GMAT South America

GMAT South America

As business Schools seek to diversify their programs and allow for a culturally enriching experience for all the involved, adding students with a Hispanic background is a way to fulfill this plan.

According to the GMAC, students with a Hispanic background are among the most under represented groups in most MBA programs, totaling only 2%. Among U.S. test takers, candidates that identify with a Hispanic or Latino background represent only 8.5%, making them an extremely underrepresented group. This may appear shocking, considering that – geographically speaking – either they are from countries closest located to the United States, or, they are part of one of the biggest minority groups in the U.S.

For international candidates, a possible cause for this discrepancy is the economic gap between North America and Central / South America: the exchange rate for Central and South American countries might make it seem as if one cannot afford to pay for tuition and living expenses in the U.S., whereas the second reason being work opportunity – as conditions harden to obtain a visa to work in the United States, candidates face the reality of having to considering returning to their home countries after completing the MBA, and fact of the matter, there aren’t that many opportunities back home.

For local candidates, the mystery is even greater, but possible once more has to do with the fact that Hispanic candidates seem concentrated in specific regions – West (25%) and Southwest (22%) and they might be less willing to relocate in order to attend business school.

A common factor between international and local Hispanic candidates is that they are among the group of candidates that have the highest need to pursue financial assistance and outside loans.

While this may seem very discouraging, there actually are good news.

Being such an underrepresented group in Business School, MBA Admissions Committees will tend to be more lenient with candidates of such group and herein lies a clear advantage: not only are Hispanic candidates more likely to receive significant financial assistance in the form of scholarships, their GMAT threshold may be a bit lower than for other groups.

In addition, there are a number of foundations seeking to assist Hispanic candidates in attending business school. The Consortium foundation offers full scholarships and discounted application fees for candidates with proven impact in Hispanic (or Black) communities. The National Honor Society and MLT (Management Leadership for Tomorrow) offer similar perks.

Hispanic candidates actually are presented with a unique advantage, and with proper guidance, can reap excellent, life changing results. MBA House pledges to assist Hispanic candidates in their MBA endeavors, and does so by having schools in Florida (Miami), Texas (Austin) and Brazil, as hubs for these candidates to polish their profiles. MBA House’s integrated approach takes into consideration particular strategies such as applying through Consortium or MLT, and all of this is taken into consideration when we develop the candidate’s action plan.

Here is an overview of the Hispanic or Latino group according to the GMAC: