10th October 2023, I received an email that contains the status of scholarship outcome at the Australian National University, I had been awarded the AGRTP scholarship! Truly, at this time, I did not have much knowledge on the scholarship in Australia. Particularly, the AGRTP scholarship which covers full tuition fee, health Insurance and a smart living stipend! Anyway, a few days later, I became surprised knowing the coverage of the AGRTP scholarship!
People often ask me how I managed it, specially, what criteria should the applicants maintain, how to apply and so forth. Honestly, it is not a bed of roses, an applicant should start thinking about it during his/her undergrad. But how? candidates often ask! In this article, I am going to share my experience from the very beginning so that you can get a detail idea, I am not sure that your experience will be the same, but it may provide a brief overview of how things work.
During the 3rd year/6th semester of my undergrad study, there was a course on Research Methodology where I had an opportunity to learn the basics of research. My enthusiasm ingrained, I was dreaming of being a Researcher. I planed to conduct a research and publish it in an international journal. In the final semester, I prepared a paper but it went in vain. However, I did not give up. During my master, I decided to conduct a thesis so that I could apply the theoretical elements of research that I learnt. It seemed tough but I tried, after a long haul I managed to complete it. My supervisor advised me to work more on the topic and publish it as a paper. I worked hard, organized the data and prepared a draft. After a long review, finally, my research article was accepted for publication. It was a Q1 Sage journal which is very prestigious. Is it the end? Not at all!
The surprising thing happened after publishing the article. One day morning, I got an email from a professor at the Australian National University saying that he read my article and interested in conducting a conversation with me. We had a meeting, professor asked me what is the plan on my research interest. I obviously aimed at further studies, and shared some potential ideas that I aspire to investigate. Did it secure my PhD admission? Wait! I had to wait for 2 years after that! Let’s say how it worked.
The professor took my CV and forwarded it to academic coordinator. The academic coordinator advised me to have at least one year job experience in the relevant field. I started applying in research related position in the different organizations. At once, I got a job in the BBC Media Action. I also worked in Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies (BILS), Young Power in Social Action (YPSA). Meanwhile, I continued researching and publishing articles in different platforms, be it blog articles or academic research. Professor did not advised me to do so but I wanted to consolidate my application since I realized it would be very competitive as ANU is a top ranking university all over the world.
One year has gone, I was not prepared yet! Because I was required to fulfill English Language proficiency. I appeared at the IELTS and got band score 7 overall. Not too much good, but it worked. I missed 2023 summer session. However, I applied Spring session. It took at least 6 months to prepare research proposal and everything. I collected recommendations from one of my teachers and employers. After a months of waiting, I received an admission offer. The admission and tuition fees were huge, I did not have that much money to pay. So, I was waiting for the scholarship outcome. Finally, on 10th October, I received the email and now I am at the ANU!
Let me know your story!!!