MBA News: UCLA Applicants Are Heard
April 29th, 2009
Della Bradshaw of The Financial Times recently reported on UCLA Anderson’s creative essay option in an article entitled, “A word in your ear.” As MBA candidates may know, this year applicants had the opportunity to respond to UCLA Anderson’s final essay question via the traditional method, text, or via a new method, MP3. Which option was more popular? About 70% of this year’s applicants chose the audio option—decisions that were received quite well by Admissions Director Mae Jennifer Shores. Ms. Shores told the FT that the new submission option allows the Admissions Committee to better understand how the applicant communicates and acts under pressure, in addition to revealing the candidate’s true personality. This new option was so successful that it may even become compulsory for all applicants next year. Perhaps other business schools will hear about this and move in this modern submission direction as well. After all, creative options are growing, with NYU, Chicago and UCLA all embracing them for now.
