Academic programs evaluate applicants based on a number of criteria such as grades, test scores, work experience, and essays. Now, a prestigious business school has officially tweaked its admissions criteria to include a new standard: niceness.
Last month, Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business formally announced that admissions officers will select MBA candidates that are smart, accomplished, aware, and nice.
Luke Anthony Pena, executive director of admissions and financial aid at Tuck, said their MBA candidates should be able to work together and support one another.
“What we’re looking for is emotional intelligence, empathy and respect for others,” Pena told Inside Higher Ed. “Tuck is a distinctly collaborative community, so being able to challenge others tactfully and thoughtfully is important.”
Applicants are now asked to respond to an essay prompt about their kindness.
“Tuck students are nice, and invest generously in one another’s success. Share an example of how you helped someone else succeed,” the prompt states.
Those who provide references must also comment on the candidate’s niceness. That prompt reads, “Tuck students are nice. Please comment on how the candidate interacts with others including when the interaction is difficult or challenging.”
Of course, being nice is a positive quality, but what reference is going to provide negative feedback on a candidate’s social skills, knowing well that what they say could damage the candidate’s chances?
The school believes that “being genuinely nice” is hard to fake and that admissions officers are seasoned enough to filter out the fakers, just as they already spot applicants who “fake their experiences or bona fides.” Dartmouth officials are also hopeful that applicants who “know their shortcomings in [niceness]” will be deterred from applying for the program.
This is wishful thinking at best.
In 2015, more than 60 student athletes at Dartmouth were suspended for cheating in none other than a sports ethics class. The students either gave their clickers to classmates as they ditched class, or helped others cheat by using the clickers to submit answers in their place. How can they be so confident that they can filter out cheaters if their current students can’t even demonstrate such ethics in an ethics class?
Tuck’s new admissions standards are well intentioned, but unfortunately there is no easy way to measure “niceness.” Until there is, the school should revert back to a good old fashioned merit-based admissions criteria.
