One reason we’re discussing this is per the prompting of Brave Supplicant smriti, who didn’t make it into a top-tier school and then decided that it was for the best, because those schools were financially out of reach. (You can read smriti’s words directly in the comments to this posting.)
It’s true that one component of the bschool decision-making process should be the financial factor. While some financial aid is available at some schools, it’s just not that prevalent and it’s pretty unusual to get a full ride to the best schools. Yes, all schools do offer some funds to some people, and once you’re outside the top 10 — in the middle-of-the-pack still-good-but-not-the-best range of schools — getting offers of a full ride become more common. The “best” schools don’t need to offer such incentives, and the much lower-ranked schools don’t have the funding available for them. Cornell has the Park Fellowship for example, and one Brave Supplicant we know was offered a full ride at Ross. We had a client accepted to HBS get a $20k grant but she was coming from the nonprofit space, and both HBS and the GSB are known to make more accommodations for those types. (ETA 6/14/12 HBS specifically only offers need based financial aid — they give money to admitted students based on your documented financial situation. And, they don’t run out of money; even if you apply in Rd 3, if you qualify for aid at Harvard, you’ll get it.)
If you’re an international candidate, you should look into what the student loan situation will be for you BEFORE you apply. Loans are readily available for American citizens. Foreign nationals can usually get a loan if they have a U.S. co-signer; some schools like HBS have secured partnerships with financial institutions that will loan to international students even without this. If you’re not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, you may need to explore your options in getting funding from your home country, and you probably should do this in advance.
Anyone banking on getting some type of fellowship or assistance in financing should also apply in the earliest rounds, as more options are available then. Columbia for example has a fellowship deadline in early January; most people treat that as a “Round 2” deadline and they receive the bulk of their applications then. If you apply after that date, you are still considered for admission but you don’t get considered for any money. And if you’re applying to the Columbia J-Term: Sorry, but there’s no fellowship money available for you at all. So different schools do have different policies on this stuff.
As to whether the actual investment in the MBA is financially worth it? We still haven’t covered that part, have we?
Stay tuned.
Smriti Sharma says
Hi Essaysnark! Wassup?
Here I am again. You may not believe this, but I keep on thinking about every time a cross a milestone in my ‘MBA’ journey. Well, I am about to finish my internship. I have been working this summer at Xylem Inc. (http://xyleminc.com) as the Digital Marketing Summer Associate. Life sure does has a way of working itself out. You may (or may not) remember, but I was very excited about the internet and digital marketing. And, since Penn State is a more B2B Marketing school, I was worried whether I would be able to do what I want to. Well, Xylem is a huge ($12 bn) B2B firm. However, the company is excited about digital marketing and the internet. and, here I am!
The internship program is quite competitive. The firm also hires interns from Duke. So, there’s a comparison right there. (But, the fact that I have a full scholarship for my MBA from Penn State makes me particularly happy!)
Well, I thought I’ll drop in to say hello once more and update you with what is going on at my end.
How are things at your end? Love the new website! 🙂
Smriti
essaysnark says
Smriti, great to hear from you! We always love to get updates and check-ins from past successful Brave Supplicants! It sounds like you’re absolutely making the best of your opportunities there at Penn State. Hadn’t heard of Xylem before, glad you introduced us to them – digital marketing stuff is increasingly of interest to candidates we come across, so this is good to know about.
Can’t believe you’re more than halfway done with your MBA – shocking how quickly it all passes by! Glad to know you’re having a good time there and please feel free to drop back over anytime you like!
EssaySnark