In life, nothing good comes so easily. You literally need to work hard for anything you want, except you have success growing on a tree for you, where you can go and plug them. In this piece, I will be focusing on Postgraduate (Master’s) and Graduate scholarships (Doctorate or PhD). To get a scholarship for any of these levels, you need to start working towards it while you are still running your undergraduate or master’s degree program. There are so many things to do to improve your chances.
Firstly, you need to be among the best students. Scholarships are for serious students. Scholarships are for students whom the scholarship givers can rely on. The question is, if they offer you the scholarship, will you be able to pass your exams with ease? Will you be able to maintain a certain grade point (GP)? Most scholarship conditions include that you have a certain GP and if offered the scholarship, you still need to maintain a certain GP. So, from your performance in your previous education, they can tell if you are such a student. You must not graduate with First Class Honours in order to be such a student. Any grade from Second Class Upper is perfect. So, while you are still studying, be a perfect student. Attend lectures, make notes, start reading from the beginning of the semester, participate in class activities and the sky will be your limit.
Secondly, you need to do research and publish an article. There is a lot to say about writing a publication, you can check my YouTube channel (Eduscholar attainable) for the video where I spoke thoroughly about how I published my research work. There are different kinds of research work. After you have decided on the kind of research you want to do, get a teacher who will supervise your work for you. He/She will be able to guide you through on how qualitative your work is and whether you should go ahead to publish it. When your research article is ready, you can search for journals where such work will be accepted and published. Google is your ultimate friend at this point, you can find as many research journals as possible. Mind you, each research journal has its publication requirements, make sure you adhere to them.
Thirdly, you should apply for internships and volunteer. You don’t need to graduate before you are eligible for internship applications. Depending on the field you are in currently, you can go to companies within your country of study and ask if they need interns. You can also make applications online for internships available in other countries. Well as someone who studied in Russia, I know that you can go to hospitals affiliated with your school in Russia to ask if they need volunteers. So, you can go to hospitals and volunteer to help in their everyday work which can vary depending on the department you applied to. For engineering students and other students in other fields, you can look for companies or institutions where you can ask to volunteer or apply to be an intern. Do not waste your two months of summer break on fun alone, also do something that will add positively to your future.
Lastly, participate in school activities and be a leader if you can. In medical school, there is something they call krujok (Кружог). Most departments have it. Find any department within your school that you are interested in and join their group. There, you will be able to work closely with teachers, learn new things, read presentations and also participate in conferences. For every conference, you participate in, you will get a certificate. That certificate will come in handy when you are applying for scholarships. I believe other schools which are not medical have groups within their schools where students can participate, find any of these groups and join. The goal of being in these groups is to participate in conferences or represent your school in any competition.
One may ask why he or she needs to pass through the stress of doing internships, doing research, volunteering or even joining groups in school. Yeah, it can be stressful but you should understand that being alive comes with lots of responsibilities. Doing these things or any of them, will make you stand out while you are making your scholarship applications. You might be brilliant quite alright but are you the only brilliant person? When I have two students with first-class honours but in their applications, one has research work and the other person does not, who do you think I will choose? This is to make you understand that scholarships are very competitive, if you must win, you must be very prepared.
I quickly want to add that there are scholarships in forms of Research Assistantships, Teaching Assistantships, and Fellowships. Many schools in Canada, USA, and Australia offer this kind of aids. Indirectly you are working for them and in return they will be paying your tuition fees and you will be given stipends as well. Sometimes you will need to email professors in that school, telling them you are interested in making researches with them or being their fellow. The contacts to these professors are usually on the school’s website. I have a friend who has done this, and he is currently doing his PhD while being a Teaching Assistant.
Nevertheless, there are other forms of scholarships where you do not need to work for the school. They are mostly university scholarships which can be either fully funded or partly funded. As always, the best deserved students will be awarded. You can check scholarship blogs for available scholarships. My most trusted blogs are scholarship Plus, Opportunities Corners and Scholarship Positions.
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