Studying abroad can be financially challenging for many meritorious students who often opt out due to the expensive course fee, visa charges, accommodation and food expenses. Therefore, scholarships help many to pursue their dreams.
News18 ‘Scholarship Guide’ brings the best and most prestigious grants for Indian students to study abroad, with most of them covering flight tickets, accommodation and course fee; and some also providing stipend.
Dropping a year after Class 10 due to financial constraints, a 20-year-old man from a small city in Maharashtra, Jalgaon, will finally live his dream to study in the US, at the prestigious Stanford University, that too, with a grant of $82,000. The total fee at the university is $92,000.
Raised in a joint family, Luv Jawahrani studied in Maharashtra state board till Cass 10 after which he joined a student exchange programme and spent some months in the US. After coming back home, he had to drop a year due to financial constraints.
The gap year gave him more clarity on what he really wants to pursue. He joined a CBSE-affiliated school, which allowed him enough time to work on himself and figure out what he wanted to pursue.
“It was a different choice than my peers but one of my cousins had gone for an exchange programme. Inspired by that I too wanted to pursue it,” Jawahrani told News18.
Talking about his stay in Ohio during the US exchange programme, Jawahrani recalled, “During my stay, I found that there is still hostility in the US against people of colour. I also met a nine-year-old refugee there. She was from Syria and I was inspired and shocked to learn about her experiences. All this inspired me to take up international relations and politics as my further studies.”
From September, he will be studying at Stanford with an interesting mix of subjects including foreign policy, modern history, war and peace, democracy development and rule of law.
Scholarship Journey
Though his grades were in his favour, Jawahrani believes it was his overall portfolio and learning beyond the books that helped him in securing the scholarship.
He says participating in extra-curricular activities including Model United Nations (MUNs) and being an inline hockey skating player had given a boost to his profile. “I travelled across India for my inline hockey skating games. I gained a lot of exposure, which helped me learn about many cultures.”
He also has a strong interest in history and read books beyond the textbooks, which helped him better his writing skills. Essays are an imperative part of admission at foreign universities including Stanford. Essays and extra-curricular activities are two areas where you can make yourself standout, he said.
The journey to Stanford scholarship started after he got into the Crimson Access Opportunity Scholarship programme. He came to know about it on social media and managed to get in. As part of the programme, he received help from foreign graduated staff in “constructing an appealing narrative that would stand out amongst other applicants, choosing schools, practising SATS, and getting to know about competitions and other activities to boost profile”.
Indian Students Lack Awareness
Jawahrani said despite having the calibre not many students apply for Ivy League colleges or best university abroad.
“In my school affiliated with CBSE, only two children, out of the 40 students who studied STEM, applied for international schools. In the state board school, I was the only student who applied for the exchange programme abroad,” he said.
“There is a limitation in perceptions. What is the worst that can happen? That you don’t get through. But look at the best-case scenario. It offers a never before opportunity,” he said. The problem is not with children but lack of awareness, he pointed out. Counselling children about education and scholarship programmes, especially in small towns, at the school level should be encouraged, he added.
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