My name is …. who was taking diploma course in the major of banking and finance at Kaplan Higher Education Academy in 2018, I am currently enrolled in my first trimester as a full-time undergraduate student. I am honored to have an opportunity to apply for the Intake 41 scholarship program. I am very grateful to the school for giving us such an opportunity to get financial support and the management team for helping me during diploma study. I believe that accomplishing a diploma study just a fundamental step in my academic pursuits and choosing Kaplan Higher Education Academy will be an important factor in reaching my academic excellence. I am committed to pursuing Bachelor's degree of Accounting and Finance as well as masters and PHDs in the future.
The value of pursuing academic excellence is one thing that I have recognized since I became a student. Personally, I study hard and sincerely to achieve good grades, which is very evident from my school report, am making progress in this field with an excellent grade point average. As every coin has two sides, however, there are lots of obstacles and challenges in the process of striving for outstanding academic outcome. The first thing that made me feel stressed was the difference in language and the new environment as an international student. My first language is not English, yet the language of teaching and materials here are in the form of English, which may have led to a lack of understanding or misunderstanding of what I was learning. What I only could do to solve this problem at first was to constantly reread the content of the textbook and the slides of the lecture until I really understood. I did not have the courage to ask for help from classmates who have mastered it or lectures because the new environment has made me nervous. One day, perhaps the teacher saw my predicament, approached me and offered to help me. At that moment, I felt very warm in my heart, and I realized that Kaplan Higher Education Academy is also a home. After that, I work harder and go to an auxiliary class during the extra school hours, keep memorizing words, read English articles as well as listen to the BBC almost every day in order to improve my English level. Therefore, language has become less of an influence on learning. Another challenge is that to balance between time in study and leisure. The teaching system here is different from that of the schools I have attended before. Like the teaching time is very short, the maximum is three hours a day compared to more than 10 hours in the previous school, which requires me to allocate the rest of the time myself. I found self-discipline really difficult or I did not know how to allocate time in the beginning, after I consulted with Kaplan's consultant, I realized that I needed to balance study and playtime. Gradually, I have arranged time efficiently and make sure I have spent enough time on my studies.
In addition to focusing on my studies full-time, I have also been active in campus and community outside of the classroom, serving on the student union and involved in the badminton club at school, and volunteering at a local charity organization named “Lions Befrienders “during school breaks. Furthermore， with the background of Singapore as a multi-ethnic country, my classmates come from different countries over the world in Kaplan Higher Education Academy, which actually means that there are a wide variety of cultural learning available to me .I often talk to them about our different cultures and lives after school or on weekends because I like to touch different things. I believe that it is important to understand different cultures and respect other people's cultures, and also to reduce the cultural friction when we do project together. In doing these, I have learned how to manage, corporate with others and think from different angles.
Last but not least, my parents did not have the opportunity to go to college in that era, and have been facing many struggles in their careers and personal lives due to this. They have a deeper understanding of the importance of education， which has led them to inculcate in me at an early age the need to succeed academically and to cultivate my love of knowledge. This is the reason why they sent me here so I could learn more and broaden my horizons. Besides, they have been doing their best to support me as they do not want me to be as hard as they are in the future. Because of their selfless love and sacrifice for me over the years, I have been able to spend the time and energy on pursuing academic excellence even though money has always been tight. I have made many times in the top-ranking even No.1 and become one of the excellent graduates in the previous schools. In pursuit of my academic dream, especially since I have been studying abroad, which undoubtedly have added to the weight of the financial burden to my parents. I used to be a mathematic tutor to make some money when I was in high school which is a way to lighten the financial burden on my family, but I could not do anything in Singapore because of the strict law.
As you know, college tuition is too expensive, but it is a certainly worthwhile investment. My parents sacrificed a lot for me so that I had a chance to be the first person in my family to go abroad to study and take courses with Kaplan Higher Education Academy. Receiving this financial assistance will enable me to continue my academic pursuit, realize my long-term goal as well as the dream of my parents, and ease the financial burden on my parents to some extent.
I greatly appreciate your consideration. Please know that this financial assistance will exert a tremendous influence on my ability to continue in university and will be greatly appreciated. I will continue to apply diligence to my degree study. I can assure that today I am proud of the school, tomorrow the school will be proud of me.