Financial Aid: Winning the Battle but Losing the War

I have a bone to pick with the person who said financial aid is the Holy Grail of studying abroad. It is an inextricable part of our overseas plan. Money should never be taken for granted. But in the maxim of deciding the right school, we must stop to consider the bigger prerequisites.

"What do I want to study?"

This question has two purposes. First, the answer helps you figure out what knowledge (if any) will give you a new direction, and purpose.

Here's a better framing: You will be asking whether you'll enjoy wasting your years staring at a long list of readings, compromising sleep, energy, and social life, to inevitably feel an acute sense of accomplishment when you stare down at a notarised piece of paper with your name on it.

Second, and more importantly, the answer will help you understand where you want to go. I wanted to study warfare and strategy (odd for a Bangladeshi with 68,879 BBA graduate friends). If I only ran behind financial aid, I would've needlessly studied for GRE to hopelessly look at North American universities that offered courses on strategy, most of them rather new programs, whilst all the good schools in Europe only required an IELTS.

Someone told me that I better pursue a John Hopkins digital marketing program that was just a year old. They believed the heaps of available scholarships, and the popular name was much more important than some "Asian" university. Needless to say, that's a mistake. For the work you will have to put in, you must honour your desires first.

Since I had this question figured out, my preparations changed radically. There were no GREs, my language and tone in essays changed, different word limits, CV design – everything had a new lease, like a fresh new haircut. But why?

"Where do I want to study?"

Because some things are much bigger than the financial subsidy I received – I wanted to study Strategy and simultaneously be able to travel back home frequently. So, I could look at European schools, or this tidy little place called S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore which packs a great punch in the rankings.

My degree, by design, accommodated an Asian perspective to war and strategy. My Defense Policy class, for instance, had us envision the Blue House Raid in South Korea and draft up a military response. But perhaps, my most blessed lesson from RSIS was realising that Sun Tzu's The Art of War was actually a book of strategy and not an MBA course slide of memorable quotes.

I come from a middle-class family – money is both fuel and flame. For me, and also for you, money should be the deal-breaker. However, it should not be the be-all-end-all maxim of deciding which school and which subject will survive you.  I did not get a 100 percent scholarship, but I could see the individual I can be at the other end of my degree – and that made all the difference. Plus, it felt like home!