Funding your Executive MBA: sponsorships, scholarships and more

Deciding how to fund your Executive MBA programme can seem challenging at first. Having decided to invest in your future and further expand your skillset, the question then becomes: how do I pay for it?

What to consider

Before thinking about the funding options available to you, it’s important to consider the total cost of studying for the Executive MBA. Of course, there are the fees, which include a deposit paid to secure your place upon receipt of an offer. The remainder of the tuition fees are split equally between the two years of the programme. You can pay your tuition fees in one instalment per year when the programme starts in February or, if you are self-funding, in two instalments as set in a Regulated Credit Agreement.

The programme fees cover your tuition for the two years of the programme, any core reading texts and accommodation during any study tours and global residencies you undertake as well as first-class catering for all your on-campus visits. Other costs you’ll need to consider through the duration of your studies include:

• Travel to reach London if you live and work outside the city
• Flights for the study tours and global residencies
• Supplementary texts and study materials
• Any additional costs you may incur e.g. additional time away from work to study, childcare, etc.

What are the options?

It’s important to know that there is no ‘right’ way to finance your Executive MBA, and it is in fact extremely common for students to pay for their MBA through multiple funding sources, combining personal resources with company sponsorship, education loans and scholarships.

Personal resources

The first source of funding to consider is your own personal resources.  Consider what is available to you in terms of your income, assets, and lifestyle expenses. The ability to fund yourself using personal resources is in no way a requirement for studying the Executive MBA, and accessing this option is simply a means of reducing your dependency on loans and other financing options

Scholarships

Another route to consider when determining how to fund your MBA is applying for scholarships. There are a number of significant scholarship options on offer to our most talented Imperial Executive MBA candidates, which can be incredibly helpful to self-funded applicants wishing to pursue this programme of study. These range in value based on the type of scholarship and circumstances in which they are awarded, and are worth taking into consideration when you are reviewing funding options for the programme. Self-funded candidates are automatically considered for scholarships, provided they apply before the relevant deadline.

The challenge

Let us start with the big challenge you face. You need to write one personal statement, when you are applying to up to five courses, potentially across five universities. We know that it is highly unlikely that all the options on your personal statement will be economics + finance + data science. We are not looking for students who specifically say they are only interested in studying a course with this combination of subjects, although an interest in this combination would be nice!

Hopefully, this will reassure those wondering how to write a statement that is relevant for multiple courses with different combinations of economics, finance, data science, philosophy, politics, business studies, geography, maths, computer science, and many other subjects. Of course, it is best not to signal that you are only interested in studying politics, philosophy and economics or pure maths or that you dream of studying at a particular institution or in a specific city.

We are looking for applicants who have a strong preference to study our degree, but we understand you may need to be nuanced in how you present your interest.

What we are looking for

We will be assessing your application (grade predictions; past grades; reference letter; and personal statement) in the round. There are six things that we are looking for from potential students. They are:

• Strong academic achievements
• Curious about evolving boundaries of research and professional practice in economics, and/or finance, and /or data science
• Excited by problem-solving and facing new challenges
• Passionate about applying quantitative tools and models to commercial and policy questions
• Motivated and engaged learners who work well independently and with peers
• Strong communicators

Your job is to convince us that you have evidence that you meet these criteria. This is where you get to tell your story in a way that works for your application. 

How to tell your story

Try to go beyond your grades, show your curiosity and let us know what makes you stand out from an academic perspective.

There are a multitude of ways to evidence your curiosity about the different subjects in our degrees, including but not limited to:

• Subjects chosen at school
• Projects that you have worked on
• Talks that you have attended or listened to online
• Books you have read
• Ideas you have had about the relevance of these subjects to business and policy

Again, just to reassure, you can demonstrate your curiosity about all three areas, but convincing evidence of curiosity about just one of the areas or any combination of the three will also be well regarded.

It is also worth emphasising that we do not expect you to have studied the subjects before the course. Our requirement is that you come with strong mathematical skills which will put you in a strong position to learn economics, finance, and data science to a high level in the degree.

An effective way to show us you are suitable for the BSc Economics, Finance and Data Science is to hone in on the areas that are common across our course modules: strong quantitative skills and the ability to use those skills to analyse and solve problems.

Applicants who love to work on a new challenge or situation and who use quantitative techniques to find relevant solutions are what we are looking for. This can be demonstrated, for example, through your choice of academic subjects in school, participation in extra-curricular activities and competitions or a story that explains how you solved a new problem in your life. Evidence of you learning how to use technology to support your problem solving is also a nice touch!

You will have your own way of showing us that you are motivated, using examples of times when you were driven to succeed. Similarly, personal stories that show your ability to develop your learning skills (‘learn how to learn’), working independently and with others, will be important. This will help us see that you are likely to succeed in our course, given the need to take ownership of your learning, work independently and engage with group work during your three years.

Our final criterion is communication. How you write the statement will tell us a lot. You can also provide wider evidence of your skills in delivering presentations, writing diverse types of outputs, and listening to others.

Every applicant is unique, and we encourage you to show us what makes you a strong candidate in your personal statement. Of course, if you are invited to interview, we will want to explore your motivation to study the three subject areas together and will dig deeper into how you match what we are looking for.

I hope this helps you shape your statement and wish you well in preparing your application!

Employer sponsorship

A number of students on the Imperial Executive MBA receive either full or partial sponsorship through their employer, which is an extremely attractive method of funding. This will always be dependent on your personal circumstances as well as those of your employer, but there are several things you can do to create an effective proposal which will demonstrate to your employer the value of your education to both you and the organisation.

The most crucial element is developing a business case which outlines details of your goals and the programme you wish to undertake, as well as reasoning for how  these align with the goals and objectives of the business. Other things to consider include:

• Identifying your company’s policy on sponsorship and any formal training/development opportunities they may offer. This will also help you identify who might need to receive your business case (line management, senior management, HR, etc)
• Speak to colleagues who’ve been sponsored and uncover the benefits this brought to them/the business. You can then reference these in your business case
• Decide what level of commitment you want to ask for from your employer, and the level of commitment you’d be prepared to give in return. Students usually receive financial assistance from their organisations by means of full or part-sponsorship. However, support doesn’t have to be financial. Other forms of support you could ask for are flexible working or study leave (often known as “time sponsorship”).

Loans

Loans are an essential consideration for many students looking to fund their Executive MBA, whether they have received partial sponsorship or are looking to self-fund, a loan can help cover anything from 1% to 100% of the cost. In addition to standard loans from banks, building societies and other lenders, there are other financing options available which you may not have considered:

Lendwise - a specialist loan provider dedicated to education finance for UK residents who are looking to fund their postgraduate studies at top universities. For Imperial College London, North American and EU nationals will also be considered for a Lendwise loan. To apply you must have received an offer of admission to a postgraduate degree programme at Imperial College Business School. The application process is entirely online. Contact Lendwise directly to apply.

Postgraduate Master’s Loan – UK and EU students who meet specific criteria can apply for a government-funded loan to help with course fees and living costs while studying a postgraduate master’s course. You then begin repaying this loan when your income is over a certain amount (the ‘threshold’ amount).

When deciding which of the above options is right for you, it’s useful to remember that choosing to pursue an MBA is one of the most important decisions you will ever make and is a substantial investment in yourself and your future. By carefully considering how you finance the programme, you can ensure that your studies remain sustainable for the duration of the programme and beyond.