DAAD Helmut Schmidt 2021

[Nas25]

28 minutes ago, Empirical said:

This is really awesome! you really have an outstanding profile and I assume that was the major reason you were shortlisted for the first stage of the selection. I hope this year will come with more success and we shall positively achieve our aims.

However, I also applied for Willy Brandt with a degree in Political Science (3.3/4.0) and a year working experience with Lagos State House of Assembly (a provincial legislative assembly in my home country, Nigeria). Also I’ve two years of voluntary service before graduation. I’m just being positive with the Willy Brandt decision but if it’s other way round, we willnstill move on with another target, they are myriad of ways to success, we will keep pushing till will reach the apex. 

Cheers! 

Hello Empirical. Nice to meet you. Did you only apply for Willy Brandt and when did you graduate? I'm aware that in Nigeria you do a year of youth service, some of my friends who went to law school there informed me. 

[MautonTimothy]

58 minutes ago, Empirical said:

This is really awesome! you really have an outstanding profile and I assume that was the major reason you were shortlisted for the first stage of the selection. I hope this year will come with more success and we shall positively achieve our aims.

However, I also applied for Willy Brandt with a degree in Political Science (3.3/4.0) and a year working experience with Lagos State House of Assembly (a provincial legislative assembly in my home country, Nigeria). Also I’ve two years of voluntary service before graduation. I’m just being positive with the Willy Brandt decision but if it’s other way round, we willnstill move on with another target, they are myriad of ways to success, we will keep pushing till will reach the apex. 

Cheers! 

I graduated with a CGPA of 4.0/5.0, I studied history and international studies. I actually did two different internships during my undergraduate studies, one at a shipping company and the other at a local government council. Also, I have many community service, leadership and volunteering experience. One thing about the DAAD scholarship (at the Brandt School) that I noticed is that, no one knows the exact criteria for their selection process. I chose only the Willy Brandt School, I know some of their students, though some of them have graduated now. Former recipients told me, one should do everything that'll give him or her leverage over other applicants, things like learning German and other relevant language before applying, telling them the areas you want to specialise on, writing a short abstract of your research proposal on the DAAD form. Actually, no one knows!  I started working on my application since December 2019, over 20 people reviewed my SOP. In fact, I submitted my application very early, but that's never a guarantee, today i have forgotten about DAAD and I'm working on other applications. One key attitude we'd all have when it comes to scholarship application is that, whenever you're applying for a programme channel all your efforts to ensure you foot a very strong and competitive application, believing they can never reject you, at the same time hurting for other scholarships like you haven't even applied for one.

[Dai Nguyen]

2 hours ago, Nas25 said:

No no its no issue at all. Well from what I've seen, candidates with a first class or second class upper degree can win it. Candidates must also have at least one year work experience in a field relevant to the masters program (graduate assistant-ships, and previous research work in that field count too). Apart from this factors, little things like recommendations or volunteering experience might give you a boost. If you meet all these, then just write a good to great Motivation Letter and you'll stand a chance. The interviews aren't technical at all, basic questions regarding your documents and your chosen specialization. Some people get it after this stage, some don't. Even some people who make it to the first shortlist of 30 people may not get interviewed at all. And if not interviewed by Willy Brandt, it is unlikely you'll get it, but still possible.

As for my personal profile, my GPA was good but nothing special (3.63/ 4.3). At the time of applying last year, I had 8 months of work experience after graduation and one year of voluntary experience which took place before graduation. I worked at an NGO but now work at a law firm.  

I thought you applied for Magdeburg and UDE but not Willy Brandt? Anyways, I'm also keen on knowing your academic and professional profile if you're open to sharing. Cheers!

 

Thanks for sharing Nas25. Indeed, you have a great profile. No doubt you were elected for the scholarship. 

Yes, I applied for Magdebug and UDE. I'm particularly interested in Democracy, Human Rights, and social justice that's why I applied for those universities. My background is Human Services (Social Work) and Business Administration. I recently worked for a non-profit company for almost two years with some regional achievement awards for my efforts of helping the community. My two letter of recommendation came from my supervisors. Before that I have more than 5 years experiences in Business. Currently, I have been unemployed for a year now due to relocation and the coronavirus I guess. Or maybe because I decided to change my career completely to Human Rights path so it is hard to find a decent job.   

My bachelor's degree is Community and Human Services with GPA 3.91/4.0. I don't give myself too much hopes up because I've never been luck with scholarships at all. Besides DAAD, I'm planing to apply for Denmark, CEU, Hollands in Public Affairs, Globalization and Development, and Public Administration and Politics. All of them is free tuition, housing subsidy, monthly stipend. There is one in British which is opening for application right now (Chevening) but I'm not interested much in British education. Besides that, do you know any other similar European scholarships for master's programs?

[Empirical]

1 hour ago, Nas25 said:

Hello Empirical. Nice to meet you. Did you only apply for Willy Brandt and when did you graduate? I'm aware that in Nigeria you do a year of youth service, some of my friends who went to law school there informed me. 

Yeah. I graduated in 2019 and started my youth service in same year in Lagos State House of Assembly, thus it’s automatic a year experience. I applied to Willy Brandt and University of Passau as first and second choice respectively 

[Dai Nguyen]

48 minutes ago, MautonTimothy said:

I graduated with a CGPA of 4.0/5.0, I studied history and international studies. I actually did two different internships during my undergraduate studies, one at a shipping company and the other at a local government council. Also, I have many community service, leadership and volunteering experience. One thing about the DAAD scholarship (at the Brandt School) that I noticed is that, no one knows the exact criteria for their selection process. I chose only the Willy Brandt School, I know some of their students, though some of them have graduated now. Former recipients told me, one should do everything that'll give him or her leverage over other applicants, things like learning German and other relevant language before applying, telling them the areas you want to specialise on, writing a short abstract of your research proposal on the DAAD form. Actually, no one knows!  I started working on my application since December 2019, over 20 people reviewed my SOP. In fact, I submitted my application very early, but that's never a guarantee, today i have forgotten about DAAD and I'm working on other applications. One key attitude we'd all have when it comes to scholarship application is that, whenever you're applying for a programme channel all your efforts to ensure you foot a very strong and competitive application, believing they can never reject you, at the same time hurting for other scholarships like you haven't even applied for one.

That's an excellent tip, Timothy but we passed the Application window already. Now all we can do is wait and hope. I don't know much about Willy Brandt's requirements but it seems they receive a lot of applications each year. What working requirement are they asking? UDE requires one year related work experience and Magdebug requires at least 3 months studying or working abroad. 

[Empirical]

10 minutes ago, Dai Nguyen said:

Thanks for sharing Nas25. Indeed, you have a great profile. No doubt you were elected for the scholarship. 

Yes, I applied for Magdebug and UDE. I'm particularly interested in Democracy, Human Rights, and social justice that's why I applied for those universities. My background is Human Services (Social Work) and Business Administration. I recently worked for a non-profit company for almost two years with some regional achievement awards for my efforts of helping the community. My two letter of recommendation came from my supervisors. Before that I have more than 5 years experiences in Business. Currently, I have been unemployed for a year now due to relocation and the coronavirus I guess. Or maybe because I decided to change my career completely to Human Rights path so it is hard to find a decent job.   

My bachelor's degree is Community and Human Services with GPA 3.91/4.0. I don't give myself too much hopes up because I've never been luck with scholarships at all. Besides DAAD, I'm planing to apply for Denmark, CEU, Hollands in Public Affairs, Globalization and Development, and Public Administration and Politics. All of them is free tuition, housing subsidy, monthly stipend. There is one in British which is opening for application right now (Chevening) but I'm not interested much in British education. Besides that, do you know any other similar European scholarships for master's programs?

This is indeed an outstanding profile. I would appreciate if you can give tips about other scholarships (I already know about Chevening and I’m not interested) but the Denmark, CEU and Holland would be highly appreciated.

[Dai Nguyen]

1 minute ago, Empirical said:

This is indeed an outstanding profile. I would appreciate if you can give tips about other scholarships (I already know about Chevening and I’m not interested) but the Denmark, CEU and Holland would be highly appreciated.

Sure, always willing to share with you guys even we could compete to each other. lol. just kidding. Denmark and Netherlands are government scholarship. There is no separate application, you apply along with universities admission you choose. look up more info on the university website. it also applies to CEU, Central European University, you can find all info on their website. I haven’t applied for them yet because there is application fee ($200, $40, and $150). So I wait until i know the DAAD result and then apply. lets me know if you have any further questions. 

[Empirical]

1 minute ago, Dai Nguyen said:

Sure, always willing to share with you guys even we could compete to each other. lol. just kidding. Denmark and Netherlands are government scholarship. There is no separate application, you apply along with universities admission you choose. look up more info on the university website. it also applies to CEU, Central European University, you can find all info on their website. I haven’t applied for them yet because there is application fee ($200, $40, and $150). So I wait until i know the DAAD result and then apply. lets me know if you have any further questions. 

I will make further research.. Thanks for sharing this

[Nas25]

2 hours ago, MautonTimothy said:

I graduated with a CGPA of 4.0/5.0, I studied history and international studies. I actually did two different internships during my undergraduate studies, one at a shipping company and the other at a local government council. Also, I have many community service, leadership and volunteering experience. One thing about the DAAD scholarship (at the Brandt School) that I noticed is that, no one knows the exact criteria for their selection process. I chose only the Willy Brandt School, I know some of their students, though some of them have graduated now. Former recipients told me, one should do everything that'll give him or her leverage over other applicants, things like learning German and other relevant language before applying, telling them the areas you want to specialise on, writing a short abstract of your research proposal on the DAAD form. Actually, no one knows!  I started working on my application since December 2019, over 20 people reviewed my SOP. In fact, I submitted my application very early, but that's never a guarantee, today i have forgotten about DAAD and I'm working on other applications. One key attitude we'd all have when it comes to scholarship application is that, whenever you're applying for a programme channel all your efforts to ensure you foot a very strong and competitive application, believing they can never reject you, at the same time hurting for other scholarships like you haven't even applied for one.

Wow! great! May all your efforts be rewarded. You do have an impressive GPA and with 20 reviews of your SOP I'm sure its pitch perfect. You'll win big soon bro and your positive attitude will take you places. 

[Nas25]

1 hour ago, Dai Nguyen said:

Thanks for sharing Nas25. Indeed, you have a great profile. No doubt you were elected for the scholarship. 

Yes, I applied for Magdebug and UDE. I'm particularly interested in Democracy, Human Rights, and social justice that's why I applied for those universities. My background is Human Services (Social Work) and Business Administration. I recently worked for a non-profit company for almost two years with some regional achievement awards for my efforts of helping the community. My two letter of recommendation came from my supervisors. Before that I have more than 5 years experiences in Business. Currently, I have been unemployed for a year now due to relocation and the coronavirus I guess. Or maybe because I decided to change my career completely to Human Rights path so it is hard to find a decent job.   

My bachelor's degree is Community and Human Services with GPA 3.91/4.0. I don't give myself too much hopes up because I've never been luck with scholarships at all. Besides DAAD, I'm planing to apply for Denmark, CEU, Hollands in Public Affairs, Globalization and Development, and Public Administration and Politics. All of them is free tuition, housing subsidy, monthly stipend. There is one in British which is opening for application right now (Chevening) but I'm not interested much in British education. Besides that, do you know any other similar European scholarships for master's programs?

Wow Bud, You hit an almost perfect GPA. Might I ask when you graduated from Uni, you seem to have many years of work experience which of course stands to your advantage. With regards European scholarships, in the Netherlands the University of Groningen and Maastricht  University offer their own fully funded internal scholarships. Poland government also offers fully funded scholarships, and the Swedish Government  Scholarship will open up in early 2021 for professionals with at least 2-3 years work experience. Hope this helps!

[Nas25]

1 hour ago, Empirical said:

Yeah. I graduated in 2019 and started my youth service in same year in Lagos State House of Assembly, thus it’s automatic a year experience. I applied to Willy Brandt and University of Passau as first and second choice respectively 

Did you face any challenges writing about two different universities and two different programs in the same Motivation Letter? It was tough for me last year when I applied to the same two universities. Prior to last two years, I heard previous applicants made separate applications with separate Motivation Letters. The current system is however difficult and may discourage one to apply to two universities.

[Empirical]

2 hours ago, Nas25 said:

Did you face any challenges writing about two different universities and two different programs in the same Motivation Letter? It was tough for me last year when I applied to the same two universities. Prior to last two years, I heard previous applicants made separate applications with separate Motivation Letters. The current system is however difficult and may discourage one to apply to two universities.

Despite the difficulties, I still need to follow the instruction. I used a single motivation letter for the two universities, however I clearly stated my first and second choice in my letter. 

[Dai Nguyen]

6 hours ago, Nas25 said:

Wow Bud, You hit an almost perfect GPA. Might I ask when you graduated from Uni, you seem to have many years of work experience which of course stands to your advantage. With regards European scholarships, in the Netherlands the University of Groningen and Maastricht  University offer their own fully funded internal scholarships. Poland government also offers fully funded scholarships, and the Swedish Government  Scholarship will open up in early 2021 for professionals with at least 2-3 years work experience. Hope this helps!

I came to school a little bit late than other people, not a typical/traditional student at all. In Vietnam I have 2 degrees in Accounting and Business Administration. In America, I have also have two degrees one associate and one bachelor in Human Services. The Bachelor's degree I just graduated in 2019. I could not find any info about Poland government scholarship, can you please send me a link? Thanks, 

[Maxlili]

Thank you guys for sharing your opinions. These discussions eases waiting process. I already have MA degree and my concern is that they might not consider my application because of that. I know there are no formal restrictions but internally, they will probably prefer those only from BA. Anyways, I'll let you know about results. What scholarship odes Netherlands offer? they have some outstanding universities.  Do you mean Orange Knowledge Programme or there are some others? cause about this programme, I was told from Maastricht University that they are reforming and it will become partially funded, not fully.

[Nas25]

4 hours ago, Maxlili said:

Thank you guys for sharing your opinions. These discussions eases waiting process. I already have MA degree and my concern is that they might not consider my application because of that. I know there are no formal restrictions but internally, they will probably prefer those only from BA. Anyways, I'll let you know about results. What scholarship odes Netherlands offer? they have some outstanding universities.  Do you mean Orange Knowledge Programme or there are some others? cause about this programme, I was told from Maastricht University that they are reforming and it will become partially funded, not fully.

Hello Max! What area of studies did you get your BA, and MA from? On the contrary I think you're at an advantage, I know a number of people with two Masters who were awarded the DAAD scholarship, so you need not worry. I didn't know about Maastricht policy change, maybe covid-19 affected their funding.

[Nas25]

7 hours ago, Dai Nguyen said:

I came to school a little bit late than other people, not a typical/traditional student at all. In Vietnam I have 2 degrees in Accounting and Business Administration. In America, I have also have two degrees one associate and one bachelor in Human Services. The Bachelor's degree I just graduated in 2019. I could not find any info about Poland government scholarship, can you please send me a link? Thanks, 

https://nawa.gov.pl/ thats the link. The website is in Polish so you'll maybe need to use google translate.

[Nas25]

2 hours ago, Nas25 said:

https://nawa.gov.pl/ thats the link. The website is in Polish so you'll maybe need to use google translate.

You can actually click the small British flag at the top of the page and then read the website in English.

[Maxlili]

5 hours ago, Nas25 said:

Hello Max! What area of studies did you get your BA, and MA from? On the contrary I think you're at an advantage, I know a number of people with two Masters who were awarded the DAAD scholarship, so you need not worry. I didn't know about Maastricht policy change, maybe covid-19 affected their funding.

I studied social work at BA and Public Policy at MA. That's what concerns me. The same degree. But of course I have motivation and personal goal why I applied at willy brandt and of course mentioned it in motivation letter. We will see. Maastricht University told me about OK scholarship programs. Not about their own. They mentioned that Orange Knowledge Programme will be reshaped and only partially funded as home organizations where you work, are supposed to support and finance you. This has no sense to me as I don't think there would be many companies who will support you for two years.

[Nas25]

5 minutes ago, Maxlili said:

I studied social work at BA and Public Policy at MA. That's what concerns me. The same degree. But of course I have motivation and personal goal why I applied at willy brandt and of course mentioned it in motivation letter. We will see. Maastricht University told me about OK scholarship programs. Not about their own. They mentioned that Orange Knowledge Programme will be reshaped and only partially funded as home organizations where you work, are supposed to support and finance you. This has no sense to me as I don't think there would be many companies who will support you for two years.

True that makes no sense whatsoever! People even turn down scholarships that provide only full tuition but no stipend for living costs, imagine telling those applicants to foot half of the tuition bill as well. Don't worry too much about the MA. I think you can work around it by explaining in your motivation letter what elements of the MA Public Policy program at Willy Brandt were not present in your previous degree, and how you think those elements would be beneficial to you and/or your country. I'm sure you did a great job and wrote wonderful essay. It shall be well at the end of the day.

[jsb0408]

Anyone here applied to the University of Passau? 

[Empirical]

6 minutes ago, jsb0408 said:

Anyone here applied to the University of Passau? 

Yeah. I did as my second choice

[jsb0408]

Just now, Empirical said:

Yeah. I did as my second choice

Same here. Erfurt was my first choice. But unlike WB, Passau will not release any shortlisted candidates, right? 

[Empirical]

Just now, jsb0408 said:

Same here. Erfurt was my first choice. But unlike WB, Passau will not release any shortlisted candidates, right? 

There is no information of such from Passau

[jsb0408]

2 hours ago, Empirical said:

There is no information of such from Passau

That’s right. Thank you! Anyone who already received anything from WB?

[jsb0408]

On 9/22/2020 at 4:09 PM, Maxlili said:

What's your background guys? did you study Public Policy before? do you have BA or also MA?

nope. my background is communication and law. no background on public policy