Studying Abroad: Applying for Postgraduate Funding
Thinking of taking the exciting step of continuing your studies abroad? There is much to be gained in the adventure of living and learning in a new place.
However, the task of seeking out information on and applying for scholarships to make that happen can be a little intimidating and confusing. Here is a guide with some general advice and a list of a few scholarships worth looking at.
GENERAL ADVICE
1. Think ahead
Realised ambitions are like slow-cooked stews rather than rapid-fire stir-frys. This is a competitive process and it pays to be prepared, to have thought through all your options and done the necessary hard work to prepare yourself as best you can. For example, postgraduate history programmes in the United States often have language requirements that you cannot meet in a few weeks.
2. Find Your Thing
It is very hard to confect or counterfeit a genuine passionate interest in something. Do not force it because you’ll be up against people who are, do something you genuinely find interesting. Also don't feel like you have to constrain your interests if they can be combined in productive and interesting ways - eg. public policy and computer science etc.
3. Be Ambitious
It is no bad thing if you have a purpose and are motivated for the right reasons. Channel your ambition into doing things related to your passions, or which make you a more rounded person whether that is taking on a leadership position, volunteering, getting work experience or a job in an area related to your interests. Enter competitions and prizes.
4. Seek Advice and Mentors
Hunt down people who have gone ahead of you, or know more about applying for scholarships or the academic landscape in your field. This could be a student a few cohorts ahead, a faculty member, or indeed someone else in the field you admire.
5. Tell a story
All applications for both the universities and scholarships require a tailored and convincing narrative of all you have achieved and where it is leading to. Think about who is reading it and cultural context eg. American applications can have a different in tone and emphasis from Cambridge etc. Scholarship applications aren’t somewhere to be modest about your achievements, just don’t make stuff up.
6: watch out for moving Goalposts
Be warned that annual scholarship programmes can have moving goalposts so be flexible. Things are always moving around: deadline dates, eligibility criteria, numbers of applicants, interview panels etc. This means you need to be aware of when things are due and work around your deadlines. Also be aware that sometimes these things can work in your favour and other times against.
7. Look Under Rocks
There are lots of arcane sources of funding if you look long and hard enough. They can be offered by universities, colleges, charitable foundations, professional or academic bodies. They might not have great websites or promote it very well. The “Sir Digby Trumpington-Pitt Memorial Studentship for the study of Hanoverian Origami” might be obscure, but perhaps it’s the right one for you.
8. Don’t Lose Heart. Apply Again
Apply again. And again. Never be disheartened the first time you get a rejection as crushing as that will be (and it probably will). Be persistent, courteously ask for advice and feedback when possible and use it to reflect on and hone your future applications. Many people are successful in later attempts. It might be that the person reading your application was hangry before lunch, or there was someone else in your field who had more experience. Apply for as many scholarships as you can, you’ll definitely not get any of the ones you do not apply for. Fortune favours the bold (or at least the irritatingly persistent).
9. PAY IT FORWARD
If you are successful, pass it forward. Mentor others applying and give advice freely. Don’t forget to tell us here at Emmanuel so we can celebrate your achievement!
SHORT WATCH: sCHWARZMAN SCHOLARSHIP IN CHINA
A FEW sCHOLARSHIPS WORTH LOOKING AT…
WORLDWIDE
Leverhulme Trust Study Abroad Scholarship (Any except USA)
AUSTRALIA
Northcote Trust (Any)
Vice Chancellor’s International Scholarship Scheme (Sydney)
CHINA
Schwarzman (Tsinghua)
Yenching (Peking)
US
Fulbright (Any)
Procter Fellowship (Princeton
Choate Fellowship (Harvard)
Henry Fellowship(Harvard and Yale)
Kennedy (Harvard and MIT)
Herschel Smith (Harvard - and just for Emmanuel grads!)
Frank Knox (Harvard)
Knight-Hennesey Scholarship (Stanford)
EUROPE
Erasmus Join Masters (Participating institutions)
