The
Goizueta Business School offers students both a wide variety of MBA programs
and a wide variety of MBA specializations.
The school's
heavy emphasis on communication and teamwork skills were
notably rewarded when it was recently ranked in the top 10
by the Wall Street Journal for "communication skills
and ability to work in a team."
Below is
the four-page transcript of our interview with Julie
Barefoot, Director of Admissions.
How
much time do you spend explaining how to pronounce the name
Goizueta?
I
explain it on a regular basis. I always tell people that I
pronounce it “gauze-sweat-ah" - Goizueta. At the
groundbreaking event for the Business School, Mr. Goizueta
started his speech (jokingly) by apologizing to the students
of the program because he said that for the rest of their
lives they will have to repeat the pronunciation of their
alma mater. It is a Cuban name and once you get used to it,
it just rolls off your tongue.
It
seems that the Goizueta MBA Program has been moving quickly
up the ranks towards a top 10 MBA program. What has led to
the program's rapid success?
It has
been really exciting time at Goizueta. Some of the changes
and developments have been going on for quite some time. The
real focus of the momentum changed when Tom Robertson, who
is our current dean, came on board. He was able to move the
program forward very rapidly. We had a new building, a new
name (Goizueta Business School) and he put in place a very
aggressive strategy and made the commitment to move us
forward in a number of different areas. He encouraged
curricular innovations. We are able to provide the
scholarship dollars to recruit the absolute best class every
year. He made a commitment to diversity. He also made a
decision to add a Ph.D. program that ramped up the
intellectual capital within the school. We had to add a
number of faculty slots and it was a wonderful time to
recruit Ph.D.s. The students are excited and enthusiastic
about all these changes.
What
general advice would you want applicants considering Goizueta's MBA to know?
There
are so many things, but first and foremost, I think they
need to know who we are. We have a very diverse student
body and I'm really proud of that. About 1/3 of our
students are international and come from all over the
world. Also, 34% of our fall MBA class is women, which I
think is the highest of any of the top-tier programs and 11%
of our students are minority, which also makes us very
proud. The kind of student who is attracted to Goizueta is
someone who wants to be a leader; Goizueta is a small
program and we have a strong community. Students can make a
difference here and really demonstrate their leadership
skills. We enroll between 150 to 160 students a year in our
2-year program—about 50 per year in our 1-year program. At
Goizueta, our small size enables students to personalize and
tailor the curriculum to their interests.
When
do you encourage applicants to apply?
We're
actually quite flexible about that. We have deadlines but
don't have set decision "rounds." I would encourage
applicants to apply between November 1 and February 1. Our
application deadline for the 2-year program is mid-March.
If a candidate is interested in being evaluated for a
scholarship, then they need to apply by February 1. I would
like to add that for applicants with an undergraduate
business degree or a strong quantitative background who
really know what they want career-wise, I encourage them to
take a serious look at our 1-year program, keeping in mind
that it is the same faculty and same degree. It starts in
the summer and the students then join the second year
program. It is very integrated. I think it is attractive
to a lot of students, but candidates must have completed
most of the core undergraduate business classes prior to
enrollment and be focused in their post MBA career choice to
be a good fit for our 1-year program.
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