Nationality question!

You're welcome.

Paul,

Do schools have quotas, or at least goals, when it comes to nationalities? How much of an asset can a unique nationality be? Some schools have an easier time attracting internationals than others. For example Kellogg only has 26% international and only about 5% European students. Are they likely trying to raise those numbers and if so, how far would they be willing to go out of their way to admit lets say, a Swiss, Finnish, or Hungarian applicant?

Dukes,

You ask tough questions. They do not have quotas--period. They want a well-balanced and highly diverse class. A unique nationality can be a big asset, but it is only one asset. Suppose you have one significant "weakness"--an ordinary GMAT score, weak community, or a highly typical industry or career pace--then you will need *several* assets to offset that weakness, and unique nationality would be *one* of them. But successful applicants at top schools should be able to offer *several* such assets: like strong community, difficult personal story (obstacle overcome), unusual passion/hobby, unusual industry or unusual leadership profile at work. So if they were comparing a Swiss, Finn, or Hungarian with a Frenchman, German, or Brit--who were otherwise identical--they would go "out of their way" to admit the S, F, or H, simply because they will add a bit more variety to the class. But if the Frenchman, German, or Brit had one or two more assets than you, then your nationality might not be enough to convince them to give you the edge.

Thanks Paul.

Your post actually raised another question for me. To what degree will schools "forgive" international applicants for not having a significant community or extracurricular record? Where I grew up this just wasn't part of the culture the way it is in the US. Montauk addresses this a little bit and basically says that schools *may* not expect to see as much in this category as they do for Americans. Do you have any thoughts on that? Obviously it’s never good when you start having to make excuses for certain parts of your record, regardless what the reason is.

Dukes,

I agree with Montauk: the may not hold you to as high a bar, but you certainly won't be scoring points with them by lacking that component. So rather than a big negative, it's maybe just a negative. But it's still a negative.

Thanks Paul.

You're welcome.