How to Get a Full Scholarship

Full scholarships, which are also called full-ride scholarships, are the holy grail of ways to get money for college because they pay for almost everything for all three or four years. The provider will pay for your tuition and living costs, so you can focus on your studies and social life without having to worry about money. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

There aren’t very many of these dream scholarships, which is a shame. There aren’t many full scholarships, and the ones that are out there are very hard to get. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to get one. Keep reading to learn how to improve your chances of getting one of these prestigious scholarships.
Know what to look for.

First of all, where can you go to find full scholarships? Visit your desired university’s website first.. They may have their own scholarships for students from your area or in your field, or they may have a list of external scholarships you could apply for.

You could check sites like InternationalScholarships.com or FastWeb.com, as well as our own Scholarships to Study Abroad page, which lists funding opportunities in different places to study, as well as scholarships for specific subjects or student groups (e.g. African students).

How to Get a Full Scholarship

Get ready ahead of time

If you know you’ll need a full scholarship to go to college, you should start getting ready as early as possible. what you will do is very important if you want to attend an interview. Some universities have special “scholarship weekends” where 50–100 students are invited to campus to interview a faculty member, answering questions about their goals and motivations and how this fits with that university and course. If you need to go to a scholarship interview, you should treat it like any other formal interview: dress nicely, come prepared with good answers to any questions they might ask, and have a few questions ready to ask them at the end of the interview if they ask you to. Find out how to answer the most common questions asked at admissions interviews here.

Stand out from the other applicants.

There is a lot of competition for available full scholarships, so it’s important to set oneself apart from the pack by displaying genuine dedication to personal growth. You should be able to demonstrate to scholarship givers that you are passionate about things outside of the classroom and have gotten engaged in your local community by doing things like volunteering.

Scholarship organizations place a premium on demonstrated leadership ability; one way to do this is by taking the helm of a community service or extracurricular activity.

Strong relationships with academic mentors are important because they can write more personal and accurate recommendation letters that can help you stand out while applying for scholarships.

Send in a stellar cover letter and essay for a scholarship.
It goes without saying that you need to submit a stellar application essay and cover letter. This includes checking for typos and grammatical errors, making ensuring the writing flows well, and making sure the reader is hooked from the beginning. Instead of relying on your own meticulous proofreading, have a trusted friend read it over for you, looking for errors and awkwardly constructed words.

You may read a very informative post written by one of our QS scholarship recipients about how to submit a winning scholarship essay here.

Believe in yourself
Finally, as we mentioned earlier, many qualified applicants who would otherwise be awarded a full scholarship do not receive one because of the high level of competition for these awards. Don’t let this deter you from applying, but know what you’re getting into. Keep in mind that there is no cap on the number of scholarship applications you can submit, and typically no cap on the number of scholarships you can be awarded; this means that you may be able to piece together a larger scholarship from several smaller ones. (Of course, you should verify with the service providers that you are eligible to apply for and get funds from other sources.) Try not to let setbacks discourage you; instead, pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and keep working toward your goals until you achieve them.