Before I move on just a little about me, I did my 2nd Masters From Dublin Ireland back in 2012.
For all those who are told that education after marriage is not an option for girls!!! I don’t agree! When life and career
I got married right after my MBA, probably I was the first one in my batch! Career, Family, a Child…all came my way at the same time. I always wanted to pursue my education and go abroad for another Master’s degree. In 2011 when my son was 4, I got an opportunity to go on #erasmusmundus scholarship to #ucd(University College Dublin) for a year to Dublin, Ireland ALONE (yes, I know it would raise questions but I did) for my 2nd Masters.
Thanks to never ending support of my husband who let me live my dream making sure my life should not stop after marriage.
Not to brag but I did all the work from scratch myself and didn’t involve any agent to help me get it. Since, I got back I have been answering to many people guiding about how the scholarship procedure works and how can they find one and apply for what that meets their requirements.
But this is the first time I am going to document as I have been getting more queries recently on my Insta about it so I thought it’s better to document and share with masses.
When to Begin?
You might be a graduate already and be a part of the workforce, you may be doing your graduation and planning for Masters abroad or you may like me already working and married but want to study more. So, you can be in a different stage of life looking for education.
First thing is to realize that you want to add education to your profile because I believe in continuous improvement so getting back to study or short courses should not be a burden goal but something you should look forward to.
Once you decide you want to pursue your studies then keep a deadline for a year. If its 2019 then you should be aiming for September 2020 enrollment. I started working on my scholarship in September 2010 and was enrolled for September 2011.
What’s your current profile?
Its important to note down your current profile because that will help you short down the options for further education. By current profile is your current degree or the education level you have completed and your work experience.
What do You want to Study Abroad?
Sometimes what you want to study might not be an area of education in which there are scholarships are available but it’s important to shortlist what subject. Are you want to do your degree in. I wanted to study Development Economics but got an option for Development Studies so opted for it.
What costs would scholarship cover?
Not all scholarships are fully covered which means some might cover all the expenses right from your departure(flight), your tuition fee, your living allowance(as per cost of living in that city), your books expense and your flight back home. While others might cover parts of it and are not 100%. I was selected in Erasmus Mundus Europe Asia Program which covered everything but the living allowance was very low considering Dublin is an expensive city to live in therefore I worked part time to meet my expenses.
What are your options?
I searched for different scholarships based on country, area of education and scholarships for Asian students and came across many that I was eligible for. Here is how you can do it
Go to the website https://scholarship-positions.com
- Search for your area of interest.
- Search for the country you are looking for.
- Search for the universities you are interested in.
- Look at the criteria (Prior education,CGPA, Work experience, Any country specification, GRE, IELTS)
- Shortlist what meets your interest and make an excel sheet.
- The deadline is the most important as many universities have different deadlines and you might miss one while working on another.
- Keeping a calendar or reminder will help you.
- Sometimes you need to apply for the scholarship before applying for university or vice versa so go through the details for each to get it right.
How many Universities you should apply to?
Well I must say apply to as many as you can. Some scholarships need your acceptance in the universities before you apply for scholarship itself which means a nonrefundable fee for university application. So, you can filter based on your budget if you have. I applied for 8 universities and 3 scholarships in 3 different countries. And got selected for 2. I believe the more options you apply for the more success rate probability is.
What documents you need to apply?
Unless something else is mentioned as per university requirement here are the basic documents you would require for application
- IELTS (must be 6.5 to ensure you meet most of the universities criteria)
- GRE (if it’s a requirement for your course of study or your University)
- Letter of Motivation or Motivational statement (Write about why you want to study in a particular country or university, it’s a game changer so focus on it and pour your heart out while you are writing it)
- Letters of recommendation (mostly its 2 or 3 required, if you are a student and haven’t been in work life then getting it from your teachers is a good idea, but if you have work experience get from your supervisor too)
- Your prior educational documents (Marksheets and Degrees since Matric/Levels. All copies verified and attested from respective institutions)
- Your valid Passport (with an expiry at least a year or 2 later than when you aim to finish your degree).
I hope I answered all the questions in your mind in case if I missed out any feel free to reach out to me here or on my Insta J
Best of luck.
