How to Prepare for Scholarships & Higher Education Abroad

After receiving my Honors and Master’s degree in Social Welfare department from Dhaka University, I joined as a Research Assistant (RA) in Access to Information (A2I) program of ICT Division of Bangladesh government since 2015. Most of my friends are then preparing for the government job (BCS). However, some people knew that I never intended to be employed in a traditional govt job in Bangladesh. Since my father died in 2014, it was not possible for me to study at home to get a job like BCS and there was none in my family to support me financially.

While studying for an Honours degree, I wished to move out of the country and settle there like many other Asian students wish. But my situation was that I could go to study abroad only if I got a full scholarship. That was why I joined different Facebook groups to get motivations and information. Within a few months of joining the a2i program, I started to see the requirements of various universities. I came to understand what was important for applying to the university. Something needed to be done in advance:

1) to choose which subject to study,

2) the requirements for admission to various programs and universities

3) Masters or PhD?

4) IELTS or TOEFL or other English Proficiency Tests 

5) GRE or GMAT?

6) Motivation letter or Research Proposal and

I needed to prepare myself accordingly.

At McGill University in Canada, I found a senior brother who was then doing a PhD in social work. Out of the courage seeing the older brother’s profile, one day I emailed him and the replay came 3 weeks later. The older brother asked if I wanted to work in the social work sector. In the second e-mail, he provided some of his professors’ information and asked me to contact the professor. He also informed that all those professors had funds. I looked into the profile of all the professors. I was very disappointed as my profile was poor to email those professors and I did not dare to email them.

Although I secured top positions at the University of Dhaka (the best university of Bangladesh), I needed to go further. My intention was to improve myself to be competitive at the international level since I would have to compete with students from the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zeland and other countries.

After browsing various Facebook groups, I was preparing to collect my documents. Obtaining certificates and transcripts of Honours and Masters from a university is a long term process. And if you find any wrong with your certificate and transcript, then you are in danger. Therefore, you should keep time to collect your certificate, transcript and testimonials. Some universities or scholarship committees may ask for a hardcopy at the time of online application. So it is best to have a set or additional transcripts and certificates together. At the same time, your school and college certificates, transcripts & testimonials may also be needed. Although in most cases, universities do not want any documentation of your school and college.

Part 1: My IELTS Experience for Scholarship

Part 2: How Have I Got DAAD Scholarship?

Part 3: Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Holder MFamily

Part 4: How to Collect Your Certificate & Transcript 

The author of the post is Mahmudul Hassan who got multiple scholarships.