Five Simple Ways to Win an International Scholarship Program

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Many people may agree that luck could be one of the most beautiful things that can impact one’s life within seconds. However, luck alone may not define a person’s success in the absence of hard work. I know some of you may disagree with this proposition, but think of a situation where luck is available, but you require little effort to hit the jackpot.

In this article, Momodou S. Fatty, a professional accountant and master’s degree candidate Majoring in Finance and Macroeconomics Policies and Development and Environmental Policies at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management have identified five easy ways to gain an international scholarship award.

1. Do research about the Scholarship Program requirements:

Many times, people fail at the early stages of selection not because they do not have good grades in Undergraduate or professional courses but because they refuse to adhere to the requirements of the scholarship package.

For example, the requirements of a scholarship program may state that you need two essays, one about your career prospect and the other about your leadership skills. Here, you are required to write two separate essays. Essay one will state things like; what you plan to do after the scholarship program, and please bear in mind that this should be linked to the program you intend to study when you are finally awarded. The second essay will have to discuss the key leadership skills you possess and how you have been able to implement such leadership skills. Here you may state things such as leadership in community association which secured funding for implementing a specific program (State the program), or it can even be at your current job or your previous school. Please make sure you are factual about this because it can sometimes be exposed to verification.

2. Understand the key requirements of the scholarship program.

There may be multiple requirements, but please make sure you give close attention to the key requirements. Sometimes, such requirements are explicitly stated. Ensure you provide all the key requirements they may have asked for because this may sometimes have a huge chunk of scoring marks.

3. Analyze your current and future career path. 

When choosing a specific scholarship program, you are most often required to choose your program/Course of interest. Please note that you are competing with multiple candidates globally or regionally. Therefore, make sure your chosen program matches your career prospect. Assuming you choose to read Economics, make sure your essay about your career matches with Economics related. This gives a concise view of your career goal.

4. Get yourself good references.

Reference matters a lot. When choosing references, it should be people you have had professional or academic relationships with. Please do not choose friends and family members as your reference because they may likely be biased about you. You may choose your former professor, a current supervisor at work, or even an Executive member of any professional/community associations you may have worked for.

5. Get ready for an interview.

Before the date of an interview, make sure you remember the scheduled date and time. If you are in different time zones, please set the interview time zone to your local time. However, even before the date of an interview, please rehearse your essays, watch a few YouTube videos or even ask former alumni of the scholarship program the most frequently asked questions. Please remember that this approach may not always work, but one thing is certain, questions will be drawn from your essays.

In summary, research, self-assessment and preparation for the interview can highly increase your success of getting an international scholarship.

Looking forward to your successful winning of an international scholarship program.

Written by:

Momodou S. Fatty

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