Today we welcome Keith Vaughn, a highly experienced MBA admissions professional. He started as an Associate Director of MBA admissions in 1994 at USC Marshall, moved up to Director in 1997 and to Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions at USC Marshall in 1997. In addition, he served briefly at different points in time as Interim Vice Dean of the MBA Program and Interim Executive Director, MBA Career Services. And his experience is not at all limited to USC Marshall.  Keith also had multi-year stints on the board of GMAC and on the board of the Consortium for the Graduate Study in Management. He has met and worked closely with all the leaders at a array of full-time part-time, and executive MBA programs.

Breadth and depth in MBA admissions define today’s guest’s expertise.

Not only is Keith bringing his insights and qualifications to this episode – he also just joined Accepted’s consulting staff and will be helping Accepted’s clients one-on-one. Welcome, Keith!

His background & how he got into admissions [2:15] 

I was a military brat – I was born in West Point. For college, I was accepted to the Air Force Academy, but went to Amherst instead. When I was studying for my MBA, the dean pulled me in to work on a career project. When you work on output, you have to work on input, so that’s how I got into admissions.

There’s a lot of travel involved with admissions work – I traveled over 3 million miles in my career, all over the globe.

Initially, I thought I’d do the job for about 3 years. After 3 years, I became the Admissions Director.

What did you wish applicants understood or knew that they just didn’t get? [4:55] 

There are no tricks to this process, and there’s no formula. Admissions people are trying to get to know who you are. Even if you get a curveball question in an interview, it’s not meant to trick you – it’s meant to see how you think on your feet.

What did you review first when you reviewed an MBA application? [7:12] 

The obvious first answer is the GMAT score. But just like I look at the average rating on Rotten Tomatoes to get a sense of how good a movie is – I would look at the AWA score, which gave me a good sense right from the start whether I was in for a good read. It was a great indicator of writing skills.

Then I would do a quick review of the resume.

How should MBA applicants approach the essays? [9:38] 

Be authentic – tell your story in your voice. Think about the stories you’re telling. It can be helpful to show friends and colleagues to get input.

You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete – you’re unique. It’s about self-reflection. 

Understand what motivates you and how. Peel the layers back and really get a sense of who you are.

Can you tell us a little bit about the Consortium for the Graduate Study of Management and applying via its application process? [11:55] 

I’m actually a Consortium alum, in addition to having served on the board.

The mission of the Consortium is to increase the number of people of color in the ranks of business. Now anyone can apply if they support the mission: increasing the number of people of diverse backgrounds in management. You have to show how you’re helping, how you’re supporting the mission.

Again, there’s no trick to the application. The process is the same.