How to Financially Prepare for Business School in 2 Years

Is this a top ranked business school? If so, could you expand on how to get deferred admission to such schools (the only option I can remember off the cuff is Harvard 2+2 program)/

Bump. Curious to know as well.

Yale has the Silver Scholars program, and I think MIT Sloan has a similar deferred program.

The ones listed by pnb, sour patch kid, and andres are all I know of.

The Sour Patch Kid:

Yale has the Silver Scholars program, and I think MIT Sloan has a similar deferred program.

From my understanding, Silver Scholars does not let you defer. It is a three-year program designed to admit students straight from undergrad to MBA without allowing any work experience in between. That's why they require you to spend your entire second year doing a FT internship.

(http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/admissions/apply/college_seniors.shtml)

ISB in India does it..they too have a scholar program...but it aint much expensive though compared to US schools..and certainly not worth one to incur a 80k loan even after 2 years of +ve cash inflows..

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that school based scholarships are awarded at the time of admittance rather than when the program actually starts. As a result, I'm not sure you're going to receive consideration for future fellowships / scholarships since you've already accepted the offer. I'm far less familiar with deferred programs though, so discount this thought appropriately. Even if I'm wrong, there isn't much you can do to increase your scholarship potential beyond strengthening your application as a whole. Go to your MBA program's website, usually they have a scholarship page, and look for the criteria that they look for. Usually it is a generic combination of academic + professional success combined with demonstrating integrity and the core values of the school. Not much help there in terms of specific activities you could engage in...

For example, Wharton's website says: "Criteria for selection of awards may include academic achievement, compelling leadership, exceptional professional development, and unique personal qualities. There is no formal fellowship application, and notification of fellowship support is included with the admissions decision."

Source: http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/admissions/grants-and-fellowships.cfm

As for external scholarships, my experience has been that these are generally given based on very specific criteria, primarily sex/race/country of origin. If you are a minority in any of these categories, I'd recommend you do some Google searching for available funds for someone of your background. Some scholarships you're automatically considered for as a member of that sex/race/country, but others require a specific application. If you are comfortable sharing demographic information here on the boards, folks with a similar background may be able to point you in the right direction.

I went through a similar program, and got a full ride for the MBA (nontarget). (I'm assuming you are going to the same school as your undergrad.) The best thing you can possibly do is start talking to the professors you've already had. Someone will probably know who it is that decides who gets the grants/fellowships, and what the timeline is. Once you know that, you can ask a few of your professors if they would recommend you to the approving individual/committee when the time comes, then remind them again when you get closer. If you have multiple professors saying that you were one of their best students and you have the work experience to back it up, your chances go way up. The availability of scholarships and fellowships can vary from year to year depending on funding and internal needs, so doing this will at the very least give you the peace of mind of knowing why you didn't get anything.

CompBanker:

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that school based scholarships are awarded at the time of admittance rather than when the program actually starts. As a result, I'm not sure you're going to receive consideration for future fellowships / scholarships since you've already accepted the offer. I'm far less familiar with deferred programs though, so discount this thought appropriately. Even if I'm wrong, there isn't much you can do to increase your scholarship potential beyond strengthening your application as a whole. Go to your MBA program's website, usually they have a scholarship page, and look for the criteria that they look for. Usually it is a generic combination of academic + professional success combined with demonstrating integrity and the core values of the school. Not much help there in terms of specific activities you could engage in...

For example, Wharton's website says: "Criteria for selection of awards may include academic achievement, compelling leadership, exceptional professional development, and unique personal qualities. There is no formal fellowship application, and notification of fellowship support is included with the admissions decision."

Source: http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/admissions/grants...

As for external scholarships, my experience has been that these are generally given based on very specific criteria, primarily sex/race/country of origin. If you are a minority in any of these categories, I'd recommend you do some Google searching for available funds for someone of your background. Some scholarships you're automatically considered for as a member of that sex/race/country, but others require a specific application. If you are comfortable sharing demographic information here on the boards, folks with a similar background may be able to point you in the right direction.

I have a general idea of how much I'm going to get from the school. I was more directing my questions towards outside scholarships. Most scholarships are for students in school.

808:

I went through a similar program, and got a full ride for the MBA (nontarget). (I'm assuming you are going to the same school as your undergrad.) The best thing you can possibly do is start talking to the professors you've already had. Someone will probably know who it is that decides who gets the grants/fellowships, and what the timeline is. Once you know that, you can ask a few of your professors if they would recommend you to the approving individual/committee when the time comes, then remind them again when you get closer. If you have multiple professors saying that you were one of their best students and you have the work experience to back it up, your chances go way up. The availability of scholarships and fellowships can vary from year to year depending on funding and internal needs, so doing this will at the very least give you the peace of mind of knowing why you didn't get anything.

I'm going from a non-target undergrad to a target grad.

CompBanker:

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that school based scholarships are awarded at the time of admittance rather than when the program actually starts. As a result, I'm not sure you're going to receive consideration for future fellowships / scholarships since you've already accepted the offer. I'm far less familiar with deferred programs though, so discount this thought appropriately.

Some of the deferred programs specify in the agreement that you sign after getting accepted that you will be reconsidered for fellowships and scholarships for the academic year which you decide to commit. (Most of the deferred programs are non-binding as far as I know.) So the OP could receive additional scholarships and fellowships at the time of enrollment.

pnb2002:

CompBanker:

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that school based scholarships are awarded at the time of admittance rather than when the program actually starts. As a result, I'm not sure you're going to receive consideration for future fellowships / scholarships since you've already accepted the offer. I'm far less familiar with deferred programs though, so discount this thought appropriately.

Some of the deferred programs specify in the agreement that you sign after getting accepted that you will be reconsidered for fellowships and scholarships for the academic year which you decide to commit. (Most of the deferred programs are non-binding as far as I know.) So the OP could receive additional scholarships and fellowships at the time of enrollment.

808:

Sorry, ignore my post then. How did you manage that?

I would like to say hard work, but it was mostly luck.