Could Trump’s proposed policies affect international MBAs?
Policy changes to U.S. immigration might affect prospective MBAs overseas, a new class of students arrive at a top-ranked Midwestern business school, and worries still linger long after the Paris terrorist attack. Here’s what’s trending on the business school landscape.
Election outcome shakes business school admissions
It was an 8.0 on the Richter scale of American politics last week week. Almost nobody saw Donald Trump’s victory coming. (So much for the experts!) It’s hard to know exactly what will happen or what proposed policies will come into fruition, but Trump’s tough talk on immigration is causing some concern for aspiring MBAs who want to study in the United States.
Business school deans are trying to calm the waters though. “I understand and empathize with those concerns but let’s remember that most presidents campaign in poetry and govern in prose,” says Scott DeRue, the new dean at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. For example, he remains doubtful the president-elect will be able to build a wall across the border with Mexico. (The Financial Times)
Meet Olin’s new class
A new set of aspiring MBAs have descended upon St. Louis. As one of the top business schools in both the Midwest and the nation, Washington University’s Olin School of Business boasts an impressive group of students. The new class includes a securities trader, a medical student, a would-be entrepreneur, and a self-described “army brat.”
“Each year I think to myself that the next incoming class of MBAs can’t possibly be more global, more cosmopolitan, more interesting or more diverse, (and with gratitude to our admission team), it turns out that I am wrong each and every year. And that is saying something since this is my 36th year managing MBA programs,” says Joseph P. Fox, the school’s associate dean and director of graduate programs.
The average GMAT for new students is 687, down from 695 last year. But average GPA for new students actually increased from 3.40 to 3.44. (Poets & Quants)
Paris aftershocks affect MBA programs
It’s been one year since the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, leaving 130 people dead (including an MBA student) and shaking the City of Lights and all of Europe to its core. A year later, the political and economic aftershocks still reverberate. The MBA landscape has not been immune to any of this.
“I would say we lost 5% in applicant numbers,” says vice dean Jean-François Fiorina. “International students especially,” said François Collin, associate dean for international affairs at HEC Paris. Business schools in general have reported they have increased security on their campuses.
Antwerp Management School reports an increase in applications, but chalks that up mostly to the decision of Great Britain to exit the European Union. (BusinessBecause)
Planning for business school from day one
If you are interested in attending business school, it’s important to build up your experiences and skill as early as freshman year in college, many experts say. “I think, if you’re assessing if you might thrive in a business school, some exposure to quantitative subjects would be a good diagnostic tool,” says Dee Leopold, director of Harvard Business School’s 2+2 Program, which works on recruiting college seniors and offers them deferred admissions once they get some work experience. “But it is just as important to learn how to read broadly and widely and express yourself in writing.”
While it’s rare to get accepted into a top-ranked MBA program directly from college, you can beat the odds. “As a young MBA applicant, you have less years of experience, but if you can spend your time watching and dissecting how different people and different organizations make decisions, you can talk about so much more than if you stayed in one corner of the business world,” said Laura Burgos who took this route and is now a student at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. (U.S. News & World Report)
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