For over 100 years, the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University has established a reputation for its pioneering approach to business education — combining experiential learning with an entrepreneurial spirit. From co-ops and corporate residencies to global field studies and managing a slice of the university’s endowment, their commitment to providing hands-on, transformative learning opportunities sets them apart from other graduate business schools.
“At Northeastern, we’re inspired by the simple truth that experience deepens learning and discovery like nothing else can,” explained Mary McNamara, Assistant Dean of Graduate Recruitment and Admissions at D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University. “Here, learning is powered by experience.”
“Students apply their classroom knowledge through professional work with start-ups and global corporations, research with faculty, and service with nonprofit organizations” she continued. “They manage the 360 Huntington Fund, a mutual fund in the university’s endowment where students research stocks and make buy/sell decisions. They are founders, joiners, or mentors through IDEA, our student-led venture accelerator, and so much more.”
To identify applicants who will thrive in this dynamic learning community, D'Amore-McKim has taken an innovative approach to holistic review.
“Applications were rising and we were launching new programs. We needed a way to conduct high-quality interviews and identify high-potential applicants without over extending our lean team,” McNamara noted. “Kira Talent’s Asynchronous Assessment and Reviewer Services have helped us accomplish that by enhancing the holistic review process and expanding our bandwidth.”
Elevating holistic review with Reviewer Services
“Kira's Reviewer Services has been a game-changer. It's allowed us to scale effectively while improving quality, freeing our team to focus on tasks where their unique expertise is most valuable.”
McNamara explained the challenges they faced as applications increased: “Interviewing thousands of candidates each cycle became overwhelming. Kira's Reviewer Services solved two problems: Scaling the reviewing process to match growing interest and improving the quality of our analysis. Now, each interview is reviewed by Kira experts specifically trained in D’Amore-McKim’s custom assessments.”
“With Kira’s Reviewer Services, our admissions team efficiently and effectively evaluates thousands of global applicants each cycle, maintaining high standards as we grow.”
Enrolling stronger students with an effective admissions assessment
Since enhancing their full-time MBA program's traditional interviews with Kira's Asynchronous Assessment in 2018, D’Amore-McKim has expanded its use across nine programs, including the MS in Finance, MS in Business Analytics, and MS in Accounting.
Encouraged by the success of adding Kira to its admissions process, McNamara's team explored the relationship between Kira scores and classroom performance. Analyzing a year's academic data from one of their largest programs revealed a notable relationship between Kira assessment performance and classroom success.
“Students with the highest Kira scores had the strongest classroom performance as measured by cumulative GPA.”
While acknowledging that admissions is a holistic process, McNamara finds it affirming to see this correlation.
"As an institution with an entrepreneurial spirit, we're eager to try new ideas and pilot new possibilities,” she explained. “With Kira, we've experienced remarkable success."
Building a valuable assessment for language skills
“With growing international applications, Kira has become invaluable for assessing English language ability,” McNamara shared. “While some applicants submit standardized English proficiency exams, these allow extensive preparation and may not reflect spontaneous communication skills.”
"With Kira, we've created a custom assessment that reflects the business school experience," she explained. "Students respond to our custom prompts thoughtfully and in real-time to questions, just as they would in a case discussion. This gives us a clearer picture of an applicant's language skills and ability to think on their feet, while providing consistently scored results."
“And Kira’s integrity checks complement this new process,” McNamara added. “Kira flags any suspicious activity so we can look closely at an applicant’s submission. It gives us additional peace of mind, particularly with all the tools and resources that today’s applicants have at their disposal.”
Streamlining the admissions process portfolio-wide
"The Kira team is always responsive when we need assistance, technical or otherwise. It's been a fantastic partnership," McNamara noted.
“With Kira, we’re able to direct our team’s talents to the things that we are uniquely qualified to do, such as providing personalized guidance to prospective students.”
“That allows us to deliver an effective process and consistent experience across our portfolio of programs,” she continued, “while improving efficiency and expanding bandwidth.”
"Ultimately, Kira has been instrumental in helping us meet the growing global demand for our programs," McNamara concluded. "We've scaled our admissions process efficiently without compromising on the quality of our applicant evaluation or the personal touch that D'Amore-McKim is known for."
