Sabrina White, VP of Market Development West, highlights key programs, campaigns and successes that served schools in the Americas region in 2019.
Colleagues-
Happy New Year!
I hope you had a restful holiday and 2020 finds you looking forward to the possibilities a new year brings. Perhaps the halls in your school are still quiet, but our team has returned from holiday break and is already planning campus visits, meet-ups, student events and other initiatives to engage with you and candidates in the region.
Although I am certainly excited about 2020, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on some of the major projects our region championed in 2019 - and to say “thank you.”
Graduate Management Education Admission Reporting Guidelines
Last January, we introduced to you our plans to address a need surfaced by many member schools in the Americas region. The need was guidelines for standardized reporting, and the recommendation was that GMAC revisit and update the guidelines from 2006. We formed a Task Force and charged them with setting new GME Admissions Reporting Guidelines that align with the transformation of our industry and today’s best practices. In the spring (May and June), the Task Force socialized the Draft Reporting Criteria with schools via gmac.com, webinars and presentations at the GMAC Annual Conference in Denver. From July through September, the Task Force worked diligently to incorporate YOUR feedback into the final document that was presented to GMAC in October. We have presented the guidelines to the Board of Trustees and are now in the process of addressing their recommendations before we present them back to YOU for your endorsement.
As I have said every time I have had the opportunity, the Task Force – under the leadership of Marci Armstrong (SMU) was one of the hardest working groups I have had the privilege of partnering with during my time at GMAC. Their work will provide a path to accurate, reliable, useful and comparable information for prospective students and for media rankings of GME programs. A special “thank you” to:
• Jay Bryant, University of California, San Diego, Rady School of Management
• Rebecca Cook, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business
• David Frasier, University of Iowa, Tippie College of Business
• Nicole Tee Hui Ling, National University of Singapore, Business School
• Libby Livingston, Emory University, Goizueta Business School
• Stefanie Slade, New York University, Stern School of Business
• Donna Swinford, The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
• Nita Swinsick, Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business
• Kelly Wilson, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business
Undergraduates
Most of our undergraduate work this year was focused on highlighting GME as a powerful force for innovation and entrepreneurship. In the spring, more than 3,000 students engaged in our “Think Like an Entrepreneur” competition. We received approximately 50 contest submissions, with an undergrad from Hofstra, Michael Lai, winning the $10,000 grand prize. This fall, we launched a “Mind Your Biz” campaign, where students were encouraged to doodle ideas of a desired “side hustle” on the back of a napkin and submit it for review by a panel of judges. 20 winners from your schools were chosen to receive a $500 prize package that included advice on getting their idea off the ground so they could begin generating funds to help support their education. If you are interested in seeing the winning ideas, check out this link. If one of the winners is from your campus, do send them a congratulatory note. (It might also be a great time to mention a graduate business degree.)
Why GME, Why Now, Why the US
We took to heart your concerns that domestic candidates were experiencing the healthiest U.S. job market in years, and international prospects didn’t feel safe or welcome to study in the United States. In May and June of 2019, our marketing team partnered with several schools in the region to create the “Why GME, Why Now, Why the U.S.” paid social media campaign. We interviewed admissions directors from eleven schools (thank you!) of all tiers, large and small, public and private, who could advise candidates first hand, of the best reasons to pursue GME, the ROI of a graduate business degree, career outcomes of recent alums, and why there is no time like the present to apply to a US business school.
GMAC Live! Learn & Share
More than 130 of you joined us at GMAC Live! Learn & Share sessions hosted by business schools at George Mason University, Fordham University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania - San Francisco, the University of Houston, and the Ohio State University. GMAC Live is the result of our efforts to revamp our “traditional” meet-up to be more relevant to some of the challenges you expressed about the candidate pipeline. We partnered with Kennedy & Company, a higher education consultancy, to design "The Recruiting & Yield Journey: 5 Steps to Mapping Your Prospective Student Touchpoints.” This wildly popular session within a session taught participants methods to track prospective student engagement, regardless of school size, selectivity, program portfolio or location. Attendees also benefited from a hot topic session (Security in Admissions), GME data trends, regional market insights and networking with industry colleagues.
Thank you to the schools that hosted us and to each of you who participated in the dialogue!
Getting in the Market
Last year a major priority was to engage you more. In addition to GMAC Live!, Annual Conference and Leadership, we hosted nine GMAC 101 webinar sessions to introduce you and your staff to hot topics, products, and research trends. We coordinated a series of focus groups and feedback sessions to gather your thoughts on market challenges and possible solutions. We asked you to participate in advisory committees, exploration calls, and on-campus meetings with the primary purpose of understanding the things keeping you up at night and how we could best assist you in addressing them (The team visited 130+ campuses last year in the Americas!). Thank you for raising your hand to serve on panels and committees. Thank you for volunteering to present or provide feedback. Thank you for making the time for campus visits and facilitating introductions so we could hear from more roles at your school. We are grateful!
Every year brings with it a set of challenges: some new- and some very familiar. I’m excited to see what 2020 brings.
Let’s do this!
Sabrina White
Vice-President, Market Development
Americas & Europe
Americas Market Development Team