Fall 2006 M-7 Admission Update

[MarkHsu]

http://envision.editme.com/Fall2006Update

[whoopsnow]

Unique Admissions 21
Male Admissions 5
Female Admissions 16

Dear Mark,

Can you shed a light on why male admissions are only less than 1/3 of female admissions?

Judging from your own experience, are tw female applicants really so much better (academics, work experiences, community works...) than male applicants? or this is another evidence that again proves that a foreign female applicant just has an easier road? (男性真辛酸???)

That said, what would you suggest future male applicants to prepare themselves first before they start the application?

Many questions but I (and I believe many of us) will greatly appreciate you share your thoughts...

Many thanks!!!

[小君]

今年姓別這點倒是有一點奇怪
至少我所知道在2007這一屆的Kellogg台灣人五位全部都是男性.所以我想最後決戰點應該不是性別吧
男性同胞們,加油!

[Charles Pan]

hi mark,

congratulations on another fruitful year!

charles

[MarkHsu]

Thanks Charles. The students deserve the credit for beating the GMAT and for dreaming big. It is after all players who win games, not coaches.

In response to whoopsnow's question.

In all top business schools there is a huge imbalance of men vs. women. So, a qualified woman spplicant has an advantage in the sense that she adds diversity to a class. Taiwanese women have an additional advantage being international students so in a way she scores two "points," one for being a woman and another for being international.

I'd say to the Taiwanese men out there, this is just the reality of the situation so don't be upset at something you can't change.

Are Tw women more qualified than Tw men? Obviously, this is difficult to answer. Let me frame my answer this way, in the context of MBA applications I'd answer "yes." Let me identify a few reasons why I think this way.

#1. Military. Most Tw men must fulfill their compulsory military service. This impacts the men in many ways. One example is that many men do a graduate degree to avoid immediate military service. The additional 2-3 years of graduate school hurt their career progress immensely because it pushes back when a Tw man can get meaningful full-time employment and because (in my opinion) a graduate degree obtained in Tw does not add to an applicant's credentials and CAN in fact hurt an applicant. (Blame this on the stupid Taiwanese universities that call every degree that the business school grants an "MBA." ) Add to this fact that many in Tw perceive "30" to be a ticking time bomb so rather than work a bit longer, many men feel that they have to leave the country before they turn 3-0 and rush into the MBA.

#2 English. I have met many Tw women who can speak English at near-native fluency. I have not met many men who can do this. Based on my own data, I think the % of female applicants who get interviews and the % of male applicants who get interviews are actually similar. However, when we look at male applicants the number of admissions as a percentage of applicants who interviewed is significantlly lower than the percentage found in the female pool. This leads me to believe that the difference in English abilities is also a differentiating factor. I believe the degree of spoken English has a strong correlation with other attributes that are associated with admission success, such as the number of women vs. men who work at a multinational (MNC) and also degree of open-mindedness.

#3 Degree of Westernization: This is often an overlooked part of the application especially among applicants to top schools. For a program outside of the top 15-20, an applicant can usually hide behind a phone interview, but for a top program where an alumni interview or worse yet, an adcom interview is required, there is no hiding. Not only is your English closely scrutinized, but your whole presence, including the way you dress, your hair style and how you carry yourself, is under a microscope.

Now for the last part of the question: what can Tw men do to better their chances?

I actually think it's not so bad to be a Tw man and let me explain why.

Don't think it's the boys vs the girls. It's not. After knowing some of the Tw girls that were admitted to top 15 programs, I would hate to be in the women's pool. In the women's pool, getting a 280 on the TOEFL would only be considered fair. Instead, focus on being the best male applicant in Taiwan.

Develop your own BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY.

Do less GMAT, more TOEFL
Instead of spending 12 months cramming for the GMAT and trying to push your score to 760, I'd instead focus on English.

Just think to yourself how many times you have seen someone asking "Is my TOEFL 243 enough?" on this board. You don't think the adcom knows that something fishy is happening in China and Taiwan? My point is how believable is a GMAT 700+ if the applicant can't get a good TOEFL score?

Imagine, if you are a male applicant and have a 280 on the TOEFL, you can essentially "cross your legs and twirl your mustache" (this has to be in Taiwanese for it to be funny) because you would stand out instantly from your peers.

So in a word, I'd say "English."

[whoopsnow]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for giving us your thoughts. Looks like a transxxxual surgery will not help us much.....

Allow me to add some thoughts regarding Military: I used to be a reserve officer / platoon leader when I took my military service. Judging from my own experience with several B-school admission interviewers/directors, military service can still be recognized as "valid" working experience, as long as this two-year period means and teaches something to us.

Again, Mark I appreciate your reality check. I wish I had read your posts one year earlier

[吳]

補充一下:

就我所知,政大金融是給MS

所以不盡然每個在商學院下的所都是MBA

[kaijen]

Thanks Charles. The students deserve the credit for beating the GMAT and for dreaming big. It is after all players who win games, not coaches.

Develop your own BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY.

Do less GMAT, more TOEFL
Instead of spending 12 months cramming for the GMAT and trying to push your score to 760, I'd instead focus on English.

Just think to yourself how many times you have seen someone asking "Is my TOEFL 243 enough?" on this board. You don't think the adcom knows that something fishy is happening in China and Taiwan? My point is how believable is a GMAT 700+ if the applicant can't get a good TOEFL score?

Imagine, if you are a male applicant and have a 280 on the TOEFL, you can essentially "cross your legs and twirl your mustache" (this has to be in Taiwanese for it to be funny) because you would stand out instantly from your peers.

So in a word, I'd say "English."

Dear Mark,

Thank you for your insightful analysis. I hope you would not mind if I ask you a question.

My TOEFL score is 101. (R29 L21 S23 W28) GMAT 730 AWA 5
Should I retake TOEFL if I want to apply for Top 30 business schools?
My weakness is that I have a very poor GPA 2.8 and that I spend too much time preparing for GMAT and TOEFL, which relults in my long career gap.
My dream school is Georgetown University.

Do you think I should work more on my essays or I should simply retake the TOEFL?
Is TOEFL a minimum requirement or is it an indicator that a powerful score can significantly increase a candidate's chance of being admitted to a dream school?

Thanks for your reply.

[MarkHsu]

I'd say that a GPA 2.8 is not a killer.

With your test scores, I'd say that Georgetown is very likely. I'd probably aim even a bit higher.

Toefl 101 is enough, with the exception of a few top schools which have strict toefl minimums.