The scholarship money that never makes it to the website
My students have won over $1 million in scholarships over the years, and I can tell you the biggest reason most applicants get nothing. It usually isn't a weak profile. It's that they never found out the money existed in the first place.
Here is what you need to know:
Most merit scholarships are automatic. Your application is your scholarship application. There's no second chance at it, and because funding is awarded in rounds, the same profile can win money in Round 1 and receive nothing in Round 3. If you've been debating when to apply, this is often the strongest financial argument for going early.
But not all of it works that way. Some awards need a separate essay, form, or video interview after admission. Some are administered by outside bodies entirely. Imperial's MBA funding page lists two Sainsbury Fellowships worth Β£50,000 each, and you apply through the Royal Academy of Engineering, not the business school. Many applicants never find the actual scholarship application because they live on an engineering body's website.
And here's your one action for this week: attend the program-specific admissions webinar for every school on your final list. Not the general marketing sessions. The program-specific ones. Admissions committees say things live that never make it to the website, like new donor-funded scholarships created mid-cycle or under-subscribed categories they're actively trying to fill. I once learned about a first-generation international graduate scholarship at Michigan this way, and it fit my student perfectly. We only knew to position him for it because I was in the room.
I walk through all of this including how to negotiate a higher scholarship offer using competing admits (this has earned several of my students an extra $20,000 to $30,000).
Watch it β HERE.
Thatβs it for this week.
Keep showing up, keep cheering each other on β and as always, happy applying! π
Caitlin Andersen
Admissions Coach & Oxford MBA
