NEVER SETTLE FOR LESS: Scholarship Negotiation Strategies

MBA CONQUERORS: ADVICE ON NEGOTIATIONS

With the risk of recession on the rise and employment reports getting bad year over year for many schools, one way to minimize the financial risk that can come with an MBA could be through scholarship negotiations. Scholarship negotiations are not easy or that straight forward. The process can vary from school to school and the way the negotiation is approached by the schools is different too. Negotiations are generally merit based. This also means that showing any form of financial hardship in your family will not help you. It is a form of transaction where you are showing why the school can benefit from you or prevent losing you while maintaining self respect enough to not beg for things but ask for it based on your merit. Please read what has been written one after the other without skipping.


Remember: You don't owe the Business schools anything as the admissions system has been created for everyone and the schools are not doing you any favours by accepting or rejecting you (I understand the sentiments of the Overrepresented pool such as Indians who have to work significantly harder on their stats to get in)


NEGOTIATION PROCESS:

Consent: Making an appeal to the admissions office to let you negotiate

Leverage: Building leverage and developing your narrative

Negotiate: Adapt to the school's methodologies, complete write ups and use leverage

While most schools are open to negotiation (also referred to as scholarship reconsideration), some schools don't even hear out appeals let alone negotiate.

KINDS OF NEGOTIATION

1. Leveraged negotiation:
In leveraged negotiations, you would have the tangible parameters such as, Promotion, Competing offer from peer schools*, & a new GMAT/GRE Score.

2. Deleveraged negotiation:
(Not to be confused with the term in the financial services industry) A deleveraged negotiation is a non-traditional form of negotiation where you don't have any tangible parameters as discussed above but have a different way of demonstrating merit.


I was planning on attaching the pictures of negotiation scenarios, but you can have a look at some of the cases sorted by schools on our MBA Conquerors Negotiations page
(open to suggestions on how to do that)


MISCONCEPTIONS
A few common misconceptions people have-

1. "I cannot negotiate if I don't have another competing offer"
Not true! Not only do you have two other parameters- Promotion, New GMAT/GRE available as possible tangible options, you still have the opportunity to show case your merit in non-traditional ways to get an increase.

2. "If I am in a leveraged position, I will definitely get an increase"
Not true! Or as some of our lovely fans like to say, "Factually incorrect!". The reason behind that is unknown as the schools don't give feedback but a more credible statement that we have seen from some schools is that they had already accounted for that tangible parameter when they gave you an increase. Other reasons speculated are mostly in higher ranked institutions where even putting an offer against the other can come across as an aggressive move and in many cases, the higher ranked schools want more than just a competing offer.

3. "If I hire a negotiations expert in the admissions consulting industry if I am in a deleveraged position, I will definitely get an increase"
Not entirely true! There is no consultant that can give you a sure shot answer that you will definitely get into a particular B-school, this is a game of uncertainty. Most people who hired us were given a clarification beforehand that there is no certainty but the past success should help them get some confidence. Additionally, based on user behaviour, we have also seen that people don't hire consultants for certainty but they do so because they lack the level of expertise and personalization required in the process and that translates to a better outcome in terms of scholarship money. An easier way to understand this would be - if people can negotiate, $20k on their own, with a little support and personalization, they can get $40k.

4. "Schools always give an increase to people"
Not at all true! Schools have been known to reject appeals all the time. If your negotiation plea does not have the necessary merit schools look for, you will get nothing. Also, in later rounds, the negotiations are tough as schools have exhausted all the funds.

5. "Standard email and standard writeups for all schools will do the job"
If that were true, I'd be sitting on a pile of cash and I can ascertain you that is not the case (and being an admissions consultant doesn't buy me a Lamborghini anyways. Keeps me alive though (mostly)!). So, no, that is also a misconception. The writeups are generally standardized in terms of structure but has to be personalized to each school. And emails need to pivot as the process moves forward as there will be many changes that will happen during negotiation. Schools have even called the candidates on their cell phone to see how they would like to proceed and confirm their interest so this process is very much like getting a deal and your proactiveness and ability to pivot with the schools is as important.

6. "If I tell them a sob story about my hardships, I will get an increase"
If that were true, I'd be sitting on a pile of cash .... You get the point... same as above haha. (Even GMAT Club Mods from back in the day can confirm that I got plenty of those stories) The process of negotiation is nothing more than a transaction. If you bring something to the table that the business schools can proudly take and also benefit from, in exchange, you will have the money from the school. There is a way to share your hardships but you don't get money for your hardships, you do so because you have merit. Schools care about your merit.

7. "I will lose my admit if I try to negotiate a scholarship"
Unlikely! Unless the schools said so explicitly (in writing) that they will reject you for asking for a scholarship increase, you will not be losing the admit for just pushing for the scholarship. But that doesn't mean there can't be other reasons. People, if targeted, can be put through all kinds of hell but that doesn't happen because you asked for an increase in scholarship. (Don't be afraid)



TIMELINES
1-4 Months!!
Yes! I am serious. Most schools that allow negotiations can really go on for months. I worked with a guy who joined in Jan and got his final increase in June (Long story, you can just look at the cases I had put in the link above)!! Starting immediately upon receiving the admit is strongly recommended.


CONSENT TO NEGOTIATE
Know that the first step in getting a negotiation started is to obtain consent from the school. Attitude matters as much as the written word so please don't be cheesy in your consent email. Some people love singing praises of the school and cover up half of the email with how grateful they are to the admissions team for getting the admit and how great they are and the school is and how they are the one who just likes to butter them up. It won't work and you will lose respect. Another mistake people make is reveal all their cards in one go- Great!! Because the one person that does win the game is the one that shows all the cards, right? Wrong!!! Keep your admits with you, say nothing unless asked explicitly. Keep your leverage in your hands. Don't pay the deposit just yet! It is also suggested that before you hire any consultant to negotiate, you should send the consent email to confirm if the school really is open to negotiation.

Here is the idea- Keep it succinct, be positive and show continued interest in the school and make an ask in a straightforward and polite manner.

Writing emails doesn't require an expert (I sincerely hope so). Many people waste people's time with webinars on how to write an email, I am very much against that as at this point in your life, you should be competent enough to do so (And that is not the consultant (me) saying, that is the Indian guy (me), who had to sacrifice living his life to actually get a score and settle for less, saying it.:please:) Still you do need help with the structure and idea, and here it is-

STRUCTURE

Give them a thanks in one line for their patience throughout the process and willingness to help you navigate your applications (NOT FOR YOUR ADMISSION, YOU EARNED IT)

In the next para, highlight how there have been certain new developments in your profile since you had submitted the application that can show the admissions team your merit (KEEP IT AMBIGUOUS IF NEEDED, AND DON'T DISCLOSE ANY OTHER FORM OF LEVERAGE YOU HAVE)

In the next para, highlight that you believe that given there have been these changes, you wanted to know if the school has an option for scholarship reconsideration. If so, if they could help you navigate the process, it would be great. (DON'T BEG FOR IT, JUST KEEP IT SIMPLE)

Close to show some expectation such as, "Appreciate your guidance on the same. Hoping to hear back from you". Has a subtle hint of urgency without sounding too desperate

** Please don't take the bold text in bracket the wrong way, you would be surprised how many emails I have seen that make mistakes like those.

SUBTLE FORMS OF LEVERAGE

1. TIMELINE
[color=#000000]Deposit deadlines are a subtle form of leverage because if you can buy yourself more time, you have an option to get more leverage which can be new things that can show merit, another admissions offer etc. Additionally, it allows you to get more out of another school to show your target school [/color]

2. JUGGLING
If you are one of the fortunate few, who has the opportunity negotiate with multiple schools in parallel to each other, you need to learn the art of holding back and striking with the right schools. Hint: Don't use all your bullets on one target but remember, time is short.

3. INFORMATION
If you have all the information you need from the past few years, perfect! Information is power. Knowing the process inside out and how to manage different schools and different admissions team can really serve as a source of leverage for you

There are also other forms of subtle leverage that will be personal to you drawing on your strengths so can't say without looking at your profile and personal situations, so DMs are open in case you want to discuss it.


NEGOTIATE
Schools have their own ways of working with you, some schools will prefer to do it over email, some schools can even call in the middle of the process and most schools have forms where you can submit new updates. Remember, as we discussed above, this is where you will have to adapt and pivot as the process moves forward. Know that you will have to cause urgency otherwise you will miss out on maximizing scholarship.

Note: Getting an increase is not the same as maximizing the scholarship, Scholarship maximization happens when you use all forms of leverage effectively.


If you need more help with your own scholarship negotiations, you can feel free to reach out- DMs open. This was mostly an attempt to give people an idea of how complex the scholarship negotiation process can get. If you liked it, that's great, you can always share with your peers who can benefit from this post.


LINKS-
1. McCombs Negotiation, 2. Multiple schools' cases in negotiations