5 Questions With: Boston Questrom’s Leadership Team

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Admissions: 5 Questions With Nick SanAngelo, Director of Residential MBA Admissions & Graduate Financial Aid at Boston Questrom

Nick SanAngelo leads recruitment, admissions strategy, and financial aid for Boston Questrom’s residential MBA programs, overseeing both the enrollment pipeline and the financial pathways that help students access graduate education. His work spans everything from developing data‑driven recruitment plans to managing scholarship budgets and guiding applicants through the financial realities of pursuing an MBA.

Before stepping into his current role, SanAngelo spent about a decade working across Questrom’s graduate admissions ecosystem. He’s supported specialized master’s programs, evaluating thousands of applicants annually crafting outreach strategies for both domestic and international candidates.

P&Q: What is the biggest misconception prospective students have about your school or about business education more broadly?

SanAngelo: One of the biggest misconceptions is that you need a traditional business background to pursue an MBA, or that an MBA is only for someone who already knows exactly what they want to do next. In reality, a business degree can be designed for people with a wide range of professional and educational backgrounds. At Questrom, we see students come to the MBA with experience in technology, healthcare, the nonprofit sector, education, the military, the arts, and many other fields. They bring different perspectives and expertise into the classroom, while developing the business knowledge, leadership skills, and network to take the next step in their careers. An MBA can give you the tools to build on your previous experiences and expand where it can take you.

P&Q: What changes do you see in students applying to business school compared to five or 10 years ago, and how is it changing the way you recruit and evaluate?

SanAngelo: One of the changes we’ve seen is that prospective students are increasingly intentional about how an MBA fits into their career journey. Five or 10 years ago, more candidates pursued an MBA as a traditional next step. Today, we see more students using the degree to make a career pivot, whether that means moving into a new industry, changing functions, transitioning into leadership, or exploring entrepreneurship.

I also think the way applicants define the return on investment of an MBA has evolved. Financial outcomes are still important, but we’re hearing more students talk about wanting to do work that feels meaningful to them. They are thinking about the impact they want to have and whether their career aligns with their personal values.

That has changed how we recruit and evaluate candidates. We spend more time understanding not just what someone has accomplished, but where they want to go and why an MBA is the right tool to get them there. We want to understand what they are trying to accomplish, what skills they hope to develop, and what they will bring to the classroom. That makes the process more holistic and personalized while giving students the opportunity to make the experience their own.

P&Q: With the ROI of an MBA under more scrutiny than ever, how do you make the case to a hesitant applicant?

SanAngelo: Start with their individual goals. An MBA is a significant investment, and applicants should think about what they want to accomplish and whether the degree can meaningfully help them get there.

Financial outcomes certainly matter, but the value of an MBA can go beyond salary growth in the short term. It can provide access to new career paths, a network that continues after graduation, stronger leadership capabilities, and opportunities to develop skills that can be applied throughout a career.

We’ve made a significant investment in our career services team because helping students achieve their career goals is a critical part of the MBA experience. It’s not enough to provide a great education and then expect students to figure out how to translate that experience into their next opportunity. Through career support and practical learning opportunities, we want to help students build the skills, experience, and confidence to take that next step.

Ultimately, I would ask: What are you trying to accomplish, and what is preventing you from getting there today? Then ask whether an MBA can meaningfully help close that gap. An MBA shouldn’t be something you pursue simply because it feels like the next step. It should be an intentional investment in your career and your future.

P&Q: How is AI changing what you look for in an applicant, or how you’re preparing students for the job market?

SanAngelo: I’m not sure that AI has fundamentally changed what we look for in an applicant. We still want to understand a candidate’s experiences, what they have learned from them, what they hope to gain from an MBA, and how they see the degree fitting into their goals. Qualities like intellectual curiosity, adaptability, taking responsibility, and emotional intelligence have always been important to us. If anything, I think AI has made those qualities even more important.

As more of the application process can potentially be supported by AI, we want to make sure we are still getting to know the person behind the application. That is one reason our interview process is so important. We want to hear candidates talk about their experiences in their own words and get a better sense of who they are beyond what can be captured on a resume/CV or in an application.

I also think AI makes the personalized side of the admissions process even more important. There is a lot that technology can help us do, but it shouldn’t replace getting to know the individual.

P&Q: What’s one thing about your program that doesn’t show up in the rankings or brochure but you wish more applicants knew?

SanAngelo: One thing I wish more applicants knew is how much of the Questrom experience is focused on making students “day-one ready.” A lot of what you see in a brochure/website or ranking focuses on the curriculum, faculty, rankings, or career outcomes, but I think it can be harder to see how intentionally we connect what students learn in the classroom to the work they will actually be doing after graduation.

Experiential learning is a big part of that. Through opportunities like Questrom Consulting, the Center for Action Learning, and our industry tracks, students can apply what they are learning to real business challenges and work through problems with others. They are building skills they can take directly into the workplace.

At the same time, so much of the learning happens through the people around you. Our students come from different industries, backgrounds, and experiences, and they bring those perspectives into the classroom and into their teams. That creates an environment where students learn as much from each other as they do from the curriculum.

We want students to leave Questrom with more than a degree. We want them to feel prepared to contribute from day one and to have a community they can continue to lean on long after graduation.

Next page: Career services: A Q&A with Monica Parker-James, Associate Dean of the Feld Center for Career and Alumni Engagement

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