MIT Sloan School of Management MBA Admissions Interview
(cont'd)
How important is an applicant's GMAT
score and what advice do you have for applicants who
struggled with this exam?
The GMAT score is one indicator and a useful one because
every candidate takes it. But its only purpose is to evaluate how
candidates might do in certain traditional courses. It
doesn't tell you how the applicant will work on a team, what
level of emotional intelligence or drive they bring to the
programs, what kind of ideas they can generate.
We are fortunate to have an applicant
pool where almost everyone is extremely qualified, so it
always pays to make every indicator as strong as you can,
but the GMAT doesn't weigh nearly as much as most applicants
think.
What is Sloan's policy regarding
applicants who take the GMAT multiple times?
We will take the highest score.
What was the GMAT score range for
admitted applicants this past year?
Eighty percent of our scores fall between 620 and
730 and our average GMAT score is 710.
Your
fifth essay question requests information about an example
of a situation when an applicant's thinking was different
from his or her colleagues or superiors. What types of
examples does the admissions committee really like to see?
All kinds! We left it
general on purpose -- it's not the difference that matters as
much as
your reaction to it ... what did you think, feel and do then?
How important is the interview in
the admissions process and what specific applicant traits
are you using the interview to gauge? What types of
questions should applicants expect to be asked?
The interview is very important -- and we
interview everyone we admit -- and all are conducted by the
admissions committee. We use it to flesh out the application
and probe deeper into the behavior and motivations of the
applicant. All interviewers will inquire about your past
experiences, and will probe for the details of your process.
You might be asked one question with a lot of follow-ups or
several questions.
All interviews are done by admissions
officers -- i.e., full voting members of the admissions
committee -- although some of those committee members are
alumni. We all train together and have a similar voice in
the discussions.
Are these interviews conducted blind
or is the applicant's file reviewed beforehand?
We read the file beforehand and also
the readers' comments on that file; that way we can use our
limited time to zero in on what we really need to learn.
Let's talk about waitlists. How many applicants do you
anticipate will end up on the waitlist for at least some
part of the year?
Roughly 190 candidates were put on the waiting list this
year. That number represents roughly 7% of our
applicant pool.
How many of them will be eventually accepted off of
the waitlist and what advice would you like to share with
any waitlisted applicant who happens to read this interview
transcript?
Depending on how many admitted applicants will accept our
offer of admission this year, we may end up admitting less
than 20% of our waitlist candidates.
How are re-applicants viewed by
Sloan and what do they need to do to be successful the
second time around?
There is no disadvantage to
reapplying. Many applicants improve their application
significantly through new experiences or greater effort put
into explaining the same experiences
Page 1
2
3
|
