Prep Program Launched for Aspiring Minority MBA ApplicantsNEW YORK
African Americans, Latinos and American Indians are significantly under-        represented at the top 50 MBA programs relative to their presence at both leading undergraduate schools and other graduate programs, such as medical and law schools, according to a Boston Consulting Group study.
As a result, Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a New York-based nonprofit organization, and the Yale School of Management (Yale SOM) have launched the Pre-MBA Preparation Program in efforts to increase success rates for minority applicants and expand minority representation at leading graduate business schools throughout the world.
The study also concluded that minorities, especially African Americans, are not as successful in the MBA application process as non-minority applicants, due in part to lower average GMAT test scores and undergraduate GPAs, less competitive work experience, and less savvy application strategies and essay submissions.
MLT, which has been operating since 1994, has created educational workshops on various college campuses and featured career and technology-based tools for minority students (see Black Issues, Nov. 22, 2001).
 Seventy-five participants, who plan to apply to business schools in the fall of 2003, took part in the two instructional seminars, sponsored by MLT, on the Yale SOM campus in New Haven, Conn., last month. Credit Suisse First Boston, an investment banking firm, sponsored the seminars. Admissions officers from Yale, Berkeley, Cornell, New York University and Stanford MBA programs attended the seminars to help participants assess their strengths and weaknesses, detail the critical elements of the application process, and develop a six-to nine-month action plan leading to their application submissions.
"It is a priority for us to expand the pipeline of underrepresented minority MBAs who can become future leaders in business as well as at our firm," said Elizabeth Derby, Global Diversity Director at Credit Suisse First Boston. "MLT and Yale have developed a unique program that addresses some of our key recruitment challenges."
"We expect this initiative to prepare a broader pool of talented minorities to be successful applicants to the Yale School of Management," said James R. Stevens, director of admissions for Yale SOM. "Applicants from minority candidates to Yale's business school are up 50 percent this year. Our alliance with MLT is an important component of our sustained effort to bring even more diversity to the Yale MBA program and to the organizations that hire our graduates." 

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