How to Leverage Scholarship Money

Going to business school can be an expensive affair. Price tags for a top two-year full time programs can soar over $200,000 dollars, which for most applicants is more than they have socked away in their piggy bank. There are many ways to pay for your graduate business school education and the one that excites applicants the most is scholarship money! Business school is an expensive proposition and if a program offers scholarship money as part of their financial package, it opens up a ton of financial flexibility for applicants. Many programs use scholarship money as a â€Å"carrot† to entice high potential and strongly desired candidates to their school. It is always good to be wanted by a program but sometimes these scholarship offers come from less desired programs, presenting difficult decisions when it comes to making the ultimate choice of where to matriculate. Sometimes the scholarship offers come from desired programs as well, but even with this good fortune, situations can still arise that create difficult decisions between programs. If you have received multiple offers from MBA programs with imbalanced financial support there are a few different approaches you can take: Do Nothing This is the approach many applicants take. This is my least favorite and the least effective approach. You have nothing to lose by politely and respectfully communicating other offers and your desire for additional support. If you never mention it that is the best way to forego any potential leverage you may have. Reach Out via Email This is the next step in being proactive about leveraging your scholarship offer. Getting a school to change their mind about scholarship money is not easy, but it must start with some dialogue. The key here is being respectful and offering up some information about your other admits and associated scholarship funding. Reaching out to the right decision maker can also improve your odds of success here. Call or Meet in Person This is my favorite approach to leveraging your scholarship offer. The business school application process is very personal for admissions. So, if you can connect with them on a personal basis, whether on the phone or in person, it can only help your chances of them offering additional scholarship support. I think it is also important to really think through how important the scholarship money is to your ultimate decision making process. Many schools will negotiate the scholarship offer with the expectation that you will accept, so make sure you enter into these conversations being open and honest. Applying to business school? Call us at 1-800-925-7737 and speak with an MBA admissions expert today, or take our free MBA Admissions Profile Evaluation  for personalized advice for your unique application situation! As always, be sure to find us on  Facebook,  YouTube,  Google+  and Twitter. Dozie A.  is a Veritas Prep Head Consultant for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His specialties include consulting, marketing, and low GPA/GMAT applicants. You can read more articles by him  here.