News

Admissions weathers the storm

April 7, 2006

With 91 students, an average GMAT of 654 and an extraordinary 38 percent female enrollment, the August 2005 incoming MBA class was poised to be, statistically speaking, the best class in Freeman School history. “We started the year with a phenomenal class, so much so that my peers were calling me to say, ‘Congratulations, it looks like an awesome group,’” says Bill Sandefer, director of admissions. “And then Katrina came.”

Hurricane Katrina did indeed come, and students went. Most attended other schools during the fall with the intention of returning to Freeman in January. Others opted to defer enrollment for a year. Many students in joint-degree programs elected to finish the non-business half of their degrees at other schools. A few students simply decided to withdraw from Freeman altogether. In the end, 20 first-year MBAs did not return to the Freeman School in January, but, encouragingly, Sandefer says the vast majority of those have indicated a desire to return next year.

“What makes me feel good is that students, after having spent just 10 days with us, really don’t want to go somewhere else,” Sandefer says. “It’s kind of awesome.”

To fill the vacant slots, the admission process was reopened in the wake of Katrina, targeting applicants who had applied too late in the previous admission cycle. Sandefer ended up admitting 13 additional students in January to round out the class. “Numerically, I don’t think the storm hurt us as much as one would imagine,” Sandefer says. “Statistically, I think the test scores and other quality indicators are absolutely fine.”

While the most recently admitted MBA class appears to have emerged from Katrina in good shape, next year’s class is still a question mark. The uncertainty surrounding New Orleans and the university forced Freeman to miss several major recruiting events in the fall, throwing the admission cycle off by about two months. As of February, MBA applications were down by about a third, Sandefer says, but interest is up and the university’s remarkable recovery from Katrina coupled with the introduction of a bold new MBA curriculum sends a powerful message to prospective students. “There is more top of mind awareness of Tulane University than ever before, and that is a huge, huge thing,” Sandefer says. “Having a positive story to go along with that is the second part, and our story is as compelling as it gets.”