Q&A With Chicago GSB Admissions Director Rose Martinelli

s

Today marks the debut of a new content series here at Clear Admit – Admissions Director Q&A. In our first installment, Rose Martinelli, director of admissions at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB), shares her thoughts and insights on the upcoming application season.

Read on to learn about some of the features that makes Chicago’s MBA program unique, as well as just what process the school’s admission committee follows when reviewing prospective students’ applications. Our warm thanks to Rose for taking time out of her busy schedule to participate in this Clear Admit exclusive!

Later this week, we’ll feature our next installment in the series, a similar question-and-answer exchange with Dawna Clarke, director of admissions at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. So be sure to check back!

Clear Admit: What is the one area of your program that you wish applicants knew more about?

Rose Martinelli: One of the most common misperceptions about Chicago GSB is that our flexibility and commitment to individual choice has an adverse impact on our community. I think it is important for prospective students to understand that our community is strong, and student commitment to this school and one another is a direct result of the flexibility we provide.

At Chicago GSB you create your own community – you develop and cultivate relationships that mean something to you as a student and future professional. Because of the flexibility in our curriculum your classmates will change regularly, causing your networks to constantly change.

At Chicago GSB you will develop vast networks and meet people from all different walks of life who share the same belief … that each path to an MBA is a personal one and success is predicated on leveraging a strong community, not competing against it. At Chicago, ideas compete, people collaborate and community, like our curriculum, is not dictated but rather facilitated through the classroom, student groups and the vibrant diversity of the city of Chicago.

s

CA: Walk us through the life of an application in your office from an operational standpoint. What happens between the time an applicant clicks ‘submit’ and the time the committee offers a final decision (e.g. how many “reads” does it get, how long is each “read,” who reads it, does the committee convene to discuss it as a group, etc.).

RM: First it is important to note that Chicago GSB’s full-time program office does not start reading applications until the application deadline, and although we do not encourage you to wait until the last second to submit your application, we do encourage you to take your time to prepare the best application you possibly can.

Once you have submitted your application our operations team makes sure it is complete, prints the entire application and then passes your file to one of our admissions fellows (hired, second-year students) who reads your application. Admissions fellows make a recommendation to the committee to either invite you to an interview or not. The application is then passed on to an admissions director who goes through the exact same process. If decisions match and both members of the committee agree, a mid-decision is released to the applicant. If they do not agree, the dean of admissions reviews the files and makes a tie-breaking decision.

At mid-decision, an applicant is either invited to interview or denied admission. If you are invited to interview you are given an opportunity to sign up for an interview with an alumnus in your area or come to campus to meet with one of our admissions fellows. Interviews are standardized, and all are weighted the same regardless of who you interview with.

Once the interview is complete and the interview feedback is submitted, the complete file is given to an admissions director who has not previously reviewed the application. She or he makes a decision to admit, committee or deny the candidate.

Similar to the first phase of the process, if all decisions match a final decision is made. If there is disagreement, a file goes to committee, where a group of admissions directors debate the file and make a final recommendation to the dean to either admit, waitlist or deny the applicant.

s

CA: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read the essays? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? One key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write them?

RM: One thing many applicants miss in the essay section is that success in this section is dictated more by strategy than creativity. When applying to a top business school it is very hard to find something that can truly differentiate you amidst an elite group of applicants. So spending time thinking about that one creative truly unforgettable detail or topic that is going to move that committee is not realistic. Instead, think about who you are and why your life experiences to date are a good fit for that particular institution.

Realize that each part of the application should reveal something different about your qualifications, and you do not want to use multiple sections revealing the same information. Therefore think strategically. Ask yourself, “What do I want the committee to know about me?” and “How and where do I best communicate that in the application?” If you can map that out on paper, chances are your essays will be meaningful and direct.

For Chicago GSB it is always about substance and analytical thought. How cohesive is your application? How on point and logical is your thought process? And do we understand your goals and how they fit with our culture when we’re done reading your application? If you can feel confident that you addressed these questions through the entire application you will be taking a big step in the right direction.

Essays are not an island in the application. They make up a part of the continent. Do not think of them in isolation, but rather think about how they might provide greater depth about who you are. Finally, creativity is great but to quote one our faculty, it will never trump strategy.