Kellogg’s New Head Adcom: A Class of ’06 MBA

Kellogg students watch commercials during the Super Bowl at the Allen Center Atrium in Evanston, Illinois, February 4, 2018.
Photo by Jim Young for Kellogg

Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management dipped into its own alumni base to name its new director of full-time MBA admissions. Kellogg has announced that Renee Cherubin, who graduated with her MBA from Northwestern in 2006, is the new chief of MBA admissions. She succeeds Melissa Rapp, who has joined Emory University’s Goizueta Business School as associate dean of MBA admissions after a three and one-half year stint as Kellogg’s full-time MBA director of admissions.

Cherubin has worked in the admissions office at the Kellogg School for the past seven years as director of the Evening and Weekend MBA and Executive MBA programs. Prior to that, she worked at Deloitte. In an introductory blog post on the school’s website, Cherubin details a little about her background and why she transitioned from a career in consulting to MBA admissions.

“I’m most energized when I’m focused on people, their capabilities and how to make them thrive,” she writes. “And that is precisely what I would be doing in the admissions director role: curating a diverse, top-quality, well-rounded community, which is the lifeblood of the MBA student experience.”

KELLOGG’S 2020 CLASS WAS ONE OF THE MOST DIVERSE

Cherubin began her Kellogg career as the director of admissions for the Evening and Weekend MBA in 2012. Three years later, she became director of admissions of the Executive MBA program. Under her leadership, the Evening and Weekend MBA program launched an accelerated format, allowing students to graduate within a year. While leading admissions for the Executive MBA program, the school had a five-year high for enrolled women at 31%.

“We have nearly tripled our global elective offerings, added even more personalized career coaching and driven a five-year high in female enrollment,” Cherubin wrote in her blog post. “I am proud beyond words of the passionate, innovative teams behind these milestones.”

Now she will serve as director of admissions of the Full-Time MBA program, officially becoming head of admissions for all three MBA programs offered at Kellogg at different points in her seven-year stint at Northwestern. Cherubin takes over a full-time program that admitted 46% women, 27% U.S. minorities, and 34% international students. That diverse class also boasted an average GMAT score of 732 and an undergraduate GPA of 3.6.

Renee Cherubin. Courtesy photo

‘EAGER TO LEVERAGE MY VIEWPOINT AS A KELLOGG FULL-TIME ALUMNA’

Kellogg’s full-time MBA application is officially open for entry into the program for fall 2020. In addition to the traditional MBA application process, including standardized test scores, recommendations, and written essays, Kellogg is one of the early adopting schools to include a video essay. After submitting the application and making the payment, applicants are asked to answer three questions on video, including an introduction to the admissions committee, what path the applicants are interested in pursuing and how the MBA program will get them there, and an undisclosed randomly selected prompt.

During her time at Kellogg, Cherubin took full advantage of the school’s global opportunities, traveling to 11 countries and completing a consulting project in South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia. Cherubin also served as the Student VP for the Career Management Center. She also made many personal connections that have lasted more than a decade.

“Two classmates later became bridesmaids in my wedding,” Cherubin wrote in her blog post. “Five men and women I met during Kellogg’s international orientation trip, KWEST, still make an annual cross-country reunion trip, bringing along their spouses and children more than 10 years after we’ve graduated.”

Cherubin will officially take over for the next application cycle that starts with a round one deadline of Sept. 18th (see Kellogg’s 2019-2020 MBA Application Deadlines).

“I am eager to leverage my viewpoint as a Kellogg full-time alumna,” Cherubin wrote, “combined with the lessons from the many innovations we’ve made in Kellogg’s Executive and Evening & Weekend MBA Programs, to continue to evolve our work in Full-Time admissions.”

DON’T MISS: MEET NORTHWESTERN KELLOGG’S MBA CLASS OF 2020 or AT KELLOGG, TECH BECOMES NEARLY AS POPULAR AS CONSULTING