Scholarship is a certain amount of money, paid to students, in order for them to cover their expenses, while studying. There are different types of scholarships based on the provider of it or goal that it serves. If you are interested to know more about Canadian universities scholarship The Student is a very good resource to look. But the important question is what factors play important role in becoming eligible to get one of them. Moreover, how I can increase my chance as an international student. Let’s find out.

Available Scholarships in your Program/University

Generally speaking, universities always have some kind of scholarship for international students. But they may increase or decrease the amount based on the time and situation. Other source is the money that comes to the university through external contracts with individual professor. In 2020-2021 most of the projects could not be done because of “once in a life time” COVID-19 Pandemic. Many projects froze, many slowed down and many converted to online projects. Moreover, many international students couldn’t make it to their universities because of global and local travel ban. It was a unique situation that affected students and universities in a not familiar way.

Fortunately, hopeful winds are blowing and we are getting to get closer and closer to our normal world. This means that you always need to check all private, university, government or professor’s scholarship and budgets.

Your GPA and Scholarships

We all know that funds are not supposed to go to lazy students. But does your GPA shows that you are lazy, I mean study-lazy. To me, the answer is no. I had many smart students, during years, with low or average GPA. Anyways, once you apply for graduate schools, you are suppose to have good marks and a good GPA. You must have the minimum requirements in order to enter the pool of qualified candidates. Therefore, put some extra energy to boost your mark up for courses that may affect your GPA. If there are courses that you past with low grades, you may consider to retake them.

Awards in National/International Competition

If you were awarded a national or international scientific competition, then you will be given especial attention. And you stand out of the pool in a most possible prestigious manner. The larger the number of competitors in a competition, the better your chance to get scholarship. Of course, this depends on the other applicants and their performances as well. Always remember that there may be other people who performed better. so, why not, be as mush hardworking as possible.

English Language Profficiency

Level of English language proficiency, is very important. why? Because you want to study in English at a high level. And you should not have big problem with the basics of English. Most of the universities in Canada and United States have a minimum requirement. For IELTS it is of 6.5 and over 93 for iBt TOEFL. In order to get scholarship, you ought to stand out among other competitors. High level of English language proficiency is one of the important requirements that you can show-off. Work hard on your English. Get a tutor, go to a class, listen to the radio or watch movie in English. Try your best to get above 7 in IELTS or above 100 in iBt TOEFL.

Strong Recommendations

Recommendation letters, also, are very important factor. The recommender supposed to include information on who you are and connection to you. S/he must explain that what qualifies you and expand on skills that you have.

Graduate schools normally ask for 2-3 recommendations from your past scientific studies. The referees are supposed to know you through some kind of scientific activity like a project a course or thesis. You may ask yourself: why universities invest on somebody else’s opinion about you? Before answering this question, we may emphasize that there is a universal trust among academics worldwide.

The answer to the question is that universities looking for anything good that stands out. It must conveys the message that you are somehow special. To serve this goal, you have to have a good but distanced relationship with your professors. Put all your effort to produce results out of any project, course and etcetera. Main characteristics that universities are looking in a recommendation is for student to be Hardworking. Also good to be Multitasker, Teaching ability, Friendly and a team oriented.

Scholarships and Other Factors

Previous University Ranking, Relevant Skills, Teaching History and Relevant Work/Research Experience are also are considered as important. For example, if you get your undergrad from a prestigious university, then nobody can ignore that. What If a potential supervisor notices that you have special skills and experience that he desperately looking for? then you definitely will stand out. Teaching also is a factor. One of the weekly jobs for a graduate student is to engage in Teaching Assistantship. Teaching experience combined with your English language skills will definitely gives you an edge in the competition for grad school.