Citing tough times for international applicants to U.S. MBA programs – amid stricter loan requirements and reduced availability of student and post-MBA employment visas – BusinessWeek recently turned to Clear Admit co-founder Graham Richmond to sort out the situation and advise applicants on how best to navigate it.
BW hosted a live chat between Richmond and its business school reporter, Francesca Di Meglio, last week and subsequently published a transcript of the conversation. “The good news is that today’s news is much more positive than the headlines of this winter for loans, student visas and post-MBA employment visas,” Richmond offered as introduction.
He went on to field a range of questions from prospective applicants participating in the online chat as well as from BW’s Di Meglio. The questions touched on the issues of scholarships available to international students at top schools, company policies regarding H1-B visas, how top schools have responded to the cancellation of no-cosigner loan programs for international students and more.
Regarding student loans, Richmond explained how the global economic crisis caused the collapse of many existing no-cosigner loan programs (Sallie Mae, CitiAssist) that had previously been available to admitted international students, leaving many eligible to borrow less money or requiring that they obtain a U.S. co-signer to do so. Fortunately, as Richmond pointed out, many leading programs have since been able to secure new no-cosigner options for their international students. (For more information, consult Clear Admit’s International Student Loan Scorecard, a comprehensive listing of what the leading schools have on offer and how it has changed.)
Regarding H1-B visas, Richmond explained how TARP funds distributed by the U.S. government to leading MBA employers like Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Citi and Bank of America led to restrictions on their hiring of internationals. In the case of Bank of America, some internationals even had their offers rescinded. But as Richmond went on to explain, many firms returned TARP funds to the U.S. government this spring, lifting restrictions on international hiring. Furthermore, because firms hired fewer employees overall in the past cycle, the demand for H1-B visas actually fell, making it easier for employers to get working papers for the international applicants it did hire.
In general, the greatest challenge facing MBA applicants, international or otherwise, is the economy, Richmond told BW’s Di Meglio. “There are simply fewer jobs to be had and many more qualified people on the market than in past years,” he said.
For international students in particular, the biggest challenge remains gaining admission to a top-tier program, he continued. “Despite the downturn and the fact that there were fewer internationals applying this past year, there remain many more international applicants than there are spaces,” he said. This fact makes it vitally important for international applicants to fully understand the U.S. admissions process, he added.
To read the full transcript of Richmond’s online chat with BW, click here.
