Hey hey! Welcome again to my blog everybody. This topic was selected by you on my Instagram rather than a blog with Skype interviews. Do not worry folks, I am going to write about it anyway. Without further ado let's get started.
I am going to share with you the steps you should take in order to find a Master's or Ph.D. abroad with scholarship opportunities of course. First off, I would like to indicate that I was mostly concentrated on studying in the UK and following it in Canada. Thus, most of my experiences are with these regions.
1- Okaay, what is the first step we should do? You need to know what you want to study!
Now, you would be like "Come on everybody should know what they wanna study for sure." Nope guys, this is not the case sometimes. You might think that you have an idea of what you are interested in but you should figure out more about what it would be to study on this in detail. Will you enjoy what you are doing? Are you planning to pursue your 4 years or more years of Ph.D. studying this thing? What are you planning to do after a Master's or Ph.D.? Those questions can help you to listen to your inner self and figure out your real interest. Why I am telling this because if you are not sure you wanna study it then it can be a real torture for you! Master's is two years around Canada and the US while a year in the UK. However, for Ph.D., you don't have a choice it takes more years. So, be sure what you want to study.
 2- Search the research groups or supervisor you want to study with
I would not recommend concentrating on universities but rather the groups. The reason is that there are really awesome groups or supervisors you might haven't heard of. That's still okay to start searching with universities, however, take your focus to the research group and the supervisor. Look if you are interested in what they are studying. Let's say you a have list of supervisors you would like to connect with, what should you do next?
3- Prepare your motivation letter!
Get ready with your motivation letter that tells why you want to study with this group and supervisor, what's your future goals, how you can contribute to the research group, what you can learn from them etc. This can be a different blog if you are interested in guys. Just leave it to the comments. I can also provide you with a  sample motivation letter for Master's and Ph.D. applications.
When your letter is ready, start to send it to the supervisors. However, the letter will change of course a little bit. Do not send a similar e-mail to a couple of professors in the same department. This can cause conflict.
4- Check the funding opportunities of the university and if the supervisor can support you?
Be honest. If you don't have money, you don't have it. Life... That's not a shame. Tell this to your potential supervisor in the Skype interview. They can ask if you can either go as a partly-funded or fully-funded, then think about your budget, tuition fees, and everything. If you prefer to work while studying, partly-funding can be fine for you. However, all of those things depend on your supervisor. Do not get discouraged if you get an e-mail as "I don't have funding however I have a group ......." means the supervisor cannot support you financially but still wants to work with you. At this point, I would like to point out that it is really hard to find a scholarship in the UK, guys. It is easier to take it in the US and Canada. I am not sure about Europe but there are lots of people got it! (I didn't apply for any universities in Europe). To clear this out, I applied for a couple of universities and got accepted Napier University, Birmingham, Cambridge... NO SCHOLARSHIP OR FUNDING! The very first reason is that there is nothing for international Master's students and second is again you are coming from the non-European country. I actually applied for a PhD in Birmingham and Cambridge and Master's in Edinburgh Napier. I applied only for Master's in Canada and the US. I mean I didn't literally apply to the programs but connected to the supervisor. There are some reasons for it anyways. I can also share my application story to Cambridge with you if you wonder, please let me know. (Skype interview was so scaryyyy).
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5- Check the program requirements and application documents. Start to prepare them!
I assume you have already checked the program requirements when you were searching for the research groups. Of course, do not send an e-mail to a supervisor if you don't even meet the basic program requirements such as your Bachelor's degree. If you meet this requirement, check the others they might need a GRE and of course IELTS or TOEFL. For application documents, there is a research statement you need to write of course (it is elusive and can be intractable). Hmm, then you need a research statement template??Â
Prepare the application documents earlier. It can be really annoying and elusive if you leave it until the application time.
There are still several things in my mind but I don't want to make it that much longer. Otherwise, you will be lazy to read it, I understand. If you made it until here, congratulations and thank you for your time! You should also thank yourself because you invested in yourself. That's the only way to create a new one of yourself and achieve your goals.
See you in the next post. Let me know what you want to hear from me :)