Okay so...it's been forever since I wrote that last post. According to this site I've had some views, so hopefully whoever did run across my blog found something useful in what I wrote.
I think I should go ahead and continue what I started on that last post.
- Scholarships -
So, as I was preparing to study abroad, in the back of my mind I knew I really couldn't afford this. I knew that financial aid would cover a portion of the expenses and that I was responsible for covering the rest. I don't exactly remember how much was left over that I would have to cover but I believe it was around $5,000 out of the possibly $18,000 that the program cost. I think my initial plan was to just apply to scholarships and set up a payment plan for the rest. I was content on that. Honestly, I'm super surprised by how un-stressed I was during the whole process. I really didn't worry about money until the summer. So this is how it started....
When I was first introduced to AIFS, my study abroad adviser told me all about the scholarships that they offer. These scholarships coming from either AIFS themselves or other affiliated companies. There were many scholarships to choose from. She encouraged me to apply to all that I was applicable for on the AIFS website as well as the Benjamin Gilman scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. Any student who studies abroad with AIFS that receives the Gilman scholarship will have some money waived from the cost of their trip, so it's like a double bonus. Before this, I had never really won a scholarship before. I think I had won one scholarship in summer 2011 but that was about it. Basically what I'm saying is...I didn't think I was about to get any of these... especially not Gilman.
During my freshman year of college, my roommate had received the Gilman scholarship to study abroad over the summer in the Dominican Republic, so I was already familiar with it. I knew that it was a scholarship that required a lot of work and was one that shouldn't be taken lightly. Me being me, worked on mine for about five days before it's due date. I was STRESSED!!!! From working on the 5,000(?) word essay to getting it corrected in the writing center and having to rewrite it, I was sooo DONE by the time I finished it. I remember the night I submitted it, I called my sister at 11 pm on on a week night just to further correct it because I had no more time to go to the writing center. Thankfully, my sister came through and I submitted both essays on time. Oh yeah.........for the Gilman scholarship, there are two required essays. One is essentially a very long personal statement and the other is a project proposal to give back to your community.
All in all, I think I applied to may 5(?) scholarships. Most of them I applied to before Gilman and they came from the AIFS website and I believe one more that I applied to after Gilman.
In May is when I started to hear back from scholarships and thankfully, I received all the scholarships I applied to on the AIFS website except one. During this time though, I still hadn't heard back from Gilman.
Though I tried not to worry about it, it was still in the back of my mind. I didn't feel like I was going to get it. I felt like my essay was rushed and that this scholarship was only something that people with extremely high GPA's and incredible resumes could get. Not saying that my grades are bad, my grades are actually very good...it's just that all my friends who also got Gilman have a 3.9 -_-. So I waited and tried not to think of it.
Then...all at once, I hear an email come to my phone and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I could not stop SMILINGGGGGGG - I GOT THE GILMAN SCHOLARSHIP!!!! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy and SOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful to God!!!! It was just a miracle in my eyes because I honestly didn't believe I would get the scholarship. They awarded $3,500 and it was just a blessing. Truly a blessing. I think that was my favorite moment of my pre-abroad days. :)
Now, I haven't gone into extreme details about the scholarships themselves because I don't want to mess up any vital information. This was just a BRIEF summary of my experiences applying to scholarships and goes to show that even when you don't believe, you should keep the faith! Don't count yourself out like I did! What is in store for you, will be for you.
Here are some of the links that were so helpful to me :)
http://www.aifsabroad.com/scholarships.asp
http://www.iie.org/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program
http://www.diversityabroad.com/
I hope that whoever does read this post will be able to have as much help from this in their journey as I did. :)
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