Sydney Life

Today I felt like I’d won the lottery. Only I didn’t spend money buying a ticket and my odds were a lot greater!

You see, I opened my mail today to find a wonderous cheque from Sydney University -my scholarship cheque.

The story of how I acquired one of these cheques is actually quite interesting.

In late September of my gap year (I was overseas), I got a frantic call from my mother asking me if I had applied for a University of Sydney scholarship. No I hadn’t. See, she had just been on her morning walk with her friends, and they were talking about the university scholarships that their children were applying for. Her friends were all asking mum if I had applied. Mum had no idea. Hence the phone call.

After mum hung up the phone, she looked for an appropriate scholarship to apply for downloaded a form, and spent a full day filling in the application and writing a cover letter.

The rest is history and I will be grateful to my Mum forever!! (Note to prospective students, do not try this tactic at home. If you are taking a gap year you need to apply for your scholarship when you're still in Year12 and then apply for permission to defer that scholarship whilst you take your gap year. Also, your mum might not be as cluey as mine!!)

This cheque that I receive at the beginning of each semester can be used for whatever I like. I can pay off my uni fees, pay for text books, readers, transport, fashionable ugh boots to wear to uni, or it can sit in my ING account and accumulate interest which will then pay for my trip to India at the end of the year!!

The scholarship that I applied for is what is now known as University of Sydney Scholarship for school leavers, Merit award. It requires you to have a UAI of over 95, and then it is awarded on other achievements such as leadership, creativity, self-motivation etc. It is a whopping $5000 per year for up to 5 years of your degree. Pretty cool huh!!

I can’t write about all the gazillion types of scholarships Sydney uni has, because that would be really re-inventing the wheel!! It’s all on the web…go surfing! And remember to apply before September 29th.

Don’t forget, there are heaps of scholarships for school leavers, international students, postgraduate students, Indigenous students, students wishing to travel, elite athletes, and also current undergraduate students.

So maybe it’s not as much as the $4 million jack pot….but it's much more realistic and satisfying!!