Bitch About DH's University

[Toba]

DH is in grad school at a well-known university about 90 minutes away from home. He will finish in May 2012 with a dual concentration MBA. He graduated this past May with a 4.0 for his BS. There were only 14 or 15 students out of over 3000 that received the President's Award for Academic Excellence for getting the 4.0. He decided to return there to finish out his MBA. This semester he encountered two students who have received a full scholarship to the university. One, which some of you may remember me talking about before, had/has a full ride for basketball ... only she is ineligible to play during her fifth year, but she's still getting a free ride for her MBA. She lives on campus (for free) and takes almost all her classes online and then PAYS other students to take her tests or do her presentations for her ... she asked DH last semester (of course, he said no). The second one is a student that received his undergraduate in Michigan and the university contacted HIM and gave him a full scholarship for his MBA. This university does NOT accept scholarship applications; they use their own process and contact the recipient.

DH is furious. This university costs well over $35K a year for tuition. He wants to know why they didn't give him a scholarship. He has just been recommended to be on the School of Business Management's Board of Directors. He worked his ass off for his 4.0 (which he still has for his MBA so far). So he writes them a letter questioning their process for granting scholarships. They write back and grant him a fellowship which is $2K for the year ($1K for each semester). I think he's even more angry now because he feels like the fellowship is just to appease him. I'm so MAD because we sure could use that extra $35K in our pockets. School sucks. :( And it's not fair.

[hellokitty]

Sorry, that does suck when you get passed over for something that you've felt you earned. BTDT, I have lots of sympathy.

[ThreeofUs]

You know what gets to universities? Other offers, just like anything else. No pressure on them? They'll throw you a bone. It. sucks.

But it definitely can be used to your advantage. Tell that awesome husband of yours to get another offer (even if he applies somewhere else just to get the offer) and mention it to his mentor.

[justlearning]

This university does NOT accept scholarship applications; they use their own process and contact the recipient.

Have they explained the process that they use? Without any other info, my best guess would be that your DH is Caucasian and that the scholarship recipients are of an ethnicity that's underrepresented in the program. Am I right?

[Toba]

Have they explained the process that they use? Without any other info, my best guess would be that your DH is Caucasian and that the scholarship recipients are of an ethnicity that's underrepresented in the program. Am I right?

That's interesting. They did NOT explain their process in any way, just an email with two sentences saying that they are awarding him a fellowship. He emailed back and asked to see the academic requirements, ,money applied, etc., and the guy wrote back one sentence saying it was worth $2K. DH is Caucasian. I know the cheating basketball player is black, but I don't know the ethnicity of the second scholarship guy (he's in one of DH's classes this semester). I'll have to find out. If that's the case, I know he's going to be even more outraged. He went to a computer school during his senior year in high school and even though he was top of the class, AT&T (who was HUGE back then) came in to offer jobs and DH lost out because he was Caucasian. Reverse discrimination at its best.

ETA: Just talked to DH and he clarified a bit more after speaking to the second scholarship recipient tonight in class. He's Asian, but 3rd or 4th generation and was born and raised in our state. He's actually not getting a full ride, only half a ride. Plus he didn't even apply for a scholarship; they just awarded it to him by letter. So DH is on the warpath and planning on going to Admissions tomorrow. He was told BY Admissions that they are not the ones that give out scholarships but the Asian man said his letter is directly from the Admissions Department and he's going to bring it in next week during class. DH is furious.

[justlearning]

Yes, it is reverse discrimination but while in graduate school I heard discussions in recruiting meetings related to targeting certain minority groups for graduate school openings as well as professor positions. The rationale--which I do understand--is that the quality of everyone's educational experience is improved when greater diversity is present in a program.

[Toba]

The funny thing is that the town (and actually the whole general area) where the university is located ... Caucasians are in the minority (really not funny, but you know what I mean). Even the professors in the School of Business Management are very diverse. Certainly the students are too.

[justlearning]

The funny thing is that the town (and actually the whole general area) where the university is located ... Caucasians are in the minority (really not funny, but you know what I mean). Even the professors in the School of Business Management are very diverse. Certainly the students are too.

If that's the case, then my guess could be completely wrong. My university was predominantly Caucasian so increasing diversity was one of my program's priorities.