Indian & Chinese MBA Applicants Face Much Higher Rejection Rates
“The language difficulties come into play, too,” adds Roeder. “It’s a hurdle that has to be overcome. Any international student coming into a U.S. school has more hurdles to overcome than a domestic student in terms of the job search. It’s a highly competitive process. The bottom line is we want our students to come into our program and be highly successful landing a good job. If they can’t do that, we haven’t done our job. We don’t want unhappy students or unhappy alumni.”
At the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, 44% of the 1,826 applicants to its full-time MBA program last year were international—but only 21% of the school’s enrolled students this year are from outside the U.S. The upshot: 17.2% of the U.S. applicants are now students at Marshall, while only 5.6% of the international applicants are students. It’s not possible to tell how many domestic versus international applicants were accepted and declined an invitation to attend Marshall. But U.S. citizens are more than three times as likely to be enrolled at the school than international applicants.
“WE DON’T WANT TO CREATE EXPECTATIONS THAT WE CAN’T MEET.”
“In general, what you’re seeing across all universities, whether it is business school or college, is that the largest applicant pools by far are from China and India,” explains Shantanu Dutta, vice dean for graduate programs at Marshall. “They are very good applicants. It’s possible for us to fill the whole international pool by just one of these countries. But it’s very important to get diversity in the class. We have students from 18 countries, and candidates from China and India already make up the largest number of international students.”
Another key issue, adds Dutta, is the difficulty international students have getting work visas to stay in the U.S. “The hurdle rate for them in terms of getting visas is challenging,” says Dutta. “Most international students still believe in the American dream. We tell them the market is tough in the information sessions and try to manage expectations, but when they come everyone thinks they can beat the odds.
So we’re more selective on the international front. We don’t want to create expectations that we can’t meet.”
Or consider Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Last year, about 1,830 applicants from abroad applied for admission to the full-time MBA program. All told, international applicants accounted for 53% of Fuqua’s entire applicant pool. Yet only some 133, or 7.3%, are enrolled in the entering class. In the same year, some 1,622 U.S. citizens applied, representing the remaining 47% of the pool, and roughly 309 of them, or 19.1%, are enrolled. It’s clear that international applicants have a much harder time of getting into the school.
MBA admissions consultants say that most schools are trying to balance the diversity of an entering class with the merit of the applicants who apply. “In creating an MBA class, top business schools face the challenge of establishing ‘a meritocracy with diversity,’” says Dan Bauer, founder and managing director of The MBA Exchange, an admissions consulting firm. “Balancing meritocracy and diversity means that neither aspect can be disregarded. When these two variables are not considered in tandem, the admission process ceases to be objective and fair.”
(See next page for a table comparing applicant pools with enrolled MBA students)
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I am an Indian citizen and I’m currently getting my bachelors in the United States at a Top 30 University on a Student Visa. My major isn’t in the Sciences but it is still pretty quant heavy (Econ). I’m pretty active in Student Government etc. I have a couple of Philosophy Dept. awards if that means anything.
I don’t anticipate getting a Green Card by the time I apply to B-School but should the fact that I’m not the stereotypical IIT applicant help?
Is there anything we can do to distinguish ourselves?
Isn’t the data scewed if it is based on Enrollment rather than Admittance? International students could be applying to multiple schools, getting admitted to the programs, but choosing a different school.
Anonymous Reader,
Not at all. Of course, international students are applying to multiple schools but so is everyone else in the applicant pool. Ideally, of course, one would have the actual data that would show acceptance rates for each group of applicants. But in the absence of that data (you can’t get it except in the one unidentified case of a top ten school where I was able to get my hands on this), this is the best we can do.
Hi John,
I like your website. Dedicated to MBA aspirants….
I dont really have a question just need advice. I applied to Ross Business School round 1 and was one of the first to be interviewed. I am sure that I did not blow the interview yet I do not think I nailed it.
Waiting is never fun. Even Christmas is not enough to distract my mind. As with any waiting scenarios, it is never fun. I kept trying to figure out my chances. My GMAT is pretty low. Between 630 to 650. Every night I toss and turn at that!
The average cut-offs do not tell the complete story, most schools have different GMAT cut-offs for different countries.. while a 710 cut-off may be applicable to students applying form Europe and America, Indian and Chinese students have a higher cut-off at around 760.
^^ First of all there is no specific cut-off GMAT score in most of the universities. While higher might be better, 710 is quite a solid score even for the top schools, at least you can not get a reject directly based on that score. This applies for all the nationals, be them Indian/ Chinese. You know, 760 means 99%. Please do not make us believe that if one is an Indian/ Chinese and can not score >=760, his chance becomes zilch. Anything above 700 will make one competitive in GMAT perspective. There are loads of other staffs in your profile, Adcom will consider. Tell me from the Adcom’s point of view who will make the cut: an Indian IT Male with 790 GMAT score and 3.9+ GPA and no significant extra-curriculars/ int’l experience or an Indian with 710 GMAT/3.5 GPA/Significant NGO works in Africa/ transatlantic experience/ Speaking ability in French, German, Hindi, English.
Hi John,
I just came across this article and thought it gave a fascinating insight into MBA admissions policies.
I am applying to several top 20 schools this year so I am interested in knowing your views on how a Bangladeshi candidate would be viewed? A few experts on the forums have told me there is a risk that I would be put into the Indian bucket.
Given that B-schools have hardly any Bangladeshi students I actually thought it could look a bit unique, especially since I have no IT background and did my undergrad in the U.S.
Not that I can do anything about my background, but it would be interesting to know regardless.
Thanks,
Bangladeshi
John,
Thanks very much for this article. I have two passports (Canadian and South African), and am wondering if there would be an advantage to applying as a South African. To be sure, I have worked as a Canadian diplomat for the last 7 years, hence this might seem odd. I did, however, spend my high school years in South Africa and my masters thesis focussed on the country’s post-apartheid transition.
I would also be interested in your assessment of my chances of being accepted to top B-Schools. I have a 720 GMAT, but the breakdown is not pretty. I scored in the 59th percentile in the math section and well into the 99th percentile in the verbal section. I have a 3.7 undergrad GPA from McGill University (this was one of the highest GPAs in my program), and a 3.85 GPA from my McGill masters degree (half of which was completed at Science-Po, Paris). I have done foreign postings in Afghanistan (Media Relations Officer) and Israel (Senior Political Officer). I am a 31-year old male of Indian descent, though I have no formal ties to India beyond my genetics. My goal is to enter into the consulting world for a few years, to gain private sector experience. In the long run, I would like to explore how public-private partnerships can enhance international humanitarian/peacekeeping missions.
Thanks in advance for any views you might have on the above.
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/01/09/the-surest-sign-of-asian-doom/
I’m an Indian Engineering undergrad student from a fairly prestigious college with a <2% admit rate. (Rank 1 privately owned, top 10 overall, ranked higher than the majority of IITs)
It's not very well known outside Asia, though fairly well respected in the gulf/south-east asia. I'll be graduating with around a 3.2 (converted) GPA (which is fairly ok, class average would be around 2.3-2.4)
What I really want to know is whether the presence of alums in the target university can aid my chances- atleast prevent an automatic ding based on GPA+haven'theardofthiscollegebefore… but what can I possible to minimize this possibility?
(My college has around 60 guys in Stanford MS at any given time, produced a co-founder of hotmail, at least 3 billionaires, the Dean of Sloan's Finance division and, recently the youngest full prof at Wharton.)
I don't want to keep blabbering about my alma mater when I apply, yet I don't want to be put in the 'no-name college' category.