Financing MBA

One thing I want to emphasize here is that, never back off from pursuing an MBA due to financial fears. Generally, it falls in place.

Well, there are three main sources of funding your MBA.

1. Merit scholarships: This is offered by the schools themselves after evaluating your merit based on various aspects. The amount in a merit scholarship can be anywhere between a few thousands to full fee waiver. Almost all schools have merit scholarship deadlines before which you would be considered eligible for the same. There are lot of funds out there. Be sure you don't miss this chance.

2. Assistantships: Assistantships help you meet your living expenses, typically partly and sometimes fully. When offered an assistantship, you are expected to assist a professor in his/her teaching or research work or assist an admin person in his/her work. You need to spend a certain number of hours per week and make your earning. Assistantships and merit scholarships are mostly independent of each other and one may be lucky to earn both.

3.Student Loans: The third and the most sought out option for MBA financing is student loans. Broadly speaking, when you apply for a loan in your country of study; a foreign country, the banker needs you to have a co-signer. Some colleges would co-sign for you. But in the other case, you need to arrange it yourself. Each banker, of course, would have his one policies. However, a student is allowed to borrow for fee and living expenses too and pay back after he/she graduates. There exists a grace period too as repaying few months after graduation.

So, don't panic! Move ahead!

Handling Recommendations

There are three important steps to be followed to emerge with a successful recommendation:

Selecting the recommender: The best recommender is a supervisor of yours who has interacted with you closely. Recommendations from CEOs or CFOs are absolutely of no use unless you have closely moved with them. A supervisor who can talk of your strengths, weaknesses and the material you are made of, is one of the best choices. A peer review is sometimes sought by schools. But when the recommender selection is left as a open choice, I would say a supervisor weighs far more than a peer.

Coaching the recommender: This is an essential and crucial step. Make sure you coach your recommender about your goals and aspirations. Tell him/her why you are looking for an MBA. The recommender may very well be mindful of your work culture, team spirit, attitude etc. But it is also important that he is aware of your professional goals. Its your duty to make an appointment and enable him to know your goals in detail. The next step is to tell him/her about the time lines and don't hesitate to send across a gentle reminder if need be.

The recommender's say: In short, the recommender must fortify what ever you said in your essays. In fact, the recommender gets a chance to narrate instances and elaborate on many of your attributes. You can make sure that your application bundle is tied together if your recommender reinforces your ideas and elucidates your qualities. All this will lubricate and smoothen the recommendation letter handling and also the application process.