Nationality question!

Question

How important is Nationality in the admissions process? Suppose a person is orginially from India but now is a citizen of some unknown nation, does that isolate the candidate from the INDIAN bucket? 

Any insights?

PaulBodine · Answer

sm176811,

Interesting question. Assuming that he has been a citizen of that unknown country for some time, say, more than just a couple of years, then he would have enough cultural experiences in that country to talk about how his new country had shaped him. If these influences and experiences were interesting and distinctive enough, he will certainly have helped himself stand out from his "typical" countrymen. If he has a few more major "uniqueness factors" like this (such as unusual job/industry or hobby), then he will have a significant advantage over his "typical" countrymen. However, schools would still consider him as an Indian -- just a very interesting and unusual one. Same with an American who relocated to Tibet when he was 17 and became a Tibetan citizen. He would be "perceived" as American, but as completely unlike typical American applicants -- which would help him. Note that none of this is about "quotas" on nationalities; it's about standing out...

Good luck,

sm176811 · Answer

Thanks Paul for the insights!

PaulBodine · Answer

You're welcome.

dukes · Answer

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?

PaulBodine · Answer

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.

dukes · Answer

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 itâ€™s never good when you start having to make excuses for certain parts of your record, regardless what the reason is.

PaulBodine · Answer

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.

dukes · Answer

Thanks Paul.

PaulBodine · Answer

You're welcome.

Nationality question!

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