Buckle-up: Clicking with Admissions Officers

A pre-MBA candidate recently asked me about building relationships with MBA admissions officers. She specifically wanted to know what to do when she didn’t make an immediate connection with an admissions officer – how should she proceed when she had made initial contact with an admissions officer but didn’t feel like they had really “clicked”?

The importance of relationship management is a hot topic, particularly in circles of under-represented minority candidates. More and more MBA applicants are prioritizing relationships with admissions officers during the admissions cycle. This is the result of a number of factors:

• Previous MBA candidates emphasize to them how important relationships with admissions officers was to their MBA application process
• In organizations like MLT, building relationships with admissions officers is a core pillar of their programs and is essentially an expectation of all program participants
• Business schools have gotten more aggressive in reaching out to candidates in more personal ways (and through social media – which feels personal to Millennials)
• Candidates see other candidates networking and don’t want to get left behind
• Candidates are genuinely looking for advice and information from admissions officers

I am a huge proponent of relationship management with admissions officers in the MBA application process, but the uber personal, “we’ve-got-to-vibe-and-be-friends” thing is too much. In fact it can negate the value of your admissions officer relationships.

Admissions officers have one aim – to find the right candidates for their MBA programs.

When an MBA admissions officer talks with you in the context of the MBA application process, it is all about business – the business of filling their incoming MBA class. They are representing their school and they have laser-like focus on their goal. Admissions officers will give you information and advice, because they (1) want to sell you on their program so that you will submit an application and, possibly later if admitted, attend, and thus (2) want you to submit a strong application. Sometimes they will also use interactions with you to assess your viability – to determine whether you might be a fit for the MBA program. Admissions officers have limited time so may prioritize interacting with some candidates over others. This latter part often causes candidates to worry about how they connect with an admissions officer – does she like me? does she think I am a good candidate? For the most part, that is wasted energy on your part.

Leverage admissions officers in the way that they most want to be used – as a source of information about their MBA programs and about delivering stellar MBA applications. All the better when you make a strong connection with an admissions officer, but it’s not a requirement and shouldn’t be your focus. In fact, a strong relationship with an admissions officer may give you a false sense of application security. When I was an admissions officer, the personal relationships that I developed with a few candidates led to enduring friendships that we still maintain ten years later. But know that friendship doesn’t equal admission. Use your relationships with admissions officer to submit the best quality applications to make it easy for them to advocate on your behalf and for all on the admissions committee to support your admission to the program. A friendship won’t lead to an admissions officer advocating for you, rather it will just make them a whole lot sadder when they have to deny you, but deny you they will.

Admissions officers are people (what a concept, I know!)

It is our human nature that generally leads us to look at situations from our own perspective, instead of considering that the other party may approach it differently. Just because we don’t “feel” a vibe with an admissions officer, doesn’t mean it’s not there. We, and admissions officers, express ourselves in different ways. You may be interacting with an admissions officer at a reception with a glass of wine in your hand and “feel” that the conversation is a little forced and flat, but in fact you are exchanging the right information between each other and laying in the foundation for a robust relationship. Don’t project you desired interaction on the actual interface with an admissions officer. Be yourself and also take verbal and non-verbal cues from the admission officer.