Here's how I did it!

Today, I updated my Canadian Common CV (CCV) because I wanted to add my most recent Journal Publication. However, I noticed there are missing updates in my CV. So I decided to update everything that was missing. Among the missing information were, behold, SEVEN different research scholarships or awards. I felt proud (not arrogant, but proud).

The Scholarships/Awards I Won

Here's a list of the scholarships and awards I won. Of course, some have higher monetary value than others. Still, to me, they all represent a unique significant achievement in my life.

  1. P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship
  2. Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQNT) · Nature and technologies
  3. Bourses D'implication aux Cycles Supérieurs
  4. Palmarès Féminin Pluriel
  5. Three Minute Thesis (3MT) ÉTS Finals
  6. LaCIME Research Video Competition
  7. Three Minutes Thesis (3MT) Eastern Regional Competition

Here's a list of scholarships that I did apply for but didn't get.

  1. Schlumberger Faculty for the Future
  2. Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

7 out of 9 is a pretty impressive success rate, and I couldn't be any happier. Reflecting on the graduate study acceptance vs. applications ratio, or the job offers to job applications ratio, my numbers were around 90% and 100%, respectively, in that domain. Whereas everywhere around me, I hear that students apply to at least 50 PhD positions before getting their first interview call.

So what's the secret to my success?

Most people attribute their success to divine intervention if they are humble or personal hard work. I do neither, well, not entirely at least. Most of my success comes from being "lucky." Not the kind of lucky you're thinking. Not the divinely blessed kind but purely probabilistically, coincidentally lucky. Derek Muller from Veritasium explained it much better in his video Is Success Luck or Hard Work?. Watch that if you're more interested in knowing what kind of luck I mean here.

The second secret to my success is meeting the right people at the right time.

I mean quite literally, meeting them 1 hour before the deadline kind. I ran into my friend Mathieu Gratuze on one of my rare visits to the university (only to print an Amazon return). He asked me if I had applied for Palmarès Féminin Pluriel. I told him I didn't; he told me I should. I asked him the deadline, and he told me it was in an hour. I prepared my submission in about 30 minutes. Mathieu agreed to sign the recommendation letter for me, and I submitted it about 10 minutes before the deadline.

The third secret to my success is living and telling my own story in a zero plagiarism way.

I used to look at samples of other people's CVs, essays, and research reports before writing my own. Subconsciously, there was a lot of "conforming to the norms" factor, writing the essay the way other people did, writing the research proposal the way others did, even following the LaTeX formats and chapter sequencing of my peers for submitting my research reports. I stopped doing that because of a conversation with my friend Medo. He said something like

Don't look at other people's material and don't follow their steps and their stories. Instead, tell your own story because you have your own unique story to tell that none of them do.

That was a game-changer for me. The minute I started doing things my way, it opened all of the creative pores in my skin, and somehow everything I wrote or said started feeling more genuine. The element of authenticity added a certain life to all my essays, presentations, and video submissions. As a result, this presentation made me win Three Minute Thesis (3MT) ÉTS Finals.

And here is the video I submitted for the LaCIME Research Video Competition that also made me win the first prize.

So there you have it, all of the secrets to my success.

That said, there are certain universal goods and bad when it comes to graduate study applications and scholarships.

I Would Love to Help

I learned from my success and failures, and I would love to help other students with what I learned. I created Academic Coaching with the help of some amazing friends. My Canadian Common CV (CCV) that won me these scholarships is available here. My complete LaTeX CV with source files included for you to edit and make your own is also available here.

I would love to offer my free time to help students apply for MS and PhD scholarships. I'm starting by offering five free sessions (30 minutes per session) over zoom. If you know someone who might need one, send them to Academic Coaching to request one.