Financing an MBA is a widespread issue, and not only for individuals from low-income families. Even if you are accepted into a top MBA school, you will most likely be unable to fund it if you rely solely on your personal savings. You'll need to look into other financial options, such as college loans and scholarships. The issue with education loans is the high-interest rate and the lengthy repayment time. Scholarships are popular for this reason.
Based on our expertise, we'll tell you how to improve your chances of receiving scholarships. To do so, you must first grasp what scholarships are, and how scholarship decisions are made, and then devise a strategy for yourself.
What are scholarships?
Scholarships are generally discounts on the tuition fee. This means you won’t have any extra cash in your wallet. You’re just spending lesser. The percentage may vary, although it usually solely applies to tuition. You must also include the various expenditures of learning, such as housing, food, transportation, books, and study excursions.
Why do universities offer scholarships?
Universities provide scholarships for two main purposes. The formal (and more philosophical) reason is to make it simpler for qualified candidates to enter the program. While this is true, another factor is that institutions compete with one another to recruit the top applicants. These are known as merit-based scholarships, as opposed to need-based scholarships. Many external organizations also offer scholarships, but we won’t cover them in this article.
How do b-schools take scholarship decisions?
Any b-school website will discuss how they analyze an application 'holistically' when deciding on admittance and scholarships. In addition to your GRE or GMAT results, they will consider the following:
- Qualification
- Academic grades
- Work experience
- Accomplishments
- Extra-curricular activities
- Managerial / leadership traits
Despite the holistic approach, a higher GMAT greatly improves your chances of being considered for a merit-based scholarship if you are admitted.
Need-based scholarships are evaluated slightly differently. And a higher score improves your chances in this category too. However, obsessing about a high score and ignoring the rest of the application is a terrible idea. Our advice is to present oneself not only as a good contender for admission to the program but also much stronger than the other applicants who have been admitted. The question is – how?
You can do this by balancing the list of b-schools, where you are likely to be viewed as an above-average candidate.
Do the MBA admission rounds influence scholarship decisions?
The admission round you apply it will make a difference. Round 1 is often when the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is full. So if you have impressed the Admissions committee with your application – apart from the cake (that’s an admission from a top school), Your chances of landing a lovely little cherry (a scholarship) will improve. However, this does not imply that the golden pot will be empty in Round 2. We've also had customers who received significant financing in the second round of MBA admissions. In Round 2, the same criteria will apply for exam results, essays, references, and interviews. However, the competition for freebies will heat up.
I have a low GRE / GMAT score Should I forget about scholarships?
What if your GRE or GMAT score is low? Should you disregard scholarships? No, not yet. You can keep some of those dreams alive if you have something substantial to contribute (maybe not as amazing as an Olympic gold, but something that gives you extra marks for diversity or individuality).
Is there a foolproof way to get scholarships?
Candidates who have done some market research tell us fascinating anecdotes about admissions consultants who went through their profiles and offered them admittance and scholarships. Don't be taken in by such assurances. Many unranked MBA programs have marketing partnerships in different regions. Their organizations can provide on-the-spot admissions and scholarships. That’s a different ball game. However, forget about scholarships if you want to attend the best international MBA schools; no one can promise admission or even an interview call.
How to improve your odds of getting a scholarship
Here’s the 2-phase process that we’ve followed for most of our scholarship success stories:
- Create a robust application strategy in the first phase.
- Allow yourself 1-2 years simply for preparation.
- analyze your profile objectively and thoroughly.
- Understand your strengths and weaknesses.
- Prepare the groundwork for your pre-MBA successes by selecting and prioritizing them.
- Make sure you have a well-defined and legitimate post-MBA objective. And a convincing response to the straightforward yet perplexing Why MBA question.
- Learn how to choose MBA schools from a large list.
- Choose MBA programs based on your risk tolerance.
- Categorize the programs as Ambitious, Stretch, Practical, Safe, and Backup.
- These are the categories that we employ in our MBA MAP process.
- Include more 'Practical' institutions and a few 'Safe' schools in your goal list if you desire scholarships.
- If money isn’t an issue, go for the ‘Stretch’ and ‘Ambitious’ options.
Phase 2 – Focus on the Execution By now, you have a list of the right b-schools where your profile is likely to be among the top of the class. All of your introspective work from the previous step will come in handy now as you work on each application. But it's pointless to go into essay writing because you think your English is strong. Spend time organizing and packaging your thoughts. It's typical practice to compose one set of essays and then copy and paste them into several applications. That is a terrible concept. Make careful to approach each application separately. Customize your essays for each institution, as subtleties to similar-sounding essay themes, may still exist. Take care on that topic.
The two-phase procedure is straightforward, logical, and time-tested. And it is because of this that the majority of candidates have received favorable admissions and scholarships. Send us an email if you require expert assistance.
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