Can you Negotiate with a Top Business School?

The short answer: ‘It never hurts to ask.’ Over the years, many of our clients have received amazing news. Schools have selected them for scholarships from at least one of their desired MBA programs. Sometimes, however, the money comes from a second or third choice instead of their coveted first choice. So, the question we often get is “can I leverage one scholarship offer to get others?”

The scholarship process remains fairly opaque. It is generally more of a black box than the rest of the MBA application process. Schools often use it as a tool as a way to entice candidates they especially want for one reason or another.

Since you can’t know exactly where you stand on that highly-subjective spectrum, we always recommend going for it: telling a particular school about your scholarship offer causes no harm from another program and see if they’ll match it. No, they won’t rescind your offer just because you ask and express that you’ve been admitted to another school. In fact, negotiating and being savvy about this process demonstrates maturity and real consideration of this huge decision!

More often than not, your request will result in a polite “no but thanks for asking” from the schools. However, ample examples prove that trying is worth your time. Take Andy, a client I worked with last year who had his heart set on Fuqua but also applied to several other programs to hedge his bets. Andy gained admission to almost all the schools he applied to, including Fuqua as well as Ross. However, Ross offered him a significant scholarship, They offered him the money because they wanted more entrepreneurs and believed their program could help him launch his idea after graduation. Though Andy liked Ross’s program and believed he could thrive there, his gut told him Fuqua remained the better choice.

As such, Andy decided to talk to Fuqua about his conundrum. He emailed admissions, explaining that Ross had offered him a significant scholarship but that Fuqua remained his top choice. He then asked if Fuqua would match Ross’s offer. Fuqua responded by requesting that Andy simply write a quick paragraph on why, based on merit, he deserved a scholarship. As such, he described advancements he’d made in his start-up launch plan and fundraising; and of course he also reiterated the Ross scholarship amount.

This tactic led Fuqua to match Ross’s offer for Andy and increase it slightly!

The moral of the story: it never hurts to ask. We recommend reaching out directly to admissions teams at the schools you’re negotiating with and discussing the best way to submit this request. Every school is different and frequently approach these situations on a case-by-case basis. Best of luck!

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