Applicants this year to the Anderson School of Business at the University of California at Los Angeles were invited to submit essays in audio format, the Financial Times reports.
Though the option was voluntary, 70 percent of applicants for the class of 2011 chose to record their essays, Mae Jennifer Shores, Anderson’s admissions director, told the FT. Furthermore, the submissions were “ethnic, gender and country neutral,” Shores says, with international applicants as eager to participate as U.S. students.
Applicants were given the same choice of questions to answer in both the audio and written formats. Applicants’ most popular essay choice was to describe what the term “entrepreneurial spirit” meant to them, followed by a question asking students to address what they consider to be the most troubling global issues, the FT reported.
Shores explained to the FT that the audio clips have been useful to the admissions team in a number of ways. They show how well applicants can communicate, how strong their command of English is and how they perform under pressure, she said.
The audio format also gave students an opportunity to express their creativity, which some did through the addition of music and others through the display of humor. “It was a joy for us,” Shores told the FT.
According to Shores, Anderson may choose to require audio clips from all applicants next year. It may also consider requesting video clips instead.
