Strategy to get fully funded scholarships for BA, MA & Ph.D. students (Harvard Academy)
It has been a while since I made a blog post. If you are subscribed to my YOUTUBE channel and you frequently check the community tab, you know why I have been gone for so long. I am gradually getting back to it so I am excited to share this post with you.
In this blog post, I will cover three main topics;
1. I will inform you about a very prestigious fully funded scholarship that is currently open to both US citizens and international students in the USA.
2. I will tell you about my theory on how to better position yourself to get any scholarship.
3. I will share with you the lessons learned from the CVs of the grantees of this scholarship and how you can strategize to both get it or get any other fully funded scholarship
About the scholarship
The Academy Scholars Program of The Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies identifies and supports outstanding scholars at the start of their academic careers whose work combines excellence in a social science discipline with a command of the language and knowledge or expertise of countries or regions outside of the United States and/or Canada. Their scholarship should span traditional disciplinary divisions and elucidate comparative, transnational, or domestic issues, past or present.
The Academy Scholars are a select community of individuals with resourcefulness, initiative, and originality whose work shows promise as a foundation for careers in research universities or international institutions. They receive substantial financial and research assistance which permits them to undertake robust research projects and skills development in their chosen fields and areas. They meet at dinners, seminars, and informal get-togethers in order to pursue innovative interdisciplinary approaches to their work. They are mentored by the Academy Senior Scholars, a cohort of faculty members who act as a selection committee, participate in Academy events, and are committed to supporting the Academy Scholars as they work to achieve their potential.
My theory on getting scholarships
In 2014, I was awarded the MEXT Japanese government scholarship, in 2016, I was the 3rd runner-up for the Mandela Washington Fellowship, in 2018, I was awarded the YALA fellowship and in 2021, I was awarded the Clinton Global Initiative Fellowship. Since 2015, I have also spent a lot of time sharing scholarship resources, interviewing scholarship grantees, and worked one-on-one with many scholars who have also ended up getting fully funded scholarships. I tell you all of this because I have been in the scholarship space long enough to have a theory on how to get scholarships.
My theory is that, to get any scholarship, study the profiles of those who have gotten the scholarship and do what they did.
Lessons from the Harvard academy scholars CVs
In this YOUTUBE video, I take you all through the CVs of four grantees of the Harvard Academy Scholars Program looking step by step at what made them stand out to be in the 5% chosen for the scholarship. From their CVs, the following things are important for any bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. student to be doing right now to get both this scholarship or any other fully funded scholarship.
Contribute to a book chapter. As you go through your academic process, look for an opportunity to contribute a book or a book chapter in your study field
Your grades matter. While in school, study hard to get good grades because graduating CUM LAUDE goes a long way to help you stand out from the crowd.
The university you go to matters. University rankings are not something I am personally keen on but if you want to be in the 5% chosen for these prestigious scholarships, go to a high-ranking university.
Write journal articles in your field. They do not have to be published. Just indicating that you are in the process of writing a paper increases your chances of being taken for a scholarship.
Teaching a class matters. Not every student gets a chance to teach while in school so if you are given one, take it and if you are not given one, ask for it, It will boost your CV greatly and make you stand out from the crowd.
For length's sake, I cannot put all the lessons here so please watch the full video below and get all the other lessons and make sure you are doing something each day to better position yourself to get a fully funded scholarship.
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