Diversity in MBA Admissions

Every business school is looking to increase its diversity (of its students, faculty and staff). This is not just about ethnicity and gender, though for most schools, those are the highest priorities. It’s also about attracting candidates from different backgrounds and experiences – military, LGBT, from various regions of the US and the world, various industries and life experiences.

At the highest diversity ideal, people recognize the “opportunity of difference”. When you have a diverse group, you have the opportunity to uncover new ideas, perspectives and approaches. Are you always going to achieve that? Absolutely not; it probably won’t even happen a majority of the time (even the most diverse business school is made up of people that are more similar than different) but when you have diverse people you have the opportunity. Diversity also presents opportunities to access new markets, identify new products and solutions and inspire innovation, which is at the core of graduate management education.

Diversity in the admissions process is sometimes driven by the desire to achieve the diversity ideal; committing additional resources to attract a more diverse candidate pool to enable new conversations in the business school classroom and community. Even those that don’t have such a principled view of diversity, recognize that focusing on diversity in the admissions process is critical to:

• Satisfy key stakeholders, such employers who expect a diverse candidate pool from which to recruit
• Maintain and improve the brand and reputation of the school so that the admissions team can attract the candidates that they want and can compete for talent against other schools
• Meet the school’s articulated goals (many include diversity as a top priority)

Diversity in admissions process is critical for business schools, but it is not without its downside. Not everyone in the business school community is sold on the opportunity of diversity. There are perceptions that female and minority candidates are less qualified or able than other candidates, which on the whole is not accurate. Those perceptions will not quickly fade for those that are already skeptical of the opportunity of diversity. Then there are the “diversity fails” – when a diverse candidate or student does not live up to the ideal set, their failure is tied to diversity, not to that person’s individual shortcomings. And some “diversity fails” are caused by admissions team that are too aggressive in admissions (every admissions officer has taken a risk on a candidate that has not panned out).

Many business schools roll out the red (or least orange) carpet for female and minority candidates in the form of special events, access to students and alumni and scholarships. The goal is to increase the pool of applicants, which they hope will lead to more female and minorities admitted candidates and ultimate more female and minorities students. As a candidate that may be more highly sought-after in the admissions process, embrace your sameness (you are like everyone else applying to business school), appreciate your difference (you are underrepresented in MBA programs), and leverage the opportunities (you may have exposure that other candidates don’t have; make it count).