Admitted To Harvard & Stanford But Not Sure They Want To Come Because Of Trump

It’s probably no surprise that many international MBA applicants to U.S. business schools are rethinking whether this is a good time to come to the U.S. But two of the leading MBA admission consulting firms say they now have clients accepted to Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School, two of the world’s most selective MBA programs, who are actively thinking they might turn down those invites due to President Trump’s very public assault on student immigrants and higher education.

The headlines of international students being rounded up, put in jail, their student visas revoked ahead of a possible deportation has fueled fear and much second guessing about whether coming to the U.S. at this time is worth the increased risk. Both mbaMission and Fortuna Admissions tell Poets&Quants that they have current clients that are so worried about the anti-immigrant climate in the U.S. that they are even thinking of not going to Harvard and Stanford.

It will likely make predictions on yield–the percentage of accepted applicants who enroll in a program–a challenge for admission officials this year. Several top schools have reported significant increases in international candidates this cycle but most of the applications were drafted before Trump became president and submitted in the first two admission rounds. Yet, U.S. business schools have become increasingly dependent on international students. At Columbia, Michigan Ross, UCLA Anderson, and Duke Fuqua, among others, international MBA students make up 40% or more of their cohorts.

‘IT’S A TOUGH CONCLUSION FOR THEM TO ARRIVE AT AFTER PUTTING SO MUCH WORK INTO GETTING IN’

“We’ve talked with some international admits who are understandably concerned about the volatile situation in the U.S.,” says Caroline Diarte-Edwards, a co0founder of Fortuna Admissions. “These are individuals who have worked incredibly hard to secure a place at top-tier programs like Stanford GSB, HBS, Wharton, and CBS, and they want to be confident that their plans to pursue an MBA in the U.S. won’t be derailed.”

At mbaMission, one of the firm’s consultants informed colleagues on the company’s Slack channel of a surprising change of heart for a candidate who had been accepted to Harvard. The person was rethinking the acceptance because the candidate “now more likely wants to continue to work in Europe” and the person’s “confidence in the future economy and job prospects is falling fast.” As a result, the applicant “is more acutely assessing the cost and its potential impact on what is presumed to be a narrower set of post-MBA decisions. I have another client who is now seriously reconsidering job options available to him in place of the MBA because of increased uncertainty. I honestly can’t disagree with their thinking given individual circumstances, but it’s a tough conclusion for them to arrive at after putting so much work into getting in.”

All across the world, headlines are screaming about the increasing number of cases in which international students have been rounded up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), only to have their student visas revoked, for some earlier infraction with the law. At the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, a STEM MBA student was taken away on March 27. Doğukan Günaydın, a 28-year-old resident of Turkey, has been sitting in a jail cell for nearly a month after his visa was revoked due to a DUI two years ago. Günaydın pled guilty to the DUI and stopped driving altogether. Nonetheless, he was picked up by men in hooded sweatshirts, handcuffed and put into an unmarked car. Gunaydin says he feared he was being kidnapped. He has sued Trump over his detention.

MORE THAN 1,500 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS HAVE HAD THEIR VISAS REVOKED IN THE U.S.

All told, more than 1,500 students from nearly 250 colleges have had their visas revoked, but who they are—and why they’ve been targeted—is still largely unknown, according to an up-to-date accounting by Inside Higher Ed. International students could lose their legal standing in the U.S. for failing to meet the terms of their F-1 visa, which include being enrolled as a full-time student, not working off campus during their first year, having enough money to support themselves and maintaining a residence abroad. But a student’s visa can also be revoked for more serious reasons, such as criminal activity, national security concerns, misrepresentation or fraud. In Günaydın’s case, for example, the government is alleging criminal activity due to his DUI.

Meantime, the Trump administration has ramped up an ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to block the university from enrolling international students. The Department of Homeland Security ordered Harvard last week to turn over “detailed records” of its foreign student visa holders ’ “illegal and violent activities” by April 30. Harvard’s student body is approximately 27% international; Harvard Business School enrolled 35% international students in its MBA program last fall.

Despite the student visa revocations that have made the news, only a very small percentage of the international students in the U.S. have had much trouble. In the 2023-2024 academic year, a record 883,908 international students were enrolled in U.S. universities, according to Open Doors, with more than 502,000 in graduate programs. While Inside Higher Ed’s accounting is likely an underestimate of the students whose visas have been revoked, it still is no much more than .3% of the international students now in the U.S.

ADVICE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

“That said,” adds Fortuna’s Diarte-Edwards, “we’re not seeing a mass shift in direction among international applicants. We’ve also connected admits to current students, with the latter offering reassurance that things on the ground feel more settled than some headlines suggest.”

But the rethinking of whether to come or not has occurred in earnest. “No one likes volatility,” explains Jeremy Shinewald, the Canadian founder and CEO of mbaMission. “I was an international applicant once – I empathize with anyone who has lived the dream of being admitted and is now having second thoughts. What I would say to those in this position is: communicate with your program. You can ask for more time to make your deposit, inquire about the refundability of a deposit and even inquire about a deferral with time. I have spoken to several decision makers at top programs, and I have heard nothing but empathy from them as well.

“In the very unfortunate event that you commit and can’t get a student visa, I am quite certain that your program will refund your deposit or tuition and automatically defer you into a future class. I raise this last case as an unexpected worst case. What I believe to be far more likely is that the administration will recognize that international students contribute $48 billion to the American economy and balance the books at many colleges. My guess is that sanity will prevail and that student visas will be granted as they always have been – possibly with the occasional annoyance to a small number of people relative to the pool itself. It is likely time to take a deep breath and wait for the situation to calm down, so that you can gain clarity. You likely have more optionally than you realize.”

“For those who are uncertain due to the day to day of living in the United States as a student right now, all I can say is that your education will outlive any administration. While you may need to be especially cautious about your social media or following basic laws and norms, your education should be the same as it would have been in recent years and it should have the enduring positive impact on your career that you are anticipating.”