{"id":36191,"date":"2017-03-08T06:16:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T13:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=36191"},"modified":"2017-03-16T07:54:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T14:54:10","slug":"mba-choices-dream-school-vs-scholarship-school-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/mba-choices-dream-school-vs-scholarship-school-2\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Choices: Dream School vs. Scholarship School?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sweet agony. You have been accepted to both your cherished top-5 reach MBA programs and a strong but less competitive school that has offered you a great scholarship. How do you choose between them?<\/p>\n

Of course there\u2019s no one right answer, because each person\u2019s MBA priorities and life situation are unique. And these factors are exactly what should drive your decision.<\/p>\n

Start with MBA priorities. Let\u2019s assume that the curricula at the two programs both will meet your educational needs well \u2013 otherwise you wouldn\u2019t have applied to them. That leaves other factors, mainly brand and recruiting, that will be important to you in varying degrees. In a nutshell, the key is to understand and weigh the practical advantages of the non-scholarship program to determine whether they make it worth renouncing the scholarship.<\/p>\n

\u2022 <\/span>Recruiting<\/a>:<\/strong> how important is recruiting for your MBA plans? If it\u2019s critically important and the non-scholarship school is far superior in this regard, then that point may strongly favor that program regardless of the other\u2019s short-term financial advantage. In another scenario, the top-ranked program offers superior recruiting \u2013 but you have a robust industry network and can likely find yourself a desirable internship or post-MBA offer. In that case, the recruiting weighs less and the scholarship school grows relatively more attractive.<\/p>\n

\u2022 <\/span>Brand:<\/strong> everyone loves the glitter of a global brand. But how important is it in practical terms to your post-MBA plans? Clarify whether it\u2019s nice-to-have, make-or-break, or something-in-between. Evaluate accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u2022 <\/span>Other school factors:<\/strong> Sometimes a given school\u2019s alumni network will have special relevance, e.g., Stanford\u2019s tech entrepreneur network. Sometimes there is a special major such as Wharton\u2019s healthcare concentration or special program like Chicago Booth\u2019s Clean Tech Lab. In determining their weight in your decision, consider what practical benefit they offer you. Assess accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Finances<\/a>:<\/strong> <\/span>Finally, your own current financial situation may have a bearing. If you\u2019re unencumbered by family financial responsibilities and have a lucrative job, you\u2019re at greater liberty to take more risk \u2013 so even if the objective analysis doesn\u2019t clearly favor the non-scholarship school but your heart pulls you there, maybe go for it. If you are more financially constrained, it makes sense to forego the scholarship only if the objective analysis strongly favors your dream school.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cindy<\/a><\/em><\/em>Cindy Tokumitsu<\/a> has advised hundreds of successful applicants, helping them gain acceptance to top MBA and EMBA programs in her 15+ years with Accepted. She would love to help you too. Want Cindy to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 How to Pay for Your MBA<\/a>, a free webinar
\n\u2022 What You Need to Know About Finding a Job Post-MBA<\/a>, a podcast episode
\n\u2022 Tips for Planning Your MBA Budget<\/a><\/p>\n

This article<\/a> originally appeared on\u00a0<\/em>blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where to apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/p>\n

Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>get accepted<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sweet agony. You have been accepted to both your cherished top-5 reach MBA programs and a strong but less competitive school that has offered you a great scholarship. How do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,939,775,113,243],"tags":[1264,1262,1810,1146,143,480],"class_list":["post-36191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","category-blog","tag-choose-business-school","tag-choose-mba-program","tag-mba-admissions-decision","tag-mba-scholarships","tag-scholarship","tag-scholarships","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36191"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36388,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36191\/revisions\/36388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}