Scholarship To Take Off
Call 8585951111Steps To Your Dream Course Abroad
- Focus on the country of choice and the right programme, appear for relevant exams like GRE, TOEFL, SAT. If you plan to go at
the end of your fourth year here, start preparing at the beginning of third year - Based on the scores, select universities and apply at beginning of fourth year
- Find out which scholarships you are eligible for. Apply a year before proposed date of commencement of the course. Draft resume and other details with care
- Provide additional documentation if asked to do so
- You will know whether your scholarship application has been accepted or rejected and in the former case, the scholarship amount, within 6-10 weeks of filing the application
- Find out email IDs of concerned professors and request for a higher scholarship if required
- Go for your visa.The earliest you can apply is 90 days before course begins. Show how expenses not covered by scholarship will be met
- Once you reach the university, you can request for more scholarships, based on your academic record. If not, you can score well in your first semester and have your tuition fees reduced or waived off in the next
Common Mistakes Students Make
- Not applying early and waiting for the last date of application
- Not preparing well for the exams
- Not having a clear idea of their inclination, ability and background
- Not interacting with organisations like USEFI or British Council or a trusted educational consultant and doing inadequate research on one’s own
- Not filling up forms completely or not adding vital details like references
Money Matters
- Plan at least 3- 5 years in advance for yourself; earlier if it is for your children
- Find out the procedures for obtaining loans, etc, in advance so that paperwork becomes easier
- If one has been in association with the bank for long and the bank has his track record, it is easier. If there is a guarantor, loan processing becomes faster
- Do not depend on scholarships as the only prop. If you get one, subtract it from the sum of tuition fees and other costs. The rest has to be shown as loan or your own finances, in the visa application
Scholarship Resources: Important websites
- Websites of the universities or institutions to which you are applying
- Websites of the trust or body that is offering the scholarship
- Country specific websites like www. educationUSA.state.gov, www.usefi.org.in , www.britishcouncil.org/india.htm
- Website of a trusted educational consultant
A degree in a good foreign university might be a means that would shape your career. Getting a scholarship could be the first step in making this dream come true. The US and UK are the two most popular countries where Indian students seek higher education. We focus on scholarship for these countries.
Types of scholarships. There are various types of scholarships on offer—those from trusts and foundations, university scholarships and subject-specific faculty scholarships. The process begins with identifying the appropriate scholarships. “A student needs to be sure that the scholarship is available for her subject,” says Victor Rao, general manager, Global Reach, a foreign education agency.
He adds, “General scholarships require students to have an existing offer from a good university, and are highly competitive. The university-specific ones tend to be somewhat less competitive, but one needs to trawl a large number of universities and fill up individual forms.”
The types and availability of scholarships are country-specific. “Students going to the US should understand the difference between undergraduate and graduate programmes (master’s or doctoral). There are more financial aids for pursuing the latter,” says Shevanti Narayan, country coordinator, educational advising services, United States-India Educational Foundation.
Undergraduate programmes.Universities in the US offer partial to full funding to outstanding undergraduate students. Need-based scholarships, merit-based scholarships and sports scholarships would be some of the options. While merit-based scholarships call for an excellent academic record, financial aid is a “need-based” grant based on the student’s financial need.
Graduate programmes: These could be teaching or research assistantships, graduate assistantships, fellowships, tuition waivers and internships. More funds are available for PhD programmes compared to postgraduate ones. More funding is also available for academic programmes than for professional programmes and in sciences than in humanities.
“Apart from some major scholarship programmes, like the British Chevening Scholarships, there are other funding options a student can pursue,” says Gigeo Sakkaryas, director, IMTP Consultancy Services, Chennai. Some universities in the UK offer you a discount of 3-5 per cent on the tuition fees if you pay your entire fees within a certain deadline. Some universities will also have a certain bursary of, say, 10 per cent of the tuition fees, that will apply automatically to a fixed number of students on a first-come-first-serve basis. Universities might also have corporate-funded scholarships to be distributed among outstanding students, or those pursuing a particular subject, but their numbers are limited.
Keep in mind. For a step-by-step guide to cracking a scholarship, see Steps To Your Dream Course Abroad. Meanwhile, a few important things to remember.
Early application is crucial. A scholarship application would require a student to write a statement of purpose. Animesh Atray, head, India operations, Worldwide International Education Group, says, “Make sure you highlight your achievement both at academic and work levels. Good references also play a major role.”
In the US, each university has a unique prescription in assigning weight to several different criterion—reputation of the previous school, GRE scores, undergraduate courses taken and marks, recommendations, statement of purpose.
“For UK, filing a scholarship application is similar to making an application for admission to a university. The documentation required is roughly similar” says Indranil Ghosh, manager, education, East India, British India. If you don't net a scholarship, be prepared to fund your way. In this case as well, like scholarships, start preparing early.
Source: http://money.outlookindia.com
Date: 2nd Jan., 2010
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