Interview 232: Dr. Bob McMahan on “Understanding Kettering University”

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• Bob gives us his backstory
• Bob gives us the history of Kettering University
• Bob explains Kettering very unique approach to education
• Bob describes how Kettering’s co-op is different from all other co-op programs in the country.
• Bob talks about the impressive ROI of Kettering graduates
• Bob lets us know the size of Kettering
• Bob talks about the unique focus of Kettering
• Dr. McMahan shares about half a dozen areas where Kettering is particularly strong, other than in auto-related majors
• Bob shares the unique advantage that Kettering grads have
• Bob gives us more details on how the co-op programs work for Kettering students
• Bob tells us about the senior thesis and the patents Kettering is known for
• Bob walks us through what the Kettering onboarding process is
• Bob talks about what the Kettering student is like
• Bob talks about how they help guide the student who doesn’t know what he or she wants to do
• Bob talks about the unique role they have created for the Chief Student Experience Officer, and he explains why they have a Chief Student Experience Officer instead of a Dean of Student Life
• Bob talks about what they can do and cannot do at Kettering when it comes to sports, clubs, student abroad, etc.
• Bob talks about the unique program they have with Germany that they have had for 30 years
• Bob talks about the gender ratio at Kettering
• Bob tells us what percentage of students go to work full-time for the same employer that was their co-op employer
• Bob talks about the entrepreneurship culture that exists at Kettering
• Bob explains one reason why there is a gender imbalance at engineering-oriented schools
• Bob talks about the academic profile of the student at Kettering, and he looks at what they look for when they are selecting students in admissions
• Bob highlights one personal quality that is extremely important in the admissions process for Kettering University
• Bob tells us about additional personal qualities that Kettering looks for, things that make an applicant pop in the application process
• Bob tells us the role essays play in admissions
• Bob tells us about the role recommendations play in the admissions process
• Bob tells us about interviews and demonstrated interest
• Bob talks about how they discern if a student has buy-in to their unique model
• Bob talks about the importance of a campus visit
• Mark asks Bob how many people go to work in the automotive industry
• Bob answers the question, What have we not discussed that is important
• Bob tells us what Kettering University needs to do to be an even better school
• Bob tells us what is keeping Presidents up at night these days.
• Bob tells us what public school Presidents worry about and how the private school President has a different set of challenges that keep him or her up at night
• Bob goes on the hot seat in our lightning round

You can also listen on Episode 539, Episode 541, Episode 543, Episode 545, and Episode 547