I had heard about scholarships for students many times during my school years. I was also active as a volunteer and my grades were quite good. That's why I applied for a Germany scholarship at the beginning of my studies, quite motivated and somewhat hopeful. I was not accepted and gave up the project "scholarship search" for the time being.

Then, after my fourth semester, the examination office offered to put me forward for the German National Academic Foundation. I was very surprised because I thought I was actually already too far along in my studies to be accepted by a foundation for the gifted.

The examination office of my university suggested me to the Studienstiftung. Afterwards, I was invited to an information event on the Studienstiftung's selection process by a member of the TU Dortmund University's scholarship advisory service. Twice, I was made aware of offers by university employees that I didn't even know existed.

In addition, one of my lecturers was very motivated and wrote a letter of recommendation for me, which I had to enclose with my application.

You should not be discouraged if you apply for a scholarship and do not receive it. Maybe the application for another scholarship will work out.

I was thrilled to see the annual program with all the events organized by the Studienstiftung. This year's program is over 300 pages long and full of seminars, language courses and other events at many different locations in Germany and abroad that scholarship holders can attend. You can learn new things about so many topics - from care robots to environmental ethics - that I would probably never think about otherwise in the context of my studies.