Leveraging a scholarship??

Try it with Ross, as you have nothing to lose there. If that works, then leverage Ross on Kellogg.

I was in the same situation. Unfortunately they weren't able to up my scholarship, but I didn't lose anything by asking. I did so by emailing the adcom member who had called to notify me of my acceptance.

I was going to suggest something like this. Kellogg gives out smaller $$ later in the process, so I'm not sure how they'll react.

Thanks for all the advice! I didn’t think about seeing what Ross had to say before asking Kellogg, I will probably give them a call Monday.

I did some further searching and found the following post helpful for anyone else in the same boat

https://gmatclub.com/forum/financial-aid-loans-spending-and-scholarship-information-58749.html#p422566

However, after reading some info on this topic, I’m not sure if I should name either the scholarship school or how much they offered. In these types of situations, I usually like laying out all the information and discussing things from there. But I am also not a great negotiator. Should I specify both or should I just say “another MBA program” and “a substantial scholarship”?

Thanks again to everyone for their help!

I got a relatively small scholarship from one school and was given the opportunity to talk over the phone with someone highly ranked. In the end of the conversation I just asked, politely, straight out, whether something could be done with my scholarship, in case I get a competing offer from another school, with a better scholarship. I was good-humoredly assured I was not the first one to ask such a thing, and encouraged to contact this person again should such a situation occur. So I say just go ahead and ask nicely.

However, I did not mention which schools I had applied to, and I don't think it really should matter for them. All they need to know is that between two equal choices I would seriously consider attending to their school, but if the financial support were a little bit better, the scale would surely tip to their side.

Question for those who have tried: did you send your request to admissions or to financial aid?

Don't be disappointed if your attempts fail and the other school refuses to offer more money. After all, this is a year where the schools are cutting their budgets and other expenses (including scholarship money at some schools) because their endowment was hit hard

I have a feeling that scholarships have a lot to do with how much a particular school wants you as a student. I got a fairly nice scholarship from my "safety school", and when I asked for deadline extension due to other decisions rolling in, I was met with a very positive response and the affirmation that I would be a very welcome student in their class. Of course this could just be their usual response... you never know...

nink is probably right about scholarship cuts. But it never hurts to try, right?

dv450, did you make up your mind? if so could you share some of the reasoning behind it?
Thanks

Some of the best advice I have gotten from several alumnis and current students is that once you are admitted, you can ask for and negotiate more scholarship money. One tactic I often here of is using full or larger scholarships at other schools as leverage to get more money from your top choice.

Has anyone done this before? In particular current student who have any tips and tricks for lowering the post MBA debt?

Update for other applicants in similar positions:


I appreciate all the advice about contacting Ross and thought that was a great idea but in the end, I decided against it. I figure that it would be a bit unfair to ask Ross for some scholarship money when I have zero intention on attending. I would be taking away an opportunity for those funds to be given to another admit who would better appreciate and utilize them. This is of course assuming Ross would have given me something which obviously wasn't a guarantee.

Here is what did decide to do:

First, I ended up getting my W2 form right at the end of January and within 24 hours of receiving it, I had my taxes finished and my Kellogg financial aid information completely turned in. The financial aid office claims this is beneficial because you will in the first batch to have your "need" reviewed and therefore, also in the first batch to receive word on your reward.

Second, I contacted the person I have been dealing with in Tepper's admissions office and requested an extension on the end of Feb deposit deadline. My contact was very willing to give me a month's extension which is great since now I didn't have to waste a deposit on a program I may not attend. In my request, I said I wanted to have all the pertinent information before making a decision and my contact was very supportive about that. I was pretty vague about exactly why I wanted an extension. Although I did mention that I wanted to see the Pittsburgh area residency match info (MD match date is 03/17) to better understand my wife's residency chances, which is absolutely true. Looking back at my request, although I didn't directly mention "financial aid" packages from other schools, I am sure my contact realized that factored into my decision and probably would have granted me the extension even if I was more direct.

Third, as Kellogg promised, I received my financial aid package very soon after their March 1st financial aid release date and I was pretty pumped! They offered me one mainly merit based scholarship (its a named scholarship but I think you have to qualify for a level of need to be concerned for it) and some other more need based money (they just label it as merit/need but I am assuming the later). Then a few days after my initial package, I was contacted by the director of one of Kellogg's programs and was offered another smaller named merit scholarship that is solely for students looking to major in that program. Summing all these scholarships together puts the total near the top of my desired range from my initial post. So obviously I was thrilled!

Forth, although I was already ecstatic with the amount of aid Kellogg has offered me, I decided to go through with my "request." From reading other posts and hearing everyone's advice, I figure that as long as I ask politely, it should be a "no lose" situation. I actually even considered how I wanted to complete this thread for prosperity purposes. So I emailed the financial aid officer assigned to me and 1) explained my desire to attend Kellogg, 2) reasoning on why I have to heavily weigh cost (wife's substantial and continually increasing loans) and therefore, seriously consider another school's scholarship offer, 3) reaffirm that I believe I will become an asset to the school as a student and in the future, as an alumnus, 4) asked if there was anything they could do to make my decision easier.

Fifth, about a day later, I received a response from the financial aid office. They first congratulated me on receiving the program focused scholarship. Then they went into a spiel about how they understand that finances plays a huge role in an applicants decision while also mentioning that I could still get another scholarship from the admissions office later in the process. This is the response I expected so I was not disappointed at all. In the end, Chicago and Kellogg just offered my wife and I such awesome opportunities that it overcame the difference between the two scholarships so I am officially matriculating at Kellogg!

In conclusion, I think attempting to leverage a scholarship is a reasonable action as long as you are seriously considering both the target school and the scholarship school (and therefore, it doesn't matter if the two schools are direct peer programs or not). I don't believe that the success rate for such a maneuver is very good at all but as long as you are polite and professional throughout the entire process, there is no harm in it.

From my particular experience, I actually was very impressed with way each program interacted with me. Especially Tepper. Although I will not be attending next year, I am sure that they would have prepared me for my long term goals extremely well.

I personally believe that you really can't go wrong when choosing between any of the top 20 schools. Obviously, you try and pick the one that has the best "fit" for you. But all of them will prepare you for the next level and the majority of the opportunities that you have in the future will derive more from the effort you put into business school and you subsequent career than which school is listed on your resume. In addition, I really think that no matter where you decide to matriculate, after a few months on that campus, submerged in their culture, and drinking their Kool-aid, you won't be able to imagine attending anywhere else.

Sorry for the length… hopefully my rambling helps someone in the future.

Great post!!! I think it will be helpful to many out there.

It is a great post dv450!
Thank you. Will add it to the newsletter distribution next week.

I would also be very interested in learning more about this topic. Has anyone succesfully secured more scholarship money from schools? If so, what was the tactic used?

I am making my attempt at securing more funds tomorrow. I'll be sure to update how it goes.

I do know of one person who was successful at this. Because of a full-ride to one school, he was able to receive a full-ride to his top choice.

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