Prior to the first round of selections, all of us applicants had to fill in the online form via BrightSparks. Apart from the usual info (e.g. family background, education, interests etc), there were also 3 additional questions (all responses below <100 words):
- Why do you want to apply for a CAAS scholarship?
- What are some of your strengths and weaknesses?
- What is your greatest achievement and failure?
In the beginning, I was sitting on the fence on whether I should apply for CAAS. I wasn’t very sure whether I would like the work in CAAS, so I created a draft application (without submitting it). To my surprise, I received a call from CAAS asking if I could make it for the first round of selections. (I spoke to other applicants during the first round and some of them were in the same situation as I was, so I wasn’t the only one who received a call based on a draft application alone)
The first round of the selection process was a full day session at the CAAS scholarship assessment centre. It’s inside the CAAS building which is located at Changi Airport Terminal 2.
We were around 30 people scheduled to attend this session. To my knowledge, this wasn’t the only session as I had friends who already attended the session the week before/were scheduled to attend one next week. I am guessing that there are around 5 sessions, which adds up to more than a 100 applicants. That’s very fierce competition. We were also required to submit our official documents (A level result slip, CCA records etc) and most people there had straight As.
We were divided into groups, 10 people in each team. They gave us an introductory briefing about CAAS, and then it was time for the assessment activities. Details of the exact assessment procedure are confidential so I can’t say much, but there really isn’t much you can do to prepare for it because the activities require you to think on the spot. In that sense, your true personality really shows throughout the entire assessment process and there’s little time to think through things since everything’s so spontaneous.
Also, it is really really competitive. I found out that most people who applied for CAAS also applied for other aviation related scholarships such as SIA and CAG, which means that you’ll essentially be competing with the same pool of outstanding individuals for that limited number of scholarships.
I actually met one of my work friends at the interview (he’s studying in poly) and he left the assessment centre halfway (he essentially gave up on his chance for the scholarship) because he felt that he didn’t stand a chance anymore. Personally, I knew my chances were low when I first entered the room. I saw a lot of familiar faces from school. Still, I just decided to do my best since I was already there at the assessment centre. Also it was quite a cool experience overall 🙂
One of my friend got called up for a second round of interviews a few weeks later.
outcome: rejected
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