Show Summary
Dawna Levenson, Assistant Dean of MIT Sloan School of Management, provides a thorough examination into the MIT Sloan School of Management’s full-time MBA program, which is mission-driven, focused on identifying and solving the world’s biggest and most complex problems. The program offers flexibility with a one-semester core and three semesters of electives, allowing students to pursue seven different certificates or concentrations. Dawna discusses the comprehensive application process, which includes a cover letter, one-page resume, 60-second video, and a behavioral video interview. She shares her tips on how to successfully approach the application. Dawna also highlights the early admission program for current college students and graduate students.
Show Notes
Welcome to the 596th episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted’s podcast. Thanks for tuning in.
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It gives me great pleasure to have back on Admissions Straight Talk Dawna Levenson, Assistant Dean of Admissions at MIT Sloan School of Management. Dawna earned her bachelor’s and master’s in management science at MIT Sloan, became a partner at Accenture, and then returned to MIT Sloan in 2007 as associate director of academic programs. She moved into admissions in 2012 and became director of admissions in 2013 and assistant dean in 2018.
Dawna, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [2:21]
Thank you very much, Linda. Thank you for asking me to join you today.
I’m delighted to have you back. First off, can you give an overview of MIT Sloan’s full-time MBA program for those listeners who aren’t that familiar with it, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:06]
Sure. I think when I’m asked this question, what I always want to begin with is the fact that we are very much a mission-driven school and our mission, in my own words it’s fundamentally really to identify and solve the world’s biggest and most complex problems. And I certainly, that resonates with me and I think it’s a theme you’ll find throughout what’s in the classroom and in the halls and what you’re doing is part of the community and so I always want to begin with that. We have a one semester core and then three semesters to really shape the curriculum in what your own personal interests may be.
We do offer seven different certificates. So you could think about a certificate as either a concentration or perhaps a roadmap. And so if you happen to be interested in finance or entrepreneurship, enterprise management, healthcare, sustainability, analytics, or product management, you could do one or several of these throughout your remaining time. And the only other thing that I really want to add is, well I guess two things. One is that we are not a “one size fits all” in terms of the way things are taught. Our faculty have a lot of flexibility as well and they may teach case-based classes. They teach traditional lectures and problem sets. We have a lot of project-based classes as well and we have a particular category of projects that are our action learning lab classes, where you’re truly spending that semester working on solving a real problem for a real company.
Are the action labs like consulting projects? [3:51]
We don’t like to use that term because you’re not being compensated, but there are many who would come to that same conclusion. Yes. And then the only other thing I really want to add is around our class size. So our class size hovers around, MBA alone, 370, 380. When you combine it with our LGO, which is leaders for global operations where you’re pursuing an MBA and an engineering masters. That’s where we end up. This year our class size is actually 433. Slightly bigger than it’s been in the past. Nonetheless, it’s somewhere in the middle when you’re out there looking at MBA programs. So there are some that are much larger and there are others that are smaller, and we really believe very strongly that the class size is in fact one of those characteristics that really help to define what your experience may be like. It’s very easy to get to know your classmates, many of the people in the class ahead of you, and those in the class behind you.
You mentioned the fact that you have the one semester core, which is structured and the other three semesters are open and entirely elective. Is that correct? [4:48]
Yes.
That offers enormous flexibility to any student. Can you go into the certificates? Can you earn more than one certificate? [5:02]
Very good question. So the certificates have actually, I’m going to say, have been standardized over the last two years. For those of you who may have been looking at MBAs for a while, you may have seen a bit of a shift here. We used to talk about these as three tracks and four certificates and then we did a little bit of house cleaning and turned them all into certificates with a little bit more standardization around the number of classes. So the certificates all require two to three at most required classes and then a handful of other classes out of a subset to earn the certificate.
They are in fact designed to allow you to be able to combine. So as you could imagine, you could do entrepreneurship and healthcare. You could do entrepreneurship and sustainability. You could do finance and healthcare. The only piece of advice I really give there is if in fact this is something that you do want to do, you need to sit back, be a little bit organized, and plan out your classes to make sure you’re able to take the right classes the right semesters. Not every course is offered in both the fall and the spring.
Good advice. Are there any trends that you’re seeing in terms of hiring Sloan grads? Where and when do the MBAs get their jobs? [6:15]
Our students are getting their jobs in a variety of different areas. I would encourage you to actually go on our website and look at our employment report if you want some more detail, but fundamentally, our students are continuing to go into finance and consulting and tech jobs. What I think our career office would want me to say though is that it’s slightly different than it was pre-pandemic where you’re not seeing as many companies come to campus, pitch a tent, and hiring 30 or 40 of our students. It’s changed a bit there and so there’s a lot more one-offs, there’s a lot more of the personal touch with what is it that you specifically are looking for?
I think perhaps on the student side, it may have actually raised the anxiety level just a little bit in terms of the job search, but one thing that we have really done and I think done extremely well is to lean into our alumni network, connect with our alums, to be able to give our students the opportunity to speak with somebody who might be working in the industry they’re interested in, have alums open doors for them, network for them, in many cases actually offer our students jobs. We have a very strong, powerful global alumni network that we’ve really chosen to engage in quite a bit in terms of helping our students end up with the types of jobs that they really want.
You mentioned MIT is mission-driven. I actually wrote down the mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management. It’s to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. How does that mission influence admissions? [7:53]
I think it does actually, and I think it does in a way where, as you could see, the first thing I talked about was in fact the mission. We always begin with mission, and I think as a result of that, it potentially weeds out people for whom this may not be something that resonates with them. Not good or bad, it just may not resonate. And as a result, the majority of our applicant pool and then our students are really people who want to roll up their sleeves and do whatever it takes to make the world a better place. And I think that’s a special kind of person and I think that contributes a lot to the type of community that we’re able to build as well.
MIT Sloan is requiring a GMAT or GRE score and if the applicant submits the GMAT focus edition or receives a test waiver, MIT Sloan may not necessarily require the applicant to take the GMAC business writing assessment. What would cause you to request an applicant to take the BWA? [8:45]
It would be that throughout the assessing the application itself, we see a lot of really positive things that we’re excited about. However, perhaps we’re questioning English language proficiency or fluidity in terms of their writing skills and would like to see an additional writing sample. I would like to add that when we go back to the GMAT, so we currently take both GMATs as well as GRE and we are assessing each one of them on its own. We’re not using any of the tables where you can convert one to another. Each one is actually assessed individually. For us, as long as it’s been taken within the last five years, either version of GMAT or either version of GRE, we will accept them.
We do not currently have plans to accept the executive assessment for our two-year MBA. We do for the Sloan fellows MBA if anybody is listening who’s interested in Sloan fellows, but not for the two-year MBA.
Is part of the reason for the business writing assessment if you suspect that the essay was written by AI? [10:05]
Not necessarily. I think AI is here to stay. It is. And I think there are those who are comparing it to a calculator or to using Spell Check. We hope that what you’re providing us is authentically you in terms of how you’re responding to any and all of our questions. We understand that you may be getting some support. It could be from an admissions consultant. It could be from generative AI. In the end though, it really needs to be coming from you and throughout the process, particularly throughout an interview, we can sort of assess that a little better. The worst thing in the world is for you to show up on day one at any program and say, “Why am I here?” And so it’s in your best interest as well to share who you really are to ensure that in the end it’s a good match.
That is a great point. I couldn’t agree more. Getting back to the testing, test waivers are limited to those who cannot take either the GRE or the GMAT. I assume that’s a very small percentage of the class. Is that correct? [11:07]
It is. Very small.
But do you admit some people? [11:20]
We do. And now there are some extenuating circumstances, and these are individuals who truly don’t have access to an exam, and yet through other factors, we have been able to gather enough data to feel that we’re comfortable with them being successful in the Sloan classroom. So perhaps it’s their undergraduate major in GPA. It could be that they’ve gone to graduate school. Other certifications. Perhaps the type of work they’re doing and the combination of any or all of those.
MIT Sloan has some really distinctive elements in this application, and I’m not going to go through the whole application, but I’d like to discuss a few. One is the cover letter. As far as I know, it’s the only school that asks for a cover letter from its applicants. The website is pretty clear, but I’m wondering if you could just tell us what you hope to glean from the cover letter. [11:52]
This might go a little bit out of your order, but I think it’s important for me. I like to think about, there’s the cover letter, the one-page resume, there’s the 60-second video where you’re introducing yourself to your future classmates, and now there’s the short question, asking you about your personal background.
Those together are telling your story. So your resume, that one-page resume, is very much your work history. Your video is really your personal side. What are you passionate about?
There are two videos, right? [12:48]
Right. But this is the 60-second one. I can talk about the other one a little bit later.
The 60-second video asks what are you passionate about and what are you interested in. The short answer question now is really an opportunity for you to share with us your background. Your family history, your background, what things happened in your life that have really influenced the person you are today? And then the cover letter ties all that together and begins to address why MIT Sloan.
We completely understand that in 300 words you cannot tell us everything. The goal is to tell us enough for us to want to learn more about you and that’s when you get invited for an interview.
That was great. Thank you. Can we discuss the second video? Why are there two videos [13:34]
They’re for very different purposes.
In the 60-second one you have a lot of time to think about, plan for. While it certainly doesn’t have to be Hollywood production quality, we understand people do multiple takes, et cetera. And again, that’s just a different way to introduce yourself to your future classmates. The other video is a little bit more, it’s embedded in the application. It’s when the time comes for it. It doesn’t just pop up on you. You say you’re ready to do it. It gives you some walk you through some of the steps to make sure that the mechanics all work. You’re then given a question, a random question, that are primarily behavioral questions. You’re given 10 seconds to think about it and then respond. And it’s really assessing your ability to think on your feet as well as your English language proficiency.
We’ve actually been using this format with a couple of our other programs for many, many years and have decided to now use it on the MBA population as well.
Every so often you have applicants and they just kind of think that admissions committees threw a bunch of darts at a dartboard and came up with an application process. And I think you just laid out the different purposes of each element really, really well. I think that’s going to be very helpful to applicants. [14:45]
Good.
Is the interview by invitation only? [15:12]
Yes. It’s a required step in our process and it will continue to be via Zoom. We do not do in-person interviews. And it’s a conversation that allows us within admissions to perhaps answer and ask you some questions. So that might be some open-ended questions from the application itself, some probes. It gives us a chance to ask you a series of behavioral questions. It gives us the chance to ask you why now and why MIT Sloan, and then it gives you the chance to ask us questions. And I think a lot of that is around assessing more of the softer skills around communication skills: Good teammate? Is this somebody that I would want to actually work on a project with? These are some of the questions that I’m asking myself as I’m interviewing you.
When you talk about behavioral questions, could you give us a couple of examples? [16:09]
Sure. Some of my favorites, which of course if I then interview any of you, you’ll be more prepared than most. Tell me about a time when there was a conflict at work, you wanted to do something one way, your teammates wanted to do it another way, what was that situation and how did you resolve it? How about tell me about a time when you were working on a team and somebody was not pulling his or her weight. Those were just a couple of examples. Or tell me about a time when you had to make a decision and you did not have all of the information you would’ve liked available to you. What was that situation and how did you go about making a decision you were comfortable with?
Those are a few. To be honest, if you do a Google search on behavioral questions, you will get thousands of them.
What’s the most common mistake you see applicants make on the MIT Sloan application? [17:12]
I’m going to say there are two.
The first one is just simply not following directions. If we ask for a 300-word cover letter, I promise you 305 words we’re reasonable people, but 600 words or multi-pages is too much. We’re able to assess, and some of them go on and on and on. The other is trying to stand out in inappropriate ways. We totally understand that this is in fact the competitiveness of the MBA application process and people are looking to stand out and sometimes people are wanting to be remembered in ways that perhaps suspend business judgment and good common sense. They tell a story that’s probably a little bit off color, or they share something that’s a little bit too much information. And I remember those stories. I’ve now been reading for 17 years. So I remember quite a few of those. But were any of those people actually admitted to any of our programs? I don’t think so.
It shows a lack of judgment. [18:22]
Correct. Very much so.
Can you touch on MIT Sloan’s early admissions program, MBA Early? [18:41]
We launched our MBA Early option in 2019, and it’s very much targeted towards college seniors and/or people who are in graduate school who have not taken the time to work full-time outside of school. I clarify it that way because we understand there are people who may be full-time students, but also are working 40 hours a week. That’s not what we’re talking about. Those people are definitely eligible. So you apply to the MBA program at that point in time. We have a separate application deadline for that. It’s sometime in mid-April.
The application is very similar to the MBA application, except we remove some information where we recognize you have not been working full-time. So we remove the org chart and we actually ask for an additional letter of recommendation instead of when we ask for two. Fundamentally, you are applying to our two-year MBA. If you are admitted, we then ask you to go work for two to five years and we will hold a seat for you. After that two-year mark, we reach out every summer, “Do you think the following year is the right time for you?” And if yes, you then sign up for a call, a conversation with somebody on our team, one of our admissions folks, to share with us what you’ve been doing and to the extent that we agree together that you’ve had sufficient work experience that will be of value for you when you matriculate the following year. You then let us know by December that you’re interested in matriculating the following September.
What percentage of the class today is from MBA Early? [20:18]
It’s probably 10%.
Is the overall acceptance rate pretty similar to the full-time MBA program? [20:30]
It is. I would say though, for any of you who happen to be college seniors, I would seriously consider this option and to be completely honest and transparent, we are by no means the only school who offer this.
What we find is there are people who actually apply to multiple schools and actually deposit at multiple schools and experience what it’s like to engage with them over the years. We are very sensitive to the fact that somebody might be concerned, “Well if I don’t get in I’ve ruined my chance down the road,” and that is absolutely not the case. In fact, if we don’t admit somebody, I would argue our letter is not a true rejection letter. It’s, “Thank you for your interest. At this point in time, we do not feel we have enough information to be able to make a decision. We look forward to you applying in,” whatever, three to five years, whatever it might be.
What would you advise somebody thinking ahead to a 2025 or 2026 application? In other words, planning to apply in a year or two years? [21:33]
I think engaging with schools now is not too early. So if you’re listening to this, you’ve started. And I think that’s great. I actually think that attending both virtual events and in-person events at school to the extent that you can is incredibly valuable. I understand that on paper, a lot of schools look very similar and sound very similar, and yet we all have a personality that doesn’t really come to life until you step on campus. And so if you’re a few years out, I encourage you to attend events. We are launching our class visit day next Monday. So you can actually come to campus, sit in on an actual class, have lunch with current students, spend some time in a mini info session with an admissions advisor. It’s a great way to really experience what it’s like to be a Sloan student.
That’s great advice. What would you have liked me to ask you? [22:33]
I think a question that I’m eager to answer is around are there common areas of interest or themes or trends that may be different today with your applicants than they were years ago? And the answer is yes. I think it ties back to our mission. I mean, given that we are problem solvers, the world’s problems are constantly changing. But what I wanted to say, which I find so interesting, is throughout my interviews this past year, there were definitely themes. People mentioned their interest in working in climate or sustainability. I think everybody asked about artificial intelligence, whether it was what classes can they take or are we changing our classes or what could they learn? It was a big topic. Entrepreneurship continues to be very, very big and there’s a lot of interest out there in healthcare.
And so these may not be surprises, but what’s so interesting is MIT, not MIT Sloan, but MIT has a relatively new president. She has been around for about a year and a half. Her name is Sally Kornbluth. And early on in her tenure, she did an exhaustive listening tour with faculty, staff, and students and then came up with a set of priorities for the institute, for MIT as a whole. No surprise, those areas are around climate sustainability, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, and healthcare. And while you may say, “That seems so obvious,” it doesn’t have to be that way.
And what it’s also signaling, which I think is incredible, is that the Sloan School at MIT is an integral part of MIT’s initiatives, not just the Sloan school’s initiatives. And for our students, that means incredible opportunities to engage in all of these areas.
So they can take classes obviously in other parts of MIT? [24:27]
Participate in conferences, clubs, you name it. Really be at the forefront of many of these areas that are so important to them as well as to MIT as a whole.
That’s a really good point. Thank you so much. As always, it’s been delightful talking to you, Dawna. Where can listeners and potential applicants learn more about MIT’s full-Time MBA program at MIT Sloan? [24:41]
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