Kacy Hayes
What kind of work experience are b-schools looking really for? And what are the biggest mistakes that applicants make on their admissions essays and interviews? We asked Kacy Hayes, MBA admissions manager at the University of San Diego (USD) School of Business Administration.
USD requires at least two years of work experience for MBA applicants. What are you looking for people to have gotten out of their work experience?
Ideally, the candidate would have years of experience in one particular area that they have grown and developed in. On the other hand, we’ve had some phenomenal applicants who have been all over the board with their work experience, still trying to find their niche. If they can connect the dots for us, how their different experiences have all led them to the point of doing an MBA, sometimes they bring a diversity of experiences into the classroom, which can also be great.
There’s no one thing in particular we are looking for in terms of work experience. In general, we are looking for someone who has knowledge of their field and can relate that to what they are studying in the classroom, and therefore enrich the experience of all students by sharing.
Do applicants need to tell you explicitly why they want or need an MBA?
That is certainly something we seek in applicants. They need to make it clear why an MBA is the next step for them. They have to be driven enough to persist and complete the program once they start.
Is managerial potential of MBA applicants important? How do you evaluate this?
One of the things we look at is the employability of these students after they have completed the program, and if we have concerns about their experiences in the past, and whether or not they are going to be employable, then we ask career services to either conduct the initial interview or do a follow-up interview. Career Services can dig a little deeper to assess those managerial qualities.
What are the common pitfalls of an application essay? How can a strong applicant shoot themselves in the foot?
The easiest way to sabotage their chance of admission is to discuss another institution. That happens more often than you would think. Every year there are a few essays that will say “I feel the University of San Diego is a great fit for me,” and two sentences later say something about the University of Texas. They haven’t gone through and edited their essays well enough.
The other thing is not answering the question asked by the institution; to try to use a different essay altogether. Even if they’ve made sure to change the name, it might not answer the question at all.
And in the interview?
One of the things that stands out is people who just don’t have any questions at the end. It’s a golden opportunity to let me know that you’ve looked into the program seriously. You can ask a question that lets me know that you’ve looked at the website, done your research, but want to dig a little deeper. When they have no questions at all, I question how serious they are.
Photo courtesy: Kacy Hayes / USD