UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA Chat
Jim Dean, Associate Dean of the Kenan-Flagler Business School
Sherry Wallace, Director of MBA Admissions
问：一旦申请材料齐全，你们是如何处理的？多少人参与评审的过程？
答：Applications will be reviewed by at least two members of the admissions committee.
In addition to the application reviews, the interviews are often done by a third member of the admissions committee.
After the application reads are complete and the interview write up is gathered, then the applicant is presented before the entire committee for discussion and a decision.
问：录取委员会共包括多少人？ 都有什么背景？
答：There are about 10 people on our admissions committee. At any given session 6 or 7 are present.
We are pleased to have a committee that is comprised of people from a variety of backgrounds. Several members of the committee have Kenan-Flagler MBAs and others have MBAs from other fine business schools. Some have graduate degrees in other areas, too.
About half the committee has previous corporate work experience.
问：在您眼里，申请人最重要的是什么？
答：The most important thing is for the applicant to present himself/herself honestly. After all, it is important that there be a fit.
问：请描述一下K-F的学生身上的三个特点？
答：Attributes we would like to see in KFBS students include being a team player, leadership potential, and highly motivated and proactive.
As admissions director, I must ensure that incoming KFBS MBA students have solid analytic and quantitative ability, strong leadership profiles, and are focused on an end goal.
问：过去有没有作假的申请案例？
答：In the 2+ years I've been here as AD, I have not witnessed fraud.
There are times it seems I'm reading essays that sound very much like ones I've read before.
Also, there are times when certain essays have different flows/writing styles from the rest of the applicant's essays. That always makes you wonder.
We know that applicants are presenting themselves in the best light they can. That is expected. Untruths are an issue, however. Generally we can confirm the real situations when we look at the letters of recommendation and [get] feedback from the interview.
问：KFBS 的在校生参与录取工作吗？
答： Students do not review applications or interview candidates at KFBS,
However, as the Chairperson for the Admissions Advisory Board, I organize several Admission related activities.
These activities include providing Student Greeters in the Admissions Office at all times so applicants can talk with students and ask questions. I also arrange for student/applicant lunches and tours of the school. Lastly, I help to coordinate the Welcome Weekend in April for admitted students.
问：KFBS 的强项是什么？
答：I believe we have a unique combination of a very rigorous program and a very supportive culture. Our students and alumni are passionate about the school, and are willing to help the school and one another in a way that I believe is very special.
We are located in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, so we are surrounded by and take advantage of relationships with such firms as Nortel, Cisco, Red Hat, IBM, etc...
I didn't answer the question before about what we are looking for, but my answer is similar to Rachel's and Sherry's: leadership potential, analytical skills, and interpersonal/communication skills.
问：请谈一下你们的申请截止日期？
答：Our third (of four) deadline is Jan 12th. This is the last deadline in which candidates have a chance to be considered for merit fellowships.
Our final deadline is first week of March, but it's possible that we could be very short on class space by the time we review fourth deadline candidates.
问：UNC在市场营销方面很强，并且与周边的高技术企业联系紧密。越来越多的管理咨询公司和投资银行正在成为你们毕业生的雇主.请您谈谈这些发展？
答： Our Office of Career Services has been working for several years to bring to campus a high percentage of the most desirable recruiters...
Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse First Boston, Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Booz Allen, just to name a few.
问：班级的多样性如何？
答：In each of the past two incoming classes, the diversity has been evident. About a third female. A third are foreign nationals. Within the US citizen/perm resident population, about 25% are minority (African Amer, Hispan Amer, Asian Amer or Native Amer)
First year of school, students are assigned to a team. This team is very diverse with men, female, and international students. You work together the whole year on all assigned team project. Functional backgrounds for team members are also very diverse from marketing, finance, to entrepreneurs.
问：申请人数有所增加吗？
答：Applications increased 50% for the class of 2002. So far, we are seeing increases again for spots in the class of 2003
We have only 2 deadlines tallied at this point, and the first two deadlines usually comprise about 30 to 40% of the total applications we will receive.
It's hard to tell on the admissions side, but that could be part of our increase in apps. However, we started to see increased apps even before the world turned around last spring.
It's too early to predict how much the percent increase will be. Right now , it's up about 15%. The third deadline will be the most telling period since it is our largest volume deadline.
问：雇主们欢迎多样性的班级吗？尤其是国际学生较多？他们就业状况如何？
答： We are pleased that our international students are getting very favorable interest from the recruiters. While it is true that some companies do not hire foreign nationals, we are finding more and more who will.
Our office of career services has done an excellent job of educating many of our top employers on the relative ease of hiring foreign nationals.
With that said, I do want to stress that it is a bit more difficult for international students seeking employment in the U.S. than it is for domestic students. English language skills must be very strong in order for you to be successful. You also must do your homework and prepare well for the interviews.
Three years ago, international students were about 20% of the UNC MBA class. Now that we are at almost a third international, we have not seen a rise in the percentage of international students without job placements upon graduation.
I understand that international students tend to have more options for full-time employment than they have for internships. That is because hiring organizations often do not have as many internship opportunities to offer (especially consulting firms).
问：是不是更多毕业生择业时转向传统产业？
答： To some extent, although there is a considerable amount of interest in e-commerce work in larger firms. The dotcoms are only the tip of the iceberg for e-commerce placements.
We also have a fair number of people going into high-tech firms, in various functions, e.g. marketing, finance. HP, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and many others along these lines are popular.
问：最受雇主欢迎的是哪个专业方向的毕业生？
答： Our biggest groups from a hiring standpoint are management consulting, marketing, and corporate finance.
问：你们对TOEFL 成绩有什么要求？
答：TOEFL is important. We expect to see 600 total with 60 in each section on the paper test. On the computer test, we look for 250 with 25 in each section.
问：你们毕业生的就业率如何？
答：99% of our domestic students have offers within three months after graduation. 96% of our international students do.
问：是不是所有学生都有实习的机会？
答：Yes. Everyone who wanted an internship got one.
100% of the students seeking internships have been placed over the past 2 seasons.
Jim Dean Assoc Dean (ID=15) (Jan 9, 2001 1:40:41 PM)
You might be interested in knowing that 70% of our students get job offers based on their internships, and about half accept them.
问：今年是不是有更多的申请人被放到waitlist上？
答：Actually, I don't think we waitlisted as many applicants this year as we did same deadline last year.
I realize that being waitlisted is very frustrating for candidates. Still, it means their candidacy is still alive.
问：你们的GMAT 录取平均分是多少？
答：The class of 2002 had a GMAT score of 666.
问：你们的班级规模有多大？
答： Kenan-Flagler has one of the smallest class sizes among top b-schools — about 260 students.
Because of our small size, we simply cannot offer as many invitations as can larger programs. This is why many outstanding candidates will be denied.
问：关于工作经验，你们是如何权衡质量与时间的长短呢？会不会降低工作经历的要求？什么领域的工作经验最被看好/
答：Quality of work experience is as important as number of years. In fact, it is more important to have RESULTS in your career to date.
We have no plans to lower the work experience — it's always a function of the applicant pool.
This is the one thing I wish I could make all applicants understand: they are not competing against some existing bar. They are competing against a pool.
The pool changes every year. Applicants that were most competitive two years ago are not in the top ranks this year.
So far, it appears that the depth of applicants in the pool is such that we will once again have a class with 4 1/2 to 5 years of experience on average.
