Professor Romain Wacziarg's courses focus on the strategic interplay between business and nonmarket actors such as activist groups, political institutions, and courts of law.
Wazcziarg is also a faculty affiliate of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, where he participates in research activities at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, as well as the Forum on Contemporary Europe.
He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the world's preeminent think tank for research in applied economics.
We require the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree (at least 16 years of education, including primary and secondary schooling). Three-year baccalaureate degrees from international universities qualify.
Academic Record
There is no recommended curriculum for undergraduate study, but we expect you to challenge yourself throughout your academic career and to do well. If you have earned academic honors, we give you the opportunity to list them in the application.
Many applicants worry that we may not know that lower grades in one concentration (or university; or, for international students, educational system) may be equivalent to the strongest at another. We do.
But remember, it is not a grade point average (or rank in class, or actual grade) that is of greatest importance. By focusing on your achievements within context, we evaluate how you have excelled within your individual academic environment and how you have taken advantage of what was available to you in your school and community.
Transcripts
Follow the detailed steps in the Application Instructions for how to submit transcripts:
- Transcripts should include degree conferral and conferral date.
- Do not send an Official Transcript unless we request one from you.
We will request an Official Transcript after admission. However, if obtaining an Official Transcript from your undergraduate institution will be difficult, you may request to have one sent to the MBA Admissions Office when you are invited to interview. - Transcripts from year-abroad programs are not necessary if the grades are included on your undergraduate transcript.
- Do not include transcripts from secondary school.
- Any discrepancy between the uploaded transcript and the Official Transcript could result in the denial of your application or withdrawal of our offer of admission.
- Confirm that your uploaded transcript is readable.
- If you attended a school that uses a numeric grading system, report a grade point average (GPA) for each year and a cumulative average of all years attended.
Language Proficiency
The value of foreign language proficiency for a global manager is clear. However, language skills provide much more than business access. They expose you to new realms of cultures, ideas, and values. Languages provide not only an appreciation for a world outside your own, but also a new perspective on your own culture.
In the application, you can assess your proficiency for up to three languages (excluding English) using the following language proficiency levels and corresponding descriptions. (These descriptions are based on the Interagency Language Roundtable scale developed by the United States Foreign Service Institute.) If you speak more than three languages, or speak a language that is not listed, please use the Additional Information section.
Level 1: Elementary proficiency
- Able to satisfy routine survival needs and minimum courtesy requirements
- Can ask and answer questions on familiar topics
Level 2: Limited working proficiency
- Can handle confidently, but not easily, most social situations, including casual conversations about current events, work, and family
- Can handle limited work requirements, but need help in handling complications or difficulties
Level 3: Professional working proficiency
- Able to participate effectively in formal and informal conversations on practical, social, and professional topics
- Can discuss particular interests and fields of competence with reasonable ease
- Would never be taken for a native speaker, but errors never interfere with understanding and rarely disturb the native speaker
Level 4: Full professional proficiency
- Able to use the language fluently and accurately for all professional needs
- Can understand and participate in conversations within own personal and professional experience with fluency and precision of vocabulary
- Would rarely be taken for a native speaker, but can respond appropriately even in unfamiliar situations
- Can handle informal interpreting from and into the language
Level 5: Native or bilingual proficiency
- Are fluent in the language, such that speech on all levels is fully accepted by educated native speakers in all of its features, including vocabulary, jargon, and pertinent cultural references