‘Score high on the GMAT, scholarships will follow’ seems to be the general assumption when it comes to business schools that accept GMAT for their MBA programs. This is why there’s such a desperate rush to get obscenely high GMAT scores in the hope that they would not only get an admit from the best bschools in USA, UK, Australia, Europe and India, but also an icing on the cake i.e. GMAT scholarships.
The assumption isn’t completely illogical. If you look at the MBA applicants from India who talk about their success stories (including GMAT MBA scholarships), most of them do have high standardised test scores. That indicates a strong correlation between GMAT scores and scholarships.
There are several independent institutions that accept applications independently to award financial aid from their own private kitties. Read this post for more details –> MBA Scholarships for Indian students
In this post, we aren’t going to refer to those external organisations. Instead we’ll use the term GMAT scholarships in the broader context to refer to scholarships offered by bschools that accept GMAT scores. Let’s address some basic questions related to this category.
Does a high score guarantee a GMAT scholarship?
Most applicants already know the answer to this question, so we’ll take it up first. The answer, obviously, is No. Check out any bschool website and they’ll talk about how they will evaluate an application holistically, yada yada. You know how it goes.
But the little unwritten rule is that a higher GMAT does significantly improve your odds of being considered for a merit based MBA scholarship. Need based MBA scholarships are evaluated slightly differently. But a higher score does improve your chances with this category too.
Why do MBA colleges reward high scorers with GMAT scholarships?
In any MBA admissions decisions, with all other things (work experience, goals, accomplishments, industry, extra curricular activities) being more or less similar for a given applicant pool, it does help to have one parameter that cuts across the subjectivity.
The average GMAT score for any bschool is also a key factor considered by MBA rankings. So bschools have a natural tendency to show some extra love to those who have managed to Beat the GMAT. What better way to show that love than by playing Santa Claus and dangling a bucketful of free money?
Are GMAT scholarships easier to get than external MBA scholarships?
Yes (admit it, that’s what you wanted to hear, na?). Only in relative terms though. GMAT scholarships are easier to get compared to the external scholarships offered by local or international organisations not affiliated with any bschool.
However there’s a catch. GMAT scholarships offered by the top schools will still be out of reach for most lesser mortals who haven’t won an Olympic medal or invented the cure for the common cold or solved a mystery that was troubling mathematicians for centuries. But we aren’t there yet.
The trick there is to balance out the list of bschools. Include those Ambitious ones, but also make sure that you have Stretch and Practical bschools (these are labels we use in our MBA MAP profile evaluation exercise).
Do the MBA admission rounds influence GMAT scholarships decisions?
Yes they do. As a general rule, Round 1 is when the pot with the treasure at the end of the rainbow is filled up to the brim. So if you have impressed the Admissions committee with your GMAT score, essays, recommendations and interview – apart from the cake (the admit from a top school), your chances of getting a nice little cherry (in the form of GMAT scholarships) go up.
But that doesn’t meant that the golden pot is empty in Round 2. We’ve had clients who have got significant funding in the second round of MBA admissions too. The same criteria apply when it comes to GMAT scores, essays, recommendations and interview. The battle for the freebies gets tougher.
I have a low GMAT score. Should I forget about GMAT scholarships?
Not yet. If you have something solid to offer (maybe not as impressive as an Olympic medal, but something that gives you extra points for diversity, uniqueness, etc), you can keep some of those hopes alive. At MBA Crystal Ball, we have worked with some candidates who (at least on paper) would never seem to be prime candidates for GMAT scholarships, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised. Here’s one such story – MBA Scholarship for low GMAT scorer
Candidates who’ve done market surveys before approaching us tell us interesting stories about admissions consultants in India who have looked at their profiles and promised them admits and scholarships. Don’t fall for such promises.
Unranked MBA colleges might have marketing tie ups with agencies in various countries to offer on-the-spot admits and scholarships. That’s a different ball game.
However, if you are aiming for the best international MBA colleges, forget scholarships, no one can guarantee an admit or even so much as an interview call.
MBA Crystal Ball track record with GMAT scholarships
As a general rule, when we are working with candidates, we are transparent about our limitations. Just for a few extra bucks, we don’t want to take on folks with unrealistic expectations. We don’t consider MBA scholarships as a success criterion. Our main aim is to do the best we can with the components that can be influenced – the overall storyline covering MBA essays, LoRs, interviews.
There are many other factors that the scholarship committee will consider that we have absolutely no control over – your GMAT score, nationality, industry, role, gender, accomplishments.
However, if you read the reviews for MBA Crystal Ball, we’ve done pretty well for our friends. Many of them have got substantial financial aid in the form of GMAT scholarships. If you find our with our MBA MAP profile evaluation and MBA Essay Editing packages and our overall approach logical, transparent & professional, we’d be happy to work together and try to get you on that same testimonials page.
Thats really good one Sameerji.. Yes, what you have written is practical and as a follower of your blog from past a few months I know that you are really transparent at things.. Hope to work with you soon.. Thanks for giving these valuable info every 3 days… Keep going!!!!
Thanks for the encouraging words, Naveen.
Good to see that you have subscribed to the blog for regular updates.
Wondering if you have any topics in mind that we haven’t covered so far? We’ll add that to our list of blog posts for the future.
I think you are covering many things which are on minds of every aspirant.. Thanks for that…
Adding something from my end, I would like to see an indepth analysis of financial matters involved and how a student will be funding his education.. In india one will get 100% loan for tuition but is that the case abroad too? What are the typical expenses one has to look out for.. In short how much moolah required as a bare minimum from students perspective to go ahead for MBA abroad taking into account that school will still provide 100% loan on tuition.. As you have dealth with many students and yourself an MBA from abroad, I think you are the right person to answer this. Hope for an interesting/indepth post ahead.
Thanks again..
Thanks for the suggestion, Naveen.
As the actual cost of attending an MBA program varies across countries, rather than giving specific numbers, we have a post that explains the basic heads to think about: MBA financing: Tuition Fees and other costs
We will also be publishing another post on non-collateral loans.
everyone says MS univs give lot of schol, but MBA colleges dont give. is it true?
Manisha,
The first part is true. There’s a higher chance of getting funded for MS programs.
The second part is partially true. It is not easy to get scholarships in MBA programs. But as you see from the blog posts on this site and the MBA Crystal Ball reviews page, if you choose the right set of bschools and have the right application strategy, bschools do give plenty of scholarships.
But again, the ‘conditions apply’ tag hangs there as well. Not evey school will be so generous. So you’ll have to choose schools that are a good FIT for your profile.
I agree that GMAT does play a crucial role in scholarships.In the whole application process, GMAT is the only objective part giving common ground for taking scholarship decision and can be used as an standard measure by B-schools.I say this from my personal experience as i and another applicant have been granted an attractive scholarship from a B-school that has not been generous to Indian applicants in previous years.Though many of the previous year’s and this year’s applicants(Indian) have quite competitive profiles(some even better than both of us), but what made stand us out was the well above average, co-incidentally same, GMAT score.
Thanks for that viewpoint, Ankit.
On a related note, based on what you’ve shared in the comments (on other posts), you have an interesting application story too. Would you be interested in writing a guest blog post for us?
oh definitely,it would be a pleasure to share my app journey.However, if you permit,i would like to do it once i have finalised my B-school which would provide a nice conclusion to the story. Whatsay, Sameer saab.
Sure, Ankit saab. Get the dilemma sorted out and then drop us an email.
We don’t have any post on that ‘other’ school you have hinted at here. So looking forward to it.
Thanks Sameerji, yes I had already been through this post. Anyway, I look forward for learining important info which you share. I will think of finances at the later stage may be.. Thanks again..
Dear Mr. Sameer,
Thanks for such a practical post.
Please let me know that G-MAT is necessary for persuing MBA in fashion in usa/canada or ielts may also work. How could I get scholarships for my Mba? Could you suggest names of some good colleges for Mba in fashion in Usa/Canada & also let me know how much/how can I get education loan for study as I have done Bachelor in fashion Designing(4 years) from reputed college of Uttar Pradesh & keen to study Mba abroad.
Thanks with Warm Regards,
Manish
@Manish: IELTS (equivalent to TOEFL) is not a replacement for the GMAT. Some bschools insist on both. Others waive the IELTS / TOEFL. But GMAT is mandatory for all the top MBA programs.
Hello Mr. Sameer,
Thank you for posting such a nice article. It has solved many of my dilemmas, but there are a few things that I need to clear. If I have a high GMAT score and I have a work experience of 2 years from a fortune 500 company, will this profile improve my odds for securing a GMAT scholarship?