Why are scholarships applied for after being admitted to a university? (UK)?

Question

Why do I have to be admitted to a university before thinking of requesting a scholarschip?

How can I go through the admission process if I don't know whether of not I'll have the money to pay for my studies?!

What happens if I am admitted, but I fail to gain the scholarship I applied for? I can't afford to pay the fees, so is there the possibility to cancel my admission?

I'm not in this situation (yet!) but I'm thinking of becoming a Visiting Student at a UK university and I'm very confused by all these. If someone could answer my questions and make things clear, I'd be very grateful! Thank you!

Answer 1

I'm going to assume your a non-UK citizen, please correct me if I'm wrong. Will do my best to try to answer your questions.

Scholarships in the UK are very competitive because there are so few and often they want to see how many students have accepted.  From this field they then dole out scholarships to the ones they feel best qualified / highest needs people.  Sometimes the scholarship comes with the acceptance too.

It is not uncommon for people to self-fund their studies in the UK, even for PhD level degrees.  Native people of the UK pay next to nothing for school.  Because the schools in the UK are government run there isn't the same levels of cash that you would see in many private American schools. My original acceptance for Oxford was contingent on me demonstrating suitable funds to complete my program.  Being from a low to middle class family it was difficult to say the least.  Co-signed many power lines with family, friends, etc, and it was sufficient proof because I had 'access' to the money.  In the end I managed to get full scholarship, thankfully.  I was really lucky because if I couldn't prove that I could self-fund, I wouldn't have gotten in.  My retroactive scholarship came 10 months after I started and only due to doing an incredible amount of work and generating great research.

It's quite a bittersweet pill, but should you not get a scholarship and not be able to fund yourself then you will have to defer / decline the offer of admission.  Many students are able to defer their acceptance for another year and then look for funding from a separate body: Rhodes, Gates, CBIE, etc.  When they get their funding they then accept their position.

Best of luck with the scholarship!

Answer 2

Because if they give out all the money before a student begins school and that student fails to come, they have wasted that opportunity that could have gone to another deserving student.....

Some universities to award scholarships prior to arriving at schools.