Here we can see, “Get Scholarships for Studies”
Full scholarships, which are also called full-ride scholarships, are the holy grail of ways to get money for college because they pay for almost everything for all three or four years. The provider will pay for your tuition and living costs, so you can focus on your studies and social life without having to worry about money. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
There aren’t very many of these dream scholarships, which is a shame. There aren’t many full scholarships, and the ones that are out there are very hard to get. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to get one. Keep reading to learn how to improve your chances of getting one of these prestigious scholarships.
Know what to look for.
First of all, where can you go to find full scholarships? Your first stop should be the website of the university you want to attend. They may have their own scholarships for students from your area or in your field, or they may have a list of external scholarships you could apply for.
You could check sites like InternationalScholarships.com or FastWeb.com, as well as our own Scholarships to Study Abroad page, which lists funding opportunities in different places to study, as well as scholarships for specific subjects or student groups (e.g. African students).
Prepare in advance
If you know you’ll need a full scholarship to go to college, you should start getting ready as early as possible. This is especially important if you need to attend an interview. Some universities have special “scholarship weekends” where 50–100 students are invited to campus to interview with a faculty member, answering questions about their goals and motivations and how this fits with that university and course. If you need to go to a scholarship interview, you should treat it like any other formal interview: dress nicely, come prepared with good answers to any questions they might ask, and have a few questions ready to ask them at the end of the interview if they ask you to. Find out how to answer the most common questions asked at admissions interviews here.
Work hard and keep yourself going.
Some full scholarships will be based on how much money a student needs rather than how good they are in school, but others will look at both or only give them to the best students. It goes without saying that you should work hard on your studies, but if you want that full scholarship, you’ll have to really put in the work, since most of them go to the best students. In some cases, universities may automatically consider applicants for full scholarships if they fill out a regular college application. This means that getting good grades is very important. Even though pushing yourself academically can be mentally exhausting, try to stay motivated by keeping your goals in mind and give yourself a break every now and then to relax (especially during and after exam season!).
Stand out from the other applicants.
With so many people trying to get a full scholarship, it’s important to stand out from the crowd by showing that you really want to get better as a person. This means that you should have a few extracurricular activities to show scholarship providers. These activities should show your passions and interests outside of the classroom, as well as times when you helped your community, like by volunteering for a good cause.
Scholarship providers also put a lot of value on leadership skills. You can show that you have these skills by volunteering to lead projects in your extracurricular activities or community work.
When it comes to scholarship applications, a glowing report on your academic and personal qualities through your letters of recommendation could really set you apart from the rest. This is why it’s important to build strong relationships with your academic mentors; if a mentor knows you well, they’ll be able to give a more personal and accurate reflection of you in their letter.
Read the application instructions carefully
This may seem like a no-brainer, but you don’t want to hurt your chances by forgetting a required document or piece of information from the scholarship’s application instructions. Make sure to read the application instructions carefully and more than once so you don’t miss anything. If you have any questions, you can email the provider.
Submit an exceptional scholarship essay or cover letter
Another thing that should go without saying is that your application essay or cover letter must be the best it can be. This means making sure it is clear and to the point, has the right format, has a strong opening, stays on its main theme or topic, and has perfect spelling and grammar. Don’t just read it over a hundred times to make sure it’s perfect. Ask a friend to read it over and look for typos and sentences that don’t make sense.
One of the winners of our QS scholarships wrote a very helpful article about how to write a winning scholarship essay, which you can read here.
Be realistic
And finally, as we mentioned earlier, there aren’t many full scholarships to go around, and they’re very hard to get. This means that many people who meet and exceed the requirements for a full scholarship miss out. Don’t let this stop you from applying, but keep your expectations in check. Remember that there is no limit to how many scholarship applications you can send out, and there is usually no limit to how many scholarships you can win, so you may be able to put together your own full scholarship from two or more smaller scholarships. (Of course, you should make sure with the service providers that you can apply for and get money from other sources.) If you get turned down, try not to let it get you down. Get up, brush yourself off, and keep trying until you get what you want.
