Are those myths ture?

[liu1993918]

Hi, Kate.
I am a Chinese and I always heard from others that If Chinese want to apply for MS, they need a higher Gmat and Toefl scores than the average.
Moreover, I also heard that since there are no tradition in China that teachers and employers should write recommendation letters for students and employees, applicants often write their recommendation by theirselves, so the admission board weights the recommendation from Chinese less important than other elements.
Are those myths true? I really have no idea.
Can u give me some insight views, please.
Thanks very much.

[mbaMissionKate]

Hi again,

Good questions. So I think there's some truth to the first myth...there are more and more GMAT tests being taken by applicants in China (and India too) and it is starting to skew scores upwards because these applicants do tend to outscore applicants from many other countries, especially on the quantitative section. So it doesn't mean that you have to have above average scores...remember that it's a holistic admissions process so just having above average scores is not a guarantee and on the flip side, having a stellar application with slightly below average scores is not a dealbreaker. Since you're applying from a competitive demographic, standing out in other ways (beyond just test scores) is important too. For a related perspective, check out this WSJ article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/on-b-school ... 1415236311

On your second question...I haven't heard that admissions officers weight these lower...from what I know they really evaluate every applicant very fairly and again, try to use a holistic process to understand you as a candidate. But I have heard that it's less common in some countries for employers to be willing to write recommendations. We highly advise that you don't write your own, it can be really hard to write honestly and objectively about yourself and it's hard to mask your style of writing too.

Hope this helps and good luck!