University of Washington Foster school

Welcome to the forum 700 and soul!
Out of curiosity, has anyone that applied in the Nov round received the merit scholarship notification yet?

Hello All.

I have been admitted to UW (was an R2 applicant)
cant wait for school to start...

Havent heard about any scholarship decision...if anyone does..please update.

Hopefully will see u guys in UW Class 2010.

Regards,
Tanvi.

I too am interested to know if anyone has heard anything regarding scholarships to UW. I recieved the admissions packet a few days back and there was no mention of aid. The admitted students website says that we might receive up to three seperate letters with scholarship/financial aid info sometime between February and June (could the window be any wider?). Hopefully there will be word by mid-march because if not I may not even be able to seriously consider attending. UW is a great school, but I can't afford 30K+ per year tuition, and I don't see taking out 100K of loans for this program as a sure thing in terms of ROI like say Harvard or Stanford would be.

I called on the day I got the packet and they said "the scholarship committee meets 2-4 weeks after decisions are made". I don't know if that means 2-4 weeks after Jan 25th, or after they reviewed the application in question. In the worst case I guess this friday will be 2 weeks!

everyone including me seems curious bout scholarship decisions. had written to UW n just got a reply which i think is very clear. thought it wud b helpful to paste the reply here

Scholarship offers to the most meritorious candidates from both R1 and R2 will be sent by the end of the day tomorrow. There is a chance that down the road, candidates who do not receive a scholarship in this initial offering may receive merit or need-based funds, but that would be on an occasional case-by-case basis so if you do not receive a scholarship offer tomorrow, you should move forward with plans to fund your education through other sources.

we shud expect schoparship decision by 2mrw so pls post bout the decisions as soon neone gets it!!!!! fingers crossed for one ore day n best of luck 2 everyone

That would be great! Good luck all.

Well that's exciting. Now instead of checking my email every 10 minutes to see if Haas is ever going to send me and interview invite, I can check it every 5 minutes to see if UW is going to give me any scholarship love.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!

Anyone heard about scholarships yet? (I haven't)

Just got a mail - an offer of about 30% of tuition!

Congratulations westsider!!

I also recieved about a 30% scholarship! They really wait to the last minute to send out emails. I think mine came at 4:59. Same with my admit call - 4:59 last possible day. Oh well, as long as its good news.

Time to celebrate!

Congrats to you too! Hopefully other folks will have equally good news.
I have to say, I really enjoyed the students, and the prof when I sat in on a class... but the admissions dept just doesn't seem to try that hard. Two big reasons i say this:

1) The packet they sent out was pitiful. 2 form letters and a "campus housing" brochure aimed at undergraduate freshmen. Other schools sent out GREAT materials. I thought maybe this was just how public schools were - but then I got the UNC pack.
2) The admissions letters say things like "as you decide which school to attend" or "Be sure Foster is the right school before accepting our offer" (paraphrasing here) - whereas others say things closer to "Welcome, we will see you in the fall! You are part of the family"

Anyone else get this feeling?

I do get some of the same feeling. The admit packet is certainly nothing fancy compared to what I received from Boston University. BU's package included a leather bound portfolio, a nice pen, a magazine, several letters (admit letter, scholarship letter, etc...) and invitations to several events. Also, I noticed that my interview with UW was much more of a grilling than my other interviews (though I still really enjoyed my interviewer). My other interviews, even higher ranked schools were much more "sell-side" on the interviewers part.

Here's my thoughts: At most universities, the MBA program is a cash cow. The top MBAs have big classes, expensive tuition, and make a huge effort to project the image of success and exclusivity. It all works very well. Just spend ten minutes on the Business Week forum and witness all the posters willing to stab their mother in the back to get into a school ranked in the top 10, totally convinced that failure to do so will leave them flipping burgers for eternity.

UW on the other hand for some reason doesn't seem to be playing that game. UW is one of the 15-20 most selective MBA programs in the country based on GPA and GMAT averages. Its far more selective than its rank would suggest. I don't know about you, but after I took my GMAT I received mountains of junk mail offering me potential scholarships, application fee waivers, etc... from schools ranked up into the top 15. Nothing from UW even though I had previously expressed interest in the school and met with an admissions person prior to taking the exam. The only other school that has been so disinterested in me after I contacted them has been Haas (maybe it is a state school thing?).

I think there is a method to UW's madness though. Look at the graduate comments in BW's profile of the school. Compare those comment to those of the top 30 schools ranked below Tepper. Huge difference. UW's are primarily gushing, where as the comments for Kelley (for instance) make it sound like the students are going to storm the adcom office demanding a refund. The UW comments are much closer to those of the top 15 schools. You can see the same thing on Vault.com.

I think UW only wants a certain kind of student. The kind of student who wouldn't back over his grandmother to get into Harvard and could care less about fancy pens and leather portfolios. The kind of student who has been successful in the past and isn't depending on the name of his or her school to make him or her a success. While I'm not sure this is necessarily the best thing for an MBA program to do, and it does appear to make the adcom seem stuck up or lazy, it does seem to produce a happy, satisfied student body.

I agree pretty much 100% with what you said there. Everything from their "soft sell" approach to the rather uncomfortable interviews. Still, I think the admissions team could clean up their act. For example - the scholarship email says I will receive the "fine print" of the scholarship in the mail within the next month. Why would I need to wait so long? Surely they could at least provide details regarding if it is renewable, etc.

Still, I think that it is important to separate the positive (laid-back personality of the school) from what are honestly weaknesses (poor interviewers, poorly thought out communications, etc..). Come to think of it, I guess my issues are really just with the adComm. I suppose I wont have to deal with them past the end of summer =)

Yeah, last year I received an admit and then a scholarship a few weeks later. So there's a little bit of a lag. Despite not attending, I still think it's a real solid program. They have great links with all of the Seattle based companies, like Starbucks, Microsoft, Amazon, T MObile, Real, WaMu, Russell etc. If you want to stay in Seattle, it's a good option.

hey guys congrats 2 u all who got the scholarship call n for those who didnt I hope u get it in due course of time. Just 2 inform that I got a $16000 offer n that makes me happy. I heard from an alumni that UW doesent normally give out a lot of merit scholarships. I have not heard of a full tution scholarship like other schools like BU give out so I guess u just hv 2 b happy with wat u get. M happy with wat i have got n this has just reinforced my decision 2 enroll at UW this year. I guess the post sayin that UW has gone about in a different way 2 market its program is absolutely right. U dont hear bout UW much but m sure it is a gr8 program. Having done one MBA already I know that if the current students r sayin gr8 things bout the school then the program must really b satisfying. If neone has heard bout UW givin out huge merit based scholarships then do let us all know.

congrats 700! I will likely see you in the fall. Are you in-state or out?

I received a 10k scholarship (for the first year...no mention of the second year). I'm in-state, so that would cover just over half of the tuition for me.

Despite that, I've made the decision to pass on the UW offer and go to one of my other schools (still not decided where). Here's hoping the scholarship goes to one of you deserving folks!