If you ask Dee Leopold, Harvard Business School's managing director of
MBA admissions and financial aid, that question you get a rather
unconventional answer.
It's people who are obviously smart, driven and ambitious. But more
than that it is people who Leopold believes can meaningfully add to
the conversations in a classroom. So she seeks "voice"--the ability to
contribute diverse viewpoints in a class based on their life
experiences to date--and "personal qualities"--the values one brings
to school.
"The way I organize my head is in a two-by-two matrix," she told me in
a recent interview. "One axis is work experience—or the voice you
bring to the class—and the other axis is personal qualities—what kind
of person you are. We don't have people in the lower left corner.
It would be great to have people coming from mutual backgrounds with
amazing personal qualities who will be great at the case method."
Few admission directors bring as much experience or perspective to the
job of selection. Leopold, who graduated with her MBA in 1980, began
sorting and reading HBS applications from home in 1980—making this her
35th year in admissions. Quips Leopold, "We rode in on our
brontosauruses, parked them outside and then we read the applications
on stone tablets."
In a wide-ranging interview, Leopold provided insight into candidates
who made a memorable impression on her, what she commonly tells
applicants who gain interviews but are ultimately rejected, how the
case method comes into play when making admit decisions, and how she
evaluates GMAT or GRE scores. For the first time ever, HBS is asking
applicants to list online courses and MOOCs on their application
because Leopold believes such classes can help to build a case for a
candidate whose quantitative ability may be in question. As for
dispelling myths, Leopold explained why it's not necessary for
applicants to have what she calls a "laminated life plan" with a clear
career path and also why applicants who want to do a startup at HBS
are more than welcome.
And despite fairly negative publicity from aNew York Timesstory on
gender inequality at HBS last September, Harvard apparently had no
trouble increasing the percentage of women in its applicant pool.
Leopold says that female applicants were up 5% this past year, while
applications from men rose 1%. All told, applications for the Class of
2016 rose 2.4%.
Only about ten applicants out of 9,543 for the Class of 2016, she
says, decided not to turn in an essay at all. She admitted one of
them, Impressed by the candidate and the rest of his application—even
though he failed to turn in an essay. Leopold points out that the
acceptance rate for the group that didn't write an essay was roughly
the same as the 12% of admits who did.
Asked if there are secrets to MBA admissions, Leopold insists there
are none. "It's a selection process," she says. "There aren't rules
like if you have this score you will be in and if you have that score
you will be out. Selection is thoughtful and not rule-based. It's not
mad cap or chaotic. We are making selection decisions. And it's about
the class. It's not about whether I think John is a better person than
Jim. It's trying to get this wonderful salad going in the class and
what ingredients does John bring and what does Jim bring.
"We spend a lot of time imagining the kinds of conversations John
would have with Jim if they were in the same section. What would they
learn from each other? What would they ask each other? HBS is an
amazing opportunity for conversations that you won't ever have again
in your life in terms of the richness of the kinds of people who are
all heads-up and want to make a difference in the world
So we spend a lot of time thinking about what those conversations
will be like. Those are fun speculations to have or aren't they ?
Author :John A. Byrne
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