5

The Basics: Application and Admission Procedure

By now, you must have got an understanding of the various types of programmes that B-schools offer you and how the various schools stack up in the many different rankings available in the public domain for your information and usage. In the following chapters, we will try to take you through the actual application process starting with the explanation of admission cycles followed by the different schools. This chapter gives you an overview of the steps in the application process, the structure of the admissions committees as well as a listing of the common methods by which B-schools evaluate your application. This will enable you to structure your application better and even manage the costs of application by understanding the fee structure that will help you decide the maximum number of schools that you can comfortably target, while enabling enough and more breathing space for your pocket.

The Application Cycles

Unlike the procedures followed by most of the business schools in India, applications to business schools in the US, Europe and the UK tend to involve many factors simultaneously and do not rest upon a make-or-break exam, qualifying group discussion or interview. All parts of your application are sent in together and are perused by those making the decision. This can happen in two ways—on a ‘rounds’ basis or on a ‘rolling’ basis.

Most of the top-tier business schools admit students on a ‘rounds’ basis. These schools segregate the application period, say, from 1 August to March-April into two, three or more rounds. For example, the first round could be from 1 August to 31 October, the second round from 1 November to 30 January, and the third from 1 February to, say, 30 March. All applications that are submitted in the first round are reviewed only after the last date for the first round (31 October in this case) has passed. Applications submitted during this period are at random. There is, therefore, no advantage in submitting an application three weeks before the deadline for a round when compared to submitting it a couple of days before the deadline. Indeed, a majority of applications in each of the rounds are submitted towards the end of the round. Some schools do claim to process the applications in the order in which they were received, even within the rounds, but there is too much variation observed to give any weight to this claim. Hence, you should treat the closing day of any round as the application deadline for all practical purposes.

The ‘rolling’ admissions process is less common and is mostly used by Canadian and European business schools. A few examples are the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and the Ivey School of Management at the University of Western Ontario. In case of American schools, the most noteworthy is the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and the Garwin School of International Management, Thunderbird. In this process, the application files are assessed in the order in which they are received. Thus, applicant X’s file submitted on 2 September will be reviewed before Y’s submitted on 10 September. X gets his/her decision before Y does. Thus, the earlier the application is submitted, the earlier it is processed, enabling a faster decision for your benefit. Getting into the programme becomes more difficult as time progresses, as fewer offers are available with the school as the deadline approaches.

The Application: Requirements and Evaluation

B-schools demand various documents as a part of their application process in order to be able to assess you and your personality well and ensure that every deserving applicant gets admission. A typical application will include the following:

1. Résumé
2. Job profile and history
3. Academic transcripts and standardized test scores
4. Description of your academic and extra-curricular achievements
5. Mention of any honours and awards that you may have won
6. Essays

The school would add an interview evaluation to these, immediately or later, depending on when it is conducted.

Most of the top business schools have an online application process (some, like Harvard, accept only online applications) where individuals create their own login accounts and use this to enter or upload all the information required. An online application displays its status such as ‘not started’ or ‘in progress’ or ‘submitted’ (some give further updates such as ‘forwarded to admissions committee’ or ‘interview’) and, of course, the final admission decision, such as ‘accepted’ or ‘rejected’ or ‘waitlisted’. It also checks your application for completeness before you submit your application, minimizing the chances of incomplete applications being submitted. Most of the business schools are against accepting additional material after your application has been submitted.

Most schools insist on official GMAT and TOEFL (if required) test scores to be received before your application is reviewed, though some of the requirements such as academic achievements are only self-reported through the online module. These are later vetted through official transcripts that have to be sent to the school within the stipulated time. The review of the application is done on the basis of the information supplied through the online module, on the condition that any offer of admission made will be cancelled if any discrepancy between the official and the self-reported information is noticed. The idea here is to save both the school’s and the candidate’s unnecessary paperwork. Please remember that most school applications will involve a statement of integrity, where you will have to agree to the cancellation of your admission, dismissal from the university or revocation of your degree as the case might be, if any inaccurate or misleading information or omission is noticed later.

What has been outlined above is the standard procedure at most schools. However, some have variations within the process. For instance, some of them might require your official transcripts to be sent to the school before the application is reviewed. Others might require financial documents and application for financial aid (in case you have been given admission) along with the application itself. Refer to Chapter 6 on application timelines for a list of quirky things that might come in the way of successfully completing your applications.

Schools may change their requirements from one year to the next. So, it is best to check the latest requirements and procedures from the school’s application instructions in the online module when you start the application process.

Recommendations, in case of most business schools, are to be submitted online by the recommenders. As a part of the application, you have to provide the names, addresses, contact numbers and the e-mail IDs of your recommenders to the business school. The school then sends out e-mails to them, giving confidential login ID and password to access the recommendation part of the application. In some cases, however, the school insists on signed and sealed envelopes containing the letters of recommendation to be sent by the recommenders.

Your admission ‘file’ is considered complete only when all the parts of your application (including the recommendations) are submitted. All the different parts of your application need to come together before the deadline that you have set for yourself. As you can see, the process of applying involves many elements and it pays to plan these out a few months in advance. This aspect of preparation is dealt with in Chapter 6.

The Decision on Admissions by the Schools

The business schools follow a well-structured process through which they study the files of every applicant and decide as to who should finally be given admission to the school. This process, obviously, varies somewhat from one B-school to another but the general aim is to get the best candidate in terms of a holistic personality who would add to the culture and the reputation of the school.

The Admission Decision-makers

The decision-making process in most schools involves people who can, through their varied points of view, experiences and knowledge, help the school in choosing the best people among the applicants. A few or all of the people mentioned below could be a part of a B-school’s admission decision-making process:

• Admissions committee officers
• Alumni
• Second-year students at the school
• Faculty and career service office

Among these, the admissions committee (adcom), chaired by the admissions director, is the final body that decides the final admission offers to be sent out. The actual process that leads to the decision, however, could involve any of the others at various stages.

The nature of a typical admissions committee in American schools is different from that in European schools. In the former, members of the committee are qualified professionals with an MBA or a background in human resources. Some schools may also have on the committee recent graduates from the school’s MBA programme. Their inclusion provides a more diverse perspective in evaluating applicants. The admissions director chairs the admissions committee and he/she is generally a professional with years of experience in the admissions process.

In European schools, faculty members from different disciplines make up the admissions committee. In this case, the admissions officers act as facilitators who help the committee decide from among the candidates. They prepare and present the files for each candidate to the committee. The director of admissions in such schools would be a professor with substantial experience in teaching at the school as well as in selecting candidates as part of the admissions committee.

The role of current students in the evaluation process is restricted to interviews. However, in some schools, they are involved in the evaluation of application files. It is only the students who are in their second year at the B-school who are involved in the process and are usually trained in interviewing or evaluating files. Student interviewers help in determining the ‘fit’ between the applicants and the culture that prevails at the school. These students also carry with them information and experience about the latest trends in the job market which helps them to better evaluate the career progress of potential candidates and their likelihood of success at and beyond the programme.

The admissions committee sometimes consults faculty members to evaluate academic achievements and honours of students. Lastly, to evaluate the employment prospects of candidates from non-traditional backgrounds wishing to make a career switch, the career service office may also be consulted.

Process of Shortlisting

Most business schools employ a method called the ‘blind read’ to evaluate your file. In this method, two members of the admissions committee read your application file and classify it, independently, as an ‘accept’, a ‘reject’ or a ‘don’t know’. (Schools might use additional categories also. We have simplified the process by considering only three). If both the evaluators agree on a particular rating, then it is finalized. For instance, if the candidate is considered an ‘accept’ by both the evaluators, then the next step is usually an invitation to interview with a high likelihood of acceptance, if all goes well. If the two ratings differ, then the file is either sent for a third evaluation to another member on the admissions committee, or decided upon by a committee of admissions officers or the admissions director. An interview at this stage (if one has not already been conducted) might also be called for to help the committee make a final decision.

A positive aspect of this process is that all the applicants to a school have their files read by at least two people on the admissions committee. This means that no candidate is rejected simply because someone on the admissions committee did not appreciate your file or was in a bad mood while reading it. It is worth remembering here that all schools try to make sure that they have given every applicant a fair chance and that all the members on the admissions committee share a strong commitment to selecting the best candidates from the pool of applicants.

Criteria for Making the Decision

The B-schools strive to get the best students just as the students strive to get to the best B-schools. In order to do this, the schools focus on different aspects of your application from various points of view, such as:

• Managerial potential
• Leadership potential
• Analytical skills
• Communication skills
• Self-discipline
• Integrity
• Creativity
• Maturity

Some schools might emphasize a few of these criteria much more than the others (a more detailed discussion follows in Chapter 7). But all schools are similar in that they look for criteria that cannot be quantified objectively. To add to this, there are no particular cut-offs for any of the criteria. For most Indian students and professionals accustomed to a lifetime of entrance exams and cut-off marks and percentages, this might seem very hazy. Additionally, the evaluation of applications is not a linear affair where weightage can be assigned to different criteria and an overall ‘score’ arrived at. Thus, evaluation of business school applications is quite subjective—underscoring the importance of elements such as essays. However, in spite of all the subjectivity involved, the process is fairer than what one tends to imagine.

The key to a successful application is the understanding that the admissions committees look not for a spectacular collection of data highlighting someone’s accomplishments but for real human beings whom they would like to admit into the programme. Therefore, the more authentic your application is, the more likely are you to make it through the assessment process. Every applicant should remember that the application must be ‘human’ and must bring out your unique personality. This makes your application stand out from the rest and makes it easier to get the much sought-after nod from the admissions committee.

The Cost Analysis

Applying to the top business schools either in the US, Canada or Europe is a lot more expensive than applications to business schools in India. But in accordance, the opportunities that a successful application throws up are better. The best way to treat the costs involved in the application process is the same as how you need to treat the total cost incurred in obtaining your MBA—as an investment.

Some schools such as Columbia also waive application fees for applicants from developing countries, provided you explain to them why you are not in a position to pay the fees. A few of the other top schools, though without a formal policy for application fee waivers, sometimes respond favourably to such requests if you communicate to them your reasons for not being able to pay the fees.

Table 5.1 The Application Fees of Some Schools for the Year 2008

Add to the above costs the GMAT and TOEFL fees, money spent on reporting scores to various universities (which would cost you another USD 400), all the courier charges (approximately USD 100), charges towards telephone as well as travel costs (approximately USD 200) and the total would come to more than USD 1500 for sending applications to about 5 schools. Hence, you need to be very careful while sending your applications. Choose only those schools where the chances of getting admissions are more. Your admission in any one of the top B-schools will ensure that the money was well spent.