How To Prepare For Scholarship

Many students talk about scholarship when they meet up sometimes. Why scholarship is the topic? The reason of the students may well ask! In a developing country like Cambodia where education is striving to meet the international standard, the sense of having granted a scholarship sounds so much wonderful to students that it mesmerizes them to long for one. So far, many Cambodian students, among whom there have been respected Norton University students, have won scholarship to study in various countries-some of which are the United State of America, Australia, Japan, Germany, England, and France. Many of you may wonder why those students have been very successful, and what they have done to win those scholarships. Is it about chanting or hypnosis? No, it is not. It is all about your effort and your well-preparedness. Below are some tips on how to prepare for scholarships.

Once you can tell that you really are willing to apply for a scholarship, there are two most important things that you should, first and foremost, look at: Education background and working experience. These two things are the biggest proves to your eligibility for the scholarship. The scholarship providers have the money to give away, but they do not want to spend unwastely on wishy-washy students.

They seek qualified candidates who possess strong educational background and working experiences that are related to the proposed field of study. Strong educational background helps prove that you are capable of completing your study successfully if you are granted a scholarship, whereas good working experiences help show your commitment on your proposed field of study. Therefore, you should try your best to study hard to get good transcripts, and try to involve yourselves into the work that relate to your field of study. Volunteer ism and internship are good ways to earn experiences. Beside, doing community services and joining youth program like camping and youth capacity building program can also help you gather livelong experiences which are crucial for your scholarship application. Your efforts to seek experiences in youth program and to serve your community show your commitment as good citizens.

Furthermore, if you believe that your qualifications meet the selection criteria, what you have to do next is to prepare for your application. Preparing a scholarship application is a tedious process. It take a lot of effort and fortitude because there are many documents that you need to process and failing to do so result in disqualified application. Therefore, you should start working on the application as soon as possible so that you can meet the deadlines. Most importantly, you must make sure that all your application pieces you have produced are of the best quality which makes your application stand out from the rest. Most of the scholarship requires you to produce one or more essays along with your scholarship application. The two most common essays you may encounter are personal statement / motivation letter and study objective essays. The objective of the two essays as well as the rest is to evaluate your suitability as a candidate. The scholarship board wants to know more about your special things that are not covered in the application form and resume, so you should make your essay as neat and complete as possible. Furthermore, your essay should be written in a way that it captures the hearts of your readers.

All in all, to prepare well for a scholarship is not what you can do overnight. It requires a lot of perspiration; however, considering the benefit you gain from the scholarship is enormous. Therefore, get your tenaciousness at work and start to gather scholarship related information and working experiences as well as transcripts. Remember, if you fail once, try twice, thrice and more. “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” (Dag Hammarskjoeld). If you want a scholarship, start to study hard and gather good working experience as well as involve yourself in youth program and community service volunteerism.

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Reference :

- Norton University Newsletter, September 2010 / January 2011, Page: 86.