The third week of the Mentorship Program focussed mainly on scholarships.

There are many scholarships available for Indian undergraduates: Google Venkat Memorial Scholarship, Google WTM Scholarship, Western Digital Scholarship, scholarships for conferences like PyCon, KubeCon, DjangoCon to name a few. You can easily get all the important details regarding the eligibility criteria and application period for these, so I won’t elaborate much here.

However, I will share some key pointers on what to keep in mind when you’re drafting an application or a statement of purpose for any program or scholarship. These really helped me when drafting my application for the GirlScript Summer of Code as well.

1. Use the word limit wisely and fully, and avoid writing generic answers.
2. Always try and include a personal touch in all of your answers. Mention any challenges you overcame to achieve something, and what your experiences taught you.
3. Talk about all your achievements! (It’s not bragging if it’s based on facts.)
4. Get your application reviewed by someone good at English. It’s very important for your answers to be grammatically correct.

Lastly, APPLY APPLY APPLY! You must keep applying to all the opportunities that come your way, be it scholarships or other programs. Even if you think you don’t stand a chance, apply. It is only when you keep applying that you realize how to write better answers.

The main task of the week for me was to finalize my application for the GirlScript Summer of Code. I made an initial draft and mailed it to my mentor who then reviewed it. She added many comments on ways I could edit certain phrases to get my point across better. I definitely learnt a lot while editing the application! 😀

Looking forward to the next week!

Cheers!