#89 Washington University St. Louis Olin MBA Admissions Interview with Ashley Lautzenheiser

“Our charge as Wash U faculty and staff is to get to know every student by name and by story. We’re a smaller program and there’s an opportunity for us to know every student. The collaborative, close-knit environment here gives you strong connections with everyone in the program. This also means that when your an alumn and when you meet alumni the strength of connection is there and the network that you have will be very deep and strong. The collaborative environment is one pillar for us.”

About Our Guest

Ashley Lautzenheiser is Associate Director of Graduate Admissions at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, where she has been since 2010. Ashley got her bachelor’s degree in marketing from Olin in 2009. Her main role is admissions for Wash U’s full-time MBA program.

What is relatively unique about the Washington University Olin MBA? What are its key advantages?

Wash U has a 96%+ job placement rate within 3 months for the past 4 years, ranking them top 2-3 among Top 50 US MBA programs
Wash U offers 5 career platforms – Consulting, Corporate Finance and Investments, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Operations and Supply Chain Management – where students attend weekly industry seminars, take industry-related electives and get industry-related guidance from advisors
Students choose nearly 2/3 of their required classes
The university is well-known for its Medical School and Olin is well-known for finance; most Olin graduates head into finance, consulting and marketing
No recommendations required for the application

3 Interesting Tidbits About the Washington University Olin MBA:

Wash U launched the Olin Family Business Program in April 2016, expanding opportunities and resources for students interested in family business
Wash U started Idea Labs (Idea, Design and Engineering in action) – a collaboration between the Medical School, School of Engineering and the Olin Business School to make medical entrepreneurial advances. Doctors and clinicians identify problems, engineers design technology and MBAs help turn them into businesses – so far 11 Idea Lab startups have won $2 million USD in investment
Olin Business School offers EMBA programs in Shanghai and Mumbai and Global Masters in Finance in Singapore, South Korea, Israel, Germany and Spain so has a growing international network and footprint

Listen on for the insider’s scoop…

Touch MBA’s Washington Olin MBA Fast Facts

Program Highlights (3:12)

Olin Business School founded in 1917 and added MBA program in 1950
1 intake / year in Fall
Length: 2 years
Campus is in a suburban neighborhood 7 miles from St. Louis, Missouri
140-150 participants/intake
15-20 nationalities / intake, class is 35% international
Students ranked Finance and Corporate Strategy highest
Offers 5 career platforms: Consulting, Corporate Finance and Investments, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Operations and Supply Chain Management
Partnership with 10 exchange partners in 7 countries. Students can also pursue Global Management Studies project, Venture Consulting in Budapest or an International Practicum for an overseas firm
Year 1: 10 core courses, platform industry seminars, electives // Year 2: 2 core courses, electives
Rankings: #80 Financial Times 2016, #41 Economist 2015, #21 US News & World Report 2017, #35 Bloomberg Businessweek 2015
Other MBAs: Part-time MBA
Accredited by AACSB
Double Degree / Dual Degrees: MBA + MS in Finance / Accounting / Supply Chain Management / Customer Analytics or MBA + MS in 7 other disciplines offered by Washington U.

Admissions (20:04)

5 deadlines from Oct – Apr, get a decision within 2-3 months
1579 applications received, 476 admitted, 141 enrolled, 30% acceptance rate
Avg GMAT: 695 (range 570 – 770), Avg GPA: 3.4 (range 2.6 – 4.0)
GRE accepted
Olin doesn’t require or accept letters of recommendation, and recommends applicants submit a 1-page resume
Avg age: 28 (range 21 – 35), Avg work experience: 4.4 (range 0 – 12), [#] work experience recommended/required
TOEFL or IELTS required but no minimum score – Olin feels the interview is a better assessment of a student’s english
Interviews done by admissions staff

Financing (32:00)

Full-time MBA Tuition: $55,400/year, roughly $110,800 USD
Recommended budget: $28,000/year, so roughly $56,000 USD
60% of class awarded scholarships
Scholarship amounts range from partial to full-tuition
Scholarships are merit-based and awarded with offer
Int’l students don’t need cosigner for loans

Career (35:22)

Olin MBA – Full-time placement report (yes)
97% of graduates had jobs within 3 months of graduation (ranked 2 in US for Top 50 programs)
42% secured offers through their internship
Average Salary (bonus): $98,100 USD ($15,000 median bonus)
Graduates in 2012 experienced 80% increase in salary 3 years later
Top 5 regions graduates worked in: 55% Midwest US, 15% Southwest US, 9% West, 7% South, 7% Northeast, 4% International, 3% MidAtlantic
Top 5 industries: 21% Financial Services, 17% Consumer Products, 16% Pharma/Bio/Healthcare, 11% Technology, 9% Consulting, 9% Manufacturing
Top 5 functions: 24% Marketing/Sales, 18% Financial Services, 16% Consulting, 14% Industry Finance, 11% General Management, 9% Operations
Top recruiters: not available
Over 21,000 alumni worldwide including alumni clubs in 13 international locations

Get in Touch

Show Notes

Washington University Olin Full-time MBA Blog

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