Top US B-Schools Roll Out the Red Carpet for Indian Students
More Indians make it to top business schools this
year; increase in financial aid and scholarships too
Ishvarya Raman had applied to Kellogg and Sloan
School of Management two years ago, but got rejected by both. Not losing heart,
the engineer from Bosch in Bangalore applied to seven business schools this
time, including Ivy League institutions such as Tuck at Dartmouth, besides
Kellogg, Sloan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Chicago's
Booth School of Business. Raman has gained admission to five out the seven
B-schools she applied to. She's chosen Kellogg, declining $40,000 and $60,000
in scholarships offered by the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon and
UCLA's Anderson School of Management, respectively .
Bain consultant Aman Mittal found himself taking
hard decisions too when he had to choose among The University of Chicago's
Booth School of Business, New York University's Stern School of Business,
Kellogg and Cornell's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. He
is headed to Stern after being offered $135,000 in scholarship.
“It was a tough choice, but I've finally opted
for Stern as it would enhance my opportunities for a career in finance.
Personally , my wife, who's a doctor, would be relocating to New York too, so
it makes it easier for both of us,“ he said.
If data gathered by ET through closed alumni
groups, new admits, and admission consultants is any indicator, 2015 could turn
out to be a watershed for Indian MBA applicants to top US B-schools.Not only
have the world's top business schools accepted more Indian applicants this year
for their class of 2017, but they may have also received more financial aid and
scholarships for such institutions than last year. While the Indian intake at
Harvard Business School would have gone up to around 47 from around 40 last
year, according to some alumni groups, more Indian students have made it to
schools such as Wharton and Kellogg as well. The academic session for most US
business schools commences in July and the admission process is currently in
its third round. Overseas admissions are almost over by the second round.
Officially, most US schools do not comment on
appli cant information by geography , but data gathered through alumni networks
reveals that while Kellogg admitted around 30 Indians last year in the first
two rounds, this year's intake is hovering at 40+. Wharton too has noticed an
uptick in new admissions from India -around 35-36 from 26-27 last year.
The numbers are for applicants from India and
exclude Indian passport holders based overseas. While Wharton and Harvard did
not respond to emails seeking validation of this data, Kate Smith, assistant
dean of admissions and financial at Kellogg School of Management, stated that
India is a focal point for the school. “We have seen many strong applicants
from this region,“ she added.
This year, 80 applicants that are clients of
Admissions Gateway , a consultant, have received more than 150-plus admissions,
out of which around 80 are from a top 10 US B-school. “Overall, we saw a 20%
increase in Indian admissions at most top B-schools. Our candidates received
107 offers to the top 15 schools, 80-plus to the top 10 and 20-plus to the top five,“
said Rajdeep Chimni, founder of the admissions consulting firm.
“The scholarships received by our applicants
this . 18.7 crore. This is more than the combined year total ` scholarship
amount for the last two years, which was . 11.75 crore,“ Chimni said. The
scholarships are for ` study at Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Stern and the
Darden School of Business.
“Applicants are more aware about the demands of
the admissions process, have better access to information and approach
applications in a smarter manner. When I attended Kellogg in 2006, there were
only three admissions from India. This year, 10 of our candidates gained
admission,“ he said.
The average merit-based scholarships given to
Indian students have increased by nearly 25% this year over last year at Duke's
Fuqua School of Business, said Allison Jamison, director of recruitment and
marketing for the full-time, two-year MBA programme at the school.
Yale School of Management (Yale SoM) has also
witnessed an uptick in the overall scholarship amount.“Round three of the
admissions cycle is still in progress and we don't release enrollment figures
until the new class arrives... but overall, applications to Yale SoM have
increased by about 25% year on year, and applications from India have increased
too. All applicants are automatically considered for merit scholarships and the
school has increased its scholarship support overall,“ said Bruce Del Monico,
assistant dean and director of admissions.
Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus
Arun Dubey from the class of 2012, who heads business development and marketing
for Greywater, said Indian admissions at the school have gradually gone up from
six-seven a few years ago to around 10-12.“There's a substantial difference in
the quality of applications, which are more evolved and capture global
elements, and the applicants are better prepared,“ said Dubey, who mentored
some of the Indian applicants who made it to the school through the Stanford
Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship this year. Stanford is considered one of the
toughest American business schools to get into and has less than half the batch
size as Harvard Business School.
Harvard Business School alumnus and founder of
Reach Ivy Advisory Vibha Kagzi said 80% of her students got admission at more
than one top US school this year.
“2015 saw our students being spoilt for choice,“
Kagzi said. “Many have been lured by top-ranked institutions with generous
scholarships ranging from $30,000 to $60,000 from institutions such as Wharton,
UCLA, and Tepper. Many have even received full funding from institutions such
as Columbia, putting them in a serious dilemma as to which business school to
choose,“ Kagzi said.
Alpita Maheshwari was amazed at the quality of
candidates she was competing with. “The pool was quite competitive,“ said
Maheshwari, who made it to Kellogg and Darden but eventually opted for London
Business School, considering the work visa requirements for her husband.
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Anumeha Chaturvedi
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New
Delhi:
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ET15MAY15
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