Business management schools compete for the best, brightest and most creative MBA students. This competition requires schools to think differently about how they source potential applicants.
With that in mind, Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management is testing a new approach: It’s a pilot recruitment program called Create Change, in which candidates interested in the school’s full-time MBA program can prove themselves without the usual testing requirement, usually the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) for business management schools.
“Certainly it’s a different approach, and I know management schools are being challenged to do something different,” said Deborah Bibb, the Weatherhead School’s assistant dean of admissions. “We are using it to identify the core competencies an individual may have that might fit well with the Weatherhead School of Management and employers who recruit our students.”
A Create Change webpage drew applications from across the country. Create Change full-time MBA candidates have at least five years of work experience and have presented themselves creatively. Most wrote essays. Some sent videos. One made a podcast.
The next step in the selection process is in-person presentation and participation at a Create Change event Feb. 9-10 at the Weatherhead School. About 35 candidates—27 responding through the Create Change website and eight others who first went through the traditional MBA application process—were invited to promote their abilities. Participants’ expenses for travel and accommodation will be covered by the Weatherhead School.
The candidates can expect to be part of a group tasked with a business challenge, allowing each to demonstrate analytical and teamwork skills. They will also get to meet Weatherhead School faculty, alumni and managers from an array of businesses and other organizations, such as a hospital system or startup advisory group.
“Their presentations will be judged by those in the best position to determine if the potential student has what it takes to succeed in a management career,” Bibb said.
The event also offers potential students a chance to find out more about some of the business concepts for which the Weatherhead School is well known, such as design thinking, Appreciative Inquiry, Emotional Intelligence, and Business as an Agent of World Benefit.
Bibb estimated that 12 to 15 of the Create Change participants will become full-time Weatherhead School MBA students next fall semester as part of an incoming class of about 60 students.
“We want to find candidates who might not have imagined themselves earning an MBA and those who want to achieve something greater than just earning the degree,” Bibb said. “These will be individuals who want to transform business and society.”
This article was originally published Jan. 17, 2017.