Last week’s edition of Fridays from the Frontline demonstrated that this year’s crop of applicants are busy thinking about GMAT prep, school selection and essay composition, but one thing that we haven’t heard many prospective students considering lately is the topic of financing their studies. While it’s reasonable that gaining admission is the primary focus and that many plan to cross the monetary bridge when they come to it, we wanted to remind readers of an ongoing London Times series that we mentioned last month about strategies for paying for an MBA.
Though geared toward British applicants, the general principles in these articles are applicable to anyone considering an MBA. In addition to considering the topic of bank loans, recent installments have covered bursaries and scholarships, touching upon the subjects of what a schools or company has to gain from awarding funds to students with no strings attached – and what sort of information applicants need to provide about their potential contribution to a school when applying.
Our advice to those working on applications this time of year is to take some time to see what options are available in terms of scholarships and make note of the deadlines. It would be wise to build time for this research and paperwork into your timeline for the admissions season. While it does mean a bit of extra work at an already hectic time of year, it will likely pay off (quite literally) this time next year.
