<p>
Graduate schools including University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School are bypassing alumni in admissions interviews to meet directly with M.B.A. candidates in person or via Skype videoconferencing, despite the potential higher costs, in an attempt to ensure interviews are being conducted in a uniform mannerand in English…</p>
<p>The Anderson School of Management, at the University of California, Los Angeles, is betting that videoconferencing may be a solution. That school’s admissions team started to interview more overseas M.B.A. candidates for the fall 2012 class by Skype in part to ensure that potential students are fluent in English. </p>
<p>The virtual face-to-face format will allow admissions officers to assess an applicant’s overall communication skills better than phone interviews would, says Rob Weiler, assistant dean and director of admissions and financial aid.
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<p>[B-Schools</a> Send Rejections to Unlikely Group: Alumni - WSJ.com ](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204368104577139031236229636.html?mod=googlenews_wsj]B-Schools ”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204368104577139031236229636.html?mod=googlenews_wsj )</p>
<p>I wonder it this will become widespread in the undergrad admissions process (at those schools that do interviews). I’d think the staffing requirements even for short Skype interviews would make it tough. Of course, if the main objective is to assess language skills, volunteers or student workers might be able to handle much of the volume.</p>
<p>B-Schools: Boarding Schools</p>
<p>Boarding schools have been using Skype to interview international middle and high schoolers for a couple of years already.</p>
XaviFM
January 12, 2012, 4:17pm
3
<p>I could see if this also was expanded to ensure that domestic applicants who claim to be multi-lingual are indeed proficient in that language.</p>
<p>Sounds like a good idea.</p>
<p>@coolweather: B-Schools are Business Schools. One of the nations best, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, is mentioned in the excerpt above. They are NOT boarding schools.</p>
ANDS
January 13, 2012, 2:53pm
5
<p>I’m sure they are aware of that; they were making a joke that this process has been in effect already for boarding school admissions processes.</p>
XaviFM
January 13, 2012, 8:02pm
6
<p>I lol’d a little bit.</p>