Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice from anyone who has experience with the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship or Irish university admissions.

I have a first-class honours degree (73%) in Political Science and I’m preparing to apply for a Master’s in Ireland. My main issue isn’t eligibility it’s funding logistics.

I’ve already applied for the Irish Research Council scholarship, and now I’m preparing for the Government of Ireland Scholarship (opening late January). The problem is that most universities charge €50–€60 per application, which becomes extremely expensive when converted to my local currency. Applying to multiple universities simply isn’t financially possible for me.

I’ve heard that some universities waive off the application fee but I don’t know how this process actually work, whether all universities do this or only some and how early you need to contact them to make this possible

I also understand that the Government of Ireland scholarship usually expects prior engagement or an offer from a university, which creates a difficult loop you need an offer to get funding, but you need funding to apply for multiple offers.

So I’d really appreciate advice on:

  • Which Irish universities are more flexible or realistic for fully funded applicants
  • Whether contacting supervisors before applying actually helps
  • How to strategically limit applications to 1–2 universities without hurting chances
  • Any universities known to be supportive in such cases

I’m not looking for shortcuts just a realistic way to navigate this without spending money I genuinely don’t have.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their experience.

  • The idea is you don't apply to loads, you apply to a couple.

    And if you can't afford those application fees...then tbh, you can't afford this post grad. Ireland is so expensive and the scholarships and funding barely touch the money needed

    parent

  • How do you qualify for the scholarship as Pakistani? This is not reserved for EU nationals?

    parent

  • The Gov of Ireland Postgrad Scholarship programme js for research degrees, not taught. Research MScs take 2 years and are not very common these days. It sounds like you are applying for Taught MScs, and I am not aware of any full scholarships for international students to do them.

    parent

  • They are new rules now. For a phd scholarship you need a supervisor. That person can only support one application. So it's will be very hard to get a supervisor. Supports for masters are very much less common. A fee is needed to be paided for every masters course. No exceptions. So you only.apply for a few. The admin load is thus controlled.

    parent

    That rule applies to the Irish Research Council (IRC) scholarship. I applied for that with the support of a supervisor, and yes, each supervisor can support only one applicant, which makes it very competitive and difficult to secure supervision. For the IRC, I had to prepare a full research proposal in coordination with a supervisor, which is why finding one was challenging.

    However, I am currently looking at the (GOI-IES), which works differently. For GOI-IES, you first need to secure a university offer, and then you apply through the central portal. A supervisor’s endorsement is not required at the application stage in the same way as for IRC.

    parent root

  • You have to prove you have substantial funds in your bank account in order for your visa to even be approved. Given how much you're struggling to even apply to universities, I think studying abroad especially in ireland is maybe a step too far. I would do a bit more research on how expensive it is to rent and live abroad first.

    parent

    But a stipend would be given, right

    parent root

  • You don't have to apply to loads. Just try your chances and apply to the programme you really like the most.

    parent

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    parent

  • Some agents may waive the application fee for you. Try looking them up on the university's official website, it may help.

    parent