Unsurprisingly in this stronger economy, some top schools are using scholarships to compete for prospective students. More so than in previous years, schools are also matching scholarship offers to attract top candidates, even when they did not initially offer those same candidates funding.
Scholarships/fellowships fall into two major categories:
1. Merit based money offered as a result of the MBA application.
The vast majority of scholarship $$ are offered based on your original MBA application. They do not require you to submit anything additional. Schools offer this money to candidates they are trying to attract (often away from other schools).
This money can come directly from the school itself, having nothing to do with the applicant’s specific demographic or professional background or in collaboration with another organization. While this other organization may suggest guidelines for consideration, it is up to the schools to decide which candidates actually receive the award.
1. Candidates should exhibit exemplary leadership in one or more ways: academic leadership, team leadership, community leadership, and creative leadership.
2. Candidates should demonstrate a commitment to women and girls via personal mentorship or community involvement. Such commitment is in alignment with the mission of Forté Foundation.
Schools are encouraged to nominate fellows from their schools who represent diverse educational and work backgrounds, career goals, ethnicities and citizenship.
2. Scholarships that students apply for directly.
These scholarships are generally targeted at specific candidates based on industry, ethnicity, gender, etc. A separate application is required for each of these scholarships and specific criteria apply. While the rise in scholarships is great news, many candidates may be wondering what they can do to maximize their chances of earning a coveted scholarship.
Here are 5 key tips from LeapQuest
1. Impact: A subjective reading of a person’s leadership potential based on their actual impact in the world, both at work and in extracurricular matters. The committee is looking for evidence of resilience, entrepreneurship, problem solving, and influencing others.
2. Professional presence: The committee assesses a person’s presence, poise and communication skills on the basis of an interview, all done by staff, as well as other interactions with a candidate at open houses, coffee hours, and MBA fairs.
3. Spikiness: Adapted from one of the world’s top consulting firms, a spiky candidate is one who has an unusual passion or combination of skills and interests that contributes to a person’s uniqueness and appeal.
4. Court your target schools. No school wants to hand out precious money only to lose the candidate to another school. Therefore, while not required, getting to know a school never hurts your chances of getting $$.
5. Apply Early. With limited money to go around, the earlier you can get your applications in, the better. Schools also want to be sure that their classes are filled with well-rounded students and are more likely to use scholarships to ensure this earlier in the process. By round 3, there is likely to be less money left. That said, scholarships do open up sometimes even late in the year.
There are some other reasons why you want to get your app in early:
- The ability to receive a scholarship award from the school’s Financial Aid Office prior to the date by which you must respond to your offer of admission.
- Ample time to complete recommended quantitative and/or language coursework prior to arrival on campus.
- Access to on-campus housing lottery systems at some schools.
- Sufficient time to complete the visa application process for international candidates.
- Attendance at a school’s Admit Weekends. Sometimes, round three candidates lose out on this opportunity.
All that said, the best time to apply is when you believe you’ve done the best job possible with your application. Round One Deadline for Fall 2021 Intake is just 60 days away
LeapQuest will show you how to proactively address each potential ding and increase your chances of earning an acceptance letter. Adding dimension to your profile isn’t easy. There are no quick fixes to the dings we’ve discussed in the article above. Self-awareness is your secret weapon in the battle for a spot in the most competitive business schools. The better you understand who you are, what you’re motivated by, and what makes you unique, the easier it’s going to be to communicate those things in your application.
LeapQuest has developed a comprehensive program to help you to formulate an inspiring career vision, career goals, and career action plan. If you define your career goals in the way we recommend, you will be prepared to convince admissions officers that you have the capabilities, passion, and purpose to achieve something significant in the future.
We’ve put that all together to create a statistical algorithm that accomplishes the above task to the point of categorization. Of course, it’s not an automated process. There is a greater deal of human involvement to judge the non-objective aspects of your profile too – your clarity of career goals, your ability to connect the dots and make an overall good impression on the Admissions Officer.
