CBS Early Decision + Merit Fellowships

Hi,

Does anyone have any information on the percentage of CBS Early Decision admits that receive Merit Scholarships vs the percentage of CBS Regular Decision admits that receive Merit Scholarships?

Why would Columbia give any scholarships to students that are accepted via Early Decision? These students have to attend Columbia, so other schools wouldn't be able to lure these students away if those schools offered these students free tuition.

11 Comments
 

If CBS stopped giving merit aid to ED applicants do you really think anyone would keep applying during this round? Some marginal candidates who would never get scholarships may, but the applicant pool would largely dry up after a few years of withholding aid from ED applicants, and this is the opposite of what CBS, in their metric-gaming yield schemes, wants.

 
BoothorbustIf CBS stopped giving merit aid to ED applicants do you really think anyone would keep applying during this round? Some marginal candidates who would never get scholarships may, but the applicant pool would largely dry up after a few years of withholding aid from ED applicants, and this is the opposite of what CBS, in their metric-gaming yield schemes, wants.

Looks like I'm partially correct...while Columbia might give some merit aid to ED applicants, the average scholarship at CBS is far lower than for other B-Schools. I would imagine that the bulk of this scholarship money goes to regular applicants that CBS is trying to lure from other schools. Therefore, little to no money is left to ED applicants...

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/12/12/mba-scholarship-arms-race/

 
Best Response
John_McClane][quote=BoothorbustIf CBS stopped giving merit aid to ED applicants do you really think anyone would keep applying during this round? Some marginal candidates who would never get scholarships may, but the applicant pool would largely dry up after a few years of withholding aid from ED applicants, and this is the opposite of what CBS, in their metric-gaming yield schemes, wants.

Looks like I'm partially correct...while Columbia might give some merit aid to ED applicants, the average scholarship at CBS is far lower than for other B-Schools. I would imagine that the bulk of this scholarship money goes to regular applicants that CBS is trying to lure from other schools. Therefore, little to no money is left to ED applicants...

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/12/12/mba-scholarship-arms-race/…] How on earth does this say that you are partially (or at all) correct?? All the article says is that average aid at CBS is $10K, less than other schools. It literally has nothing in there about the timing of that aid (ED vs. RD).

 

Schools are always more generous with aid to applicants that apply early. There are no hard set numbers as this number is constantly changing. From my experience, my clients that received merit scholarships tend to be clients who have worked in public sectors or with community improvement. CBS knows that these applicants might have a hard time paying for loans and provide them with scholarships to help offset the costs. Also some monies are earmarked for specific reasons. So an investment banking scholarship will most likely go to the applicant that applies ED that has the best essays and story according to the admissions committee.

Dwayne M
 

Do you honestly think that Columbia wouldn't offer stellar RD applicants more $$ if given the chance?

Stellar Applicant (RD): I got into Columbia, Booth, and Kellogg. Booth and Kellogg are offering me $30K / year, but you are only offering me $10k / year. I really want to stay in NYC. Is there anything you can do?

Do you really think that CBS is going to say "Sorry, despite our $500MM endowment, we only have $10K to give you"? Not only are they losing out on a stellar applicant, but this would also hurt their yield. They are likely to give this person more merit aid.

Stellar Applicant (ED): I got into Columbia, but they are only offering me $3K / year. I signed the ED pledge, guess I have to go now...

Logic dictates that CBS will give more merit aid to RD admits because these admits have more leverage. Given that premise, to get an average number of $10K of aid per student, CBS would have to give less merit aid for ED admits.

 

Ok John, but that is not different from the argument you were making earlier and has nothing to do with the article you linked to . . . My argument is that if CBS continued to do this their entire ED applicant pool would essential dry up, defeating the purpose of that round in the first place.

 
BoothorbustOk John, but that is not different from the argument you were making earlier and has nothing to do with the article you linked to . . . My argument is that if CBS continued to do this their entire ED applicant pool would essential dry up, defeating the purpose of that round in the first place.

Why would their ED applicant pool dry up? You're assuming that all B-School applicants take financial aid into account in the application decision. There are many people that would still apply, regardless of financial aid. Perhaps they have saved up a nice sum from their jobs, or perhaps their company is sponsoring their education.

As an example, at the undergrad level, NYU has a well-known reputation for giving terrible financial aid. Princeton Review actually ranked the school worst in the country for financial aid. Yet, tens of thousands of students still apply to NYU and take out tens of thousands of dollars in loans to attend that school. NYU actually reported a record number of applicants in 2011.

 

I'm saying the ED applicant pool would dry up you dolt. If it was common knowledge that they reserved aid for later round candidates, many applicants would apply later rather than earlier.

You are confusing absolute vs. relative aid.

 

Occaecati eos aspernatur quam praesentium doloremque dolorem. Animi sit ut quia tenetur explicabo officiis velit. Commodi qui praesentium optio exercitationem praesentium.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (78) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”