Hi, I'm Satyaki Mallick
This is the story of my
Scholarship Journey.

Hi, I am Satyaki Mallick and I am from India and I did my master's in Data Science and AI in the Netherlands at the Technical University of Eindhoven (QS Ranking 102 in my time) between 2019-2021. Now I work as a Data Consultant in the Netherlands and run my own business providing consultancy in Cloud, specializing in Amazon Cloud, and AWS.

I come from quite a poor family in India. I want my story to be an inspiration to readers that persistence, resolution, and grit can get you places. I come from a family where my father made $150 a month for a family of 3. Of course, living in India is cheap, but it is still low by Indian standards. Now, I make at least $5000 a month. This is not to boast but to be living proof that anything is possible if you keep at it and use some merit on the way.

Scholarship Details

I had a full scholarship (called ALSP) sponsored by the university. This scholarship covers 100% of the tuition fee (which is about 32k $ for 2 years) and 500 $ per month for housing. When I was researching, I found that finding student housing as an expat is impossible, so I settled for a 20 m2 studio, which used to cost about 900 $ per month. For food, I used to spend about 200 $ per month. And I wasn’t going out much, so I didn’t have too many other expenses. To maintain my social life and an active life, I joined the University sports association and a couple of sports which cost together about 100 $ a year.

Note - I always had in mind that I would only do a masters if I get a full scholarship. Thus I was researching for scholarships right when I started preparing to apply to different schools. I was simply going to QS, finding top universities by rank, going to their website, going to my program, and then going to their scholarship page (if they had any). I looked at probably over 100 scholarships most of which didn’t apply for me. Finally, I hit this one. That is a 1% success rate. So keep at it. Finding the one can take long. Also during this time, I was consuming a lot of YouTube videos of students who moved abroad, their vlogs and stories, the immigration process etc, and understanding the daunting journey that was standing in front of me and staring at me.

Educational Background

I studied in a Tier 3 college in India and then moved to Bangalore for work. I worked there for 3 years, made some savings, took some loans, just enough to sponsor my education abroad. To be specific, I took 2 loans, one education loan without any co-liability of 8000 $ (with 8% interest) and a personal loan also of 8000 $ (with 14% interest) but this was a interest-on-drawdown, i.e., I am only charged interest of the amount I draw down and stops if I put the money back. These 2 loans together were enough for me for the 2 years I was in the Netherlands studying. To add, in the Netherlands you can work for 20 hours a week as a student. So, I also did delivery by Uber for the summer months and earned about 2000 $ in total in 2 years.

How Did You Prepare to Apply for Scholarships and Institutions?

I didn’t have any scholarship-specific preparation. But what I did try is to have good recommendations from my company and my bachelors college. I collected them from people I know well and sent these 2 letters with my application. Along with that, I also submitted my TOEFL with a score of 108 and my GRE with a score of 314 (even though the GRE was not required by the university). I also got a connection through a friend who had studied at this University and accumulated some knowledge about the uni and the country, which I knew nothing about. (Looking back, it is an amazing country, and I probably shouldn’t have worried at all.)

What Would You Have Done Differently if You Were Going Through the Process Again?

I don’t think I would have done anything differently. This one step in my life has 180 degrees changed my life and career trajectory in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I am very happy with how things turned out. Now I have vibrant friends, strong professional connections and a happy life. However, I am not sure I will stay in NL long-term only because the weather is quite gloomy (especially in winter). I might move to Spain later.

What Advice Would You Give to Those Looking to Apply for a Similar Scholarship?

Just keep at it. Many times persistence outruns luck, talent, skill, and merit. Secondly, learn the power of cold emails and random social gatherings where you don’t know anyone. It is intensely uncomfortable but there is no telling where one conversation with a stranger can land you.