Gen Z Guide to FI

Welcome to Part 2 of the MBA Series.

Trying to get into a top school and get scholarships is a second job at this point. It has come with some pretty heavy punches to my wallet. However, I am hoping the returns will be worthwhile either in the short term or in the long term. Or it might be a waste of money and that would suck. But you live and you learn, am I right? That is another reason to document this journey. Learn from my mistakes please.

I’ll start off with the MBA fellowship programs that offer the most access to schools, admissions officers and financial aid resources:

1. Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT): First of all, I am so happy I got in. This is THE pre-MBA program that every underrepresented MBA applicant wants to be a part of. I will be attending 3 exclusive seminars: one at Duke University (North Carolina trip), another at Carnegie Mellon (Pennsylvania trip) and the last one at Harvard baby (Massachusetts trip).

Additionally, I will have a coach (for FREE.99) who will read my essays and help me craft the most pristine application possible.

2. Forte: This program is for women only and is fantastic but not as extensive as MLT. I can write a review comparing both once this journey is over but I am beyond grateful that I got into both. It does offer a significant amount of application fee waivers for MBA programs in the fall so the trade off is pretty decent in my eyes. There is also a Forte merit scholarship that covers 100% tuition if I get into a partner school. However, you don’t actually need to be in the Forte MBALaunch program to qualify for that scholarship. Yet another reason to get do better on my GMAT.

Total cash money from my wallet on both programs: $1,143.60

As I read that, its really not as bad as I initially thought lol. That’s a pretty low stakes investment in the grand scheme of this journey.