The older I get . . .

. . . the less I understand some things.

According to Business Week, some B-schools are worried about their "antiquated admissions process" that depends on ". . . overly packaged applications that lack substance, the result of coaching and consulting run amok . . ."

Suppose, for the sake of argument, that this is a reasonable concern.

So what is one of our cutting-edge B-schools going to do? This:

At the Anderson School, the most recent applicants had the option of answering one essay question in audio form, and more than 70% did. The school is now giving students the choice of responding to one of the essay questions with an audio or video clip in the hope that such responses will be more revealing than written answers. "A lot of business schools have concerns about authenticity," says Mae Jennifer Shores, assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at Anderson. "This was a way to get a more authentic view of a candidate."

And they think audio and video clips will be more authentic? They don't think they can be coached?

Geez.

Comments

[pj]

Well, getting a video certainly helps with discrimination based on appearance. Maybe they want to pursue the old Ivy League strategy of admitting good-looking and well-spoken.

[TheBigHenry]

That's my bridge, Craig.

[Eric]

This just ups the ante on coaching. It's one thing to get a coach to help with (or just ghost write) an essay, but an audio or video clip will require writing, rehearsing, multiple takes. So the admissions industry gets bigger. That's what it's really about, isn't it?

[PLW]

What's our model of the preferences of the B-School admissions committee? I generally assumed they wanted to maximize the total lifetime salary/influence of their graduates. Seems like they think these sorts of videos will help them judge that more effectively than essays. I bet they are right.

[kyle8]

I can see the value of it. There are some people who write ok, but when you hear them speak it is like nails on a blackboard.

Especially young people who say "ya Know" before each and every word in a sentence.

[david foster]

It strikes me that we as a society have delegated an awful lot of power to admissions officers. How much do we know about who these people *are* and what their values might be?

I cynically suspect that few of them have either the attributes to be a first-rate professor or the attributes to be a successful executive.