More than a year after introducing video interviews for MBA applicants, admissions staff at the Rotman School of Management say the videos have become more influential than they anticipated.
“We’re not looking for a certain type of content, but for whether students are articulate and passionate,” says Niki da Silva, director of recruitment and admissions for the full-time MBA program. “The videos tell you a tremendous amount about a person.”
Rotman’s software platform delivers two random, open-ended questions to each applicant. They have 60 seconds to consider their responses and a minute and a half to answer each query, a format that mimics the job interview process.
“It shows how you think on your feet,” says da Silva.
Following Rotman’s lead, Yale University and Northwestern University have now introduced video interviews for their MBA programs.
“I expect other departments at U of T to adopt it,” da Silva adds, noting that it undoubtedly helps weed out applicants who aren’t truly interested. “If they weren’t serious, they wouldn’t want to learn the software and the process.”
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