StudyAbroadScholarships

 
The How-To Find Scholarships For Studying Abroad and How-To Get It.

1) Talk with your adviser on your campus. Almost every University has individual scholarship through their International Center/Study Abroad Center. For those of you who go to UF- here is our link:
http://www.abroad.ufic.ufl.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Abroad.ViewDocument&File_ID=0400737D4F72707177770172721F00000C0A1B7D0F0F006B02730903050007717402737377700572

2) Contact EVERY local club from your area. People who know you will help. Try the Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs, Elks Club, Masons, etc. Call them and set up an appointment. If you know a member call them first.

3) Check out this website. http://www.studyabroad.com/scholarships.aspx
Live it. Breathe it. Memorize it. And depending on what you want to study, do a specific Google Search. For example, "Arabic Language Study Abroad Scholarships"
"Female Scholarships Study Abroad," "Physics Grants Study Abroad," etc.

4) Write a killer essay you can tweak for your application and scholarships. This part is a little tougher.

ADVICE:
There are a ton of students who want to study abroad- WHY should they pick you? Why are you special? In more specific terms, what experience will YOU have abroad that will be unique? How will this experience turn you on your head, challenge your stereotypes and open your eyes to something you have never seen before? THIS is what writing those scholarship essays is all about. You want your passion and excitement to experience the unknown tangible to the committee reviewing your application.This is an example of a small essay that I wrote for a scholarship:(Clearly not my best work, but it worked!)

I am deeply passionate about studying Arabic in Egypt to discover the perspective of the Arab world regarding the deepest rifts in the conflict plaguing the Middle East. My passion for acquiring a fluency in Arabic parallels my passion for attaining fluency in Hebrew. This enthusiasm stems from the absorption I experienced with the Israeli culture during the summer of 2008. After spending two months studying both Arabic and Hebrew in Haifa, a city where the Arab and Jewish world truly fuse, there, my passion was born for understanding both cultures and languages in order to contribute a unique perspective to the conflict in the Middle East. My dream of studying in Egypt and Israel is built upon a commitment to soak up the culture through the best means possible: the language of the people.
I am excited at the prospect of spending two semesters exclusively studying Arabic in Egypt, and Hebrew in Israel. After taking intensive courses in Israel and the United States, I believe immersion is the only way to truly call a language your own. Mastering Arabic and Hebrew is my dream. I hope to realize my dream through studying in Egypt at the American University in Cairo and in Israel at Hebrew University. In the future, I plan to pursue these fields in a graduate setting. I plan to work with the Central Intelligence Agency or the US Department of State as a language analyst, or intelligence officer, utilizing my mastery of Arabic and Hebrew. Taking time to intensively study Arabic and Hebrew in two unique settings will allow me to accumulate an understanding of the people, the cultures, and the languages. My love for Arabic and Hebrew has taken me to the Middle East and back again, where I plan to return next year.

Studying abroad can be a drag on your wallet. I was lucky to have parents help me along the way but still had to take out a significant amount of student loans.  I received several scholarships which helped significantly. In my opinion, study abroad scholarships are your best bet. 
  1. My advice is start local. Visit your Universities website and apply for any of the scholarships available there. 
  2. Next step is moving onto your local foundations/organizations/federations/groups like Elks, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc. Usually you may apply for both your hometown clubs and the town in which you go to school. For example, I am eligible for scholarships in Palm Beach County, where I grew up and also Alachua County, where the University of Florida is located. 
  3. Hit the big scholarships. Easiest way, Google search. Below I have listed my favorites, those I found most useful. 
  4. Lastly, if you, like myself, are a lover of language, there are numerous scholarships if you are willing to commit to learning what the government deems a "critical language," like Hindi, Arabic, Farsi, Eastern European languages, African languages, Chinese, Korean, etc. 
Grouped into categories below are General Study Abroad Scholarships, Language Specific Study Abroad Scholarships, and some interesting scholarship opportunities I found for trageted for specific groups. 

General Study Abroad Scholarships
 Language Focused Scholarships 
    •  CLS Scholarship Critical Language Summer Scholarships through the US State Department(This is the scholarship I received and I highly recommend applying!) 
    • Flagship Scholarship: Full year awards for Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Russian  
    •  Boren Award Full Year Awards for study abroad with an intensive language component. Note- with this scholarship, you must serve for a year in the government workforce.
More Scholarship Information (Not necessarily study abroad)

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