Is there any advantage of Fulbright?

[thecandidate]

Hi, I am awarded to Fulbright scholarship for PhD.
It covers all tuition fees and living expenses.
I am curious whether it will be easier for me to be accepted by elite universities?
Since the adcom will not need to discuss the financial part of the admission about me (which is essential in a PhD application to offer a tuition deduction or TA/RA), I believe that this creates an advantage. Am I correct about it?

[desimba]

As usual "it depends". In general I would say that business PhD programs are always funded quite generously and you will not be admitted to a program without being offered financial aid. I don't think whether the candidate has received financial aid or not factors directly in the consideration of whether to admit a candidate to the program. Having said that, you also have to consider the signalling value of having received a Fullbright scholarship. While the members of the adcom are unlikely to reason on the lines of "Well this guy is already funded. Let us take him/ her in anyway", they could argue that "This guy must be smart to have landed a Fullbright, so let's take a closer look at his application". So to that extent, I think having received the scholarship is an advantage.

The one exception to all of this above is if you are applying to programs outside of the business school which in some cases are unfunded as well. (For instance, I was admitted to the PhD program in Economics at Wisconsin Madison but without funding for the first year.) In such cases, I do think that having the scholarship can somewhat directly increase your chances of being admitted to the program.

[Bloomsbury]

I got the impression that most of the phd in business were funded, unlike phd in other areas.