How One Candidate Landed $93k Scholarship to London Business School

London Business School and INSEAD have been recognized as the top two MBA programs in Europe and globally recognized as a top business school. Over the years, they have become increasingly selective with MBA applicants, even with tuition costs at record levels.

 

At the same time, these schools are looking to attract top caliber talent to join their community. One way to do that is by offering highly selective scholarship packages to top applicants.

 

James Plumb, an MBA applicant to London Business School, was recently offered one of these highly competitive scholarship opportunities. In his case, the scholarship was in the amount of £61,400 - or just over $93,000 USD.

 

The scholarship was based on merits of his GMAT, essays, interview, and professional background.  

 

James offers some thoughts about what made him a unique applicant. 

 

"From speaking to them they've re-iterated over and over how 'academics' is one of the things that have set me apart," said James. "And as my other academic background is average, they must mean my GMAT."

James did indeed score highly on the GMAT exam with a 770 (99th percentile). He attributes much of his success on the GMAT to strategies he learned from GMATPill.com, a top-rated online video course dedicated only to the GMAT.

Writing in a popular online forum, James mentioned, "As I've said previously, this is all really thanks to the guys at GMAT Pill as I was hitting 600-ish without them."

"Zeke and his team gave me the skill set to really score super high - and standout from the crowd. They keep things super simple, and allow you to really focus on your weaknesses." 

He continued, "I did not believe the other story of someone else getting 780 with GMAT Pill, but now I do.” 

Schools that offer merit-based MBA scholarships often do not publicize them. There is no separate application process for these scholarships. Instead, they are privately offered towards the end of the admissions process.

 

 

Yet, London Business School is not the only program to offer merit-based MBA scholarships. 

 

Zeke Lee, founder of the GMAT Pill Study Method, said, "James is not the only GMAT Pill-er to score an MBA scholarship. We had another student Kang who retook his GMAT with us and scored a 760 along with a $50,000 MBA scholarship. Today, he's studying at the Darden MBA program."

 

While tuition costs of business schools around the world continue to inch up every year, there are opportunities to reduce that cost. But in order to find out if you qualify, you will have to go through the admissions process of taking the GMAT, doing your essays, and applying. Only after you've been accepted will you be notified about such merit-based scholarships.

 

The admissions process can be intimidating, but resources do exist to guide you along the way. 

 

For James, enrolling in the GMAT Pill online prep course was an investment that paid off extremely well. 

 

Today, you can find him helping other students on GMAT practice questions as a staff member of GMAT Pill. He will be starting London Business School in the fall.