In this Admissions Director Q&A, we welcome back Bailey McChesney, Director of MBA Admissions at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.
Bailey has been with the Vanderbilt MBA Recruiting & Admissions Team for over a decade and currently manages the application evaluation process. In her time at Vanderbilt, she has managed a variety of initiatives and worked with hundreds of applicants to help them understand the application process.
Check out our conversation below for her advice on writing your essay, preparing for your interview, and more on what to expect from the MBA admissions process.
Clear Admit: What is the one aspect of your program that you wish applicants knew more
about?
Bailey McChesney: It is difficult to communicate the intentionality and care that goes into creating the student experience both in and out of the classroom. Students feel this engagement in so many ways, from faculty conducting research that provides meaningful solutions, to our Leadership Development Program Team carefully matching students with an Executive Coach, to the Academic and Student Affairs Office collaborating with students to create impactful student life programming. Our mission is to create opportunities to discover, grown and thrive in business and beyond and this mission resonates deeply and personally with each individual in our organization.
CA: Walk us through the life of an application in your office from an operational standpoint. What happens between the time an applicant clicks “submit” and the time the committee offers a final decision?
BM: After application submission, our Enrollment Management Team verifies that all application components have been received to ensure that the Admissions Committee can have a full picture of the applicant’s potential. Once a candidate has a complete application, including an evaluative interview, the entire application is reviewed holistically by several admissions officers.
We recognize the time and effort candidates have put into crafting an application, and we have crafted our process to ensure that we are thoughtfully evaluating each candidate. After the application has undergone a thorough review by members of our team, our Admissions Committee meets to make final decisions.
CA: How does your team approach the essay portion of the application specifically? What are you looking for as you read an essay? Are there common mistakes that applicants should try to avoid? What is one key thing they should keep in mind as they sit down to write?
BM: The essay portion of the application is where candidates have the most control, and the biggest mistake we see from applicants is not recognizing how much value strong essays can add to their application. While we approach essays from a practical standpoint, ensuring applicants have the writing ability to succeed in the program, we are also providing candidates with the opportunity to get beyond their resume. We are genuinely interested in getting to know who you are, what has led you to this point and how you envision your future, and structure our essay questions to give candidates the opportunity to share what is meaningful to them.
CA: Could you tell us about your interview process? Approximately how many applicants do you interview? Who conducts the interview (students, admissions officers, alumni) and what is the nature of the interview (resume-based, application-based, behavioral)? Will your admissions interviews be in-person or virtual for the 2024-2025 admissions season?
BM: We want to get to know candidates and hear from them in their own voice, and because of this, we prefer to generously offer interviews to give candidates an opportunity to share their story in an interview. All admissions interviews are conducted virtually, and we offer an open interview period from September 20 to November 30, with scheduling beginning on September 5. During the open interview period, anyone who has started an application can conduct an evaluative admissions interview. After December 1, we move to an invitation process for applicants with a completed application. All of our interviews are conducted by MBA Recruiting and Admissions Fellows (trained second year students) or members of the Recruiting & Admissions Team.
CA: What is your testing policy? Do you offer exam waivers? Why or why not?
BM: An official standardized test score or an approved test waiver is a required component of our application. We accept the GMAT, GRE and Executive Assessment. Candidates who have started an application are eligible to request a standardized test waiver and applicants who demonstrate multiple examples of academic and professional accomplishments are more likely to receive a waiver.
Incoming students need to be ready for the academic rigor of the Vanderbilt program, and a strong test score can demonstrate that readiness. Alternatively, we recognize that sometimes candidates can’t take the standardized test for various reasons so we offer the test waiver approval process as an opportunity for candidates to show us their academic readiness in the absence of a test score.
CA: In the application data form, many schools ask for information about work experience, activities, hobbies, and much more. What advice would you give to applicants as they approach this component of the application process?
BM: I would tell applicants not to overlook the application form section. The information in this form can often provide depth to the overall application. For example, sometimes there isn’t enough room on your resume or time in your interview to expand on a particular volunteer experience or award you may have received. The application form gives you the space to really expand on your story and add some context and more detailed information. Additionally, we sometimes see candidates make the mistake of not noting progression in title or position on their resume, but the application form has that information, and we are able to note that progression when we are looking at the application as a whole.
CA: Tell us briefly about two popular courses at your institution.
BM: We consistently hear from students that one of their favorite courses is Managerial and Organizational Effectiveness taught by Rangaraj “Ranga” Ramanujam. Students leave the course with a better understanding how to be effective within an organization and as a manager. It extends far beyond individual performance and successes and focuses more on the strategic intent, influence and designing effective organizational structures. We have a renowned Human and Organizational Performance Program (ranked #3 by Princeton Review for Best MBA for Human Resources) and this is a part of that concentration.
We have an interdisciplinary course called Project Pyramid that is wildly popular. The program mixes in-classroom learning with hands-on learning to engage with socially conscious organizations and develop meaningful solutions. The course examines causes and symptoms of global poverty and seeks to draw connections by using real-world case studies and collaboration. Students participate in an international immersion within the course along with a consulting project. It is really impactful to see the meaningful change that students create around the globe through this unique offering.
CA: Is there anything else you’d like to highlight about your MBA program or admissions process?
BM: We recognize that candidates take lots of different paths to get to an MBA, and we have crafted an application process that aligns with that. We have rounds that extend from October all the way through May because we know that there is not one specific time that candidates decide to pursue an MBA. We only offer virtual interviews because we want candidates to be able to interview from whenever and wherever is convenient for them and not have to worry if their virtual interview is going to be the same as an in-person interview. We structured our career essay to give candidates the opportunity to share two paths they plan to pursue because we know that’s more aligned with the reality of business school. We offer test waivers because we know that sometimes candidates have the quantitative and analytical skills to succeed but may not be able to take a test due to personal circumstances. We want our admissions process to meet candidates where they are, because we recognize the path looks different.
