Almost everyone tries to negotiate their scholarships. The success rate is fairly low and I would say schools more often than not seem to adjust things on their own, including sometimes admitting applicants from WL with a scholarship - that was a shocker to me, but it happens. I would start by saying that probably 95% of attempts to negotiate fail (that's my unofficial stats but it is hard to have the exact numbers since people who do negotiate and succeed are often under a request not to disclose their new fortune from adcom so the failure rate may actually be lower, around 90 or 85%). Successful Negotiation Stories: 1. Fuqua Successful negotiation 2. Sample successful letter sent to Stern 3. Tepper R2, 2019, Female applicant 4. Sample Letter sent to Owen for Scholarship negotiation 5. Older thread from female applicant, negotiated likely with Booth The Best Ways to Negotiate a Scholarship.. Welcome other folks thoughts, esp if you were successful: Thank you letter to the adcom - this works best if you have an adcom member you have befriended or interacted on a number of occasions who was kind of your champion, though I kind of feel it works best in a 2-stage approach. Send a pure thank you note first right after the admit. Then a week or two later, follow up that you have been working on financing and have a gap/need. Leveraging another offer , esp if this is a competing school (e.g. Ross/Fuqua/Stern) and send a nice message asking if there is anything you could do to improve your candidacy for consideration of any other financial aid opportunities such as named scholarships, fellowships, Teaching Assistanships. Some folks feel that unless you have another offer you can't really negotiate efficiently. Be nice and polite . Don't demand. Try to appeal instead of threaten; it goes further. Be specific - don't ask for money but ask for a specific amount. I feel this is a lot easier for the school to digest if you have an exact amount (along with why) you are seeking. E.g. I am able to borrow 100,000 but I am still short $25,000/year and not able to have that portion financed. I also think you can ask for amounts per year, which makes the figure smaller and that's how adcom seems to think/function anyway. Ask indirectly if possible . Instead of going directly to the Director of financial aid, perhaps ask the AdCom person you befriended (if you have) to see if they can check for you. This only works if you have a relationship but I am a believer that this is one of the most effective ways to secure a scholarship and increase your chances! Decision extension = scholarship? One user reported asking AdCom to delay their decision (deposit) date which obviously would be for waiting on another school's admit decision which signals to the school that they are not the first choice, and instead they received a scholarship offer back. To their surprise . Sometimes you can ask for money without asking for it I guess. Scholarship Tips: How to evaluate Multiple Offers - Summary of a Chat with Admissions Consultant A tip from an Alum - Negotiate Shamelessly https://gmatclub.com/forum/negotiate-a- ... 55712.html https://gmatclub.com/forum/negotiate-sc ... 46241.html https://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/blog ... -the-offer https://gmatclub.com/forum/negotiating- ... 14390.html P.S. This often comes up - is there any downside to asking/negotiating? The fast and long answers are: No. You have an admit offer and I have never heard of anyone face any consequences for asking/confirming/clarifying their financial aid position. New at GMAT Club - $10,000 MBA Scholarship Sponsored by Juno Scholarship Application is open Learn more

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How to Negotiate a Scholarship

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MBA22Tim

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06 Jun 2022, 11:52

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It’s very late in the season and unless somebody backs out who received previously a scholarship, I’m not sure there are funds available even if they wanted to give you one.

Just for my reference for the future, do you think there an ideal time to attempt these negotiations?

Clearly, you should not wait until all the funds dry up. But, is there any value to waiting just a bit?

Thanks for your input.

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MBA22Tim

It’s very late in the season and unless somebody backs out who received previously a scholarship, I’m not sure there are funds available even if they wanted to give you one.

I can't see value in waiting. What you can instead do is perhaps check multiple times instead.
E.g. You can check if there are any funds and you get a "no" as the answer. Then you can ask to be put on a waitlist should anyone back out of an admit with a scholarship. However, I kind of doubt that it will work.
Instead the scholarship may be offered to someone on the WL - there are more and more situations with WL candidates getting scholarships. The only option that can potentially get you a scholarship is having another offer with a scholarship

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Hey! bb
Thank you so much for the informative post!

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How do we navigate negotiation without a competing offer?

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20 May 2023, 14:04

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ativas

How do we navigate negotiation without a competing offer?

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That’s a tough one. You can see my suggestions in the first post.

Competing offer is the best thing. Otherwise you are kind of fishing… and this late in the season it is hard time to be finishing for money. One option is to ask for TA or fellowships and explain why you need it as opposed to “I don’t want to pay”

It depends on how much you are looking for. Larger amount is going to be hard, and only luck.

Smaller amounts are possible, again they are outlined in the post (eg short a bit of money)

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03 Feb 2024, 10:35

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Thank you so much for these advises.
I am wondering if there are scholarships opportunities for the MIT Sloan Fellows MBA program? It seems to me that all the admitted applicants don’t have a scholarship.
Thank you 🙏🏾

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Tantine

Congratulations on the admit. I can’t really comment the whole lot about budgets since those vary from year to year and I can see schools sometimes increasing their budgets and sometimes decreasing them.

Scholarships are away for schools to basically retain a student they would not otherwise be able to attract. They’re not giving them away just because they’re nice. I mean they are nice but that’s not why they giving scholarships

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03 Feb 2024, 10:50

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Tantine

Thank you so much. I understand your point. I applied for the SFMBA R2 and am still waiting for an interview. In the meanwhile, I am searching for scholarship opportunities, as the program is very expensive and targets experienced leaders. The possibilities seem narrow compared to a classic 2-year FT MBA.
I am wondering if they are MIT Sloan Fellows who secured a funding upon their admission.

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Oh. Thank you for clarifying.
Scholarships for programs such as Sloan fellows as well as fully employed or executive programs are very rare.

There’s a little Budget because the assumption is that you are a seasoned professional as opposed to a recent graduate. The executive programs and fully employed programs, also assume you have a job so they don’t need to give you a scholarship since you have income.

I think your best bet a scholarship would be to get an admission to Stanford and try to leverage that but it won’t go very far 😢

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Ok thanks a lot for your feedback.
I was not going to apply for the GSB MSx program as I think that the SFMBA perfectly aligns with my goals…Its curriculum also seems more adapted to a senior executive than the MSx’s…

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Hi,

With whom should I negotiate about scholarships and awards?
the admissions office? the person who interviewed me? others?

thanks

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miko2010

Hi,

With whom should I negotiate about scholarships and awards?
the admissions office? the person who interviewed me? others?

thanks

Hi, miko2010

From what I know, at most schools, the Admissions Office awards merit scholarships to help recruit top talent, and the Financial Aid Office awards all need-based financial aid. So make sure to contact the appropriate office. If you get a merit scholarship but also have need-based aid, you can then loop both offices into the negotiation process.

In a special scenario, you can ask a member of the AdCom only If you have befriended that person to see if they can check for you instead of going directly to the Director of financial aid. This only works in very few cases, but it is definitely one of the most effective ways to secure a scholarship and increase your chances!

I hope this helps!

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27 Mar 2024, 15:50

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Hi bb
Thank a lot for your advice.
I have got a scholarship from Sloan for the SFMBA. I know the possibilities are very limited for those programs so I feel lucky. But I would like to negotiate the amount.
Could an admission from Wharton EMBA help?

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Tantine

It’s much easier to negotiate when you have some thing can negotiate with so depending on your scholarship amount, bringing in an admissions from Wharton, may bump up the amount but if an average person would choose Sloan with a scholarship, the chances are not great. However, there’s no downside to asking so make sure you make the best and most powerful request. It’s kinda like a one shot deal.

PS. Let me know if you succeed or not. I always appreciate real stories and feedback 👍

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24 May 2024, 08:22

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xprometheusx

bb and everyone else

What is everyone's thoughts on calling admissions vs writing an email?

Email may be the better way to go about it considering that emails help keep everything documented for everyone involved and there are less chances of miscommunication. Especially, for crucial information, verbal communication cannot be depended on.

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27 Jun 2024, 00:53

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rachitkansal

bb a small question on this front.

Most schools have an online enrolment form. Now I have not yet accepted mine, since I plan to write a letter to the financial aid team to reconsider my scholarship. Do you suggest I accept the enrolment form in the meantime or not?

There is no deadline specified (they just say that accept at the earliest possible, there are deadlines for the admission fee in Feb'20).

I think once you accept you will have to pay a deposit and at that point it is game over... you lost your negotiation leverage or at least a part of it... If you are serious I would hire an admissions consultant for $500 to help brainstorm. May be worth it. I have no recommendations off top of my mind but you can find a bunch on the site here.

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A friend of mine also ended up in a similar situation. It's sad because he comes from a rather poor family.

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19 Mar 2025, 21:58

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For a session on negotiating a scholarship, please join us at Admit Day on April 3

MY002

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Hi,
The college I'm negotiating with has asked me to upload proof of admission and scholarship offers from other colleges. For the scholarship, I'll need to upload the email that includes the full breakdown of the award. However, I assume this email is confidential correspondence between me and the awarding college. Would sharing it violate any rules that could potentially affect my admission to those colleges?
Thanks in advance!

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Great advice here on framing the request around 'fit' rather than 'need.' Schools want to invest in students who will bring prestige to the program. To do this effectively, you need to understand how schools categorize merit.