Twitter微論文成商學(xué)院招生新寵
????雖然商學(xué)院或許會(huì)說,撰寫社交媒體“短文”符合候選人的最佳利益,但社交媒體的免費(fèi)廣告顯然也給這些學(xué)校帶來了好處。蒂皮管理學(xué)院要求所有申請(qǐng)文檔必須上傳到學(xué)院的MBA幻燈片頻道,同時(shí)鼓勵(lì)申請(qǐng)人推廣自己的幻燈片——得到最多“贊”的學(xué)生將獲得5,000美元的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金。這所商學(xué)院還許諾,幻燈片最具創(chuàng)意的學(xué)生將獲得一筆相當(dāng)于全額學(xué)費(fèi)的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金。 ????喬治敦大學(xué)麥克多諾商學(xué)院鼓勵(lì)申請(qǐng)人在Twitter上使用標(biāo)簽#WhyHoya來回復(fù)申請(qǐng)短文問題。最佳回復(fù)(包括一些來自校友的回復(fù))被收錄在了一個(gè)Facebook相簿之中。 ????但社交媒體并不是創(chuàng)意申請(qǐng)流程的唯一選擇。近20年以來,紐約大學(xué)斯特恩商學(xué)院(Stern School of Business)一直邀請(qǐng)候選人提交有創(chuàng)意的自薦資料。斯特恩商學(xué)院負(fù)責(zé)MBA招生事宜的副院長(zhǎng)伊塞?加洛格利介紹說,這所商學(xué)院多年來收到的材料可謂五花八門,不一而足。比如,一個(gè)通過手搖曲柄提供照明用電的微型大樓,還有一個(gè)個(gè)性十足的麥片盒——申請(qǐng)人在原料配方的位置上列舉了自己的各種素質(zhì)。 ????后來,由于幾位申請(qǐng)人采用了“越大越好”的方式,這所商學(xué)院于是對(duì)申請(qǐng)人提交物品的尺寸進(jìn)行了限制。“難不成接下來有人會(huì)遞來一輛轎車?”加洛格利開玩笑說。此外,招生團(tuán)隊(duì)還把穿過的舊衣服列入了黑名單(很有可能是因?yàn)樗麄兪盏竭^一雙舊馬拉松運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋導(dǎo)致的結(jié)果)。收到一批壽司之后,食物也成了不受歡迎的物品。加洛格利委婉地說:“有些東西寄到我們這里的時(shí)候,已經(jīng)不是申請(qǐng)人期望的樣子了?!?/p> ????芝加哥大學(xué)布斯商學(xué)院(Booth School of Business)早些時(shí)候也嘗試過使用申請(qǐng)短文之外的其他方式。根據(jù)2007-2008學(xué)年的招生計(jì)劃,候選人必須提交四張幻燈片來說明一個(gè)問題:“你會(huì)成為一位什么樣的學(xué)生,你打算怎樣脫穎而出。” ????布斯商學(xué)院主管招生工作的副院長(zhǎng)庫(kù)爾特?阿爾姆表示,這些需要使用幻燈片來回答的問題可以讓學(xué)院看到候選人通過其他途徑很難看到的一面。他解釋說:“申請(qǐng)流程能夠了解的候選人資質(zhì)是有限的。出于非常具體的原因,我們?cè)儐栆恍┓浅>唧w的問題。但可以想象的是,除此之外,有些事情還需要進(jìn)一步溝通。” ????事實(shí)證明,這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)非常成功,。在2012-2013學(xué)年的招生流程中,這所商學(xué)院繼續(xù)要求學(xué)生提交由四張幻燈片構(gòu)成的“申請(qǐng)短文”。盡管幻燈片目前禁止嵌入鏈接、視頻和社交媒體內(nèi)容,但阿爾姆表示,這種情況未來有可能發(fā)生變化?!拔覐膩頉]有說過絕對(duì)不會(huì)做什么事情。我認(rèn)為,沒有什么事情不能探討?!?/p> ????但這些非常規(guī)的“申請(qǐng)短文”是否真的能夠幫助招生委員會(huì)更好地了解真正符合要求的候選人呢?蒂皮管理學(xué)院的謝弗似乎是這么認(rèn)為的。她說:“申請(qǐng)顧問們可能需要多花點(diǎn)時(shí)間來適應(yīng)新技術(shù),掌握新技術(shù)。它要比幫助申請(qǐng)人撰寫一篇文章更加復(fù)雜。” ????此外,商學(xué)院正在使用非傳統(tǒng)的申請(qǐng)短文,以梳理出申請(qǐng)人具體的個(gè)性,進(jìn)而評(píng)估某個(gè)申請(qǐng)人是否“適合”。這是一個(gè)很難把握,但越來越普遍的招生標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。斯特恩商學(xué)院的加洛格利如是說:“我們正在尋找的學(xué)生不僅要具備高智商,還要具備足夠高的情商。這種方式能夠從一個(gè)不同的角度展示候選人的真實(shí)情況?!?/p> ????喬治敦大學(xué)的休伯特認(rèn)為,非傳統(tǒng)申請(qǐng)短文的成功與否取決于申請(qǐng)人承擔(dān)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的意愿。麥克多諾商學(xué)院去年引入Twitter申請(qǐng)的時(shí)候,大多數(shù)學(xué)生并沒有嵌入照片或鏈接。但這并不意味著試驗(yàn)已經(jīng)宣告失敗。她說:“我們希望申請(qǐng)人愿意承擔(dān)更多的風(fēng)險(xiǎn),讓我們走進(jìn)他們生活的其他方面?!?財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) ????譯者:任文科 |
????While schools may describe social media "essays" as being in the candidates' best interests, the institutions certainly benefit from the free social media marketing. Tippie requires all entries to be uploaded to the school's MBA SlideShare channel and encourages applicants to promote their own slideshows -- the student with the most "likes" gets a $5,000 scholarship. The school has also pledged a full-tuition scholarship to the applicant with the most creative slide deck. ????Georgetown's McDonough School of Business encouraged prospective students to Tweet their responses to an essay question under the hashtag #WhyHoya. Top answers, including those from alumni, were featured in a Facebook album. ????But social media isn't the only option for innovative applications. New York University's Stern School of Business has invited candidates to submit creative expressions of themselves for nearly two decades. Over the years, the school has received everything from a miniature building with crank-powered lighting to a personalized cereal box, which listed an applicant's attributes in place of the ingredients, says Isser Gallogly, Stern's assistant dean of MBA admissions. ????The school introduced size constraints after a few applicants adopted the "bigger is better" approach. "Is someone going to send a car next?" Gallogly jokes. "The admissions team also blacklisted previously worn clothing (likely a result of the used marathon sneakers) and food following a shipment of sushi. "By the time it got to us, it didn't present as well as they expected it to," Gallogly diplomatically recalls. ????The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business also experimented with a non-essay option early on. In the 2007-2008 application cycle, candidates were required to submit four slides to help illustrate "who you will be in their class and how you will stand out," according to the guidelines. ????Kurt Ahlm, Booth's associate dean of student recruitment and admissions, says the slide question allowed the school to get at aspects of candidates that might otherwise fall through the cracks. "There's a finite amount of real estate in the application. We ask very specific things for very specific reasons, but presumably there are things left out of this that you'd like to communicate," he explains. ????The experiment proved successful, he says, and the school continued the four-slide "essay" through the 2012-2013 application season. Although the question bans embedding links, videos, and social media in the slides, Ahlm says that this could change in the future. "I never say never," he says. "I don't think anything is off the table." ????But are these unconventional "essays" helping admissions committees get a better sense of the real candidate? Tippie's Schafer certainly seems to think so. "It's going to take a little bit of time for consultants to catch up with new technology and uses for new technology," she says. "This is more complicated than shaping an essay." ????B-schools are also using nontraditional essays to tease out specific personality traits that help them assess a candidate's "fit," a slippery but increasingly common admissions criterion. "We're looking for people who not only have high I.Q., but really high E.Q. and emotional intelligence," Stern's Gallogly says. "It can bring a candidate to life in a different way." ????For Georgetown's Hubert, the success of the nontraditional essay depends on an applicant's willingness to take a few risks. When McDonough introduced the Tweet essay last year, most students shied away from embedding photos or links. But that doesn't mean it has been a failure. "We hope people will take more risks and allow us into other aspects of their lives," she says. |
-
熱讀文章
-
熱門視頻