mbaleader, the process is a little more solidified than that. I have friends who sit on the adcom and they have shared a fair deal about the process but most of it you guys dont care about. Remember, no one adcom really makes the decision. They opperate on by consensus,
A generic view of the process as done by almost all top schools as far as I know: if everyone votes yes, you get in...if everyone votes no you get dinged...if your vote is split it often comes up for a more detailed review. Final say in admits goes to the dean of admissions. You could have a split vote but thiers is the only one you really need.
They dont have explicit number goals for people but they want a fairly diverse class, so they arent going to admit an equal percetage for all groups (there would barely be any of certain groups if they did and huge numbers of others). Though they wont admit it, yes it is easier if you are female generally...however its not really easier if you are an indian or chinese woman. But if you are a black female or even a white female it definitely is a lot easier compared to some other groups. Its simply a matter of the volume of groups. If they aim for 35% of the class to be female and seek a diversity in that part of the student body similar to the student body as a whole then its a lot easier for some. Simple math tells us if 25-30% of applicants make up 35% of the student body then its easier for them than for the 70-75% of applicants who will make up the 65% of the student body.
Thats not even factoring in the differences in yield. Remember all the top schools seek diversity so HBS accepts a larger % of women than apply and so does stanford...so that trickles down to lower the yield other schools get for women. So they admit even more. Then factor in different reputations of schools as being are more attractive to females than other schools and that can change their yield even more.
Don't get upset by this, would you really want to sit in a class room that is made up mostly of the same type of people? Diversity bring far more to an MBA program than you realize. As someone who had almost no diversity in their previous experiences, I love it. Some of my best friends here are from all over the world. They are amazing people who I never would have met without this place.