Admissions to schools for all fields are ever changing. As we move forward, additions are made to the admission processes of several universities, sometimes due to drastic environmental or situational change like the COVID-19 pandemic, simple changes in what students’ preferences and likes, or even changes in demand of the type of skill sets required for jobs.
The field of Business School Admissions has undergone significant developments in recent years, ranging from changes in structure to the emergence of new online tools and the emergence of competitive new business schools worldwide. This blog aims to provide insight into these transformative changes, highlighting noteworthy developments and trends within the realm of business education.
How admission to business schools have changed-
10 years prior, the business local area was finding some peace with the aftermath from the monetary emergency. The Great Recession, subprime lending, and bank bailouts had upended the status quo, and it was widely acknowledged that our business practices would never be the same again. By 2010, the world’s best business schools were already putting in a lot of effort to prepare business leaders for the challenges of a changing world. Which, normally, incorporated a purge of the MBA confirmations process.
Therefore, there have been significant shifts in who applies and what makes them stand out as MBA admissions offices from Palo Alto to Philadelphia continue to evaluate top talent from around the world.
Some changes that MBA admissions or admissions to business schools have seen-
1. Increase in demand for business programmes in the UK-
There has been a significant increase in applications to European programs like INSEAD and LBS, despite the sharp decline in the number of applications received by American schools. But candidates from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa aren’t the only ones who are questioning U.S. study plans. In a recent article titled “More Americans Heading to Europe for Their MBAs,” Caroline Diarte Edwards, a former Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at INSEAD, explains, “We’ve seen a dramatic increase in interest for the top European schools from the U.S. market over the last 18 months.” A growing number of American applicants are looking to enhance both their personal and professional development with a more affordable international study experience, whereas the rest of the world has responded to a shifting political climate and concerns about visa opportunities in the United States.
Diarte Edwards focuses to the return for money invested of the one-year MBA that is underlined in the latest Forbes business college positioning: ” While it takes Harvard Business college understudies four years on normal to repay their venture, the 13 European schools in the one-year positioning had a compensation back that went from 2.2 years to 3.2 years.”
Maybe this increase in interest for the global MBA focuses to an advancing pattern we can expect in the approaching ten years: International programs provide valuable, non-U.S.-centric perspectives on the role that business schools and their students play in society, as a growing number of applicants also seek a sense of purpose for their next career steps.
2. A more holistic approach to assessment—EQ, not just IQ—
It is now widely acknowledged within the MBA admissions process that nurturing the creative abilities and moral awareness of future leaders is just as critical as imparting frameworks, cases, and concepts. From the perspective of admissions committees, there has been a significant shift in the qualities that business schools seek to cultivate in their candidates, placing greater emphasis on their personal characteristics and values in addition to their professional and academic accomplishments.
Schools have developed assessments and criteria based on emotional and creative quotients in addition to conventional metrics like quantitative ability. Programs are looking for character traits and interpersonal skills that help them understand what makes candidates tick, as well as allow them to predict their leadership potential and readiness for the MBA classroom. These characteristics can be found in formal evaluations like the Yale SOM behavioral assessment, recommendations like the EQ endorsement, and key attributes like the niceness criteria from Dartmouth Tuck. For instance, Berkeley Haas evaluates the suitability of a program based on the well-honed leadership principles of “Question the Status Quo,” “Confidence Without Attitude,” “Students Always,” and “Beyond Yourself.”
The Alumni The executives Confirmations Board (GMAC), the overseer of the GMAT test, is investigating an EQ evaluation with six U.S. business colleges. This is in line with the example set by Educational Testing Services (ETS), which piloted a behavioral assessment with Yale SOM to see how applicants would fare once they arrived at campus.
The inquiries for recommenders are as follows. They now focus not only on performance but also on opportunities for growth, how to deal with failure, and how to respond to constructive criticism. The expectation that the MBA experience requires you to stretch yourself in numerous ways through a growth mindset rather than arriving fully formed lies beneath these lines of questioning.
3. A shift in culture that results in greater gender parity-
A significant institutional shift can be seen in the steady rise in the proportion of women in the best MBA classrooms. However, the cultural shift that is bringing programs closer to gender parity is the most remarkable and encouraging trend. Compared to ten years ago, more women see themselves as strong candidates for business school. They are more confident in their abilities, actively utilize extensive female networks, and assert themselves as leaders in previously unusual fields. Additionally, there are more women working in a variety of fields. There were still a lot of women working in consumer goods and marketing a decade ago. Presently ladies are being addressed in more prominent numbers in innovation and industry, while programs are effectively looking for their thinking administration in the study hall. Women make up more than half of the 2020 HBS Class who had previously worked in consulting.
4. Fewer essays, shorter word counts – cutting to the core.
Programs have really refined what they are looking for, and they don’t expect the app to be a writing contest, as evidenced by the systematic reduction in essay length and word count. For the past five years, Harvard has only asked the one question, “As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA Program?” as opposed to the nine essay questions that once defined the HBS application. Programs are asking candidates about what they care about, what motivates them, and how their journey—not just their successes and failures—have shaped them as leaders. Simply last year, Kellogg recalibrated its subsequent exposition question from “how have you grown in the past/hope to grow at Kellogg” to “what values are important to you and how have they influenced you?”. This unpretentious shift is meaningful of how projects are slicing to the center of what persuades and drives you.
From NYU Stern’s “pick six pictures” to MIT’s one-minute video introduction, MBA applications are also encouraging more creativity. Confirmations groups perceive that there are numerous ways of sharing your incentive, and they believe competitors should cut to the chase and convey something individual, legitimate and strong. The enduring popularity of Stanford GSB’s iconic essay, “what matters most to you and why,” stems from its ability to inspire profound self-awareness and fearless authenticity.
5. Skyrocketing GMAT scores & rise of the GRE
It has been noted that GMAT scores at elite institutions, particularly for programs that wish to more firmly establish themselves among the elite, have increased in their importance significantly. The incoming class at Stanford GSB’s GMAT average reached a record-breaking 737 in 2016. The HBS average was 730, while the GSB average was 734 last year. In the mean time, Wharton flaunted a 14-guide ascend toward a GMAT normal of 732 last year, up from 718 out of 2011, and Northwestern Kellogg revealed a 20-direct leap toward 732 from 712 five years sooner.
Since it captures a comparable data point that schools use to both predict your academic success for the MBA and measure you against other candidates, the GMAT score has taken on an obsessive importance for many candidates. In the Forbes article How You Can Learn To Love The GMAT, Joanna Graham, a former director at GMAC, explains that your score is important because of the truly global diversity of the student body at tier-one programs. How would you analyze the Bain specialist from Silicon Valley to the business visionary in Eritrea? By providing a consistent data point for comparing candidates, the GMAT helps level the playing field.
Furthermore, despite the fact that the GMAT has been widely regarded as the sole standardized exam developed by business schools for MBA admissions, the GRE has gained traction and legitimacy among MBA admissions committees. Over 1,200 business schools, including prestigious institutions such as Wharton, Kellogg, and London Business School (LBS), now accept the GRE for applications. Even INSEAD, which had been hesitant about accepting the GRE, now considers applicants who have taken the exam, albeit with a preference for higher quant percentiles on the GRE than those required for the GMAT.
Upcoming technology that help with admission process to business schools-
UNIMY-
Unimy is a pioneering MBA selection platform that combines 17 years of orientation experience with state-of-art AI technology to create the best matches between students and schools.
The information gathered can include the following-
Name and contact information, including your first and last name, email address, postal address, telephone number, and other comparable contact information.
Credentials include your username and password when you create a personal account on any of their brands’ service websites.
Information about you, such as your age, gender, country of citizenship, and preferred language are examples of demographic data.
Instructive and proficient foundation information about your work history, training history and perhaps your government sanctioned test scores.
Content: information about your qualifications for MBA or Masters programs, information about your career and educational development interests, and information about your resume or CV.
How it works-
Unimy acts as a platform for you to browse through different business schools and find ones that interest you. Then they also help you with something known as “matching”.
How Matching works-
All of the information you provided is used by the AI tool Unimy has, which generates more than 400 features. This includes your MBA preferences, but it only uses them as a possible but not required correlation for choosing a particular school. They also consider your work history, education, and other individual characteristics. Because the models are different for each school, a feature might be taken into consideration for one school but not for another.
This starts with creating your profile. After that comes the data modeling step where the AI works with your personal information and MBA preferences. Finally, you receive a list of your top MBA program matches once their precision model calculations are completed and you are matched with the admission criterias.
Unimy also has a feature to connect with fellow MBA alumni through webinars and chats.
In total, Unimy is a new online tool that has come up that many students looking to do MBA and apply to business schools use to understand which school is the best fit for them.
Some of the best business schools in the world-
- INSEAD
- London Business School
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- Kellogg School of Management
- Yale School of Management
However, while preparing for your admission into business schools you’ll notice that many schools are rising above the previously considered best business schools in the world. They invest to maximize their impact and capitalize on their assets and competencies. They moved forward with no regard for danger or criticism; They never allowed their ideas to be diluted by compromises or swallowed up by bureaucracy. They’ve mined what means quite a bit to students. In particular, they’ve cut out a benefit, built an identity, and charted a course that sets them apart from the other schools. Along the way they’ve caught many people’s attention with their programmes and have become the schools everybody’s watching to gain fame and catch up with the schools traditionally known to be the best business schools in the world.
This includes-
1. The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania
Among the “Big Five” (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Chicago, and Northwestern) business schools, Wharton is the first to offer an online hybrid MBA program. The 22-month program is expected to enroll 60-70 students at first, bringing the total number of EMBA students at Wharton to 300.
According to Poes&Quants, U.S. News & World Report, and the Financial Times, the school is the best full-time MBA program this year. Nevertheless, the establishment of an online program reveals significant information about the Wharton School. The Wharton School continuously invests to enhance the student experience, whereas many business schools increase their endowments. That incorporates its business center point, Tangen Corridor. which connects Penn’s startup and innovation communities and gives young businesses a place to design, test, and grow.
Wharton’s business curriculum is unique in that it emphasizes “learning by doing” and provides students with a hands-on education to prepare them for today’s most pressing business issues. They provide students with the business knowledge and specialized skills they need to expand their career options and join one of the largest and most prestigious alumni networks in the world through their innovative and adaptable program.
2. Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business-
This has pioneered employer partnerships that enable students to gain practical experience that stands out.
3. Georgetown University’s McDonough School-
This laid out an ambitious five-year plan predicated on sustainability, global business, and mentorship
To conclude, the admission process to business schools has changed in terms of what you require to portray yourself as an ideal candidate to the schools you apply to, the range of options you now have with regards to the different schools you can apply to apart from the traditional best schools in the world, as well as online tools to help you with choosing MBA programmes. However, though these changes have made the admissions process much more holistic and easy, it has also in some ways complicated it. It is normal and natural for applicants to feel lost and intimidated if they are left to figure it out on their own and do not have the right guidance. Rostrum has some of the best consultants for admissions into business schools, especially top business schools in the world. Availing our resources will guarantee a relatively easier application process for you.
