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发表于 2003-10-6 11:09:00
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Admission Q&A
Our guest on Dec. 22, 1999, was Laurie Stewart, director of admissions at Carnegie Mellon's Graduate School of Industrial Administration [14th on BW's 1998 Top 25 list]. Laurie is a 1987 graduate of CMU's MSIA [Master of Science in Industrial Administration] program. In 1990, she returned to the school to become assistant dean for student affairs, and four years later, she took over as director of admissions and financial aid. Prior to joining the GSIA, Laurie spent two years as director of engineering services at Valeo Engine Cooling Systems. She began her professional career at General Motors Corp. as a cooperative engineering student at Pontiac Motor Division. In addition to her MSIA degree, Laurie holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineeering degree from GMI Engineering and Management Institute. Ms. Stewart was interviewed by Business Week Online reporter Mica Schneider . Here's an edited transcript of that discussion:
Q: Laurie, Carnegie Mellon offers an MSIA degree, not an MBA degree. How is the school's MSIA distinct? Does the MSIA program offer something different than a traditional MBA program?
A: The MSIA is the equivalent of an MBA -- it's accredited in the same way. But a few things are unique benefits of the MSIA program. First of all, there's the quantitative foundation. It's important to teach fundamental quantitative skills -- skills that students can use no matter what kind of business issue they're facing -- at the beginning of our program. Focusing on cases alone isn't enough.
Another important part of the MSIA is its flexibility, and the general nature of the curriculum we offer. We're big enough that we can offer the range of elective courses that we do. We offer four mini-semesters per academic year. A student typically takes four or five courses each mini-semester. So over the course of two years, students take 35 to 40 different mini-semester courses.
The courses are only seven and a half weeks long. And of the 35 to 40 courses, only 17 are required core courses that are designed to provide the fundamental quantitative, marketing, finance, and accounting skills. By January, the students have the basics and begin selecting electives in the areas that are most interesting to them.
By the time they leave for summer internships, [students] have already completed two or three electives in the areas that they're most interested in. In the end, more than half of their courses at CMU are electives. And we offer more than 100 [electives], covering 12 areas of concentration like finance and operations, electronic commerce [which was announced in Fall 1999] and entrepreneurship. For students interested in those areas, Carnegie Mellon is a really excellent choice.
Along with that, another benefit is the class size here -- we think of it as being optimally sized. In a typical elective course, the average class size is around 30 people, so the benefit to students is great interaction with the faculty.
Q: Does Carnegie Mellon's office of MSIA admissions also handle admissions for the school's Master of Science in Electronic Commerce and the MS in Computational Finance?
A: We're not involved in the admissions for those two programs. The Masters of Science and E-Commerce program has an admissions coordinator and a committee made up of faculty members. The Computational Finance program also has a separate admissions committee. We have a combined degree with Computational Finance. Some applicants are interested in getting a dual degree: the MSIA and the Masters in Computational Finance. In those cases, we handle the admissions for the MSIA portion and then the candidate is evaluated by the admissions committee for Computational Finance.
Q: How do the MS in Computational Finance and the MS in Electronic Commerce programs incorporate business education?
A: The MSIA is a two-year program and is truly a general management program, so it includes all aspects of business. Both the E-Commerce and the Computational Finance programs are one-year programs, so they don't include all the general management content that the MSIA degree does.
The MSIA program just announced a new concentration within the MSIA degree: E-commerce. And there are several electives from the E-Commerce MS degree curriculum that the MSIA students can take. In the Computational Finance area, some of the electives are shared between the two programs. The more popular ones are the fast program electives: Financial Analysis and Securities Trading. In fact, finance is our most popular elective.
For individuals, choosing the right program is part of the decision process they have to go through. If they're interested in general management, the MSIA program is a very good choice. If they're interested in more specialized education, for example E-Commerce or Computational Finance, then those two programs are great options.
Q: Do MSIA candidates need to choose a concentration they'd like to pursue on their applications? If so, does an applicant's choice of major have any bearing on CMU's decision process?
A: No. Through the admissions process and the interview process we talk to applicants about their interest areas, but we don't include that as part of the decision. We're not filling quotas in different subject areas.
Q: How does CMU ensure that the school will have a diverse class when the first class bell rings in August?
A: Because of the wide range of candidates that CMU gets, we can use the same criteria to evaluate all candidates. We tend to get applications from a wide range of backgrounds, including international, professional, and academic. Diversity tends to happen naturally here.
Q: Thirty-three percent of Carnegie Mellon's Class of 2001 MSIA population is foreign. Meanwhile, the school's U.S. students are encouraged to take part in one of CMU's multiple exchange programs. Given the program's international emphasis, should applicants be sure to describe their worldly experiences in their applications?
A: It can be a plus for a candidate. But it isn't going to be a weakness for a candidate who doesn't have international experience. At the moment, 33 countries are represented in the MSIA student body. With such a makeup of the student body and the faculty, the program itself tends to be international in nature.
Q: What areas of the world are best represented in the MSIA program?
A: Roughly, about 40% of our international students come from Asia-Pacific countries; about 20% from Latin American and Caribbean countries; and about 15% from European countries.
Q: Just under 7% of Carnegie Mellon's MSIA class is comprised of underrepresented minorities. How is CMU working to increase that student constituency?
A: We work closely with our students and our alumni. We do a weekend called Challenge Weekend, in partnership with our African-American student organization and alumni, to bring prospective students to campus and talk with them about graduate business programs and Carnegie Mellon.
In addition, a number of company partnerships help us to provide scholarships for minority candidates. Those partnerships, as well as scholarships targeted towards minority students, help us to recruit good candidates for the school.
Q: Come review time, do you and your staff look favorably upon an applicant who has attended Challenge Weekend?
A: The benefit to the candidate is the insight they get about the program. It helps them prepare their essays and for the interview. It's also an indication of their interest level in the program, which can be a plus.
Q: Just 24% of CMU's Class of 2001 is comprised of women -- that's well below the 30% average among BW's Top 25 B-schools. How is Carnegie Mellon working to recruit more women?
A: We partner with our alumni and our students in the recruiting of women. We also offer scholarships for women. The daughters of the school's founder established one last year. It's in honor of their mother, and makes funding available specifically for women students. But the students don't actually apply for this scholarship. It's a merit scholarship. And all the materials that a student submits in their admissions application are used as part of our merit scholarship review process.
Q: If you had your druthers, how would the majority of CMU applicants apply to the MSIA program: online via Embark, using a Multi-App diskette, or putting pen to paper and sending the finished product via snail mail?
A: We don't have a preference. Last year, about three-quarters of the candidates to the programs submitted some form of an electronic application -- either through Multi-App or Embark -- but any one of those three forms works fine in our process.
Q: Carnegie Mellon has three admission deadlines. The first occurs on November 12th and the last on March 10. After the final deadline, the school employs a rolling admission process. When do applicants have the best chance of being admitted?
A: The candidates that are offered admission in all three rounds look very similar to one another, so I would say there's no advantage to applying earlier in the process in terms of your chances of getting in. The advantage to applying earlier is to get your answer sooner. We give answers to candidates within about a month after each deadline, and for people who like to have a confirmation of what they'll be doing in the fall, that's an advantage.
I advise candidates to apply as early as possible but not to rush the process. Because we work to fill the class by March 10th, candidates that apply afterwards will only be offered admission if a space becomes available in the class.
Q: How is it viewed when a candidate submits her application in September for the November 12 deadline? Will the admissions committee even look at the application before the 12th?
A: We do look at [early submissions], but our formal review process doesn't really commence until after November 12th. But it is a point of information when someone submits earlier than that.
Q: Laurie, how can applicants show you and your staff that they're a good match for the MSIA program?
A: First and foremost, they should do their homework. There are lots of ways for candidates to get information about Carnegie Mellon and the MSIA program. Visiting the campus is one great way to do that, though not everybody can. Other good sources of information can be found on our Web site, which has lots of information about the program and things that are happening here in the curriculum, and with our students and alumni. The brochure about the program is a good source of information as well. Talking to alumni or current students -- and many candidates do that -- is really helpful.
Q: If I were a CMU applicant, which aspect of my application should I be most concerned with to make me a competitive player?
A: We're looking for a holistic application, so every part of the application matters. If someone is weaker in one part of the application, they can offset that with strength in another area. We consider [candidates'] academic records, professional experience, GMAT scores, the letters of reference, essays, and interviews. We strongly recommend an interview for candidates that apply for our program.
Q: How does CMU take an applicant's undergraduate alma mater into consideration?
A: We have students in our program that come from a variety of institutions across the U.S. and around the world. And from a variety of majors. We're aware of institutions that are rigorous. For example, in a quantitative dimension, when someone did really well in a technical program, that's a plus in their application. Half of our students in the program have non-technical backgrounds, though.
Q: Are applicants with one year of work experience evaluated differently than candidates with five years under their belts?
A: We really have a strong preference for candidates having at least two years of experience, so when someone has less than that, they really need to be exceptional.
Q: How much professional experience is too much? Is a candidate, say, with 12 years of work experience going to fit into the MSIA program?
A: Most candidates tend to fall in a range of from three to eight years [of work] experience. But we have candidates with more than that who end up joining the program.
Q: Given Carnegie Mellon's quantitative focus, does the school's admissions committee scrutinize its applicants' quantitative GMAT scores?
A: We do look at the quantitative score, but we look at all aspects of the GMAT. Our average accepted applicant scores pretty high in the quantitative area. This year, our first year class's average GMAT score was 653. On the quantitative side, the score is around the 90th percentile, or a 44 raw score average.
Q: Is as much importance attached to the GMAT's Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA)?
A: yes, that's very important. We're looking for applicants who are comfortable with quants and analytics, but we want well-rounded candidates in our program. We want students to be successful here, and the quant aspect is part of that. But we're also looking for candidates who can show they'll be successful professionals -- that means [having] solid experience and background; and strong teamwork, communication, and leadership skills.
Q: Let's move on to the recommendations. Who should write the school's three required rec forms?
A: Three professional references are the most helpful. The best references come from people who know the candidate well. We like to see at least one from a person who has been the candidate's supervisor in a professional setting, and can talk specifically about the candidate's abilities and contributions in their professional life.
One could be an academic reference because this is a professional degree program. For candidates who have maintained contact with, or have worked closely with an academic reference, then the academic reference can be very helpful.
Q: Do you disregard glowing recommendations?
A: We like to see that the person that wrote the recommendation is really supportive of the candidate and can talk specifics, give examples of what kinds of contributions the applicant has made, and [describe] why they would be a good candidate for business school overall.
Q: What's the worst thing an applicant can do on CMU's three required essays?
A: The worst thing a candidate can do is not answer the question that's being asked. It sounds pretty simple, but it's pretty important to us that the candidate take the time to think through the answers to the questions.
In particular, we want to know why the candidate is considering Carnegie Mellon? Sometimes candidates try to tailor essays that they're submitting for other schools. But the best essays are the ones where they really understand themselves as candidates and understand our program and write their essays accordingly.
(Editor's note: Carnegie Mellon's three required essays for application to the class of 2002 are:
牋?B>A. "What are your reasons for undertaking graduate study at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration? Please describe how your experience, your education and your graduate training at this school and your future career plans relate to each other. Describe your short-term and long-term objectives and how you plan to achieve them."
牋?B>B. "Because GSIA students work closely together, we would like to understand what there is about your background and your experiences that would make a contribution to the diversity of the entering class and the educational experience of the other students."
牋?B>C. "Please describe an ethical issue that you have faced, how you dealt with the situation and what the outcome was.")
Q: Carnegie Mellon candidates are encouraged to submit their application materials before their interview so an admission representative knows what to ask. Does submitting the application beforehand affect who interviews an applicant?
A: Not at all. We just ask for the application in advance so that we can prepare for the interview. That way, in the interview we not only walk through the candidate's background to learn more about them, but if there was anything in the application that we had a question about, it's productive to ask.
Q: What kinds of questions can an interviewee expect to hear during an interview?
A: Questions could be anything about the application. Sometimes I'm interested in why an applicant moved from one professional position to another, in order to understand the thought processes [involved] and how their career has developed. We ask questions that revolve around applicants' experiences being part of a team, being a leader, and making decisions.
Q: What attributes are you looking for when you interview MSIA candidates?
A: We're interested not only in getting details about their background, but in also [gauging] their comfort level while interacting in an interview format. That gives us an idea of their communication skills. For candidates who are not native English speakers, it's part of our assessment of their English language skills.
Q: How long do Carnegie Mellon interviews last?
A: A typical interview is somewhere around 45 minutes. We leave about an hour's time for face-to-face interviews. That gives us a chance to review the file beforehand -- we give ourselves time for preparation -- and also follow-up after the interview. The time we spend with the candidate is often less than an hour.
Q: What are the goals of CMU's off-campus forums and receptions?
A: The forums and receptions are for the candidates who cannot make a journey to campus. They're a great way for us to connect, to allow a candidate to talk to someone in person and gather more information about the program.
We have a listing on our Web site of all of the events scheduled. And when we're traveling, we notify people in our database of the events happening nearby to provide applicants with an opportunity to meet the committee.
Q: How is attendance at the receptions viewed by the committee?
A: It shows that the candidate is interested. The advantage to the candidate is that they learn more about the program. That deeper knowledge can help them when they write their essays or when they have an interview with us.
Q: How many applicants are placed on Carnegie Mellon's wait list? And how many eventually make it off?
A: It varies, but somewhere around 80 applicants are offered the opportunity to become a member of the wait list. Last year we weren't able to offer admission to anyone from the wait list.
Q: Once placed on the school's wait list, what's the best way for me to show you that Carnegie Mellon is my first choice?
A: Wait list candidates should first let us know that they are interested in being a member of the wait list. During the spring, I schedule some appointments with wait list candidates who'd like to talk about their status. We aren't able to make a final decision about our wait list students until the second week in June, so if candidates want to submit anything to augment their application, they're welcome to do that.
Q: Ultimately, what is it that separates accepted applicants from the wait listed and denied folks?
A: In general, accepted candidates, on a holistic basis, present a stronger application overall. We think about three general areas when we make an admissions decision. One is the candidate's potential for academic and professional success. The second area is their overall experiences and background, and their communication, teamwork and leadership skills. Finally, we're looking for candidates whose goals are consistent with what our program can help them achieve in their professional life. Candidates who are successful in the admissions process are just stronger across the board.
Q: Fill-in-the-blank: Applicants should apply to CMU if they're interested in...
A: A strong general business education within a program that has strengths in Finance and Operations, E-Commerce, and Entrepreneurship; smaller classes; a heavy emphasis on both teamwork and technology.
Q: And on the otherside of the coin? MBA candidates should not apply to CMU if they're interested...
A: We don't have every concentration. For example, healthcare management. So for applicants interested in that, Carnegie Mellon isn't the best choice.
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发表于 2003-10-6 03:57:00
