The cost of MBA and MiM education is high and scholarships can make a major difference in the educational experience. Generally scholarships can be divided into needs-based, merit, and institutional.
Applicants should focus on producing a good application first, and in a second step identity the scholarships they wish to apply for.
Most schools provide clear instructions on how to go about this. Here is a link to INSEAD’s instruction page, and that of LBS. Both list the scholarships available and provides explicit instructions on how to apply. These are typical of other major schools as well.
https://www.insead.edu/master-programmes/mba/financing/scholarship-guide
https://www.london.edu/masters-degrees/mba/fees-financing-and-scholarships
Here are the main lessons I have learned:
Apply to multiple schools. You can bargain and negotiate much easier with multiple offers. I have even seen bidding wars start as schools try and attract a good applicant. This would never have happened if the applicant had only applied to the first choice school.
Get a high GMAT. It makes your case much stronger. If you anyway have to take and prepare GMAT, why not go the extra mile and deliver a top result? It will completely change your status as an applicant and scholarship candidate.
Put rankings aside and consider schools that are not in the top position in the rankings. Schools that are on the way up may be prepared to pay to attract talent. If a school outside the top-10 offers a scholarship, it should be taken very seriously. Rankings are a complex topic in the first place, and not the whole story. A scholarship winner at a non-top 10 school is also given higher status. This can more than compensate a ranking issue. The school is committing to your success, and maybe this has a higher value than a ranking position of a top school.
Just Ask! Inquire – to your target schools- what scholarships are available. This is not a shameful discussion at all and should be discussed bilaterally. There are situations where the school is obliged to give awards and has trouble finding a recipient. The schools have long lists of institutional awards, many of which expire without finding a recipient.
Put your best foot forward. It should go without saying that only a very high quality application, with no grammar mistakes and typos will be considered for financial reward. Get help from a native speaker or an expert. Make your essays interesting and compelling and formulate a vision of how you will act as an award recipient.
These tips work well and have generated hundreds of thousands of $,£,EUR, CHF in awards. For specific guidance get in touch and book your free consultation.