Episode 907 — Financing the MBA
On this episode of the Business Beyond Usual podcast, hosts Aishwarya Dhume and Jasmin Lopez sit down with Ross Full-Time MBA students Vashisht Sai, Yashvi Patel, and Vraj Mehta to discuss how they financed their MBAs. The guests shed light on their individual journeys and share tips on de-mystifying student loans, campus jobs, internships, and scholarships. They touch on the role that expenses play in the recruitment process and their experiences in budgeting.
Loans vs Savings
There are many ways to help finance the MBA and additional living costs. The panel discusses Department of Education loans, semester internships, on-campus jobs such as peer coaching, having a side hustle, front-loading credits to take a reduced course load in a future semester, and staying clued into the greater Michigan ecosystem for jobs. Each student approached paying for their Ross education in a different way and shared valuable tips for incoming and current students.
Scholarships
Community Impact Scholar Vraj Mehta explains what went into his application for the scholarship. He says, “I listed the things I had been part of. I helped many students who were coming from India before they got here with securing housing. I mentioned all the things that I’ve been part of: clubs that I helped run, clubs that I might be leading the next year, and the TA positions that I’d held. It was an amalgamation of all the things that I’ve done at Ross.”
Yashvi, also an Impact Scholar, adds, “I don’t think they’re looking at it in terms of a checked box of ‘these are the five things you have to be involved with,' but I think it’s very much people who had taken the time to invest in the community as much as the community invested in them. But that definition of community, I’m sure, looked different for every single person who got the scholarship.”
The panel touches on three full-tuition scholarships: The Dean’s Fellowship, the Dean's Impact Scholarship, and the Health Innovation Scholarship. The conclusion is that no formula guarantees successfully securing any of these scholarships, but leadership roles, work experience, GMAT scores, and community involvement seem to be key parts.
Budgeting
The panel ends the episode with a conversation about budgeting. Tuition is far from the only expense of a two-year MBA program; in addition, there are trips to take, clubs to join, events to pay for, rent, food, furniture, health insurance, books, car expenses — the list goes on and on. For each of these additional expenses, the guests share their advice on the best ways to reduce costs.
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Want to hear more from Ross students, faculty, and alumni?
Check out more of our podcasts.
Working for the Weekend: A deep dive into the daily life of part-time MBAs at Michigan Ross. Weekend and online MBA students discuss their experiences and advice for prospective and current students.
Business + Society: Michigan Ross professors discuss the business world and how it impacts our society. Each episode features a panel of featured experts addressing a current issue or problem facing our world.
Down to Business: Join Dean Sharon Matusik as she interviews Michigan Ross alums in the C-Suite to learn how Ross set them on a path to organizational leadership
About the participants
- Host and Episode Producer: Aishwarya Dhume and Jasmin Lopez
- Guests: Vashisht Sai, Yashvi Patel, Vraj Mehta
- Executive Producers: Mark O'Connell, Aishwarya Dhume, Vashishta Sai, and JT Godfrey
- Audio Production: Jonah Brockman
- Editorial Production: Mads Henke
