{"id":9444,"date":"2011-12-07T09:05:18","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T16:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=9444"},"modified":"2011-12-07T10:16:48","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T17:16:48","slug":"negotiating-the-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/negotiating-the-offer\/","title":{"rendered":"Negotiating the Offer"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the Amerasia Consulting Group<\/a><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s blog post is about negotiating your offer of admission \u2026 except that it\u2019s not. Because \u201cnegotiation\u201d is not what you do when it comes to securing more financial aid from a business school. The term of art for what you are going to be doing is \u201casking.\u201d Let us explain.<\/p>\n

Obviously, any discussion of an offer in this context automatically means we\u2019re dealing with some good news: you\u2019ve been accepted. So congrats on that! However, with the news that a b-school wants you to enroll comes the sobering reality that they also want you to *pay* for that privilege. Sure, offers often come with dollar signs attached, but the amount left in the \u201cyou\u201d column is almost always going to be the bigger number. And that fact tends to bring up the following question: \u201cHow can I negotiate my offer?\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, let\u2019s rephrase the question entirely. Don\u2019t think of this as a negotiation, but rather a request: \u201cHow can I request more aid?\u201d That is a much better frame of reference, especially in light of the the advice that follows. Here\u2019s how we typically approach this process:<\/p>\n

1. Be respectful.<\/strong> There are a lot of ways you might be able to get a little more scholarship money from a business school, but we know of one sure way that you WON\u2019T get money and that\u2019s if you try to \u201chardball\u201d them. We have witnessed countless admits go from months of wishing and hoping to sudden arrogance and a \u201cyou better wine and dine me\u201d attitude. Ditch it. Immediately. If you call an admissions office and try to leverage another offer or you give them the \u201cso what can you do to sweeten the deal?\u201d treatment, you will inevitably find yourself on the line with a tired and supremely annoyed member of that school\u2019s staff. Go in polite, grateful, and professional. Always. This is not an M&A deal and you are not \u201cnegotiating\u201d with anyone. You are \u201casking\u201d a business school to grant you more free funding. Big difference and one that is not lost on the schools themselves, we assure you.<\/p>\n

2. Instead, go for the heartstrings.<\/strong> Okay, you have your hat in hand and you are determined to avoid acting entitled. Now what? Not to be too blunt about it, but in our experience, a good old sob story seems to work best. So if you have authentic hurdles \u2013 and most of us do \u2013 to paying over $100K for your MBA, share them. You don\u2019t have to impress anyone at this point with your huge salary or countless offers from heavy hitters; they\u2019ve already decided they want you to attend their school. They are far more likely to try to work something out if they find you nice, respectful, and, yes, a bit needy. A long-term career goal that eschews riches is probably best, but there are a lot of ways you can be honest about your situation and paint a very realistic picture as to how an extra $20K could make all the difference for you.<\/p>\n

3. Never lie!<\/strong> If you don\u2019t have the \u201cheartstrings\u201d story, then don\u2019t go there. Of even greater importance is that you don\u2019t make up offers or dollar amounts from other programs. It damages the integrity of the financial aid process (which is designed to get money to those who deserve it and who need it most) and the school may ask to see proof in making a decision on revising your award.<\/p>\n

4. Wait a beat. <\/strong>One of the keys to even getting yourself in the running for more aid is to wait a little bit so the dust can settle. Sure, on the one hand, the money could be gone and the class full and the school might have no incentive to sweeten the offer. I\u2019ve heard people worry that if they wait, this scenario could result. And they are right \u2013 it totally could. But here\u2019s the dirty secret \u2026 they always spend all the money! In fact, they spend more money than they have budgeted. When decisions go out, they throw out all the scholarship awards with them, hoping to entice and bring in the necessary yield. It is only when people start turning down offers \u2013 and scholarship awards \u2013 that the directors and staff start to see where there might be A) enrollment needs and B) financial aid surplus. In other words, if Booth gave you a $20K scholarship last week, don\u2019t call *this* week hoping for more. They won\u2019t have any more \u2013 at least not on paper. That spreadsheet is going to show every dollar spent. Wait for people to turn them down and for some of that paper money to flow back into the Booth coffers. Doing so will give you a better chance at there even being something to ask for, let alone get. Plus, while this isn\u2019t necessarily likely, if you wait, you might also catch a school getting shorted a bit on enrollment, in which case they will be far more likely to help you meet your needs. (Think of what is better for a program \u2013 going to the waitlist and thereby increasing their \u201cadmitted student\u201d number in the process, or getting a 1-for-1 right off the existing admit list by spending a bit more money. It\u2019s a no-brainer.)<\/p>\n

5. Follow up.<\/strong> If you talk to someone and they say they will get into it (most likely scenario other than \u201csorry\u201d is \u201clet me get back to you\u201d \u2026 \u201chere\u2019s more money!\u201d is a distant third), don\u2019t be afraid to follow up. The squeaky wheel can get the grease given that an admissions office is like a battlefield this time of year \u2013 it\u2019s not crazy that your request might land on someone\u2019s desk for a full week. In that time, hundreds of thousands of dollars might funnel back and forth on paper, leaving you in the cold. So wait a day or two and then call back to ask \u2013 respectfully, of course \u2013 if there has been any progress and if there is anything else you can or should do. As long as you are really nice and polite about it, no one is going to fault you for being angst-ridden about your financial future. And we should add here \u2013 since people seem to worry about it \u2013 you are not going to lose your offer by calling about this stuff.
\nWe hope that these hints help you navigate that latest stress in this process. Remember that you catch more flies with honey, honesty in the best policy, and patience is a virtue. Armed with a few cliches, you\u2019ll do great.<\/p>\n

If you are in the midst of this process, congrats and good luck! If you are staring down the applications for Round 2, email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com<\/strong> for a free consultation. We are currently offering a promotion of 10% off any package for GMAT Club members. <\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the Amerasia Consulting Group Today\u2019s blog post is about negotiating your offer of admission \u2026 except that it\u2019s not. Because \u201cnegotiation\u201d is not what you do when it comes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,775,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-admission-consultants","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9444","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\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9444"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9446,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9444\/revisions\/9446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}