Scholarship / 'My secret: Success does not come easy' - why interest in this scholarship [4]

Tell us about yourself and your interest in this scholarship.

I was brought up in a family that holds high expectations of greatness. I was taught to work hard in everything I do as my dad always says 'There is no other substitution for success other than hard work'. Unfortunately, I have only come to comprehend this when I was on the brink of failure. While I have always held high expectations of myself and had always had great goals and vision, I was too naïve in thinking that I was capable of those achievements without much effort. My parents were right about me, I was overly sure of my own capability. My overconfidence has ruined me. Having not put in effort during my Junior college days; I was punished with the inferior results on my 'A' level certificate. For the first time in my life, I saw tears flowing down from my mother's eyes. My parents were in an utter disappointment and so was I. Never have I felt so dishearten in my life. I felt so terribly disappointed, not because I have failed my parents' high expectations of me, but rather in the disappointment in myself. I was truly disgusted with the effort I have put into my education, and for a moment, I felt my dreams and goals founder off. For many sleepless nights that followed, I wrote down every single thing that has gone wrong in my life and how I could get my goals back on track. I was determined to change, to make a statement and most importantly, to live up to my dreams and expectations. This is the last time that I am going to let such opportunity slip away. I have vowed to excel in every single thing I do and I make certain to put only my greatest effort and hard work in them.

Achieving academic excellence is just a part of my goals. I also aim to leave behind great memories of my achievements in sports during my college days. Most importantly, I want to prove to myself that it is definitely possible to excel to the highest level in both my academic and non-academic areas. I believe that the ability to be well-rounded in school will be a good indicator of how well I could perform in the society, and thus, I want to experience handling the stress load of my studies on top of my demanding cca and work. This would allow me to see where I actually stand, what I was really capable of achieving and where my limits truly lie.

Not only do I want to graduate with a First Class Honors in xxx, I intend to graduate as one of the top student in the cohort. I would be highly honored to be awarded with such prestigious scholarship as it would have essentially indicated my exceptional qualities among the very best candidates. Hence, this scholarship would be of a paramount importance towards my main academic goals in studying the master's program in London School of Economics. In addition, the financial aid of this scholarship would truly allow me to lessen my working hours and focus more of my time on my studies which I felt that I could have achieved much more. At the same time, it allows me to commit more of my time towards my CCA. Above all, this scholarship will be of a perfect gift of my gratification to my parents' years of effort and dedication in me. This scholarship would also be essential in the development of my character as I would be able to further hone my leadership qualities as part of a xxx scholar. I sincerely hope that I will be to contribute to the current scholarship program by initiating more programs and curriculum to further bring about greater values and meaning of a being a xxx scholar. This scholarship will mark the beginning, not the end of my achievements and I hope my success in the near future would bring about greater honor and prestige to the school.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) 16th President of the United States once said 'Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing.' Everyone has goals and dreams, but many failed to realize the difference between dreaming and achieving. The difference simply lies in the level of our desire to succeed. Achieving goals has nothing to do with where you have come from or where you currently are. It has to do with how badly you want it. It is amazing how hard work and determination can change our lives but yet many who realize it, fail to act towards it. It requires so much hard work and people are often overwhelmed by what it takes to get them there. I was once guilty of this but have since learnt to fall in love with hard work. Success does not come easy; it is the result of preparation and hard work. This is my secret.

I would also need to eliminate another 30 words... which sentence do you think isn;t neccessary? thanks