Dalia is a Mexican girl who won the Santander full scholarship to participate in the TrepCamp entrepreneurship program at New York University (NYU) in 2018. This program allowed her to develop a business idea for 3 weeks and in addition to all the learning gained, she had incredible experiences discovering the iconic city of New York with new friends of different countries from all around the world.
In addition to New York, TrepCamp takes place in Silicon Valley, Boston, and even outside the United States in London and Mexico City – you choose in which location you want to participate!
Dalia studied International Business at Tecnológico de Monterrey, and throughout her studies, she has been able to participate in programs at several of the most important universities of the world. In 2017 she won a full scholarship to study a course at Yale University, as well as a full scholarship to study a course at Harvard University. She also studied in Canada for 4 months as a Tutor of PrepaTec’s international youth program. Dalia says, “Opportunities are always there, it’s just a matter of looking for them.”
If you want to know more about this and other programs in which Dalia has participated abroad, I recommend you to follow her in her social networks:
- Instagram: @dalia_gloria
- Facebook: @DaliaGloria
Now Dalia will tell us:
- Characteristics of the scholarship
- Application process
- How did I win the scholarship?
- Experience
- My Story
- Program
- Location
- General opinion
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
1. Characteristics
- Scholarships: there are 3 scholarships for this program:
- Santander Mexico Scholarship: is a full scholarship that covers the cost of the program, accommodation and airplane tickets. You need to be an active student at a Mexican University that has an agreement with Banco Santander to apply.
- Santander X Scholarship: covers the cost of the program. You need to be an active student at a university that has an agreement with Banco Santander to apply.
- TrepCamp Scholarship: covers the cost of the program and has no study requirements. Varies in percentage: 15%, 30%, 50% and up to 75% for the most talented Treps that cannot be covered by another scholarship.
- Location: you can choose to participate in
- United States: New York, Boston, Silicon Valley, and San Diego.
- England: London.
- Mexico: Mexico City.
- Web page(s): Scholarships trepcamp.org/scholarships2019, and Program trepcamp.org
- Requirements:
- Nationality: open to persons from any country, regardless of nationality.
- Age: Suggestion between 18 to 30 years old.
- Language(s): English for programs in the United States and England. The Mexico City program is taught in Spanish.
- Duration: The program lasted 3 weeks.
- Application Fee: There is no application fee.
- Visa: you only need the B1/B2 tourist visa for the United States.
2. Application Process
By applying to the program you are automatically applying to all scholarships. First of all, the Assessment Center is carried out to be able to see the profile of the applicants. Then, if successful, are invited to a virtual interview.
Assesment Center
- Login to trepcamp.org
- Click on “Join TrepCamp”.
- Fill in the form that appears in the new tab.
- Answer the Assessment Center.
Virtual Interview
- Attend informative webinars.
- Conduct the virtual interview.
Acceptance
- Wait for your acceptance letter.
- Accept the scholarship in case of obtaining it.
- Secure your place with the first payment of the program (you must do so if you do not win a full scholarship).
I found TrepCamp thanks to a super friend named Alex Reyes, in fact, I met him applying to the Canadian Tutoring program. He had the opportunity to participate in TrepCamp at Stanford in 2017 and coming back he told me about his experience.
He told me that he believed that I had the profile that the program was looking for and that I should apply. I trusted his advice, searched for more information, attended an informative webinar and applied.
I completed the entire application process and a little less than a month later, I received my letter of acceptance which also offered me the Santander full scholarship. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
3. How did I win the scholarship?
All you have to do is participate and give your best in the activities that are assigned to you, don’t be afraid to be different in the interviews and really mention why you should be chosen to be accepted in TrepCamp.
I don’t have a clear answer as to how I won the scholarship since a panel of TrepCamp people is the one who reviews the applications and decides who to award the scholarships to.
In my opinion, I think it was because I performed well in both the Assesment Center and the virtual interview, I spoke about myself and answered clearly what they asked me without hesitation. Qualifications are not important for this program, and they don’t evaluate your project idea, but your qualities to carry it out.
4. My experience
a. My history
Yale University (United States)
First of all, in the summer of 2017, I got a full scholarship to study the course “Causes and Consequences of Corruption” at Yale University.
Harvard University (United States)
In July 2017, as a reward for being part of the Tec Ambassadors program, I was able to attend a Leadership and Communication course at Harvard University with a full scholarship.
PrepaTec (Canada)
While in the TrepCamp program, I found out that I had been chosen as a Tutor for the international PrepaTec youth program, which gave me the opportunity to study in Canada for 4 months, traveling to different cities such as Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, and Ottawa.
*Most of these opportunities came from internal programs at my university, Tec de Monterrey.
b. Program
These are the basic points of the program:
- Studies: Entrepreneurship at New York University (NYU).
- My Teachers: The program is led by an “Entrepreneur in Residence” who gives you classes to reinforce your entrepreneurial skills. In addition, you have lectures from important speakers who are part of recognized organizations such as Uber, Paypal, and Shopify. You also have a mentor to support you and your team during the program.
- My peers: They were from both Mexico and other countries, generally we all were between 20 to 28 years old and shared a passion for entrepreneurship.
- Activities: We had different activities such as visits to important companies, classes, and workshops.
- Tourism: Everything had to be a balance, so I also had the opportunity to visit many iconic landmarks in New York.
c. Location
The program took place in New York, United States. This is one of the best cities because it has everything you can think of: parks, beach, city, entertainment of any kind, restaurants, cultural centers and much more.
- Accommodation: We lived in the university’s student residence in Brooklyn, very close to Brooklyn Bridge and DUMBO.
- People: It’s amazing to see the New York girls as they move day by day in the subway, walking and everything… IN HIGH HEELS! It takes a lot of strength to do that. Seriously, the whole rhythm of life is very fast. You have to be able to follow the rhythm of everyone else when walking and be careful not to look like a tourist.
- Weather: It was summer, so the weather was very nice, between 20-25 Cº.
- Food: Little Italy is a must! I recommend the restaurant “Paesano” the lasagna makes you cry of happiness.
- Safety: I felt safe at all times because I was always with a group, although I did take care of my bag and belongings in places like the subway.
5. General Opinion of TrepCamp
Pros
- The program is one of the best experiences I have ever had.
- For 3 weeks you are immersed in one of the most important cities in the world.
- The people you meet and networking are forever. It is incredible how many people can create such a strong connection in such a short time.
- The knowledge you gain has no point of comparison. In just 3 weeks your perspective of your potential and what you can achieve changes completely.
Cons
- There are no cons, in my opinion, the program is very well done.
6. Recommendations
- Apply as soon as possible, the number of scholarships is limited.
- Don’t worry if you still don’t have a business idea in mind, at TrepCamp you can team up with others to develop an idea that solves an important global problem.
- Balance the “Trep” life and tourism, everything can be done if you are organized. Take advantage of your stay in New York to go to museums on weekends as the other days you will only have free time during the evening when the museums have already closed. Visit everything you can that is not as common as when you go on an express trip. Give yourself the opportunity to eat in parks, eat new food, don’t be afraid to ask strangers for directions, and look at pages like Time Out for activities to do. Go to at least to one Broadway play!
- Give your 100%, because if your team is one of the top 5 you will continue participating in the following rounds. My team was a finalist for the Global Demo Day and our story was published in “Entrepreneur en Español” and “INC Monterrey” magazines.
- Don’t be afraid to participate!
¡Apply!
Each year, the program has 3 application rounds:
- Round 1: November to December
- Round 2: January to February
- Round 3: April
Don’t waste any more time and go to www.trepcamp.org
In the Study Abroad section, you can find more experiences of success cases winning scholarships to study abroad! If you had a similar experience and want to inspire others to apply please send an email to pilar.noriega@thelifestylehunter.com
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Quite motivating to see all these opportunities out there. I am wondering though, what does a full scholarship cover?