Top college-funded scholarships for MBA in the US

Getting admission to MBA courses is a matter of joy for all international B-school aspirants. However, as the student loan gets difficult to pay off, you realize you could have taken a different strategy to finance your studies. The most logical way to escape that student debt is bagging a scholarship to fund your course.

In US most of the scholarships are funded by the institute. They provide not just one but many scholarships for the deserving candidates. Most of these are funded by corporate or alumnus of the college itself. Here is a collection of a few premier colleges as well as state universities who readily fund the education of deserving candidates.

• The University of Chicago Booth School of Business - There is no formal application process for merit-based scholarships, fellowships or corporate fellowships. The scholarship is offered at the time of admission. The admission officers and financial aid department reviews the applications of students accepted into the MBA Program. They assess shortlisted candidate's qualities, academic profile, quality of interview etc. Chicago Booth, like other US B-schools, offers many scholarships. The most popular scholarships are The Dennis W. and Jane B. Carlton Fellowship, The Distinguished Fellows Program, Forté Foundation Fellowship etc.

• Columbia Business School – Columbia offers Merit-based and Need-based scholarships to full-time MBA students. The admission committee reviews applications based on GMAT scores, undergraduate GPA, work experience, interviews, etc. Since most scholarships are yearly, If students are not awarded a scholarship in the first year, they can still be considered for a fellowship in their second year.
  The most popular scholarships are Columbia Fellows Program, Board of Overseers China & India Fellowships, Meyer Feldberg Distinguished Fellowship Program.

• Stanford Graduate School of Business – At Stanford, you have to apply for scholarships on your own and you will not be considered automatically. If you have already applied to Stanford, then Click Here to login to you Stanford applicant’s account and apply for the scholarship. You will be required to complete the fellowship data form. These fellowships are need-based and the financial aid department will assess your assets to determine eligibility. The most popular scholarships are Charles P. Bonini Partnership for Diversity (P4D) Fellowship, Stanford Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship, Orbis Investment Management Fellowship etc.

• Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University – at Johnson, merit-based scholarships are open to all nationalities. The criteria to shortlist candidates are leadership skills, academic performance, GPA, work experience, interpersonal skills, focus and goals etc. around 30% of all MBA students at Johnson receive a scholarship or financial aid. The most popular scholarships are Johnson Endowed and Annual Scholarships, Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellowship, Forté Fellows Program etc.

• Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas - MBA program at Walton offers graduate assistantships to a certain number of candidates which waives off the tuition fee and provides a stipend of $3,000 per semester plus an additional scholarship for $2,500. In exchange of this fellowship, students will have work 15 hours per week as the assistant. So this funding comes in three forms: tuition waiver, graduate assistantship (GA), and a stipend. All applicants accepted to full-time MBA are automatically considered for financial assistance.

• Terry College of Business, University of Georgia – at Terry College, all applicants are automatically considered for financial aid, which means there is no separate application process for merit aid. The help from college is given in forms of graduate assistantships, scholarships and need-based financial assistance. Either you will be given assistantship to help you learn about the profession better along with a fixed stipend or you will be financial aid, depending on your case.

• Iowa State University – Like other state universities, Iowa University also gives research assistantship and stipends to help deserving students support their studies. Scholarships are only available for full-time students, and range from $2,000 – $6,000 which is a good amount considering the tuition fees are already minimal at state universities. All prospective students who will submit a completed application are eligible and automatically considered for the scholarships. There is not a special application form or process to get aid. If you are awarded a scholarship, you will be notified in your acceptance letter.
  The most popular scholarships are The Diversity MBA Scholarship, The Leadership in Service MBA Scholarship, The Cardinal and Gold MBA Scholarship etc.

• East Tennessee State University – this university has a particular scholarship for international students called ‘International Students Academic Merit Scholarship’. This scholarship covers 50 per cent of the total tuition fees. You will have to apply to this scholarship on your own as applicants will not be automatically considered. To apply you need to be an applicant. The admission committee reviews applications based on GMAT scores, undergraduate GPA, work experience, interviews, etc. apart from the scholarship, you may get a graduate assistantship. The most popular scholarships are Honors Program Scholarships, Public Performance Scholarship, ETSU General Scholarships etc.

Also Read:

• 4 Steps to writing a winning Scholarship Essay
• What are the chances of receiving a Scholarship
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• Financial documents for Study Abroad applications
• Types of Scholarships available for Study Abroad aspirants