How To Negotiate MBA Scholarships: Top 10 Sure Tips

Are you puzzled about how to negotiate MBA scholarships? Read further here to learn how to successfully do that in a polite manner

It is a well-known fact that attending business schools could be financially demanding, but it is also an interesting fact to note that only a few students pay tuition fees in full while attending business schools. This is so because business schools offer a lot of scholarship awards to students. The awarding of these scholarships is done based on different forms, some of which include:

Merit-based scholarships
Financial need-based scholarships and
Some other forms of diversified scholarship awards

Scholarships are designed by these schools to ease the financial burden of an MBA or any business master’s degree program.

One may feel awkward and uncomfortable negotiating a generous scholarship offer, this is understandable as you might not want to act like an “OLIVER”.

But there are ways to go about negotiating an MBA scholarship without being rude or having to sound like an ungrateful fellow doing that. So we guess you got to this page looking for answers on how you can negotiate your current MBA scholarship offer for a better deal.

This article is going to provide you with nice tips on how to negotiate MBA scholarships offer.

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How To Negotiate MBA Scholarships Offer

Negotiating a business school scholarship is a fragile and delicate process that needs to be carefully done, you need to cook and edit your speech and approach before letting it out at the negotiation table.

Following these outlined guidelines below as explained by experts from business, schools might increase your chances of landing a better MBA scholarship deal after negotiating.

1. Prepare your speech

It is expected of a student who really is interested and would like to negotiate for a better scholarship deal to have prepared before initiating the negotiation process.

It is required of you to have properly assessed your needs and know exactly what you are aiming to achieve with the negotiation.

In other words, we strongly advised that you properly must have done your homework and must have completely concluded the areas of concern you wish to address at the negotiation table.

Preparing your speech will help you to be more direct with your point.

Evaluate the following questions before your business school scholarship negotiation:

what is the context for the school’s scholarship budget?

Has it increased or decreased? Is there a particular focus on scholarships this year?

Prepare these questions before your business school scholarship negotiation.

2. Avoid applying for MBA scholarships in competitive schools

We recommend that you adequately make the consultation on how competitive the scholarship award you are applying for is, in your school of choice. Colleges tend to set high cut-off scores for highly competitive programs.

Apply to colleges where your test and application scores will be very well above average. Doing this will further put you on the merit list and probably place you on the revered and outstanding list of applicants amongst others in the school. This might earn you some respect and even a listening ear to help you negotiate higher offers with the school as well as other business schools.

3. Reach out to the Admissions Office

Scholarships are awarded at the admission office. At most schools scholarships awarded at the admission office are done solely with the aim of recruiting top talented individuals.

This is otherwise known as the merit-based form of scholarship. However, the most common and likely reason every student chose to negotiate MBA scholarships is that the scholarship offered to them might not cover all of their needs as expected.

This is supposed to be taken care of by the financial aid office as they are in charge of all need-based financial aid. Get in touch with the appropriate office to increase your chances of having a successful negotiation.

4. Map out an effective negotiation process

The following mindful questions to yourself before your scholarship negotiation as suggested by Paul might be of help:

How will we negotiate?

What sequence?

How long will the discussion take?

In what language?

If it’s internet-based, over what platform?”

Arrange your answers to the questions above in the same sequence, try as much as you can to strictly adhere to the plan, this is one of the sure-fire to having an effective negotiation.

5. Refer to it as the “Asking Period”

Do not blow your success chances before its arrival by being “head over heels”.

Requesting for additional scholarship assistance is in fact a negotiating process, “yeah” but making it that obvious to the scholarship board might sound rude and demanding.

We, therefore, recommend that you refer to this period as the “Asking period”. You can ignite your negotiation by asking questions like- “Are there any additional scholarships I can apply for to make my attendance more feasible?”.

6. Consider taking numerous offers

You can request in an assertive manner from the financial aid offices to match aid you with other available programs and most importantly you politely request to be matched with those ones that best factor into your decision.

One of the best and most effective ways to negotiate your scholarship offer is using other existing offers made available to you from other schools. However, applicants need to do this with extreme care and honesty.

Candidates should avoid presenting false data to admission officers, such as inflating the value of scholarships awarded to them by one school, to improve their chances of being considered during negotiation as consultations may be carried out by the admission officers to verify whatever data you presented.

7. Be Honest about your needs

Use a varying form of negotiation strategy, this depends on what form of scholarship you are intending to improve its offer though, whether need-based or merit-based.

You will need to present some empathic and convincing evidence to show the reason for requesting a greater package for a need-based scholarship, while for merit-based scholarships, it is required of you to communicate or discuss some outstanding arsenals at your disposal that you can bring to the table if your request is considered.

Scott Edinburgh, MBA admissions consultant and founder of Personal MBA Coach, says being honest about your financial situation and explaining why you’re the perfect candidate for the school is crucial when negotiating your scholarship offer. From there, you can build a case for yourself.

8. Demonstrate and Show Interest

Convince the school that you are interested in them by demonstrating actions such as visiting the school campus, attending to all emails and messages sent to you, attend most optional interviews and seminars. Schools might consider negotiating with you once they are convinced that the additional funding you are demanding might land your enrollment.

9. Keep your words in check

Naturally, negotiators consider the other party’s request by putting themselves in the other party’s position in successful negotiations. They identify the other party’s needs, desires, and inspiration source.

Showing empathy and being respectful when negotiating your scholarship is therefore key – you don’t want to come across as demanding or threatening.

10. Embrace the Win-Win Negotiation

Go to the negotiation table with the mindset that you have nothing to lose. Take every ending situation of the negotiation as a win for you and the school.

This will help prepare you for the needed bright atmosphere required to kick-start the commencement of your new landed scholarship.

Embracing the win-win negotiation does not mean that you have already given up your success chances rather it serves as an indication to the school that you are being appreciative of the generous scholarship offered to you.

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Final Remarks

How to negotiate MBA scholarships?

We hope we are able to provide you with an appropriate answer to the question above.

Attending business schools is a huge investment for students, so it should be noteworthy to students, that receiving a scholarship offer which you would like to negotiate its improvement is possible without having to sound rude and being turned down.

Consider using the tips provided above on how to negotiate MBA scholarships respectively and see your scholarship negotiation task becomes a success.

For comments and more questions, reach out to us on the comment section link and we will get back to you in a short while.

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