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Management is an indispensable part of every organization, while the technical expertise is the brain of a company, management is the heart. And, for this reason, an MBA is one of the most popularly sought out degrees worldwide. So, if you want to play in the big leagues and transform your career from an employee to an employer, this professional degree is your ticket. But it’s not that simple, the competition for an MBA degree is fierce, and even more so if you want one from a top school. Universities use this to their advantage and pick out the best and brightest of the lot.

But what you don’t know is that you have an advantage too. It’s no secret that pursuing an MBA is expensive, and if you want to study it abroad at one of the top 20 B-schools worldwide, it’ll cost you a fortune. Universities know this and understand that price is a major limiting factor to many potentially worthy candidates. So, they do their part and provide huge amounts as MBA scholarships and grants.

There are normally two kinds of scholarships, merit-based and need based. The Harvard MBA scholarship and Stanford University scholarships among a handful that are need-based funding offers. Getting into these schools is an achievement in itself because they have the world’s most picky admissions committees. They only consider students with the best credentials, and they find it reasonable to help these top students out financially.

On the other hand, we have merit-based scholarships, and most universities in the US offer a combination of need and merit-based funding. Merit scholarships are awarded based on your profile, including diversity. This means your GMAT score, college GPA, LORs, essays and where you come from, all play a part in your admission. If you’re wondering why they offer these grants, there are two main reasons.

The first is that they want to help deserving students get an MBA education. The second is competition, and this is where your advantage lies. Universities are in constant rivalry with each other and use scholarships as a way to attract the best candidates.

Let’s take an example, say you are looking to study MBA in USA with a scholarship because your budget is limited. You got into three schools, Chicago Booth, NYU and Georgetown. The competition now is between these three institutes, and it all boils down to how bad these universities want to have you studying with them.

First, because Georgetown ranks after NYU and Booth, it knows that you are likely to go to those universities. Hence, it offers you an incentive to pick Georgetown in the form of a 100% tuition scholarship. It’s the same story with NYU, they know that your profile fits a Chicago Booth level application. And if both of them have the same tuition fee, you would pick Booth without a glance, so to make you pause and think about them, NYU offers you a 50% scholarship.

Secondly, before applications start rolling in, university admissions committees decide on having a diverse mix of students; international, local, Asian, Indian, European, women, men, high work experience, low experience etc. And on considering all these factors, universities offer you diversity scholarships too. So, if Booth doesn’t meet their targeted gender mix and there are more women enrolled in this year’s MBA, being a man, you are likely to be offered a 20-30% scholarship as an incentive to join Booth over NYU.

If you’re wondering about MBA scholarships in USA for Indian students, keep reading to find a list of scholarships available at the top US universities. But first, how to get a scholarship for an MBA through the GMAT?

This standardized test is a base requirement for almost all top schools, and it plays a major role in determining the quality of your application. A lot of US universities use GMAT scores as a benchmark for admission and scholarships. For example, a student with a 750+ might automatically be eligible for a 50% tuition reduction.

Remember that advantage we talked about? On top of the 50% reduction, having a good profile and other top B-school admits will allow you to negotiate with the university to increase your scholarship to say 60 or 70%. If you’re going to business school, negotiation is a necessary skill, so hone it and show it. But know that there’s a thin line between negotiating and haggling, and you shouldn’t cross it.

Now, most universities consider students despite demography and offer their scholarships based on merit but, there are some MBA scholarships for Indian students specifically, like the Dhirubhai fellowship for Stanford, the capital first scholarship and the Indian trust fellowship at Booth. Since the majority of universities offer to fund all students, here are some of the scholarships that 6 top B-schools in USA offer.

University/School

Scholarships

Wharton School of Business
  • Emerging Economy scholarship
  • John Wharton Scholarship
Columbia Business School
  • Need-based (Up to $30,000)
  • Columbia Fellows Program
  • Board of Overseers China & India Fellowships
  • Meyer Feldberg Distinguished Fellowship
Kellogg School of Management
  • Diversity Scholarship
  • Donald P. Jacobs International Scholarships
Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
  • Indian Trust Fellowship
  • The Zonis Fellowship
  • Canfield Private Equity Fellowship
  • Distinguished Fellows Program (Full tuition)
MIT Sloan School of Management
  • Legatum Fellowship
  • McKinsey Award
  • Forte Foundation Fellowship
Berkeley Haas, University of California
  • Diversity Scholarships
  • Haas achievement award
  • Marketing Scholarships
Darden School of Business, University of Virginia
  • Offers Scholarships to 100% of Full time MBA students
  • Need-based Aid up to $20,000 (AccessDarden)
  • Jefferson Fellowships
  • IRC Asian Scholarship
  • Franklin Family Fellowship

If you have an MBA in mind there are three major steps that you must get through, first, ace the GMAT, next, find the right schools for your profile, and finally, find your funding. Jamborees years of experience have put thousands of students at their dream universities, and given them the best financial grants. So, whether you need help with GMAT, choosing the right universities or getting the best scholarships, we help you at every step of the way. So, schedule a free session with our experts today!

Read some of our other articles and get ahead with everything MBA related!

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