The No-BS Guide to Business School Admissions:

Interview with Rod Garcia, Admissions Director for MIT Sloan

MBA Reality Check: What is admissions all about? Do you have an analogy of how you would describe admissions?

Rod Garcia: I don't know if I'd agree with this, but I've been described as a doorkeeper. I'm sure that that analogy has been used, and has been used at other schools. And I don't think it's fair to say that. I'm trying to think of the best analogy.

MRC: What isn't fair about using the term "doorkeeper?"

Rod Garcia: I think that that term connotes that you're trying to hold the door like a bouncer, that you choose who comes in, pick the prettiest -- but we don't. I see myself more as a researcher. I mean, you're given pieces of information, some facts, and you have to use your judgment, but there are some criteria that you follow. That's one part. So you read, you take it seriously, and from there you pick the group. But that's just one part. The other part is converting -- converting them to come here. So it's really not just selection of students, there's also the part that is recruitment, that is conversion.

MRC: Do you mean if I am selected by Chicago and MIT, making sure that you get that person to MIT?

Rod Garcia: Well right, and also helping them make the right decision for themselves. Even if that person winds up going to another school, if that school is a better match, a right match, then I think I've done my job. I think that it's helping people make the right decisions for themselves.

MRC: What part of the application helps you figure that out? There's several elements: the data, recommenders, extracurricular activities, essays, and in your case, the cover letter. How do all the little pieces fit together for you?

Rod Garcia: There is really no one specific part. I think the analogy I would use here is seeing the forest from the trees. I mean all those things that you mentioned are trees but at some point you have to look at the forest, and enjoy the forest, and I think that's where experience and judgment will come.

MRC: Do you ever feel like someone in an application is obviously saying what you want to hear?

Rod Garcia: Oh, absolutely. That's true. Which is why we don't give them that chance. That's why we don't ask them to tell us why they want to come to MIT, why they want an MBA, why they want to apply, why at this stage in their life. Those are the typical essay questions that we don't ask. In fact, we don't even ask them what they want to do after they graduate, or where do you see yourself a year from now, two years from now, ten years from now -- because they will tell you what you want to hear. That's one problem I find with these questions, because these are leading questions. You lead the respondent to an answer you want to hear. That's why we stay away from that kind of question.

MRC: Why do you do a cover letter instead of a goals essay like other schools?

Rod Garcia: Well, we were the first, probably the only school that's doing that. I remember when I came here, one of my biggest surprises was, "oh, I didn't realize that they would do this."

MRC: So that was already in effect when you came?

Rod Garcia: Oh yeah. I came in '88, so it was even before that. The first thing that came to mind was, "oh, this is absolutely great". It had never occurred to me that a place like MIT would ask this question. And twenty years later, with modern communications, you realize how important it is to be able to judge people's quality of writing. Back in 1987, people were used to writing letters. Now it's all emails. People don't even know the basic parts of a letter.

MRC: Last year you changed the cover letter and it now it specifically says something about accomplishments.

Rod Garcia: And this year we're thinking of giving them more opportunities to incorporate information.

MRC: You mean to choose the information that they want to give you rather than give them a topic?

Rod Garcia: We will suggest a few topics that they can include in the cover letter. I mean, you'd be surprised that there's still a lot of people who do not know how to write.

MRC: What percentage of applicants to MIT Sloan are basically qualified?

Rod Garcia: I think that between 50 and 70% would be qualified.

MRC: Wow. So you have to narrow 50% down to 10-15%?

Rod Garcia: There are eleven candidates for every seat that we have here. There are about eleven candidates that compete for that one seat.

MRC: Wow. So it's more like 9% acceptance then? And it's gone up a lot lately, I understand.

Rod Garcia: It's up from last year, from ten applications per seat to eleven.

MRC: What would you say about somebody who's into finance and says MIT isn't for me or MIT is for engineers who want to start-up businesses? Is that a problem you face?

Rod Garcia: I think some people have that mindset, and I find that disturbing. That person is making a choice based on career rather than based on education. They're saying, "I choose to go here because they have the most people who go into consulting, or they have the most people who go to investment banking, or they have the most people who go to high-tech".

MRC: What would you say is the reason to choose a school?

Rod Garcia: I think I would do it for the same reason that candidates for law school, medical schools, and dental schools choose those schools. Because this is a great school, they have a great faculty, the education here is great. I'm not out to generalize, but if choosing a school is based on careers – I find that wrong.

MRC: Are there any unique aspects to how your adcom works compared to other schools, other than the cover letter?

Rod Garcia: Of the top ten schools, I think there's probably one other school with an admissions committee that's professionally staffed.

MRC: What does that mean?

Rod Garcia: That means there are no students who read applications. There are no students who interview. There are no faculty, no alumni. These are professional members of the committee, of the board. So that's one unique aspect.

MRC: What is the rationale for that?

Rod Garcia: Certainly calibration. And also commitment. It's hard to manage a group of readers who are not professional staff. The other thing that is unique is that we have a particular model that we use, that we aspire to. To explain what that is, we have very specific definitions of attributes that we look for. This is not my definition of an attribute or another person's definition, it is a polled standard.

MRC: So it's a very quantitative process. But how do you quantify attributes?

Rod Garcia: If I can, just to draw a picture: Have you worked in a corporate world, with a manager?

MRC: Yes.

Rod Garcia: Ok. And you have probably done annual reviews, right? Some of these annual reviews would probably have an attribute. Probably an attribute would be fiscal responsibility. And then you have scales, one to five. One is defined as overspending the budget, and then five would be saving money. And then definition in between. So you have a very clear definition and then you just circle which one. So if this person, say, saves the corporation money, you circle five.

MRC: So all of these different attributes that you rank people on are tied to a specific point of your application?

Rod Garcia: Exactly, except that in our case, we look for specific thing -- these things. For example, fiscal responsibility, initiative. We look for those specific things. The other things are just bonuses. They may have other attributes, but those are not attributes that we care to score. But there are very basic attributes that we look for, which is why the model that we use is very unique to us, because we ask our readers to look for specific attributes, and then score them based on defined scales.

MRC: Different schools have different reasons for waitlisting people, different ways of managing their waitlist, and different things they want you to do when they waitlist. What is MIT's philosophy?

Rod Garcia: It varies from year to year. There are times when we say, "send us as much info as you want", there are times when we say "don't call us, we'll call you". It varies year to year, and within that particular year, the urgency changes. So I think the closer we are to matriculation, the more urgent it is for us to hear from wait-listed candidates. The farther we are from matriculation, well then bugging us and telling us how much they like us, is not going to make a difference. Because at that point, we're full and we're not looking.

MRC: So MIT wait-lists to fill in holes that appear?

Rod Garcia: Right, exactly. The other thing we do is that we used to have to run up the class so if we have, let's say, too many humanities majors, then maybe it's time that we admit more engineers. I mean, after all, we're MIT.

MRC: So there's not a lot you can do to get off the wait list because a lot of it has to do with demographics.

Rod Garcia: Well, exactly, right. That's been happening more and more and more now.

MRC: So not a direct one on one relationship.

Rod Garcia: Yeah. So we sometimes know what kind of candidates we lose to other schools as matriculation approaches.

MRC: You must be a pretty powerful predictor.

Rod Garcia: We still mess up once in a while.

MRC: Do you find out what school a student turns you down for?

Rod Garcia: Oh yes. We know exactly. We ask them and they tell us.

MRC: Do certain people go to certain different types of schools?

Rod Garcia: Yeah, the three higher ranked schools.

MRC: They don't turn you down for Georgetown.

Rod Garcia: There are some people who do that. I mean, there are people who do that for personal reasons. One is because their spouse or partner doesn't want to move here. So people do this for a lot of reasons. The game is not batting 100%. It's helping them make the right decision for themselves, for their families, right? And if part of the family says, we want to stay here in DC or Virginia, that person is making the right decision.

MRC: So getting accepted is not the end of the admissions game. There is the "are you going to accept the acceptance?" And you are somewhat involved with that part of the process?

Rod Garcia: Well, we we'd like to be. We wish they would consult us.

MRC: So let's say that someone calls you saying that they also got accepted to Stanford, and they want to be on the East Coast, but their wife wants to be on the West Coast. And they ask, "What do we do?" Do you see that as someone trying to game you?

Rod Garcia: Well, I think you just have to be honest with them. I would do it the same way with them as I would consult a relative.

MRC: So you would like to be contacted?

Rod Garcia: I think it would be great.

MRC: Some people probably think they would offend you.

Rod Garcia: No, I think it would be great to have that conversation. And by the way, I've had colleagues from other schools too who advise admitted candidates to come here and not go to their school. As competitive as this business is, admissions people try to do the right thing

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