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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 13 Dec 2020, 13:38
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I see many (!) posts about whether or not a prospective MBA student should accept an offer of admission to School X (w/ a 30% scholarship) or an offer of admission to School Y (w/ 0% scholarship) ... or School A (w/ a full ride) or School B (w/ a 50% scholarship) ... and, I've been giving this matter an extended amount of thought.

Using the GMATClub's rankings of full-time MBA programs (US-based programs only), I am proposing the following to have a framework for making these decisions. I'm calling it the Financial Aid Consideration Curve.

The basic idea is that dropping from a school in one tier to a school in another tier should be tied to an increase in financial aid ... but, how much aid would be required to drop a tier or two is directly related to where you're considering dropping from and where you'd drop to. Not each tier drop is worth the same.






I welcome feedback to improve on this down the road; I'm considering it a starting place! I hope you find it helpful. :)

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GMAT Club Model - Financial Aid Consideration Curve.pdf [45.82 KiB]
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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 14 Dec 2020, 20:00
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Another example ...

0% scholarship to Ross (Tier IV)
50% scholarship to Anderson (Tier V)
50% scholarship to Tepper (Tier VII)

........

If (using the grid above) a 40% scholarship would be the minimum to consider dropping from Tier IV to Tier V, then you'd have to give the 50% offer real consideration.

Now, to drop from Tier V to Tier VII would require a 50% scholarship ... so, anything less than 90% from Tepper makes it uncompetitive with the 50% from Anderson and the 0% from Ross.

So, using this approach alone (which isn't something I'd ever recommend), Tepper is not under consideration ... but ... Ross (0%) vs. Anderson (50%) would be a tough call.

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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 14 Dec 2020, 20:15
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I love it. As I go through my decision process (I’m applying for class of 2023) this is exactly what I needed. Thanks man!

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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 14 Dec 2020, 20:16
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Is it based on percentage points?

For example if you needed 50% to drop a tier, what if the higher tier gave you like 25%, then would I need 75 from lower one.

And do colors in the curve mean anything?

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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 14 Dec 2020, 21:26
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Is it based on percentage points?

For example if you needed 50% to drop a tier, what if the higher tier gave you like 25%, then would I need 75 from lower one.
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Yes, that's SORTA right. See below for a more full response / explanation.


blowice27
And do colors in the curve mean anything?

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Sorta ... blue is one extreme and red the other across the range of 0% to 100%. It's only there to give a visual clue because the percentages are not the same for each Tier drop.
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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 12 Feb 2021, 23:50
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Thanks, this is helpful.
Although I am surprised to see Anderson below the other schools. Any comments on that?
For me at least, it is at the same level as Darden because I'm aiming for tech placements (PM? Start roles).
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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 07 Apr 2021, 09:13
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blowice27
Is it based on percentage points?

For example if you needed 50% to drop a tier, what if the higher tier gave you like 25%, then would I need 75 from lower one.

And do colors in the curve mean anything?

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Actually, I think I answered you too hastily before ... the answer is 'not really' ...

Specifically ... let's say you got into four schools ... A, B, C and D ...

A = Tier 3 School ... full cost is $200,000 and you received $40,000 in total scholarship leaving you with $160,000 to pay (including room, board, books, required fees, etc.)
B = Tier 3 School ... full cost is $180,000 and you received no scholarship, leaving you with the entire $180,000 to pay
C = Tier 4 School ... full cost is $200,000 and you received $60,000 in total scholarship, leaving you with $140,000 to pay
D = Tier 6 School ... full cost is $210,000 and you received $130,000 in total scholarship, leaving you with $80,000 to pay

Comparisons:
B is the most expensive at $180,000; it's a Tier 3 School (per the GMATClub rankings)
A is $20,000 / $180,000 ... or 11% ... less expensive than B
C is $40,000 / $180,000 ... or 22% ... less expensive than B
D is $100,000 / $180,000 ... or 55% ... less expensive than B

Now, because A and B are on the same tier, and only making this a financial decision (not considering anything regarding placement statistics, where you want to live, etc.), the next step is to exclude B from our calculations because A and B are in the same tier, and A is a lower cost ... so, now we compare everything to A financially ... its the best deal ($$ wise) of all the schools you were admitted to in the highest tier.

So, Comparison #2:
A is the most expensive at $160,000
C is 12.5% less expensive (20/160)
D is 50.0% less expensive (80/160)

Now, looking at the target discounts required to drop from Tier 3 to Tier 4 would be around 20% ... and ... the target discount required to drop from Tier 3 to Tier 6 would be 100% ... so ... financially speaking (and only financially speaking), School A is your best deal.

Now, if you went back to School C and they increased their scholarship so they were 30% less expensive than A (i.e., they gave you an additional scholarship to get you to $88,000 of total scholarship, leaving a final price of $112,000 ... or $48,000 less expensive than the scholarship-adjusted cost of School A), then you could make a great argument that C would be the better overall deal.

Hopefully my initial response didn't mislead too many people ... I'm heading there to edit that response now. :)
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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 19 Apr 2021, 19:02
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are the 2021 GMAT Club rankings relevant after USNews released 2022 rankings? Just asking.
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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 19 Apr 2021, 22:57
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are the 2021 GMAT Club rankings relevant after USNews released 2022 rankings? Just asking.
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Updated rankings are being worked on currently.

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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 13 May 2021, 19:14
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It's my plan to release an updated version of this sometime in the next week to reflect the updated rankings (which can be found here --> https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-club-mb ... 57142.html )
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Scholarship Evaluation Matrix (School A vs. B+$$) 29 Jun 2021, 12:24
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It's my plan to release an updated version of this sometime in the next week to reflect the updated rankings (which can be found here --> https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-club-mb ... 57142.html )
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The updated Financial Aid Consideration Curve is here --> https://gmatclub.com/forum/picking-a-sc ... 58227.html