<p>Does anybody know of any MBA programs that offer scholarship money based on merit or need?</p>
<p>All of them offer some sort scholarship based mostly on merit and little based on need. I would say nearly all of the students have "need" for financial aid since most applicants have only worked for a few years and won't be able to pay the tuition and expenses for two years out of their savings account. Parents' finances are not considered in MBA schools.</p>
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I would say nearly all of the students have "need" for financial aid since most applicants have only worked for a few years and won't be able to pay the tuition and expenses for two years out of their savings account.
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<p>I don't know about that. Having attended what most would consider a top 10 MBA school and some a top 5 school, 1/3 of the student body didn't even take out any loans; nevermind receive any kind of financial aid. I wasn't aware that any of the top 10 MBA schools gave out merit aid.</p>
<p>gellino, I don't known when you received your MBA , but from what you've posted, it's been many years. Tuition now cost $42-$45K per year at the top 10. Most people don't have the cash to pay $90K in tuition plus 2 years of living expenses unless they were in IB or consulting and I doubt 1/3 the students are in that category. I don't know how you got your numbers. Unless you identify your MBA school, I would have no idea if it is a top 10 or top 5.</p>
<p>We are talking about today's prices not the prices you may have paid a decade ago. My D is in her final year at a top MBA (H/S/W) right now so from her experience, I can assure you top schools offer merit scholarships, also known as fellowships. Go to some other MBA forums and find out for yourself.</p>
<p>There are certainly some students who receive financial help from parents, sponsoring companies and working spouses, thus obviate taking out loans. In addition, as I have pointed out before there are those who have significant savings from high paying jobs and are able to pay their way for 2 years. Other than that, the rest will have to resort to loans.</p>
<p>There are top schools (top 10)who insist that the aid they give are based strictly on need but the reality is that most students who receive admissions from top schools are given different amounts of aid. For example, I know one student who receive admissions from Harvard, Penn, Booth and Kellogg. He was given grants ranging from $8K to $30K from 3 schools and none from one even though he submitted the same FAFSA to each school. One has to conclude that the grants he received were not strictly based on need. I know personally many similar cases like the one described above and from reading other MBA forums, they are rather common. Schools will use scholarships to influence yield.</p>
<p>I obtained my MBA earlier this decade; so the cost was still pretty high then too, although I did work in IB and then at a HF beforehand. However, I was still not part of this 1/3 figure that simply paid out of pocket. For purposes of this discussion, it doesn't really matter whether my school is regarded as the #4 school or the #8 school; not to mention that there is basically no uniform consensus after the top 3 anyway and even then knew several at my school (including myself) that chose it over Wharton. I got my numbers from the Director of Financial Aid at my school in a meeting that she held on financial aid to our class. I was surprised as well. I guess if my school did offer merit aid or grants that I wasn't a desirable enough candidate to receive any.</p>
<p>You probably were well qualified and had enough money saved so any amount of "luring" was a lost cause.</p>
<p>Many of those W/L and rejected are still well qualified. MBA admissions seem especially random to me; probably because so much of the outcome is based on subjectivity. I’ve just seen too much of very similar candidates by all major criteria where one is accepted at school A and rejected at school B and the other is rejected at school A and accepted at school B. </p>
<p>However, I wouldn’t call it a lost cause as I would have welcomed any amount of “luring.”</p>