GMAC :
"Exploring the MBA"
Interview with Susan Motz

WorldStudent Interview with Susan Motz, Director of the Graduate Management Admission Council(GMAC) Admissions Services.

Since its birth as a non-profit organization in the late 50’s, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has been the leading innovator of graduate business school information and student services. Their principal revenue comes from the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test), which they developed in the late 50’s in response to graduate business school requests to have a standardized way to measure candidates from different schools and backgrounds. They also design, develop and deliver professional development programs, MBA forums, graduate management information books and test score services.

WS: What is GMAC’s role in the MBA field?

SM: GMAC provides products and services to prospective MBA candidates. GMAC’s goal is to create access to graduate business education. We try to build an applicant pool, educate that applicant pool, and create access for that applicant pool. In building the pool, one of our missions is to get the word out about what an MBA is, what it can do for people and their careers, and create an interest in the education itself.

In educating the applicant pool, we want to help them understand not just the value of an MBA but the variety of MBAs that exist, and the options that they have in terms of management education. We want to make them more astute consumers of management education and help them understand how to access information, to evaluate that information and to make good choices for themselves. In creating access we want to promote interaction and help schools to find applicants and applicants to find schools.

WS: What kind of services do you provide for prospective MBA candidates?

SM: There are some very specific ones. First we have written and produced a small booklet that is about thirty pages long called "Exploring the MBA". In the booklet we go into depth about the process of doing a self-assessment of trying to understand what your needs and objectives are in seeking an MBA degree, and then try to outline the variety of programs and considerations that they should be making, what’s involved in the application process, how to submit effective applications, and how to make final decisions about the choices that they have in front of them. That text is also on our website at www.gmac.com.

We also hold MBA forums, usually in hotels or convention centers, where we have around 100 schools in a ballroom and educational workshops for prospective students. Those who have taken the GMAT have an opportunity to opt into the Graduate Management Admissions Search Service, where they answer background questions and then become part of a pool where graduate schools of business may do a criteria-based search. That is a good way for students to learn about programs that might not have crossed their radar screens. So when they participate in GMASS, they get a lot of information on schools by email or regular mail.

WS: How has the demand for an MBA education changed in the past twenty years?

SM: I think that students are much, much more sophisticated about the search process, and I think that technology has enabled that change. You’re talking to somebody who has been in the field for twenty years. I graduated from my MBA program about twenty years ago, and I’ve been working in this area ever since. When I was exploring MBA programs, most inquiries came through the mail by postcards or letters. There weren’t extensive sources in the media about MBA programs, certainly no websites. The world wide web didn’t exist, email didn’t exist… and over the years that technology has really transformed the way students do research and achieve a level of sophistication much earlier in the process than they did twenty years ago.

Most students, for instance, when they came to an MBA forum twenty years ago, would leave the forums with suitcases full of literature, because that was the most effective way of gaining information about MBA programs. They could go one place and gather up lots of information and then sort through it, and then come up with a short list and go from there. These days there is an enormous number of websites and media coverage that will help them do searches. The access and availability has grown exponentially. Now when prospective MBA candidates come to an MBA forum they’ve already made a short list, and they’re not coming for basic information; they’re coming for more in-depth conversation with the admissions person behind the table.

WS: Why is an MBA education important in today’s world?

SM: I think it continues to grow in importance, quite frankly, and the complexity of today’s world and the technology in today’s world simply requires people to be better educated in order to compete, period. It gives you the framework for learning and assessing problems and issues that you will face for your entire career. An MBA program is an incredible foundation of education; they teach not just the nuts and bolts of accounting, finance, etc, but they first give you the fundamental, theoretical underpinnings from which you can form a solid foundation. You learn about economic theory, quantitative methods and behavioral sciences; you get all these very disparate pieces put into a nice coherent foundation. Then they overlay that with a good understanding of all the different functional areas of business and how they relate to each other. So once you have that fabulous foundation, which is what you need for your long-term career, you have the framework for how to go forward, how to gather information, how to do research, how to solve problems, and how to make decisions with incomplete information in the kind of timeframe that is required. Then they give you your chance to specialize and get in-depth training in a particular area that is of interest to you.

WS: What kind of effect do you think E-Learning programs will have on business management education?

SM: I think they’re an incredibly interesting new way of delivering material. I haven’t seen the content of those programs change extensively from the content of traditionally delivered MBA programs. I think it’s in its very early stages right now, and there are some really good delivery of e-learning programs and some really bad ones too. I think over the next five to ten years, with the way technology is changing and the access to information and the ability of students to seek out good programs, that the next wave will change how programs are delivered. I think we are going to see a big, big shift. E-learning doesn’t just touch distance students, it’s also impacting on-campus students as well, and improving the delivery of information on campus.

WS: Some have said that the GMAT and other standardized tests are biased against international students whose native language is not English; that it is not fair to expect a non-native English speaker to perform on the same level as a native English speaker. How would you respond to this concern?

SM: I have heard that for many years. However, before I came to GMAC, I worked for three different universities, and in my experience the tests results don’t show that, nor do the validity studies that schools perform. I think that in the way the questions are written, ETS does an incredible job of trying to keep out idioms or examples that are particularly American; they are very conscious about how words are used. I don’t think it’s perfect, but I certainly don’t think it creates a bias that makes the test unusable for non-Americans or non-native English speakers. Now, do non-native English speakers have a disadvantage? Of course they do. Anybody who is not a native English speaker is hampered by that, unless they have become extremely fluent. But then again, if you are being asked to take the GMAT, it is because the program you are interested in is delivered in English. So, I think it is a valid and necessary measure.

WS: Do you have any advice for prospective MBA students who want to apply to schools in other countries besides their own?

SM: I think that is a wonderful idea. I’m a big proponent of it, but they have to make sure that they have good, professional reasons for wishing to do so. It is always fun to study in another country, in another culture. There is no better way of becoming familiar with another culture and language than by going to that country, but you have to be aware of why you want to do it. You need to know what you hope to gain from that program and that experience and how you will be applying it professionally. They have to make very clear business decisions about this. What would your opportunities be for employment after graduation from that program verses a program in your home country? You have to look at issues with visas, opportunities, and the cost benefit analysis of the experience.

This actually goes to anybody who is looking at any school- you have to understand not just what the experience of the education is going to be like, but also who are the customers of that business school; who are the companies who are going to be coming in and recruiting at that school, who’s going to be hiring you, what are they going to be looking for, and do the skills and background that you bring to the table coupled with the education that you received at that school going to position you for the opportunities that are going to exist for you when you graduate? It is the responsibility of each prospective student to do homework and assess the schools at the beginning of their search. They also must realize that if they don’t, then they might not attend an MBA program that will serve them well.

For more information go to GMAC’s website at: www.gmac.com