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New York University, Stern School of Business. File photo

New MBA Requirement: Emotional Intelligence

NYU’s Stern School of Business has a new requirement for MBA applicants based on emotional intelligence (EQ).

The EQ requirement is a 250-word statement from friends or coworkers that demonstrates the applicant’s EQ qualities such as self-awareness, empathy, communication and self-management.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the EQ requirement was put into place by NYU to rethink recommendations required for MBA admission.

This requirement was implemented to combat MBA applicants who ghostwrite drafts of their recommendations for professors or supervisors. A 2014 survey, by the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants, found that “roughly 40% of M.B.A. applicants said at least one manager asked them to draft their own recommendation letter.”

The recommendations “should be in the words of the recommender,” Isser Gallogly, associate dean of MBA admissions at Stern, tells the Wall Street Journal.

Linda Abraham, founder and president of admissions consulting firm Accepted.com, says NYU’s EQ requirement is a way for schools to seek deeper insight into an applicant’s emotional traits.

“The implicit assumption [is] that perhaps supervisors and bosses may not be the best people to provide examples of emotional intelligence,” Abraham says.

In addition to the new EQ requirement, NYU also requires two professional recommendations. You can learn more about NYU’s MBA application here.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, NYU Stern, Quartz