The MBA scholarship can be used towards tuition at any one of the participating business schools listed below.

This season's winner is Victor Cannilla.  He graduated from Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne with a degree in Physics as well as a Master of Science degree in Financial Engineering. He is now working as a management consultant and describes his goal as "helping to solve modern society's issues."

Cannilla beat nearly 3,000 other contest entrants by scoring highest on Economist GMAT Tutor's GMAT practice exam and writing the most compelling tie-breaker essay, winning out over 70 other top scorers. When asked to explain his secret to winning, he says:

GMAT questions are tricky brain teasers. When preparing for the contest, I chose not to consider the exam as an annoying task, but rather as a fun and stimulating challenge, and that made my preparation much more enjoyable and effective.

The next contest will launch in autumn 2018 and will be open to anyone who is considering pursuing an MBA or EMBA.

Check out: Scholarships Become Major Business Degree Funding Source

How to participate

If you would like to try your hand at winning the scholarship you need to register on the official Brightest Minds website, and then take the free, online full-length GMAT Simulation Exam.

The winner will be the participant with the highest simulation test score. If two or more entrants tie for the highest score, they will be contacted by email and asked to submit an essay in the form of an Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) modelled on a typical AWA question one would encounter in the GMAT. Each tying entrant must submit his/her essay by the deadline given by The Economist. The essay will be in the same format as on the GMAT.

Specific knowledge of the essay topic is not necessary; only the participant’s capacity to write analytically will be assessed.

Check out: How a GMAT Scholarship Helps MBA and Career

Participating schools

Cannilla can apply his MBA scholarship prize towards tuition at any of the contest's participating business schools where he is accepted into an MBA programme. This season's business schools are:

  • The University of Virginia Darden School of Business (US)
  • Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University (US)
  • Schulich School of Business (Canada)
  • Porto Business School (Portugal)
  • Leicester Castle Business School (UK)
  • Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  • SKEMA Business School (France)
  • emlyon Business School (France)
  • International Business School (Hungary)
  • Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (Netherlands)

About Economist GMAT Tutor

Economist GMAT Tutor is an online GMAT prep course offered by The Economist Group. The online programme guides students through the academic topics and test-taking skills that they will need to master the test. The programme is adaptive, meaning that it uses students' correct and incorrect answers to create tailored courses customised to their needs.

Source: The Economist