BW- Columbia's Assistant Dean for Admissions

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Even as the financial-services community sharply curtailed MBA hiring in response to the economic slowdown, ColumbiaBusiness School was able to exploit its New York City location to help land its graduates jobs with Wall Street firms. In2002, almost three-quarters of its grads had offers in hand at graduation. The B-school's combination of stellar financescholars and proximity to the financial markets' heartbeat has made it an increasingly alluring destination for MBAs, saysLinda Meehan, assistant dean for admissions at Columbia, which placed No. 7 in BusinessWeek's latest MBA rankings.

Q: There were concerns that application volume for the recently admitted class of 2005 would drop, as news of theprolonged bad job market made potential applicants wary.
A: We expected a drop this year, and, unfortunately, we got what we expected. But the bottom line is that we've had anunprecedented increase in applications in the 11 years I've been here. Compared with last year, we were down 17%. Butcomparing [class of '05 volume] to [class of '03], we're up. We had 6,100 applications, far more than we need to select [anew class].

The most significant difference this year is the yield [the percentage of students who accepted an offer of admission].This year our yield is 76%. We've been kind of in the low 70s -- 70%, 71% -- and to skyrocket to 76% is probably the biggest story.

Q: The school fared well with job placement in a down market Do you think that accounts for the rise in yield? Or doesit simply reflect a desire by students to be in New York?
A: I think it's a combination. Columbia over the past few years has gained more attention. When you think of businessschools, people are now mentioning three to four schools, and Columbia is always in that group.

The other significant reason is the location. With this kind of economy, there's a greater appreciation for the ease withwhich you can access the work environment -- both in terms of education and of placement.

Q: Columbia, being in New York, has a strong reputation in finance for careers on Wall Street. What percentage of yourstudents pursue finance as a major?
A: I'm not sure I can give you the exact statistic, because Columbia has a very flexible curriculum where students don't have to concentrate in one area. But if you were to ask: How many people at Columbia take finance electives? Probably all of them do. The breadth of those courses and the innovation in them is second to none.

Q: Would you say that finance is one of the most popular areas of study at the school?
A: Absolutely. It's our hallmark. One of the reasons people choose to come here, whether they're going into finance ornot, is a recognition that finance is what drives every economy and every industry. So having a grasp of it, even if you'regoing into marketing or media, is knowledge you want.

Q: Can you tell me about what's happening with international students, given the increasing reluctance of U.S. companiesto hire foreign nationals, plus the cost of a U.S. MBA? (See BW, 12/23/02, "Yanking the Welcome Mat for Foreign MBAs".) And now, with the politicalrhetoric over the visa issue heating up a bit (see BW, 8/25/03, "Too ManyVisas For Techies?"), is that having any effect on international students and how they view Columbia and other U.S.programs?
A: Most of the international group is concerned more about cost than placement. That probably is because I'm so directwhen I talk about placement. I say: "In this environment, recognize if you're coming to a U.S. school, you're coming forthe education primarily, for the network, for all of that. But more than likely, you'll have to find a job in your homecountry or in an area where you can get a work visa, and it probably won't be in the States."

We were very up front. And that didn't seem to bother anybody because there's always the hope that in a two-year period,this can change -- and it can.

The concern was more over: How am I going to afford to go to a school like Columbia? I was, again, very up front, saying:"We have some fellowships that include international students, we have a great loan program that lets international students take out loans in the same way that U.S. students can. But we're not going to give you money to come here. You're going to have to figure that out on your own."

There were people who said: "I'm not going to apply to Columbia because I can't afford it." But there were others who didnot. For instance, when I was in Argentina last year I thought, "What am I doing here?" But it's one of the mostrepresented countries in the class coming in this year.

Q: Where did you most see the pullback because of cost concerns?
A: I would say probably Asia. Europe remained enormously strong for us, as always. I'm trying to keep a balance ofhaving one-third of the international students each from Europe, Asia, and South America -- that's what my dean tells me to do. But right now Europe is out ahead, and Latin America is the lowest, and Asia is in the middle. Asia was probably thehardest hit, and I think it had to do with the devaluation of the currency.

Concern about visas scared a lot of people falsely. Although we've had some difficulties with visas, we've had far fewerthan I expected.

Q: In which countries did you have the most difficulty with the visas?
A: China. We had five admitted students who kept getting turned down [by the INS]. Two of them just opted to deferadmission for a year because they didn't want to cut it too close to the wire. Two of them had no problem after the secondinterview, and one of them got cleared after the third. I also admitted a young man from Indonesia -- he's supposed to behere today [for orientation]. My guess is that he's not going to make it [today].

Q: Have you granted admissions deferrals for others with visa problems?
A: Yes. Historically we have gotten out of the deferral business, but this year we got back in it. We just felt it wasthe right thing to do.

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Q: You have reworked your essayquestions for this year. Applicants are required to write four essays. The first one asks: "What are your short-termand long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve those goals?" That seems like a prettystraightforward question.
A: Yep. Every school has that question in their application, but no one asks it so directly

Q: Do applicants consistently make mistakes on it that result in a less than stellar essay?
A: One of the glaring mistakes is that they try to answer our question with an essay written for another school. Theyjust cut and paste. That's a real mistake.

Also, a lot of people are unsure of where they're headed, or their goals are unrealistic given their background. They don'tthink it through. And that's a huge mistake, because we know that, at least before the economy weakened, most people goingto business school were going to change careers.

We're evaluating people not just on an answer, but on their thinking, their thought processes, their analysis of their ownskills and strengths. There are people who can do almost anything because of who they are. The emotional quotient kicks in, and they can just do it. What people really need to understand is that there isn't a right answer. Just think through what we're asking, and let us have some insight into how you're going to accomplish this.

The other obvious mistake is when they've done no research on the school, and they haven't a clue. That's a huge mistake.

Q: The second essay asks, "If you could change one decision you have made, what would it be and why?" What insights areyou looking for with this question?
A: Well, if I give you an answer to that, and this goes up online, everybody is going to answer the way I'm tellingthem to. I'm really hesitant to do that because one of the reasons we select some of these questions is to try and get toknow the individual and to find out something about them that we may not get through a recommendation or another avenue oranother essay.

Q: Fair enough. I've also heard from other admissions directors that they're adding more idiosyncratic questions ontheir applications so that they can avoid getting generic answers to the questions typically asked on B-schoolapplications.
A: [Avoiding generic answers] is hard to do -- it really is. That would be everybody's goal, but I'm not sure any of usreally do that. If you're looking at the top programs, we're attracting similar applicants. The people who apply here alsoapply to the other top schools, and vice versa. There are very few exceptions.

We're somewhat self-selecting, in the sense that somebody who wouldn't be comfortable in a big city wouldn't apply toColumbia. I'm not sure that our essay questions discover that, though they may to some degree.

The value of the question, "If you could change one decision you made...," is that some people will write an essay abouttheir personal life and what an enormous impact that decision may have had on it. As an admissions officer, you gain aninsight into this human being, which is part of what we want to do.

More commonly [in response to that question] people will talk about a business decision. In that case, it'll depend on whatthey choose to discuss whether we learn a bit about who they are.

Q: You have an early-decision option [the deadline is October 15]. Is there any advantage to applying early, other than getting notification of a decision more quickly?
A: Absolutely. There's a lot of controversy this year, since we made early decision binding on the student. If they'regood candidates, and they know they want to be here, they're probably going to get in.

That's because I've got 485 to 500 spots for them. When I start reading for the general pool, there are another 5,000 or soapplications that may not look quite as strong in that larger pool [as applications do in the smaller early-decision pool].So the advantage is, if you're a solid, good candidate and you apply early decision, you have every likelihood of gettingin.

Q: MBA students at Columbia will be very wrapped up in academics and the job hunt and their various extra curricularactivities, so how big a role does New York City play in their social lives? Do students live and hang out in New York Cityon the weekends, or do they spend their time mostly on campus?
A: They definitely live in the city. But they also live with their [Columbia] community. Columbia isn't a commuterschool like it was back in the 1960s, when my brother-in-law was here. In those days, people literally came to school inthe morning and left in the evening.

The majority of the students do live around Morningside Heights. A lot of them live on the Upper West Side. Some live onthe Upper East Side, some down in Greenwich Village, and some in Brooklyn, even. One of the advantages that students getwhen they come to Columbia is they have choices and opportunities and can do whatever they want.

When I was welcoming some of the 120 international students who arrived on campus today, we were talking about where theywere when the lights went out on Aug. 14 -- obviously a good icebreaker. And there was a whole group that was in BrooklynHeights. I said, "Are you all living down there?" And they said, "No, but one of the new students has an apartment downhere, and we all came down to be together." They were in the park taking pictures of Manhattan when the lights went out.So, our students primarily are around campus, but they play in the rest of the city, too.