Tips for acing your scholarship application

Writing a scholarship application can be a daunting task, with a lot riding on the contents of a single essay. But it doesn’t have to be difficult and by following a few basics tips, you can put your best foot forward and set yourself up for success.

See what’s on offer

There are often more scholarships on offer than you realise, so it pays to do your research to see what is available. Make sure to read into each of the scholarships you are interested in and pick the category (or categories) you believe you can put the strongest case forward. Don’t be afraid to reach out to the relevant team to ask any specific questions, this will not only create a first point of contact but will also ensure you are on the right track before starting an application.

The University of Adelaide offers a range of scholarships to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. 

Timing is everything

We cannot stress this enough, be timely and meet scholarship deadlines. Be aware of the application deadlines and work to get your application in before the deadline to allow for the scholarships team to follow up in case there are any further documents needed to support your application.  

Answer with intelligence

Take the time to look into the specific scholarship criteria and reflect on how you satisfy each of them, but don’t repeat what you have already written in your program application. Respond with specific examples demonstrating how you meet the criteria. A suggestion is to use the STAR method – Situation, Task, Action, Result. Start your answer by describing the situation, then outline the task required, elaborate on the action you took to resolve the issue, then summarise the result achieved.

Put effort into every detail

Ensuring the document is neat, the word count is met and that there are no spelling errors shows the scholarship panel your attention to detail and the effort put into your application. Carefully read through your application going through it with a fine tooth comb, and always have somebody else read it too.  

Do your research, be aware of deadlines, address the criteria and most of put in the effort to give yourself the best chance of securing a highly sought after scholarship. 

Browse University of Adelaide Scholarships

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