Research MBA Programs

Hi Guys,

I wanted to share my experiences of bagging scholarships for the Indian student community.

A lot of my posts talk primarily about the Indian community as all of my applicants for the past 11 years have been Indian applicants living all over the world. For the first time I worked for a Canadian national, and I am glad he got Darden( 50% scholarship) and Stern.

Coming back to my original post- Imagine this:Your family does not have Too much Money( USD 200 spare for an MBA)? You can still explore a TOP MBA. Take this very seriously. I am not kidding.

We broke all our records when we bagged 3.17Crores( ~ USD 500,000 ) of scholarships from TOP MBA Programs for SalikaChaudhary.

I know all of you want to outperform your bosses, make more money, have more financial freedom( SOMEDAY in the Indefinite Future), and meet all your dreams one day( One Day- Really ? � )

Some of you also explore top MBA programs and get stopped as you do not have a lot of money( Who will have 90 lakhs of spare capital? )

DOES MONEY STOP PEOPLE FROM PURSUING AN INTERNATIONAL MBA ?

Have you ever come across someone who was stopped because of Money?

Another question: Have you ever come across someone who THOUGHT he would be stopped because of Money, and used that as an excuse to never take action?

Chances are that the second category is more widespread than the first one. It is true for everyone in any circumstance they are dealing with.

In this article, I wanted to address the MBA applicants who never dare to apply to the best global MBA programs thinking that they would not be able to afford it. There are many professionals in the country who would open the websites of the TOP MBA Programs, explore the costs, compare it with their bank balance and other savings of the family, and will relegate the dream to SOMEDAY after 175 years. They are eager to work in strategic positions, become C-Level executives, or entrepreneurs, but are stopped not because of financial constraints, but the THOUGHT of financial constraints. Well, gone are the days when we had to rely on our personal savings to meet the ends. We do not even need to spend our own hundreds of crores to run a billion dollar company anymore- There are resources everywhere- there is money everywhere- and there are no opportunities that can be lost because of dearth of the affordability.

It is the ignorance or taking ownership of doing a comprehensive research that stops us from taking the next action to fund our education.

Let us imagine that a hypothetical applicant works for Infosys at an annual salary of 7 lakhs. He is from a middle class family and cforhim, it is a true story that he cannot afford an investment of more than 25 lacs from personal savings. The total cost of the MBA is roughly 90 lacs to I Crore. How can someone from the middle class family explore a school that is "BEYOND his Imagination" budget?

Let us see how can we arrange Money for him.

In the beginning, one should start with assessing the risk appetite one has. Banks in India will not fund more than 25 to 30%. However, if you had the option of getting an international loan that gets approved in 5 minutes, would you take a 95 lac loan and go to a top 10 MBA program? Or you would rather join a rank 35th program with a 60% scholarship? Ironically, I have experienced that the second option is unaffordable for many applicants. Why? In the first option, the schools will take the ownership of arranging the non- collateralized loans for the applicants from the international banks without having the applicant to find an international guarantor. The schools cover loans for the tuition and living as they have vested interests. It allows the schools to look for diverse and bright applicants. Without this facility, schools will be limiting themselves to only the BRIGHT and RICH DADS category, and there will not be many. This diversity will add to the value of the experience the candidates get, the brilliance that the recruiters get, and the ranks that the schools accomplish- The entire machinery is self-sustaining and is a win-win.

In the second category of the rank 35th program with 60% scholarships, while you do get a waiver of 50 to 60 lacs, you still have to manage the remaining 35 lacs from loans in India and your personal savings. These schools value diversity though, they do not have the appetite to find non-collateralized loans for you, and have not been able to built successful partnerships with banks.

If you are married, and do not think you have the courage to take a 90 lakh loan, you can still explore some great MBA programs that will offer you significant scholarships and decent employability.

You could be an Indian Male with 5+ years of work experience and a 720+ score or an Indian Female applicant with 3+ years of work experience with again a 720+ Score, there are very bright chances that there is a top school waiting for your application.

If you are an Indian Female applicant with a GMAT =/> 730 or an Indian male applicant with a GMAT >/=740, you can expect even higher than 60% scholarships. Some schools ranked around 40 might give you a full tuition waiver along with a monthly stipend to sustain your living expenses.

The money is available everywhere as long as you are willing to explore the opportunities. Do not pay too much attention to the THOUGHT of no money. Explore and take action.

Money DOES NOT STOP PEOPLE. Lack of Discipline DOES. THOUGHT OF NOT HAVING MONEY DOES.

Regards,
Jatin