Motivation & Finding Your "Why": Amisha's Success Story

Amisha had no clue where to start with scholarships and how she would manage her busy schedule in Grade 12. Learn how she found her "why" and graduated with $40,000 in scholarships.

Written by Adam Griffiths and Amisha Verma

In the summer right before my Grade 12 year of high school, I decided to get a head start and look into scholarships, universities, and other grants that I wanted to apply for.

I was completely clueless about the process.

I did not know what websites to look at or who to ask for help. Starting my search on Google, I spent about 3 hours looking at different scholarships before I got so overwhelmed, I shut off my laptop.

There were way too many scholarships, each with different requirements and criteria. I had no idea which of my experiences to highlight or talk about in each scholarship. There were also scholarships that I thought were too “competitive” and not even worth applying too.

Only one good thing came out of my scholarship web search, and that was discovering GrantMe.

Along came school in September.

I remember feeling super unmotivated and almost as if I was “stuck” with all my responsibilities and involvements.

I had school, dance practice, volunteering at a clinic, homework, university applications, and scholarships. Sometimes, I got so overwhelmed I just wanted to give up. GrantMe taught me a crucial thing though, which was learning your WHY.

Learning my WHY helped me stay on top of things in all of Grade 12.

I am so grateful for the mentorship and office hour calls because they provided me with the confidence and guidance I needed to pursue my goals. Having actual conversations with my mentors and other team members really helped me understand why it was important to do the things I did and how to set up my environment to keep going.  

I remember writing my first essay about my involvement in the community and my leadership roles. I had so many different things to write about, which made my essay all over the place with no clear sense of direction. My expectations were for my essay to be edited and ready for me to just hand in, but that was definitely not the case.

GrantMe wants to push you to unlock your potential by reaching the best of your ability.

I was handed back my essay with suggestions to improve not only the actual essay but my writing skills overall. GrantMe helped me understand what each scholarship committee was really looking for.

Their feedback taught me how to illustrate my achievements so that they became significant. I learned how to have a clear sense of direction while writing by explaining my roles most relevant to the scholarship and showcasing my impact. I learned how to use STAR structure, which I now regularly use in my personal essays.

Deliberate practice makes all the difference in how one performs.

I realized becoming an excellent communicator saves you a lot of time and hassle in your studies and helps advance your career. Although writing scholarship essays took effort, GrantMe taught me that honing your writing is a good use of your time.

Over time, I noticed more improvement in things other than just my writing.

Through mentorship calls, I learned how to hold myself accountable and how to prioritize.

I started to gain a new perspective in the way I set up my goals and became more motivated to work hard in all aspects of my life. I became more open-minded and took almost every opportunity that was given to me. A key lesson I learned was that even if I did not win, every essay I wrote was a learning experience.

The process also helped me realize how diverse scholarships can be. I ended up winning a dance scholarship from the academy that I already attended.

I became more confident in pursuing my career as a dentist. By channelling my potential, GrantMe helped me become more confident in myself.

I was able to get into my first choice university and win $40,000 in scholarships.

I'm excited to work hard and achieve my future goals. As a dentist, I hope to engage in dental education and research. I also want to provide my skills to populations that desperately lack access to affordable oral health services, products, and education.

GrantMe taught me that I am capable of more than I think I am.

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Amisha Verma is a 2020 GrantMe Academy program alumnus and a current GrantMe Mentor. 

If you want to achieve success like Amisha, GrantMe can help. We provide personalized scholarship matches, essay editing, and mentorship from past winners to maximize your success. Complete our short scholarship eligibility quiz to learn more about how GrantMe can help you achieve your post-secondary goals.