Soojin Kwon Koh transformed her interim position as admissions director at the Ross School of Business into a permanent appointment to the post in April 2007. As director of admissions and financial aid, Koh has been instrumental in increasing the “yield,” or enrollment of students accepted into Ross’s full-time program, in great part by forging personal connections with prospective students prior to enrollment.
Koh was named one of the “Forty Under Forty” by Crain’s Detroit Business last fall. Prior to joining the Ross Admissions Committee, she worked as a manager at Deloitte Consulting and as an analyst for each the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Holding a Ross MBA herself, she can fairly claim to understand both sides of the school’s admissions process. She is also a member of the Forté Foundation, which encourages talented women toward leadership roles in business.
Our thanks to Ms. Koh for making time to participate in the Clear Admit Admissions Director Q&A Series. Read on to learn more about Ross’s signature Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP), a new 270,000-square-foot slated to open in January and much more.
Clear Admit: What’s the single most exciting development, change or event happening at Ross this coming year?
Soojin Kwon Koh: In January 2009, the Ross School of Business will open its new 270,000-square-foot facility. The Ross School has been at the forefront of a fundamental change in business education – away from lecture-style classes and toward hands-on methods – and our new building reflects this. With more group study rooms and cutting-edge communications technology, the new facility will enable Ross students to work even more closely with one another, as well as with corporate and nonprofit partners around the world. It also will feature a 7,500-square-foot fitness center and a large winter garden to foster community building among students, faculty and staff. In addition, the new building supports our commitment to sustainability, incorporating many features that are both architecturally innovative and environmentally responsible.
CA: What is the one area of your program that you wish applicants knew more about?
SK: Action-based learning tops the list, without question. Here at Ross, action-based learning gives students hands-on experience with business challenges that real organizations face today. The centerpiece of our action-based learning opportunities is our Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP).
MAP is an opportunity for MBA students to work on real-time challenges facing real organizations – not just case studies. Each spring, first-year Ross MBA students devote themselves exclusively to MAP for seven weeks as a part of the core curriculum. Our students have worked on projects at more than 640 corporate, entrepreneurial and nonprofit organizations worldwide.
Each year, we accept MAP proposals from sponsors looking to solve problems, identify new processes and target opportunities for growth. Students get to rank their top ten choices from among nearly 100 projects. Each project requires the application of core business knowledge, creative thinking and genuine teamwork. At the end of the project, teams present their analyses and recommendations to their sponsors in both a written report and a final presentation.
Examples of MAP projects this past year include
• Creating a market launch strategy for a new Eli Lilly product in Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland
• Expanding the marketing of nutrition products in Cambodia for the Clinton Foundation
• Developing a market entry strategy for an agribusiness startup in the Czech Republic and Spain
• Creating new service pricing models for Rainforest Expeditions in Peru
• Identifying investment opportunities for Intel Capital in Slovenia and Croatia
• Developing a marketing strategy for baby care products for Procter & Gamble
Being able to apply what they’ve learned in their core business courses enables Ross students to really understand and own the knowledge. MAP also prepares our students to solve multidisciplinary problems, manage uncertainty and lead teams.
In addition to the educational benefits of MAP, it also enables students to explore an industry or function that they may be considering for a future career. At seven weeks, it is nearly the length of many summer internships. So students can “try out” a potential career track before their internship or gain additional experience in an area that they know they want to go into. MAP is truly an unparalleled educational opportunity.
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.).
SK: We begin reviewing applications after the application deadline. Only Admissions Committee (“AdComm”) members (i.e., professional staff) evaluate applications. Applications are randomly assigned to and reviewed by Admissions Committee members to conduct a “first read” to determine whether or not to invite an applicant to interview. At the first read stage, an applicant can fall into one of three categories: (1) move to second read and invite to interview; (2) move to second read and consider for interview; (3) remove from further consideration. Applications moved to the second review are assigned for review by a different AdComm member.
Interview invitations may be extended simultaneously with or after the second review. Applicants are strongly encouraged to interview on-campus, but they also have the option to interview with one of our alumni in their region. On-campus interviews are primarily conducted by Admissions Student Committee members – second-year MBA students who have been selected and trained by the admissions director. Interviews must be completed approximately three to four weeks prior to a decision notification date.
The second reader makes a pre-interview decision on the basis of the application material. Once the interview is completed, the second reader reviews the interview report and renders a post-interview decision.
All post-interview decisions are reviewed weekly by the AdComm. Evaluations are confirmed or changed based on the committee’s review. After all decisions have passed through the AdComm review, the director of admissions reviews all decisions. A final review is conducted by the associate dean for degree programs.
Applicants can access final decisions online on the notification date for the round in which they applied. The AdComm does try to personally contact all admitted applicants a day or two prior to the official notification date. There is no particular order for those calls/emails.
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?
SK: Essays give the AdComm an opportunity to get to know an applicant and the unique experiences, perspectives and traits they may bring to the Ross MBA class. In conjunction with the interview, the essays enable us to assess “fit.”
We look at a number of things in the essays: (1) Did the applicant answer all parts of the question completely? (2) Did the applicant tell us something about him/herself that wasn’t already covered in the resume or interview? (3) Did the essay give us a better sense of whether their values, goals, priorities and interests are well aligned with ours? (4) Does the applicant have strong writing skills – not just good grammar but also professional and persuasive writing?
There are a few common mistakes that applicants make when writing their essays. Many times, applicants do not answer the question that was asked. For example, our second essay question asks an applicant to describe his or her most significant professional accomplishment. Many applicants make the mistake of providing an overview of their entire work history, content that was largely provided in their resumes. Many applicants fail to adequately research each MBA program and understand what the differences are. Some make the mistake of writing a single essay to use for multiple schools. On occasion, an applicant will even forget to “find and replace” a school name. As a result, we are unable to determine an applicant’s true fit with our program.
One key thing that applicants should keep in mind is to be authentic; tell us about you. Don’t try to tell us what you think we want to hear. We want to know what makes you unique – not just what you’ve done, but how you think, what you value, what you’ve learned from your experiences, why you’ve set certain goals and priorities. The essays that are most compelling and successful in the admissions process are those that demonstrate a deep self-knowledge.
