{"id":44767,"date":"2019-02-20T06:50:21","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T13:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/diversifying-diversity-why-now-is-a-great-time-to-apply-for-business-school-from-a-smaller-market\/"},"modified":"2019-02-20T06:50:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T13:50:21","slug":"diversifying-diversity-why-now-is-a-great-time-to-apply-for-business-school-from-a-smaller-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/diversifying-diversity-why-now-is-a-great-time-to-apply-for-business-school-from-a-smaller-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversifying diversity: Why now is a great time to apply for business school from a smaller market"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Diversifying<\/figure>\n

Last season we had an extraordinary success story here at Admissionado<\/a>. A client got in to every school he applied to: Harvard, Wharton, Booth\u2014a clean sweep, all the top programs. Not uncommon for us, except\u2026 this client didn\u2019t initially seem strong enough. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk profile:<\/strong> male, late twenties, middling test scores, decent undergraduate GPA, technical background, low-level manager in a regional office of a multinational, with a small retail enterprise on the side. His verbal English was okay, his writing had a certain poetic flair, but he was entirely educated in his hometown, at an obscure university that the adcom would almost certainly have to look up. His international experience measured in months (a training program in Europe), otherwise he had lived his entire life in his small home country in Central Asia. His goals involved a post-graduation technical consulting stint in the West, followed by a return home to found a tech startup. In sum, a solid client, but not the kind of man who gets into every program he applies to. So how\u2019d he do it?<\/p>\n

To find the answer, we need to consider some history. International students have always been a substantial part of the U.S. MBA student body, but the mix of national origins is continually in flux. In the late 90s, Japanese students would have been the largest international demographic<\/a> in a typical classroom, but still less than 10% of the total international student population.\u00a0 Today Chinese (30%) and Indian (20%) students together form a rough majority of international students, with every other nationality taking a small single-digit slice of the pie. This demographic upheaval is key to our Central Asian client\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago, this same client would almost certainly
\nhave been rejected from the highest tier of U.S. business schools. He would be
\na decent but not mind-blowing candidate, with his existing network in a
\ncomparatively poor part of the world, largely closed to western investment.
\nAdcom members would wonder what our candidate had to offer his classmates, and
\nmight question the plausibility of a tech startup in such an underdeveloped
\nregion. They might also treat his undergraduate education with suspicion and,
\nif the institution didn\u2019t have a website or email address, might have difficult
\nassuaging those concerns.<\/p>\n

Today, the situation is very different. To understand the difference, pull up your favorite news site and think like the director of an admissions department at a U.S. business school. The headlines should feel disconcerting. A huge portion of your business is educating young people from India and China\u2019s rapidly growing middle classes, but the international relationships that facilitated that business model seems to be hurting<\/a> after trade wars, currency fluctuations<\/a>, media narratives about gun violence<\/a> and political posturing. You suspect and hope these relationships will recover, and you\u2019ll continue to accept many Indian and Chinese students. But\u2026 could the \u201cbusiness\u201d part of your business school survive if a big country suddenly pulled all their students home? It\u2019s not an academic question: just ask the your Canadian colleagues, who recently lost 16,000 students to a diplomatic row<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The obvious solution is to diversify your portfolio of
\ninternational students. MBA programs are trying to achieve this today by
\nrapidly building up their alumni networks in new emerging markets, places like
\nAfrica, Southeast Asia, and\u2026. Central Asia. Our candidate looks a lot better in
\nthis context than he would have 20 years ago. His county is wealthier and more
\nconnected. His undergraduate institution is much easier to research. But, most
\nimportantly, by accepting him, top level MBA programs can establish a beachhead
\nin new market\u2026 just in case<\/em>. If the
\nadcom suddenly needs a huge influx of Central Asian applicants at some point in
\nthe future, well, they\u2019ll have a guy on the ground who has been singing their
\npraises for year, ready and willing to interview local candidates.<\/p>\n

Our client\u2019s story is a compelling example of how the recent
\npolitical tension makes now a great time to apply for business school from an
\nunderrepresented region. Adcoms are actively seeking applicants from high
\npotential emerging markets like Nigeria and Indonesia, but people from
\nwealthier countries in Europe and Latin America can also benefit. The push to diversify
\nthe applicant pool is good for pretty much everyone. Even applicants from India
\nand China are benefiting, because adcoms are coming to the game a bit late. Applications
\nfrom China and India are already<\/em>
\ndown, and as fewer of their peers apply, acceptance rates for previously
\ndaunting demographics (e.g. male Indian engineer) are on the rise. <\/p>\n

One person who seems mostly satisfied with these trends? Our client, currently enjoying his first year at a top-ranked business school.<\/p>\n

===<\/p>\n

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