Sujata Singh Shekhawat,, India

There are a lot of factors that play an important role in choosing a university. For some it can be the course and others it can be the ranking of the university. For some students it’s the proximity to their home, while for others it is the fees. When I was making my choice for my post graduate degree, I applied to 6 universities in the UK and I got admission into all of them. Bournemouth University was one of them. The fees for all the universities were very high, so I wanted a university which had my course of my choice and was not too expensive. I liked BU a lot because it’s known for its media excellence, but the fees were quite high, so I went to the website to see what kind of scholarships they had for international students and I was really amazed to find a huge range of scholarships, around 12 different types of scholarships solely for International students. I never thought that a University could offer so many scholarships.

How did I apply?

I went through the entire list of scholarships looking at everything in depth, the sports scholarship, a music scholarship, the chevening scholarship scheme and an academic excellence option.  I decided to apply for the executive dean’s scholarship, because I found that to be the most suitable one for me and I had no idea whether I would get it or not. To my surprise, I got the executive dean’s scholarship in the faculty of media and communication, which is 50% tuition fee discount. I was super excited because it helped with the financial burden of paying for my course.

Eligibility

All the international applicants in the faculty of media and communication who were eligible to apply for this scholarship were full time students and held a minimum of a UK upper second class honours degree or overseas equivalent. I was asked to write a statement about why I should be considered for the scholarship highlighting my academic achievements. I was then fortunate enough to get it.

Deadlines

All the scholarships are segregated according by faculty and there are good number of scholarship awards available in each. The deadlines are really important while applying for any scholarship. It is usually from 31^st April to 31^st May of every year, but there are some exceptions too. So, make sure you are aware of the various scholarships and their deadlines, they are easy to apply for and you need to provide an excellent supporting statement.

I wish you all the best and my advice would be to make sure you apply on time and you will be in with a good chance.  I look forward to sharing my next blog with you soon.

Sujata Singh Shekhawat, MA (Media & Communication), India