"Dartmouth College’s MBA program is now weighing whether an applicant is ‘smart, nice, accomplished, and aware’ with the addition of ‘nice’ gaining attention in the higher education community.
Inside Higher Education reported that officials at the Tuck School of Business say the inclusion of ‘nice’ in the admissions criteria emphasizes the program’s interest in students who can collaborate and support one another." …
Ha, ha, ha- I mean, really. This seems to be particularly trite and insincere. How will they TRULY know if someone is nice? And if it is a published factor than any applicant will most definitely point out his or her “niceness” in the app. It just doesn’t fly.
That would indicate that the applicant is not nice.
@TomSrOfBoston Yes, exactly. If part of being nice is being humble ( and I strongly believe it is), there will be applicants who manipulate the app just to check off the box and the humble ones will be at a disadvantage. Honestly, so many nice people fly under the radar. One could tell via an interview if the person was nice ( but this would be hard to define as for one person it would be taking care of a sick Mom and for another doing social service work). I think being nice ( and more importantly being humble and able to work with others is CRITICAL in business). I also think it’s pretty rare ( 2-5%) call me cynical. I just hope that they have a lot of folks who can read between the lines.
This quality (nice) should be reflected in an applicant’s recommendations. Simply put, does the applicant work well with others & has the applicant assisted others in need.
This is a very real concern in the business world & among graduate business schools in the US.
I find it interesting to see which MBA programs or programs place the most graduates at Wells Fargo, for example.
Within multi-national & nationwide corporations certain offices get well deserved reputations as collaborative or cut-throat.
^^^Not sure the recommendations of superiors will accurately get at this, IMO peer recs would be better.
IME business people who are decidedly not nice often have a ‘gift’ in managing upwards. Using this gift, they are able to display desirable traits, such as niceness or whatever traits their organization values, to those who are more senior (likely recommenders). But their peers and subordinates tend to know the real deal.
Dartmouth College asks for or requires peer recommendations for undergraduate admissions (although this may have changed recently).
@Mwfan1921: Still would be reflected in recommendations. Managers & supervisors are not as blind as suggested above.
Just communicating my experience, YMMV
Hello all,
I just graduated from university with BS degree in management . Now , I’m planing to attend graduate school. Iwas wondering what are your guys thoughts on either University of La Verne , University of Redlands, Cal Lutheran University and golden gate university for MBA program. And if you were me which one would you choose ? I’m not worried about the tuition price tags as much as the value of the degree and how my future employer would recognize my degree from any of these schools . Please let me know , especially to those who are in the business field. Thanks
Wow! That means a lot of reading between the lines of LORs!! It means they’re looking for lines about respect from faculty and peers-- and not all letters will include those statements. A number of kids are so focused on their grades that they forget to be human to the kids around them— look at all the snide “consider a Community College” comments we read here.