“谁是你的梦校？” (Insert School Here) Is My Dream School!

素叔，从一位招生官过来人的角度告诉小伙伴们为啥学校要问这个问题，意义何在，以及如何解题。...





最近小编在整理面经的时候，发现一个面试题目特别让被面的同学们感到痛苦啊，就是那句噎死人的：你的梦校是啥？或者本质相同问法不同的：你还申请什么学校了？如果没有事先准备过，hin可能会被问懵：学校，你到底想知道啥？我不想骗你是唯一（说了你也未必会信），可是实话实说会不会就没有然后了？……

嗯，这个问题RIO狡黠啊。为了破解本题，素叔特意写了篇长文，从一位招生官过来人的角度告诉小伙伴们为啥学校要问这个问题，意义何在，以及如何解题。原文全英高能，想快速浏览主旨的可以直接翻到译文部分，个别难懂的词汇可以对照英文回看。

/ By Russell 



(Insert School) Is My Dream School

For many MBA candidates, one of the most challenging questions to answer in the interview is the dreaded, ‘So what other schools are you applying to?’ Or some variation on that theme. Of course, like all of your answers, it must come across as authentic, while at the same time you need to convince the interviewer that their school IS your dream school.



Going through the MBA application process is much like courting. You are trying to impress the school, or more specifically, the Admissions Committee; and at the same time they are trying to put forward their best foot and impress you. But all the power is in the hands of the school…until you are admitted!  Admissions Committees and schools are like you and me, they want to feel wanted. They want to be your first choice. Hey, you know you are a strong candidate with a wonderful story, great statistics, you’ve been high impact in the community…why do they care if they are your first choice? You’d make a great addition to their cohort, clearly bringing value through your unique perspective and, oh by the way, your GMAT and GPA would help those averages! The bottom-line is, for every seat in a top MBA program there are anywhere from 7 to 20+ applicants. Odds are, there is even someone who looks like you. Ultimately, schools want to admit applicants who they believe there is a high probability will accept their offer of admission. In the AdCom world it is called – ‘Yieldability’. When your application is being presented in committee, two words you want to hear when your file is being discussed – High Yield! This means you have convinced the AdCom through your application, including your interview, you are clearly interested in their program and will likely accept the offer.

Schools want to receive as many applications as possible, and then admit as few applicants as necessary to fill the class, ultimately maintaining their selectivity. Like the GMAT and GPA averages of an incoming class, selectivity factors into many business school rankings and is something the AdCom keeps a close eye on. In fact, you may notice that the class size at a school varies from year to year by a few percentage points. One common reason for this is, schools pay such close attention to their selectivity that they monitor how many applicants they can admit off of the Waitlist as they approach the start of the program, before it moves the selectivity dial. Selectivity is so important that some schools would rather have a class that is 10-15 students smaller if it means maintaining a certain percentage of applicants admitted. Put a dollar amount in tuition on that and you can see how important it is.OK, back to the question of how do you respond when your interviewer asks you to what other schools did you apply. Interviewers – whether they are alumni, current students or admissions officers – know you most likely didn’t apply to just one school. As with the rest of your application it is important to be strategic in how you answer this question. Share with them 2-3 schools you applied to that ideally make sense based on your goals and interests. If they ask you why you applied to the other schools, your answer should make sense, but you can include a concern. Maybe you are worried a little bit about the class size, it’s too big or too small. Maybe you have concerns about the location, it’s in a small town or big city. Upon answering this question, you can then turn the conversation back to their school and highlight those features that make it the best school for you. And don’t be too general, bringing up features that could be applied to any number of schools. Be specific, mention resources, strengths, culture or career opportunities, and bring up things like the amazing alumni community that you really connected with in your research and want to be a part of. Let your passion come through!

When I was the Associate Director of Admissions at Duke University, I asked every candidate I interviewed this question. How they answered this question was noted, and had the potential of having an impact on their candidacy and final decision. So make sure you are not surprised by this very common question when it comes up.Russell Davis是杜克大学富卡商学院前招生官，负责亚洲地区招生工作近十年。2016年6月，素叔走出招生办，来到中国，加入ChaseDream团队，改行做一名申请咨询师。

在ChaseDream，Russell担纲 MBA Workshop课程讲师、咨询师，并作为MBA定制服务的Mentor，以一对一的方式，全程指导客户完成申请工作。从他开始做咨询师的4个月来，已经成功地辅导了7位同学收到CBS和Duke Early Round的录取，更多同学正在准备面试，相信录取正在路上。

关于角色的转变

“为什么做针对中国客户的申请咨询师？因为我太了解中国，太喜欢跟你们在一起，太享受帮助每位申请人实现名校梦想的整个过程；为什么加入ChaseDream团队？因为只有只有ChaseDream是把商科申请当作自己的全部业务，而不是某项业务。ChaseDream是一个特别的存在，这里的咨询服务可以带来商学院真正的insights。所以我加入的时候没有一丝犹豫。”

译文：谁是你的梦校？

对许多MBA候选人来说，在面试中一个最具挑战性的问题就是那句可怕的“那么，你还申请了什么别的学校（或者和它大同小异的问题）？”。当然，就像你回答所有问题一样，它必须被认为是真实的，同时你需要说服面试官，他们的学校就是你的梦校。



MBA的申请过程其实很像谈恋爱。你想给学校，或者更具体地说，给招生委员会留下深刻的印象；同时他们也努力地展现着自己吸引人的优点，以让你感到惊艳。但是，在你被录取之前所有的权力都是掌握在招生委员会手里的。招生委员会和学校就像你和我，他们也想要被追求的感觉。他们想成为你的第一选择。嗯，你也许知道自己是一个强有力的候选人，你有精彩的故事，各种好看的数据，你在社会和组织中有着很高的影响力，等等。你可能会极大地壮大他们的队伍，因为你的独特性明显地给学校贡献了价值——哦，顺便说一下，你的GMAT和GPA可能会帮助学校提高平均分。为什么学校和招生官还会在意他们是否你的第一选择呢？最主要的是，对于任一顶级的MBA项目来说，每一个席位都有7个到20 多个申请人在争取。甚至还有很多看起来和你差不多的人。最终，学校会想要录取一个在他们看来有更有可能接受他们offer的申请人。在招生委员会的圈子里，它叫做——“录取回报”。当招生委员会在讨论你的申请材料时，如果听到了“高回报！”这个词，那意味着你，通过你的申请材料，包括面试，已经说服了委员会：你确实是对他们项目感兴趣的，并且很有可能接受他们的录取。

学校想收到尽可能多的申请来最终维持其录取率，却最终只录取其班级所必需的少数申请人。录取率，与其未来班级的GMAT和GPA的平均分一样，是影响很多商学院排名的因素之一，所以招生委员会密切关注。事实上，您可能会注意到，学校的班级规模每年跟每年只有几个百分点的不同。一个常见的原因是：学校密切地关注他们的录取率，随着项目临近启动，他们会监控有多少申请人能够从候补名单上拿下来去平衡录取率。录取率是如此的重要，以至于一些学校宁愿班容收缩10 – 15个学生也要维持一定比例的录取率。那么一大笔的学费啊，你可以看到它是多么的重要。



好了，现在回到那个问题，你如何回应你的面试官问的：你还申请了什么其他学校。面试官——无论是校友，在校生或者招生官——都知道你很可能不只申一所学校。与你其它的申请因素一样，回答这个问题，重要的在于策略。与他们分享的2 – 3个你申请的学校最好是充分基于你的职业目标和兴趣爱好的。如果他们问你为什么你申请其他学校，你的回答应该是很合理的，但是你可以同时谈及一个顾虑。比如，你有点担心班级规模的大小，太大或太小；或者是担心学校的地理位置，是在一个小镇或是大都市。在回答这个问题时，你可以把话题带回到他们的学校并且强调那些特性使得这个学校对你来说是最好的。不要太概括，不要讲哪些放之四海而皆准的属性。具体些，提到他们的资源、优势、文化或就业机会；提到比如你在研究学校时候接触到的他们那些流弊的校友团体，并真的很想要成为他们的一部分。尽情释放你的激情！

当我在杜克大学做招生副主任时，我对每个被面试的同学都问了这个问题。他们如何回答这个问题会被记录，并有可能影响他们的候选状态和最终的结果。所以请确保当被问到这个超级常见的问题时，你不要一脸懵逼。

ChaseDream

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启思逐梦

华人商科留学考试信息平台。从GMAT, TOEFL备考到MBA及其它商科申请，从免费资讯到顶级服务，一路陪伴。MBA申请是一件专业的事，这件事我们已经专注了十五年。我们用结果证明实力。

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