Financing your MBA: Scholarships

If you were to talk to an ordinary Filipino and tell him that you were taking your graduate degree in the US, he assumes either of the following:

1. You have a scholarship. A full tuition and board scholarship, with an allowance that you can live on.

Or:

2. You're rich and your family/parents are paying for it. For every single penny.

Sad to say, there are a lot of Filipino MBA students who don't exactly fall into either category, and usually have tuition and living expenses to worry about. If you're planning to take your MBA in the US, be warned: you have a lot of competition for those full scholarships. At most, you will probably get a significant fellowship in tuition fees on account of your being an international student from a developing country. (Read: significant, not full. And that's only for tuition, living expenses not included.) Don't pin all your hopes on getting a free ride.

The two-year MBA program at ultra-elite schools (eg. Harvard, Stanford, Kellogg) has a price tag of Php 8-9 million. That's a lot of money! But ultra-elite schools also typically have a lot of money available for fellowships. And if you land a full scholarship, then good for you! The kind of deal offered by the Eller MBA program, which offers scholarships specifically for Filipinos, is rare in US schools.

In case you're wondering what other options there are in getting a full scholarship, there is only one I can think of: the Fulbright scholarship offered by PAEF(the catch here is that you have to go back to the Philippines once you complete your studies).

There are a few partial scholarships up for grabs that you can search for on the Internet, but I'm betting that you have a lot of competition for those. Which isn't to say, by the way, that you shouldn't apply. I've applied to those myself, and have crossed my fingers.

There are the QS scholarships, for example. I found out about these by attending the QS World MBA Tour here in Manila. Attending the event and answering the online survey afterwards will give you a chance to apply for these scholarships. There are scholarships for specific schools, as well as general scholarships. For the latter, the QS Leadership Scholarship awards $10,000 to the lucky applicant, and the QS Community Scholarships award $2,000 each to five lucky candidates.

Other links you might want to check are:

• http://fastweb.com
• http://finaid.org
• http://scholarships.com
• The American Association of University Women - http://www.aauw.org/fga/fellowships_grants/index.cfm
  The American Association of University Women offers fellowships to female international students studying in the United States. Some fellowships are available for minority women who are U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents. International Fellowships are awarded for full-time study or research in the United States to women who are not United States citizens or permanent residents. Both graduate and postgraduate study at accredited institutions is supported.
• The International Education Financial Aid Website - http://www.iefa.org/
  The International Education Financial Aid Website provides college scholarship and loan information for international students wishing to study abroad There are many scholarships available on this website.

Whenever I come across scholarships specifically for Canadians, Brazilians or even Indonesians, I feel frustrated that there aren't any  -- at least, I haven't come across any -- foundations offering MBA study-abroad scholarships to Filipinos. I know that there are a lot of Filipino MBAs who graduated from foreign schools and built successful careers for themselves here or abroad, but I guess the concept of giving back to fellow countrymen is not so prevalent in our culture. I salute the Asian Institute of Management for offering scholarships, but AIM is in Manila. There are MBA applicants (like me) who want to experience the world outside of Manila. Really -- do all Filipino MBA applicants have the means to study? Are Filipinos so good that they can easily snag full scholarships? I mean, there are MBA applicants who could definitely use some help here...

For more details on how I'm paying for my MBA, visit this link.

Opportunity Grants at PAEF

March 2014 update: PAEF might not be offering these anymore. To know for sure, better call them at 63-2-812-0945.


For wannabe MBA students like me who want to study in the US, the PAEF office is definitely a must-visit.

PAEF stands for the Philippine-American Educational Foundation. It "is the premier organization in the Philippines dedicated to advancing international education and exchange between the United States of America and the Philippines." Its EducationUSA Advising Center is a good source of information for Filipinos who want to study in the US. It's through the PAEF that one can apply for Fulbright scholarships (I bet you've heard of that!), Hubert Humphrey fellowships and opportunity grants.

Learn more about PAEF's opportunity grants here. In a nutshell, these grants can help pay for testing fees, application fees to US schools, student visa fees and even transportation to the US. I learned about opportunity grants one lucky day that I was scouring the Internet for possible scholarships.

Before submitting your application, you have to set an appointment with the EducationUSA adviser. You also have to prepare an official copy of your transcript, as well as the filled-in opportunity grant form. According to the good people of PAEF, results are out in a month.

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I just submitted my opportunity grant application today, and am crossing my fingers for any good news. Hope it goes through!

I got some helpful tips from my adviser:

1.  Take TOEFL first to get it out of the way. Having a successful exam result could provide some motivation for the tough GMAT.
2.  For any difficulty in GMAT review, ask help from my old teachers.
3.  Prepare my Statement of Purpose then set it aside for review by friends or colleagues, preferably someone from a different field/industry.

It's kinda scary to be taking the first step towards something as big an investment as an MBA, and a US MBA at that. I feel like taking a deep breath and not letting it go for a month until the result is out. Ah, the price we pay for education.
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For more information on PAEF and EducationUSA, you can check out their website.