Six Key Factors To Impact MBA Admissions In 2016–2017

A Harvard MBA from the Class of 2013, Chad Losee has been named managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid

4)     A New Dean of Admissions at HBS: Last year, Dee Leopold announced that she would be stepping down after more than a decade as managing director of MBA admissions at HBS. After interviewing approximately 100 candidates for the position, HBS has just chosen one of its own recent MBAs, Chad Losee, as her successor. However, Ms. Leopold will continue to work in HBS admissions, serving as program director for the 2+2 Program she initiated and which has truly

reshaped the HBS class. This means Mr. Losee will have easy access to her input and advice during his transition, but he undoubtedly has opinions and plans of his own, and ultimately, the proverbial “buck” for HBS applicants will stop with him. He will surely bring some fresh ideas to the position, and the next class admitted under his purview will bear that imprint—only, no one yet knows what that imprint will be. Approximately ten thousand HBS applicants in the coming year will therefore have to deal with some level of uncertainty for part of the admissions season. For anyone concerned about what Mr. Losee’s preferences might turn out to be, we offer this word to the wise: rather than focusing on what you think he wants and trying to match that, put your efforts into conveying who you truly are as an applicant.

Stanford GSB Dean Garth Saloner on campus in August 2015 – Ethan Baron photo

5)     A New Day at the Stanford GSB: If we are going to consider the impact of the changing of the guard in HBS’s admissions office, we should also discuss the impact of a new dean at the Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Although a school’s admissions director clearly plays a central role in shaping each incoming class, he/she must still answer to the dean, who sets the tone for the school as a whole and has certain expectations of the applicants who are admitted to it. We anticipate that the scandal that recently rocked the Stanford GSB will have little to no impact on the program’s application volume or on the prestige of this vaunted institution, but the new dean will undoubtedly have opinions about the desired composition of the class and what makes an excellent manager—and this will ultimately be felt and applied in the admissions office.

6)     Higher GMAT Averages: The GMAT averages at the leading MBA

programs seem to rise higher and higher each year—almost impossibly so. For the classes that matriculated in the fall of 2015, the Stanford GSB’s boasted the highest average GMAT score at 733! Where can we go from here? Higher, actually, and here is why:

a.      Changes in the GMAT: GMAC, the organization that administers

the GMAT, has taken steps to make applicants more comfortable with the idea of taking the test multiple times and more frequently. Last year, GMAC made changes that allowed candidates to take the test every 16 days, rather than every 31 days (up to a maximum of five times per year). We assume that the goal of this change was to encourage individuals to take the test more often. Because the MBA programs include only your top score in their averages, this gives you additional incentive to take the test several times (or more!) so as to do your very best. Further, GMAC allows applicants to see and cancel any scores they do not want to appear on their score reports, thereby taking the pain out of a cancellation and increasing an applicant’s willingness to try again. The bottom line here is that more candidates taking the GMAT more times should translate into higher averages.

b.      The Rise of the GRE: The GRE and the GMAT are equals in the eyes of almost every admissions officer. HBS’s Dee Leopold told me directly, “We view these tests as equal and have no preference,” a sentiment echoed by Yale School of Management’s (SOM’s) Bruce DelMonico, who added, “We wouldn’t accept the test if it were going to disadvantage people.” The Yale SOM has been a leader in accepting the GRE, with more than 20% of its applicants having taken the alternate exam. How does the increasing acceptance of the GRE increase GMAT averages? Some applicants treat the GRE as a “work-around.” If they fear doing poorly on the GMAT, they take the GRE instead, because the GRE is not yet weighed in some MBA rankings. In effect, the rise of the GRE has eliminated some weaker test takers from the applicant pool. We must note, however, that this is not a foolproof work-around; although your low GRE score may not reduce a school’s GMAT average, you will still need to prove that you are capable of managing a rigorously quantitative curriculum.

Jeremy Shinewald is founder and President of mbaMission, a leading MBA admissions consulting firm. You can read more about Shinewald and his firm in our MBA admissions consulting directory.