How to Get a Full Graduate Scholarship in China

I've been studying at Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing since August of this year. It's a rather unusual master's program in Global Affairs that was organized in China by representatives from the United States. They raised about half a billion dollars and built a college on campus with mostly American professors and only 20% Chinese students — on campus. If you go to college — you automatically get a full scholarship, which covers tuition, housing, food, tickets to and from China and many other little things (insurance, textbook, laptop, etc.). Although we study mainly international relations and economics, there are all kinds of people studying with me: lawyers, doctors, politicians, businessmen, and even a young filmmaker.

The competition is quite large — about 3% of applicants are accepted. This year, for example, about 40 Harvard graduates applied, and fewer than 10 of them got in. But I will say honestly:  if you have Russian citizenship, it will probably be a little easier to get in. The administration had some difficulties with attracting guys from Russia, so in four years there were only two of us. But the requirements are still relatively high, so you can't just say "I'll write something and send it to you, maybe I'll be lucky". I will tell about my personal experience, but I think that the article will be useful for those who are not interested in China at all: the logic of preparing documents will be appropriate for almost any scholarship, especially if you're going to apply for specialties related to international relations, economics, and other social sciences. By the way, at Schwarzman College the deadline for applications for next year – it is September 26.

I'll tell you about the three main parts: (1) preparing for admission, (2) writing CVs, resumes, and other documents, (3) interviews.

1. Preparation for Admission

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A very important step that is often overlooked — is gathering information about the scholarship/program you are applying for. Everyone understands that you need to carefully read all the information on the website, look for some additional articles with tips on the Internet, but after that people start sending applications right away. That's not very smart.

In fact, it's very important to devote time to what in English is called informational interviews: you have to talk to people who have already been through the selection or study process to get information that no one will ever tell you on an official website. First, it helps to know if this program — is really what you need. Second, you can get helpful advice on the admissions process. It is only important that you know exactly what you want to ask. Don't ask questions that are easy to find — it's annoying, and prepare enough questions so that there is not an awkward pause 10 minutes into the conversation. The process of finding the right people can be broken down into three steps.

The first step — try to find «warm» contacts: talk to friends and ask them if they know anyone who has already received this scholarship. If you're lucky, ask a friend to introduce you to the person — that way you won't get rejected and it will be easier to strike up a conversation.

Second step – write to people you have a connection with. For instance, you graduated from the same university, you did an internship at the same company, or you just feel like you have similar interests. Finding these people is easiest through LinkedIn, Facebook, or VK (a little harder, but possible too). In my case, I found a list of all the incoming and graduating students on the program's website, so it was pretty easy to find people that way. In my case, I talked to four people: two of them used to work for the same company in Dubai as I did; one was a debater; one girl I wrote to simply because she was the only person from Russia who got in. Not all four conversations were equally helpful, but overall it helped me understand exactly who usually gets scholarships and how to properly present my accomplishments.

The four conversations were not equally helpful.

2. Package of documents

After you've made sure you really want to apply, you need to start collecting your paperwork. In my case, to get in you needed:

• fill out an application form, answering questions about work experience, education, leadership experience, etc.

• send a CV/resume

• write two essays

• send 3 letters of recommendation

I'll tell you about all of them, but first one important note. The main task – try to create a holistic impression with the admissions committee. That means that all of the documents that you prepare should form a coherent picture of what kind of person you are and why you need a scholarship. In my case, it was clear that Schwarzman Scholars wanted to recruit people who would take some important positions in their countries in the future and in doing so could use their knowledge of China. I wanted them to remember something like «this is a Russian student who wants to become a minister and develop economic relations with China» and I tried to make sure that everything I wrote fit together. And feel free to state your ambitions! Of course, the probability of me becoming a minister is slim (if it's above zero at all :), but having a clear goal creates a good impression with the commission.

CV

It is highly desirable that the CV fit on one page. Chances are, you haven't done anything yet that would require two whole sheets of A4, and the extra space gives the impression that you don't know how to structure information. Mention only relevant experiences, but do not forget that «relevance» may vary from program to program. Say, Schwarzman really wanted to see leadership experience, and if you haven't yet had a chance to manage projects at work, talk about what you did as a student: you organized events, led some kind of club or sports team. In Russia, such activities are often looked down upon, but they can play a big role in your admission.

In Russia, such activities are often looked down upon, but they can play a big role in your admission.

And please read at least a few articles on what a resume should look like in terms of format. I would highly recommend not using «colorful» templates (unless you have some very creative background), nor should you use photography. Schwarzman — is an American program, so use appropriate templates. Don't forget to digitize all your accomplishments, i.e. write not «ran a student organization» but «organized 10 events, each attended by over 200 people» not «worked in sales» but «increased company sales by 25% in 2 months». If you tell about any achievements that may be incomprehensible to a person from outside Russia, do not forget to add explanations: for example, if you won some kind of scholarship, tell that only 5% of those who applied received it, and that you have a red diploma, and in fact you are the only one in your class (and you can say that you are the top of his class).

Motivation letter/essay

If you don't have any names on your resume that, upon seeing it, the committee knows it would be a crime not to hire you (for example, if you ran a multi-million dollar business or founded your own NGO that saved children in Africa), then the motivational letter — the most important document for you.

In my case, you had to write a Leadership Essay and a Statement of Purpose. In the former, you had to talk about your leadership experience. Other fellowships may not have a separate essay on this topic, but you still have to talk about your accomplishments somewhere else. The main recommendation: no one is interested in your abstract reasoning («I believe that a leader should be...in 25 years I want to manage Gazprom...»), because the admissions committee wants to know what you have already achieved. Show by concrete examples how you managed other people, how you solved conflicts. And most importantly – what results you achieved. I had some luck here: I talked about both student organizations and work. I participated in an interesting leadership program in Dubai, where I managed to lead a small consulting project for the local ministry (by the way, next year you can apply there).

In the Statement of Purpose, your task — show your goals and a plan to achieve them. Remember what I said at the beginning about the whole picture? Now you have the opportunity to write directly about what you want to accomplish in life. But you should try to make sure that all the other facts you have shown the committee (in your resume and previous essays) confirm that you can achieve that goal. In the case of Schwarzman Scholars, it is important to show why you need China in the first place and how you will use what you have learned in the future. Again, it is important not to pour water («China – growing economy, country of the future...» — anyone can write that), but to show specifically why in your country and in your field the skills and knowledge that you get during your year in China will help you succeed.

Recommendations

In Russia they cannot write letters of recommendation — it is a well-known fact. It is quite possible that you will have to write your letter yourself (and this is much worse than you think if you have never tried it before). If you can find someone who can do it — great, but if not, you'll have to sweat it out.

First of all, you need to choose a person who knows you well and can describe in detail why you should do it. Don't think that a recommendation from the dean or the head of your company is necessarily better than a recommendation from an assistant professor. The admissions office probably does not know the name of either, but an assistant professor (if you know him or her well) is a much better person to describe you as a person. One of my classmates had a recommendation from the president of his country (he knew him personally); I had none of that, but I got in anyway.

After you've chosen the right person, it's important to explain to them exactly what to write. If the person suddenly has never written anything like this before, send them some examples, but even if they have, explain exactly what the scholarship program wants from you. Schwarzman openly wrote that only one recommendation should describe your academic ability, while the other two – leadership and professional experience. Talking to your recommender is also important because these people usually genuinely want to help, but often don't understand exactly how to.

How to write a letter yourself won't be described. In a good way, if you're offered that option, it's better to choose another person. But if there are no alternatives, look for examples of letters on the Internet and, starting to write, be surprised to find out how difficult it is to praise yourself on paper.

3. Interview

Those who qualify for the next stage of the selection process must be interviewed by program representatives and outside experts. In my case, it was a live interview: everyone who made it to the semifinals paid for tickets and a hotel in New York, London, or Bangkok, where the interview took place.

I had about 10 people on my panel: professors, journalists, businessmen. They didn't all ask questions, but they each wrote comments in their own notebook, so the decision was apparently made collegially.

In my panel, there were about 10 people: professors, journalists, and businessmen.

All the questions can be divided into three parts:

1. about what you want to achieve in life

2. what you've already achieved

3. questions that determine your overall level of education

I've explained earlier about answering category questions (1) and (2). It's no different than a motivation letter, except you need to remember that the right pitch plays a big role too. In the case of (2), again, you need stories about what you did, how you did it, and why you did it in a given situation. I used to prepare for interviews with consulting companies, which helped me a lot. You can google fit interview, there are plenty of helpful guides on the internet. It's very important to do some mock interviews with your friends. I had three of them, and each of them was really useful: they gave me feedback, so I fixed what seemed to be a failure from the outside.

For Category (3) questions, it's hard to prepare: I'd suggest just reading a normal press regularly (a mainstream Western newspaper like the New York Times or a magazine like the Economist will do) so you don't get caught up in the economic or political questions. I was asked a fairly trivial question about the effect of robots on unemployment, but something more unobvious may come up.

And finally a major recommendation –take the time to prepare, because getting into a good program can make a huge difference in your life.

Alexander Zhuravlev

Student Schwarzman College Tsinghua University in Beijing

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