yellosno wrote:
So I've been lurking on GC forums for a few months as I was taking the GMATs and starting my applications for B-School. The wealth of information here is astounding. However, one area that I haven't been able to glean much knowledge about is scholarships, or as they appear to be called for MBA programs: Fellowships.
Obviously every school is different, but I'm looking to obtain a handle on how the determination is made on who to give scholarships to. Best bet is to visit your target schools website and read up on their scholarship/fellowship list, each specific award will have a description of who it's for, how it's awarded. Fellowships appear to be "merit based" which I take to mean that it is based on scholastic aptitude (i.e. test scores, GPA) rather than demonstrated need (a la FAFSA). This is rather straight forward in my mind, but what about applicants with a high GMAT and low GPA? What about vice versa? Either situation makes it harder to receive a merit based award, bear in mind that the school uses merit awards to recruit exceptional candidates that they want to attend their class. Do essays come in to play in the scholarship/Fellowship decisions? Yes, if you are exceptional in some way there is a good chance that your stats don't give the full picture, essay's can make all the difference. Who makes the decision? The adcom and the financial aid office. Is it the head of admissions at each school? Usually a committee decision And how is the exact dollar amount determined? Differs from school to school.
I'm kind of in the dark as to how the process works, and suspect that others may be as well. Hopefully someone out there has a little more insight into the process and wouldn't mind sharing with the rest of us. Perhaps this is too loaded of a question in the sense that every school has a different method for determining scholarships/Fellowships but I thought it would be worth asking. Thanks in advance for any help!
Hope that helps.