Corporate sponsorship = better acceptance rate?

Question

Hey guys, i'm new to the site... anyway, i'm in the process of looking into top part time b-school programs. I work for a fortune 500 and they pay your tuition for any school you get into (part-time only). One of my co-workers said he knows a guy who works for our company that got into NYU Stern's part-time program. He said that if your company pays and you say on your application that you do not need any financial aid, you'll have a much easier time getting admitted. Is this true? I'm definitely looking to get into a top part-time program (can't afford full time unfortunately) and any insight will help! Thanks!

pelihu · Answer

Actually my sense is that it has nothing to do with fees of financial aid. I believe that it can be easier for sponsored people to get into certain schools fro several reasons. First, they have (more or less) guaranteed jobs at graduation, which helps to boost employment stats without taking any actual openings from fellow students. It's also a great way to maintain relations with top programs. A school like Stern might admit a few sponsored people each year from a big accounting firm, for example, with the goal of building/maintaining relationships so that the firm will be interested in hiring other students in the future.

I don't know if you have a much easier time, I guess it depends mostly on how valuable your firm name is to the school in question, but I do believe it can help.

rhyme · Answer

An interesting question, I'll ask some of my friends in sponsored part time programs and see what they say. 

My take? I actually don't think it makes a difference. Schools get paid regardless of whether or not you are sponsored. Those who are going part time are employed - and thus, do not impact any stats - and anyways school typically only publish full time stats anyway. Beyond that, lots of people from employers get rejected each year - as long as some people keep coming from that company the school will maintain its relationships. It doesnt have to pander and accept lower rate candidates.

klong009 · Answer

It's not something I've ever heard of before. Financial aid for part-time programs is loans, loans and more loans. Grants and scholarships are non-existent. The schools don't care who pays them - you, the government, or your company. They just want the bill paid. I don't see how it would be a factor in admissions.

Now, if the school has a pre-existing relationship with your company, that could be a factor. If they know other students have come into the program from there and done well, they may be more inclined to accept others.

DJM · Answer

My $.02 on this topic: schools donâ€™t care who pays for you, but it does make a difference. For example, if you are from a big accounting firm, not all the applicants from the same firm would get the sponsorship offer. Hence, the school sees this is an added factor to measure success and a distinguishing characteristic.

lepium · Answer

My thoughts on corporate sponsorship.

1) For Exec programs: it's a must.
2) For other Part Time and full time programs: I assume it helps in two ways. 

First, as already mentioned, to show some hard evidence that your employer thinks you are top performer. Specially important if your employer sponsors several people yearly. Imagine coming from McK without a sponsorship offer. That would look very bad!

Second: you would be countering the employment risk as you would be automatically employed upon graduation. 

I assume top schools would not care much about the employment risks of "star applicants". They'd know they will get a job. But for borderline cases who are otherwise very well qualified, the sponsorship could be a factor (for eg: the applicant had a somehow weak interview, but his essays, stats, goals are all ok, so the adcom could discount the importance of interview performance since the applicant already has a job offer).

Additionally, the further down the clusters you go, I expect sponsorship to become particularly relevant for internationals. You would not want your international grads hanging around without jobs because employers are not sponsoring visas. So, you try to get sponsored internationals. Think Near Elite and beyond for this factor to become really relevant. Although it would apply to a lower extent to any other school outside Ultra - Elite.

Cheers. L.

Phokus · Answer

Some great responses, thanks! I think i like this forum! :-D

FN · Answer

Most definitely YES..

Corporate sponsorship = better acceptance rate?

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