thoughtful approach on your part? Any or all of these options are possible depending on the school interviewing you.
In most instances where this question is used, it is being asked by schools that are concerned about their yield. They want to avoid admitting candidates that clearly will select another school when given the choice. That being said, there are admissions interviewers who ask this question merely to better understand your approach to selecting target schools—and to determine whether you are simply applying to schools ranked in the top 10 or have a more nuanced approach. Regardless, you should prepare a solid answer.
Planning Your Response
There are three parts to addressing the question. First, you do want to be honest even if the question feels unfair. Second, as you list your schools, explain why you chose them. You want to demonstrate that your selections are thoughtful ones resulting from thorough research and careful consideration of your career plan, preferred teaching methods, campus environment, etc. Finally, should make the case for why the school you are interviewing with is a very excellent choice among the group of schools you’ve listed—citing specific elements of the program that fit well with the criteria that drove your overall school selection.
3. Describe a conflict at work and your role in it.
Why It’s Tough
It can be hard to discuss conflict without taking sides or painting some of your colleagues (or yourself) in a negative light. It can also be dangerous to highlight a conflict and appear detached from it—e.g. downplaying your role—because that could suggest either that you did nothing to stop it or that you simply aren’t important enough at work to have played a role/taken a side. In short, this kind of question is loaded with “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” issues.
Key Considerations
A common question in an MBA interview will look at how you handle conflict, and usually conflict at work. Schools ask this question to test your emotional intelligence and to see how you talk about your peers, your bosses, your organization, etc. Even the slightest whiff of “throwing someone under the bus” can backfire. It’s also important to showcase your ability to see the various sides of a conflict.
Preparing Your Response
It makes sense to prepare a particular conflict you have had at work and be ready to use the example. A strong response to this question needs to show your role in the conflict, who it was with, how it was addressed (if, in fact, it was addressed) and what the result was. Equally as important will be to share what you learned from the experience and how a subsequent situation at work was resolved positively or avoided altogether as a result of what you learned.
