Tips for scholarship applicants
Use the 5 tips below to increase your chances of obtaining funding.
1. Thoroughly explore course and research options
Most scholarship applications ask applicants to specify the course and/or department in which they would like to enrol with the support of a scholarship. If a scholarship is awarded, the offer will usually be conditional on the applicant enrolling in the course and/or department noted on the scholarship application form.
Before submitting an application for scholarship:
- identify a course and/or research topic that you would genuinely like to pursue. If you are seeking a scholarship to support graduate research degree studies, contact the department in which you would like to undertake your studies. It is vital that the department is able to provide supervision and other resources that suit your research interests. Applications for the scholarships for graduate research degree studies at the University will only be considered by the Graduate Research Scholarships Committee (GRSC) for scholarship if the department supports the application for both scholarship and candidature.
- check that you satisfy the admission requirements for the course that you wish to undertake.
2. Check scholarship eligibility requirements
Carefully check that you satisfy all of the eligibility requirements for the scholarship/s for which you wish to be considered. If you do not satisfy all of the eligibility requirements do not submit an application and explore other funding options.
Scholarships cannot be awarded to ineligible applicants.
3. Submit a complete application well before the closing date
Most scholarship applications take some time to complete and will entail the collection of supporting documents (eg. birth certificate, statements from referees, etc.) To avoid a last minute rush or missing the application closing date, prepare (and submit) your scholarship applications as soon as possible.
We are unable to consider late or incomplete applications for scholarship.
4. Provide all of the required documents
Make sure that you provide by the closing date all of the documents that are specified on the application form. As noted above, we are unable to consider incomplete or late applications for scholarships.
Local students applying for the scholarships for study at the University should refer to the document checklist.
International students should have already submitted the necessary documents along with their Application for Admission: International Postgraduate Student. The only exceptions are:
- international applicants for the Human Rights Scholarship must also complete the 2008 International HRS Application Form (PDF: 50kb);
- students who are already enrolled in the course for which they seek a scholarship must apply using SCHOLS, the online application service. In exceptional circumstances, a Graduate Research Scholarship Application form may be obtained from the Melbourne Scholarships Office. It must be submitted with the required documents, including Referee Reports, by the closing date.
Forward to the Graduate Research Scholarships Team as soon as possible any additional information that is relevant to your scholarship application that was unavailable when you submitted your application (eg. results for studies that you are currently undertaking, information about articles recently accepted for publication in refereed journals that are of a national or international standing, etc.)
5. Investigate other funding opportunities
The award of scholarships is competitive and, as a result, not all applicants will be successul. To increase your chances of being awarded a scholarship, we encourage you to actively investigate other funding options. Excellent starting places are:
- JASON, a national online database of postgraduate scholarships
- our other funding webpage.
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