I am preparing for my first MBA admission interview that will take place in a couple of days. I wonder how should I respond if I ever get asked about my plan if I do not get the scholarship I have been aiming for.
A little background: I can only take an MBA if I get a full scholarship. Without a full scholarship, I simply cannot afford the whole tuition and living costs. Even if I do, I doubt the ROI will be good, given that I'm already 35 years old and MBA salary in my country (Indonesia) is not high enough to justify the total costs (retirement age in my country is 55).
I have applied for a full, government-sponsored scholarship and will know the result in mid December. That one scholarship is the only full scholarship I know that will cover MBA in my chosen university. If I don't get it, no back up plan, my whole MBA plan ends.
If I tell the interviewer that I will not be able to proceed if I don't get the scholarship, will it hurt my candidacy? How will the admission see this problem? Do you have any suggestions on what to say?