B-Schools Prove Even Liberal Arts Majors Can Learn Math - Poets&Quants

B-Schools Prove Even Liberal Arts Majors Can Learn Math

Business schools are introducing initiatives aimed at accommodating liberal arts applicants.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a number of flagship MBA programs, including Carnegie Mellon University, Yale SOM and Columbia Business School, are helping former English literature and political-science majors prepare for math-intensive coursework prior to starting their MBA education.

GRE vs. GMAT

Historically, the GMAT has given an advantage to applicants with strong quantitative skills. Yet, a number of b-schools are now accepting the GRE, a standardized exam geared more towards social science and humanities programs. 91% of US b-schools surveyed by Kaplan Test Prep last fall reported accepting the GRE for admission, up from 24% of schools in 2009.

67% of surveyed schools reported that offering the GRE option has increased enrollment of students from more diverse backgrounds outside the traditional business tracks, such as finance and consulting.

B-Schools Helping Prep Students In Math

Every summer, the Yale School of Management enrolls roughly 20% of its incoming class of students to a three-day math camp that covers topics such as statistics and calculus, according to The Wall Street Journal. Students selected for the camp often show weaker quantitative backgrounds in their undergraduate transcripts and exam scores.

“For some of the students, when they first walk in, this is all Martian,” Professor Jonathan Feinstein, who runs the course at Yale SOM, tells The Wall Street Journal. In the end, “the students who are struggling quantitatively almost always make it through.”

At Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, a third of the incoming students’ admission to its MBA program is contingent on completion of a five-week online summer math course and passage of a three-hour final exam. Specifically, as The Wall Street Journal reports, the course is aimed at students who may struggle to fulfill Tepper’s calculus requirement.

“We want to be able to recruit people who have strong analytical ability but may not have the most extensive quants background,” Kathryn Barraclough, head of Tepper’s M.B.A. program and a distinguished service professor of finance, tells The Wall Street Journal.

Similarly, at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, 41% of the incoming class are required to complete a month-long online course aimed at preparing students for the math skills needed in business.

“We explain to them, this is not to punish you,” Christie St-John, director of M.B.A. admissions at Owen, tells The Wall Street Journal. “If you’re coming from a background of no quant, no math, you need to get yourself prepared.”

Dawna Clarke, executive director of admissions and financial aid at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, says it’s impressive when applicants come in having already completed business-focused training.

“I want to encourage people to take those quantitative classes before they even apply. It makes life easier when you’re in an M.B.A. program, and it increases your chances of getting in,” she tells The Wall Street Journal.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Kaplan Test Prep

The Big Pay Off Of Corporate Social Responsibility

To survive in today’s economy, businesses need to demonstrate corporate social responsibility.

With companies growing larger in power and money, Ioannis Ioannou, an associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship, argues in a London Business School article that modern organizations companies don’t only benefit society when they demonstrate CSR. They benefit themselves.

The Modern Day Organization

Corporations have largely grown over the years. Some companies have grown so large, that they account for larger economies than some countries. According to a 2016 Global Justice Now study, out of the world’s top 100 largest economies, 69 were companies while 31 were countries.

With more power than some governments, the world’s top 10 corporations make enough revenue together than 180 of the poorest countries combined, Ioannou says.

“The modern organization’s large footprint highlights its potential to have a positive impact on society and the environment if the right incentives, motives, institutions and people are in place,” Ioannou writes. “Just think about the positive impact that one company, such as Unilever, could have when it focuses on making sustainable living commonplace. This is a company whose products and services reach up to two billion people daily.”

Being Socially Responsible Pays Off

Financial performance for a company, Ioannou argues, is directly linked to its social responsibility today.

“In other words, companies perform better when making a positive contribution towards sustainable and inclusive growth as they gain better access to human capital and finance and benefit from increased customer loyalty,” Iouannou explains.

This relationship between CSR and financial performance was not always the case, however. Ioannou explains how in the early 1990’s, the general public and business figures believed that investors were “indifferent about whether companies engaged in CSR initiatives.”

Investment analysts’ perceptions have largely changed since then, Ioannou argues. Many investors tend to now see a company’s CSR initiatives as valuable. In his studies, Ioannou found that “companies with superior sustainability performance gained better access to finance. They faced lower capital constraints, simply because they were more transparent, and had more stable relationships with their stakeholders.”

The Benefits of Socially Responsible Business

In the investment world, the practice of socially responsible investing is called “ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing,” according to Forbes.

And this practice tends to pay off well for stakeholders. But there are a number of other benefits a company gains in being socially responsible, Ioannou argues.

Companies heavily involved in CSR tend to be characterized by distinct governance mechanisms, Ioannou says. In other words – they tend to reflect the joint interests of all their stakeholders.

“Such companies involve the board more in CSR issues and link executive compensation to environmental and social objectives (in addition to financial objectives),” Ioannou writes.

In turn, there tends to be a better understanding of stakeholders’ needs since they are more directly involved and linked.

“They report internally and externally on the quality of those partnerships, making them more proactive, transparent and accountable when engaging with their stakeholders,” Ioannou writes.

Lastly, Ioannou argues that being socially responsible can make a company “more likely to measure information related to key stakeholders such as employees, customers and suppliers, and to increase the credibility of these measures by using auditing procedures.”

Additionally, companies that care about social responsibility tend to measure and disclose more and higher quality non-financial data.

All of this may seem to convey that companies largely choose to be socially responsible because it offers better financial gains. So, as a consumer, where would you fit in?

Amit Bhattacharjee, an assistant professor of marketing at the Rotterdam School of Management, says consumers influence companies with their dollars.

“Relative to the scale and financial might of big businesses, individual consumers may feel powerless and devoid of influence,” Bhattacharjee writes in a Harvard Business Review post. “They may need reminders of their enormous collective power and influence. Their dollars are votes that directly shape what businesses must do to survive, and those votes add up.”

Sources: London Business School, Harvard Business Review, Global Justice Now

New Admission Requirement: Being Nice

There’s a new requirement for MBA acceptance: being nice.

Darmouth College’s Tuck School of Business announced that it will now seek applicants who possess four qualities: smart, nice, accomplished, and aware, Inside Higher Ed reports.

“The pathways students take to Tuck are numerous,” Luke Anthony Peña, executive director of admissions and financial aid at Tuck, says in a press release. “They bring a wide range of experiences and perspectives to our community and incredible professional diversity. Yet we’ve found that no matter their path to Tuck, there are four attributes that our students consistently demonstrate. We’re now intentionally highlighting those four qualities for prospective students and inviting them to imagine themselves here.”

What Does “Nice” Really Mean?

While “nice” may seem vague, it seems Tuck admissions is really seeking high emotional intelligence (EQ) in their applicants.

“What we’re looking for is emotional intelligence, empathy, and respect for others,” Peña explains. “Tuck is a distinctly collaborative community so being able to challenge others tactfully and thoughtfully is important.”

Emotional intelligence, according to Psychology Today, is the ability to identify and manage self-emotions and the emotions of others. In other words, it’s being aware that emotion can drive our behavior and impact people, and learning how to manage those emotions under pressure, according to the Institute for Health and Human Potential.

How Will “Nice” Be Evaluated?

According to Inside Higher Ed, the criteria for “niceness” among Tuck applicants will be demonstrated in both essays and recommendation letters. In addition to the traditional “why Tuck” essay question, applicants will be asked to write to a new prompt: “Tuck students are nice, and invest generously in one another’s success. Share an example of how you helped someone else succeed.”

Just last year, NYU’s Stern School of Business announced its own version of the EQ requirement: an EQ endorsement. The endorsement is submitted in the form of a testimonial written by an advocate of the applicant and must illustrate specific examples of the applicant’s EQ. Conventionally, endorsements are written my professional mentors or supervisors, but NYU’s EQ Endorsement broke tradition by opening the endorsement to team members, colleague, or friends who can best illustrate the applicant’s EQ.

“It’s a brand new idea and a new concept,” NYU Stern’s Isser Gallogly, associate dean of MBA admissions & innovation, explained in an interview with Poets&Quants. “We are looking for students who are not only capable academically but also capable in leadership, managing teams and having emotional intelligence. So we really asked ourselves what can we do to get more insight into a person’s emotional intelligence into their character.”

Chad Troutwine, co-founder and CEO of Veritas Prep, tells Inside Higher Ed that the new emphasis on “nice” might work out for Tuck.

“Tuck has finally formalized what they’ve long valued: a community of leaders who prize empathy and emotional intelligence at least as highly as financial and strategic acumen,” Troutwine tells Inside Higher Ed. “Those are not mutually exclusive qualities, so Tuck will likely attract even more of the high-quality applicants they seek. It’s a proud declaration of who they are.”

Sources: Inside Higher Ed, Dartmouth College, Psychology Today, Institute for Health and Human Potential , Poets & Quants

 

 

 

 

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