Unconscious bias hinders women in business.
Two top MBA programs acknowledge the shortage of women in business school, Asian applicants face tight competition, and admissions officers warm up to Integrated Reasoning. Check out what’s happening on the business school landscape.
Bias against women in business school
UCLA’s Anderson School of Management has a culture that’s biased against the hiring and promotion of women… so says the MBA program itself after publishing a stunningly honest new report. While the school’s dean is a woman, only 18 of 82 faculty members are female. The report called on the dean to take proactive steps to change the “institution bias” that currently exists. “It’s somewhat painful. But it’s something we are all learning from,” she stated. It should be noted however, that female representation among faculty members and professors has increased significantly over the past few years. (The Los Angeles Times)
MIT dean calls for more women
The call to raise the number of women in business school, especially at America’s top MBA programs has reached a crescendo. This time it’s coming from the dean of MIT’s Sloan School of Management. MBA programs have moved away from the image of male-dominated hallways churning out competitive “would-be wolves of Wall Street,” says Maura Herson, the school’s director. She notes that while the number of medical school students and law schools students are at about equal levels for men and women, “this is not the case on business school campuses.” (BusinessBecause)
Integrated Reasoning GMAT score
ICYMI: Kaplan Test Prep recently released the findings of its 2015 survey of MBA admissions officers. A KTP staple for the past 10 years, we do this so you, our students, can make informed choices about how you prepare for the GMAT and business school admissions process. Here’s what we can tell you so far about what business schools told us: The GMAT’s Integrated Reasoning section, which receives its own stand-out score, is increasingly important to MBA gatekeepers when they evaluate your overall GMAT score. Nearly 60% say it’s important this year, compared to just 40% who told us this in 2014. (TopMBA)
Meet Michigan
The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business is an outstanding MBA program located in one of America’s most celebrated college towns, Ann Arbor. On an outcomes level, Ross graduates have much to be proud of. The school’s 2014 graduates earned on average nearly $140,500 in salary and bonus—higher than other top-ranked MBA programs like Kellogg and Booth. The class that just started has the highest GMAT average score of any class in history—a sterling 708. If you like an MBA program with an international flair, you’ll be pleased to know that 35% of the current class at Ross comes from outside the United States. “The team and I are excited to welcome the 400+ students in the Ross Class of 2017,” writes Soojin Kwon, the school’s director of admissions. “This was the most competitive applicant pool we’ve had in more than a decade—both in terms of volume and quality of applications.” (Poets & Quants)
Admissions for Asian applicants
Outside the United States, the largest number of GMAT takers and business school applicants come from China and India. Makes sense, right? With over a billion people each, they have the numbers on their sides and businesses know that. No countries get more recruitment love than the People’s Republican and the Subcontinent. Check out these stats: 28,325 GMATs were taken in India in the 2014 test-taking year, of which just 7,771 test-takers were women. But in China, where 57,783 exams were administered last year, 37,631 were were taken by women. Don’t miss this helpful advice for prospective MBAs in Asia. (U.S. News & World Report)
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