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Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management said today (July 29) it will now require a video essay as part of its 2013/2014 MBA application, which will be available in mid-August. While several B-schools have included optional video responses in their applications, Kellogg is the highest ranked business school to make it a mandatory.
In Kellogg’s case, students will have several minutes to answer a spontaneous, randomized question on a Skype-like screen. “We felt like this was a great opportunity to meet our applicants from wherever they might be in the world,” says Kate Smith, Kellogg’s assistant dean of admissions and financial aid. ”We felt that we were past the tipping point in terms of video technology and comfort with it – most applicants would have used Skype or FaceTime.”
Kellogg’s applicants will have the luxury of three tries to record a compelling answer. If they bomb the first question, they can discard it and request another one – they’ll receive a different question each time. While it sounds stressful, the admissions team hopes it will lead to more authentic interactions with the more than 5,000 people who apply to Kellogg each year. ”The spirit of the questions is to get to know our candidates on a more personal level in a spontaneous format,” Smith says. “They’re designed to bring to life the person we’ve learned about on paper in the application, including their passions, interests and ideas.”
KELLOGG VIDEO WILL NOT REPLACE THE IN-PERSON INTERVIEWS
The video component will not replace Kellogg’s personal interviews – a mainstay of the B-school’s rigorous application process. Instead, it’s hoped the taped responses will give the admissions committee a chance to meet the candidate in a video format, Smith says. Currently, second-year students and alumni conduct many of the in-person interviews.
Kate Smith, director of admissions at Kellogg. Photo by Andreas Larson
The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management was the first B-school to pilot a video essay last year and retained it for this years’a application season. Rotman’s applicants are required to answer two pre-recorded questions on camera without any advance preparation (see Video Screen Tests Come To MBA Admissions).
The questions pop up at random from a bank of some 25 questions, each requiring a response no longer than one-and-one-half minutes. This year, the bank of questions has been expanded to slightly more than 100. The school’s advice? ” Be yourself and have fun with this question!” – a tough task when a flubbed answer could jeopardize a candidate’s odds of getting in.
MBA ADMISSIONS CONSULTANTS BEGIN OFFERING VIDEO COACHING
Of course, part of the reason to go to the video tape is for admission officials to get a glimpse of a more unscripted MBA applicant, without the polishing provided by an admissions consultant. But already the consulting industry is responding to the changes.
The MBA Exchange, one of the largest and most prominent consulting firms, says it is adding a video specialist to its consulting team to provide guidance and feedback to applicants as they plan for video-based interaction with their targeted schools. “His academic and professional credentials span theatre, psychology and multimedia communication, enabling us to advise clients on both content development and authentic delivery,” says Dan Bauer, CEO of The MBA Exchange, which plans to offer the video coaching at no extra charge to clients who pay for the firm’s “comprehensive” consulting package.
Yet another admission firm, Stacy Blackman Consulting, is advertising a $650 video prep package to help applicants “appear calm and polished.” According to Blackman, the video platform allows clients “to rehearse as much as they wish, respond online to a random pool of hundreds of questions, personally view their recordings and select videos for review and feedback. As part of the video platform service, consultants provide feedback on dress, tone, volume and content, and the unlimited opportunity to practice and review builds confidence.”
Kellogg follows the decision by the Yale University’s School of Management to add a video requirement this year. Yale applicants are expected to answer three questions on video. After each question is posed, a candidate will be given 10 to 20 seconds to think about a response, and another minute to provide an answer. The pre-recorded questions, chosen randomly from a list, are expected to include a behavioral question about a past experience; a thought question requiring a response to a declarative statement and, finally, a question that deals with the interpretation of data. Yale ran pilot tests of video in the past two years before making it a required part of the MBA application this coming year.
Other B-schools are also dabbling in video, but most still offer alternatives to camera-shy candidates. The University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business and NYU’s Stern School of Business both accept video responses to questions that allow candidates to choose from several different answer formats, including the more traditional essay. UCLA’s Anderson School of Management offered a video option last year, but scrapped it when some students didn’t have access to the necessary technology. Most recently, the admissions team at Europe’s INSEAD has also hinted that the school may introduce video interviews in their upcoming application cycle. |
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