Divyangana Sharma
2021-22 Premier’s Award winner, International Student of the Year
Treat your application like an assignment, and work on it bit by bit
I treated my application as one of my assignments… I used to come back to it, so I used to give it a little bit of my day... and I used to draft it and I sent it to my mentor for her to review it. Otherwise I would’ve gotten lazy with it, I would’ve prioritised other things over it… it was really good to put that kind of pressure on [myself].
Don’t sell yourself short - everything you’ve achieved, no matter how small, is worth mentioning
We often think our smallest achievements are not worth mentioning, but you’d be surprised how that small thing that you’ve done has had a bigger impact on a community, on your family and your friends, at your uni or institution... so don’t be afraid to use those small achievements and hype them up.
Ritika Saxena
2021-2022 International Student of the Year – Research, Commendation: Premier’s Award – International Student of the Year
Keep a list of everything you’ve done and select the ones that best fit your application
Keep a tab of things you think might be useful in applications. Put down a list of places you volunteered for, things you accomplished, awards you’ve won, certificates you’ve won, part time work you’ve done where you were recognized for being a great manager on the floor, or when someone gave you a really nice compliment and every time they come back to the restaurant they always want to sit with you. Those things show that you're going above and beyond the average person in that space and why you’re important and why you’re valued. Based on what award you’re going for, [you can] copy paste relevant experiences and tailor them to the application.
Find a person/mentor who will advocate for you, no matter what
[It's important to find] people who will- in an unwavering manner- sponsor and support you, who will think it’s their biggest joy in the world to be able to say, ‘Yes, I know this person, they’re really great, I think you should give them this award.
Put that application in (even last minute!) regardless of what you think might be the outcome
Put that application in. I almost didn’t apply last year... [but] I put it in on the last day before the due date… I think we have to start shifting our metric of success from an award to the fact that you’re submitting an application. While an award and recognition [are] great for its own purpose, when we tie ourselves to it, it really discounts the process of preparing an application [and] the type of training it offers for you and changing the way you think about life. If we change the way we think about applications, they start feeling a little bit less overwhelming.
