Consulting2Finance wrote:
newideas87 wrote:
Hi!
I have a couple of questions I hope you can help me with:
In the application process for a top tier school (in my case, I hope to be able to apply for Kellogg someday):
- What is the importance of your race/ethnicity in the application process? Does that play a big factor in the decision process? Is that something I would want to omit (leave black)? Or is that something I can use as a positive factor/leverage for my application? I am Latino, if that makes any difference.
- What is the importance of the GMAT relative to someone's experience/position in the market?
- How is the new GMAT format (June 2012) going to be different than the current one? Anyone know anything about that? Are the strategies for taking the exam going to be any different than they already are now?
Thank you so much for your time and help,
newideas87
I would respectfully disagree with the other poster on the factor that race/gender/country plays in the application process simply because schools look for a diverse class from both a business background and a cultural background. They don't want 90% of their school to bankers and consultants nor do they want too many people from any one demographic.
That being said, if you are not qualified, your race/gender etc won't get you in. This is the same as far as business background. You can have truly unique business background but it won't get you in if the rest of your application isn't stellar.
Traditionally Indian males in the IT sector and Caucasian and Asian males in banking/consulting tend to make up the majority of business school applicants and will tend to be compared against each other (not exclusively but to some degree). Because of this competition for a limited number of spots, their applications need to be a bit stronger on a whole, to differentiate themselves among peers with similar backgrounds. Being Latino, should help you in the application process, particularly if you convey in your essays how that background can help you provide a unique perspective to the school, simply because while the number of Latinos in business school is on the rise, it still is an underrepresented group.
Good luck with your GMAT and applications.
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Consulting2FinanceThis is an excellent answer. Thank you for the time you took to answer my questions. I am in a weird position, due to falling in the "cracks" in many aspects. I am a dual-citizen (American/Brazilian) and am about to get my third citizenship (Italian). It is not really my fault my family liked moving around... So, as a soon to be triple citizen I have the option of applying as an international student or an "American Latino". That is the reason I asked about the background and what it would be best to apply as.
As far as applications and actually being accepted into schools:I feel that a lot of emphasis here on the Club is given to the GMAT when the rest of the application is not as stellar (I like that word). This is to be expected, since it is the GMAT club. But, the interesting thing about the Club is that it also deals with applications and insights on where/when/how and etc. Therefore, I feel there should be less emphasis on the GMAT (since it talks about applications and actually getting into the school, rather than just one piece of the greater whole - the GMAT) or at least have sections designed to the application process. I think this can lead to biased responses heavily weighed on the GMAT factor of the application, unlike the one I received from you. Maybe there are different sections and I do not fully understand how the website works yet.
Long story short, Thank you for an awesome response. Especially for the tip on how to write the application essays. You can tell when a person is grand: when he/she is willing to give good advice, to people he/she doesn't even know.
Let me know if I can help with anything in your journey. Thank you.