How To Get a Scholarship in Your Own Field
How To Get a Scholarship in Your Own Field?
Getting full scholarship must be a dream for students who want to continue their study to the best universities. Many high school students refrain from continuing their study due to the financial problems. Full-ride scholarship is one of the best solutions if you are qualified. So, how to get scholarship in your chosen major? Imagine how exciting it is if the scholarship covers all the fees for the full 3 or years of your study in the university. You just need to focus on your study and social life.
It must be noted that there are few options of full-ride scholarships. You need to compete with many competent participants from different schools across the country. Sometimes, you even have to compete with candidates from different countries. Fortunately, your chance is equal to that of other candidates.
Important Steps on How to Get Scholarship
If you are looking forward to applying for a full-ride scholarship, the following are some important steps on how to get scholarship:
Decide Your Target
You may see a link of some scholarship programs available from favorite universities around the world. Where do you want to go? Make a list of candidate universities that offer full-ride scholarships in a major you are looking for. Then, visit the official website of each university to confirm if there is actually such offer. Then, make sure to take key notes from the scholarship offers, including:
- Whether the scholarship is available for candidate students from your location
- Whether it is available for your subject
- Scholarship requirements
- Scholarship enrollment schedule, and other important details
Prepare Yourself
Preparation in the step on how to get scholarship may include the required documents and finance. Even though it is a full scholarship, you may need to prepare some money for things like transportation fee to the exam location, interview, or living cost during the selection steps. Make sure to allocate some money for them. Then, as you may participate in written test and formal interview, make sure to be well prepared with formal dressing.
Keep in mind that each scholarship program usually has different instructions, schedule, and requirement. Make sure to read them carefully and submit all the requirements before the due date. If you apply for more than one scholarship program, make sure to keep the application in a different file.
Application Strategy
Okay, so now you have your (hopefully) large list of possible scholarships to apply to.
The strategy is simple: It’s time to apply to ALL of them.
This might seem like an incredibly daunting task. After all, these applications generally require you to do two things:
- Send a letter of recommendation
- Write an essay (or a few short ones)
However, there’s an easier way to go about the process that doesn’t involve writing 60+ unique essays.
Don’t get me wrong: Each application is going to take time and a bit of nuance in order to create a compelling case for you that’ll have the reader clamoring to give you the scholarship money.
But you can make the process a lot more effective and simple if you just look at the letters of recommendation and essays.
Pay attention to scholarship deadlines
Don't forget, once you have a list of scholarships you want to apply for, keep track of deadlines. Some scholarships may have deadlines more than a year in advance. With this in mind, make your list of potential scholarships as early as the summer before your senior year of high school. If you’re in college, look ahead to scholarships that will be disbursed in the next school year.
If you have too many scholarships on your list, narrow it down to those with smaller niche applicant pools, or ones you can renew each year.
Work Harder
Some scholarship programs are actually allocated for potential students who are financially limited from certain locations, such as under-developed or developing countries. However, you still need to face tight competition. Therefore, make sure to work hard and keep motivated. You may find some references on the subject matters commonly included in the test for scholarship.
Making high grades during each phase of test for scholarship is crucial. Therefore, make sure to stay motivated and work hard. Keep your goals in your mind, and never give up trying your best in all phases of the exam. They may include not only written test and interview. There might be some exams to see your leadership skills, writing reports, presentations, and many more. Make sure to stand out from other applicants.
Finally, make sure to be realistic. If you fail in the first or the second enrollment, do not let them get you down. Keep motivated and keep trying.
