Indian/Chinese vs. Indian/Chinese American applying to b-schools
Question for the forum. I always read that Indian and Chinese applicants face much tougher odds of getting into a top 5 or 10 business school but I'm curious what they are for Indian/Chinese Americans (people who were born in China or India but are now citizens in the US and lived here for most of their life or born in the US but have parents who moved from India/China).
Are the chances better? the same? worse? for this group of ethnic Asians but legal Americans? How will the admissions committee view you?
Would love to hear some opinions. To me it seems like you should be at an advantage over Indians from India or Chinese from China being an American citizen and identifying as American culturally but I could be wrong.
IMO: I think its a matter of at which age one moved rather than if they moved. My opinion stems from the fact that I am an arab american who moved to the states at a very young age. In short, I don't think that the latter "people who were born in China or India but are now citizens in the US and lived here for most of their life or born in the US but have parents who moved from India/China" have any advantage, once you're a citizen, it's stats that make you competitive. If I am wrong and chances are good that someone has a counter point, how would you go about using a birthplace outside of the states to your advantage when applying to MBA programs?
If you're American but of Asian descent (South Asian, SE Asian, East Asian), you are considered Asian-American.
There's some distinction made (unofficially) as well when they get into your applications - whether you are culturally American (born in the US, or came to the US as a toddler), or a more recent US citizen (i.e. moved to the US when you were a teen). If it's the former, you're seen as essentially American. For the latter, you'll likely be compared more to those from Asia (even if on paper you're Asian-American).
As for those from Asia, it's a a different story.
Indian applicants are very different than those from China. With the Indians, it's overwhelmingly male and engineering. It feels like it's 99%. With the Chinese, there's a healthy mix of men and women (in fact, probably close to 50-50, and along with American applicants, the biggest share of women applicants compared to any other nationality) - and overrepresented in finance (but not to the same extreme like Indians and engineering).
Also, anecdotally, the Indian applicants have continued to grow, while the Chinese applications have stagnated (perhaps the recent downturn may change that).
With other Asians, it's a completely different story (and fewer numbers; in fact, the Japanese applicants have essentially disappeared).
Assuming strong stats (GMAT is in range, GPA is strong), the key distinctions/factors for admission are this:
Indian: don't be an engineer, and if you are an engineer, find a way to stand out amongst the millions of others who on the surface have identical profiles; yes it's probably the roughest applicant pool to be in
Chinese/Korean/Japanese: speak English. If you're fluent, it's a HUGE advantage (because so many of the applicants aren't as proficient as they should be in English to thrive at a top b-school). With the Chinese, it helps not being in finance.
Other Asians (SE Asia): similar to Europeans and white Americans, have a solid profile; yes you have to find ways to stand out, but the challenge isn't quite as daunting as compared to the Indians since there's not as many of you; also it helps not being in finance
Asian-American: not being in finance really helps. On the whole, Asian-Americans have a tougher time getting into top b-schools (particularly H/S) compared to white Americans, but that is a function of the greater finance skew amongst Asian-Americans, whereas white Americans seem to as a group have more diverse professional backgrounds (more balanced mix of finance, consulting, engineering, corporate, etc). But overall they tend to have an advantage in getting into the top b-schools: they're citizens (no immigration issues that limit post-MBA job options for internationals), culturally there's no concerns about "fit", and there's frankly less of them compared to those applying from Asia.
I don't understand the hate for finance and econ undergrads what if they pursued that degree because they were interested in it and it's curriculum. Does the Adcom believe that if someone studied STEM in undergrad they're more entitled to a corporate or finance job? I get the appeal that they pursued a more challenging major but wouldn't it be presumed that they wanted a degree in STEM because they liked what they were studying? Anyways i'm not saying they shouldn't accept people with STEM undergrads but I think they should offer more priority to those who have an undergrad in finance/econ/mathematical finance etc.
It is all about relative strength. Adcom evaluate applicants within certain pool (race, nationality, academic background, professional background). So the smaller pool you are in, the easier to get in.
Business schools already enroll more business major students than other background in absolute term but there are just too many applicants with business degree. So it is obviously more difficult to stand out.
Thanks SMDRNB and Alex, appreciate the very quick responses. Alex, just to clarify, when you write:
"But overall THEY tend to have an advantage in getting into the top b-schools: they're citizens (no immigration issues that limit post-MBA job options for internationals), culturally there's no concerns about "fit", and there's frankly less of them compared to those applying from Asia."
The THEY, you are referring to is Asian Americans and not white Americans, correct?
Overall I agree with your analysis and thankfully I fall into the Asian-American category but was curious how that would shape my candidacy.
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