I Received €25,000 in Scholarships

So happy to write to 170 of you! ❤️ 

This newsletter is long overdue, and I am genuinely sorry for that. I recently moved to San Francisco and a lot has been going on. On a positive note, in only 2 weeks you will receive my July newsletter!

Today I will share with you my tips on getting scholarships. During my master's degree at TUM, I received 11 scholarships with a total of €25,000 (as a non-EU citizen), which enabled me to fund my stays abroad at Stanford University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Tsinghua University, and partially my living costs in Germany.

Here are my tips on successfully applying for scholarships:

Do Not Self-Reject

I am starting with this one, because this is perhaps the most important tip. We often tend to self-reject before giving ourselves a chance, and that is often due to low self-esteem. If you are a woman, you have even higher chances to doubt yourself.

Out of the 11 scholarships I received, 7 required German language, meaning either the application was in German or the interview. My German is not close to being able to write and speak fluently, however, I did apply, and I did get those scholarships. How?

I used the Google Translate Chrome extension to translate the scholarship website, and DeepL to translate my Cover Letter from English to German. During the interview, I would say to the interviewer I felt more comfortable speaking in English, and we would proceed in English. It was that easy because I gave myself a chance. I did not self-reject when I saw German as a requirement. The people reading your application are interested in YOU, your story, and the fact that you give it a try even though your application is not grammatically error-free.

I even know students who applied for and got scholarships that perhaps did not fit their profile at first glance, such as business students applying for scholarships aimed at engineering students, or vice versa. As long as your story fits somehow the scholarship profile, try it out, you have nothing to lose anyway.

Your Story Matters - Learn How to Tell It Right

The cover letter is perhaps the most important document of your scholarship application. Why? It is the window to your life, your story.

Here’s an example:

100 students are applying for the same scholarship, and it could be that 70 of them have pretty similar backgrounds: studied at a good university, have high GPAs, worked for a consulting or big tech company, and did volunteering activities on the side. How do you decide among them?

From the cover letter.

Now, most people make the mistake of using the cover letter as a repetition of their CV, don’t do that. This is your chance to tell your story, what makes you unique, your upbringing, why you are deserving of this scholarship, how you previously showed resilience, and a situation where you became your own hero.

Sure, these 70 students seem to have similar backgrounds, but does their journey look the same? One of them had to share a room with their grandparents and siblings while growing up, another one was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage house, and another had to escape war in their homeland.

Their achievements may look the same, but their stories are different. That is why your story is so important. Your cover letter is your only chance to share your story.

Writing a good story does not come easy to everyone. I have helped friends to craft their cover letters and receive scholarships to study at their dream universities. If you need help crafting your story, send me an email.

Remember: Personalize your cover letter every time you apply for a new scholarship.

Have at Least Two Reference Letters Ready

Most applications for scholarships will ask you to provide two reference letters, so make sure to have them ready before starting your applications. I’d suggest you choose two professors, or maybe one professor and one previous employer of yours to write your reference letters. These must be people who know you well and have high regard for you, usually, these are your life mentors. Also, the title they hold is taken into consideration when applying.

That’s why it is essential that during your studies or work experiences, you create a bond with a professor or employer that you feel you can learn from, maybe see some similarities between the two of you, or look up to them as role models.

It usually happens that they will ask you to prepare a first draft of the reference letter, which they can later adjust and personalize. When preparing these drafts make sure your two reference letters don’t write about the same things! You are given the chance to present yourself from three different angles (two reference letters, and one cover letter), so be strategic and do not repeat yourself.

For example, one reference letter can describe your work ethic at your previous job, the other one can describe how you took initiative at a university project.

You can also ask your referrers to share a template with you. Writing highly about oneself does not come easy to everyone, however, these reference letters are there to describe why YOU deserve this scholarship, and how you are UNIQUE compared to everybody else, so do not shy away from giving yourself some compliments backed up with facts!

Remember: Always personalize your reference letters to each of the scholarships you are applying for. Sometimes you just have to change the name, other times you have to adjust the content as well. Make sure you let your referrers know about these changes and require their signature for every new application.

Contact Previous Scholarship Holders

Usually, on the website of the scholarship you are applying for, you can see previous scholarship holders (if not, you can search on LinkedIn). Don’t be shy but send them a message on LinkedIn asking for tips, or any specific questions you have about the scholarship application. Trust me, most people are willing to help.

You can also ask them for a referral, similar to the job applications, referrals work wonders. To ask them for a referral you have to convince them why you are deserving of that scholarship, so feel free to share with them a short version of your story.

Make Yourself a Familiar Face

Imagine this, 100 students are applying for a scholarship, all with incredible stories, how do distinguish yourself?

One way is by making yourself a familiar face. What does this mean? Send a message to the contact person of the scholarship organization asking questions you might have. They will see your name.

Be active on their social media, like, comment, or share their content, they will remember your name.

When they read your application you are not one of 100 students, you have a name and a face.

Try it out.

Organize Your Scholarships Application

It is essential to keep note of all your upcoming scholarship applications, their requirements, and deadlines, so as to not get lost in the process. I am providing you for free the Notion template I used for organizing my scholarships application.

Consider Scholarships Application a Full-Time Job

Scholarships application requires lots of time and effort. First, you have to find the scholarships, then check out if you are eligible to apply, see if you can fulfill the requirements, prepare the documents in a timely manner, and apply.

During my time as a student, I applied for 19 scholarships, and my weeks were spent researching, personalizing my cover and reference letters, contacting people, and applying. Sometimes I got rejected, learned from it, and tried again. Looking back, it was all worth it, as I would have never been able to study at all of my dream universities without these scholarships.

To make this process easier for you, I have put together a database of 33 scholarships I have researched and have separated them into categories to save you time and effort. Here you can find the database, the Notion Template I used to organize the scholarships and my cover letter.

That’s what one of the users said about it:

Have your CV Ready

This is kind of obvious, but make sure to have your CV ready before starting your scholarship applications. Sometimes, scholarships require you to use their template or login your data in their portal. If not, I would suggest you use a one-pager CV. Sometimes, you might need to personalize it. Need help with your CV? Feel free to send me an email.

Wishing you lots of good luck!

Stay tuned - next month I will be sharing some financial tips.