04/29/96 LESS DIVERSITY AT B-SCHOOLS?

LESS DIVERSITY AT B-SCHOOLS?
Minority admissions may be at risk
If current legal and political trends persist, America's universities face an uphill battle in fostering racial and ethnic diversity among their students. Indeed, many colleges have started to review admissions policies in light of the growing debate over affirmative action.
One concerned group is graduate business schools, which can give a big leg up to minorities seeking to enter the nation's management ranks. A recent study sponsored by the Graduate Management Admission Council looks at the preferential consideration given by B-schools to minority applicants.
By tracking a sample of applicants from 1989 through 1993, the study throws light on two issues: the chances of black, Hispanic, and Asian applicants being accepted by their first- or second-choice schools, compared with whites, and how they might fare if applications were evaluated without reference to racial background.
The researchers found that 70% to 78% of applications to first- or second-choice schools by whites, blacks and Hispanics are accepted. Although Asians do as well as whites on the Graduate Management Admissions Test and both groups do significantly better than Hispanics and blacks, fewer Asians are accepted--in part because they tend to apply to better, more selective schools.
How much impact does affirmative action have on admissions? Weighing such factors as GMAT scores, undergraduate grades, age, sex, and work experience, the study finds that the acceptance rate for blacks and Hispanics would have dropped from 70% and 78%, respectively, to just 52% and 60%--if applications had been evaluated without considering minority status. By contrast, Asians would have done a bit better. The study doesn't estimate the impact on whites, but BUSINESS WEEK figures their acceptance rate would have been a percentage point or two higher in the absence of affirmative action.
While the data show that black and Hispanic B-school applicants are more likely to be accepted than whites or Asians with similar qualifications, it's important to note that these groups are relatively small. Of 84,600 MBAs awarded in the 1991-92 school year, just 4.7% went to blacks, and 2.3% to Hispanics. Since preferential admission policies are concentrated among the more selective business schools, which also offer more scholarships, the numbers of minority business students could shrink appreciably if affirmative action policies were entirely ended.
BY GENE KORETZ