Henrietta Marcel

Gospel of Jesus addict,
Chemistry graduate @ University of Benin,
Creative Writer.

[Michael Taiwo @AskMichaelTaiwo]

September is that time of the year where many companies match their employees’ donations to charity.

Please consider gifting The Michael Taiwo Scholarships and, very importantly, asking your employer to match (or even double match) your donations.

If you just type “Michael Taiwo” in where you search for charities, ours would come up.

Our EIN is 88-1437535 and all your donations are 100% tax deductible.

Thank you for supporting the next generation of talent.

[Michael Taiwo Annual Scholarships @MtScholarships]

69 scholars. 9,198 applicants. One remarkable milestone. 🎓

The Michael Taiwo Scholarships has announced its largest-ever cohort, welcoming 69 exceptional graduates from 6 nationalities.

Behind that number are stories of persistence, rejection, hope, and finally, opportunity.

From 7 scholars in 2019 to 69 in 2026, this is more than growth. It is a growing community committed to making graduate school more accessible to talented people, regardless of their financial circumstances.

Want to meet the 2026 scholars and read the stories behind this milestone?

Read the full story on our website: https://t.co/3psMPAQ2pI

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@AskMichaelTaiwo Yes sir.
I was in a church retreat and didn't feel very prepared. Network was a bit unstable too and that unsettled me a little.
Thank you so much sir. I am grateful to have come this far and I know it can only get better. I don't take this opportunity for granted at all.

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@Remmypearl1 @AskMichaelTaiwo @MtScholarships Thank you

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

Delighted to be selected as one of the 69 2026 MT Scholars, from 9,198 applicants! 🎉 Thank you Dr. Michael Taiwo @AskMichaelTaiwo and the entire MT Scholarship team @MtScholarships , for this incredible opportunity. Looking forward to making the most of it! 🙏🏾

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@Jerryokita @AskMichaelTaiwo @MtScholarships Thank you Jey

[Michael Taiwo Annual Scholarships @MtScholarships]

On Saturday, Aug 29, we had an orientation meeting with the 2026 MT Scholars, and it went extremely well.

We introduced the team, walked them through how the organization works, went over the award letter and the terms in detail, and explained what the next few months will look like.

With each walkthrough the questions came in, plenty of them just as expected, and we gave full answers to every single one.

One of the best parts of the orientation was seeing the faces, and hearing the voices of the scholars whose applications we read closely and whose names we have been repeating in meetings for weeks.

The meeting also showed the scholars what MT Scholarships is really about. A program that removes the cost standing between a qualified candidate and the schools they want to apply to. That cost is where a lot of good dreams quietly end, not because someone was not good enough but because the door had a price on it. Remove it and everything after opens up.

And if you can win the MT Scholarships, you can win anything. This is evidenced by our scholars from earlier years who are now at Yale, Oxford, Cornell, Cambridge and Howard, many of them fully funded.

To the 2026 MT Scholars, Congratulations and welcome to our community.

We are glad to have you with us and we are ready to serve you.

[Michael Taiwo Annual Scholarships @MtScholarships]

BREAKING: 69 brilliant graduates emerge as 2026 MT Scholars

From a highly competitive pool of 9,198 applicants, only 69 exceptional graduates made it through to become winners of the 2026 Michael Taiwo Scholarships.

This year’s cohort is historic. It is the largest since inception in 2019.

Their scholarship benefits include:

✅ Full payment for standardized exams (GRE/GMAT + IELTS/TOEFL)
✅ Six graduate school application fees covered
✅ Four additional score reports
✅ Transcript evaluation
✅ One-on-one mentoring from top scholars and professionals
✅ Exclusive access to a rich resource library, and so much more!

🏆 Congratulations to the 2026 MT Scholars! Your brilliance and resilience continue to inspire us all.

👉 Know any of them? Tag them below and drop your heartfelt congratulations! 💬👏

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@dr_bandak @JohnsHopkinsSPH Congratulations Dr. Khalifa. You're such a big inspiration.

[Michael Taiwo @AskMichaelTaiwo]

As I finished my PhD, a quiet fear crept in.

I had spent my entire life in school. Pre-K to doctorate, never a real job.

Everyone warned me. The real world is nothing like the classroom. Some people get an A in school and an F in life. Just wait until you meet a boss.

I feared I would fail. That my best years were behind me. That I would become the naysayers' proof.

Then I started working, and found the fear was a lie.

Work was just school with better rewards. Homework became projects. Exams became performance reviews. And every promotion came with privileges school never offered.

Most of the walls we fear are painted on. They look solid from a distance and vanish the moment you walk into them.

The transition you dread is almost never as brutal as your imagination has made it.

Walk toward the wall. Watch it open like an automatic door.

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@AskMichaelTaiwo The last paragraph of this post! Kai!!!! I won't give up till I win!!

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@AskMichaelTaiwo Wow!!!! God bless the day I started following you Dr Michael Taiwo. So much insight. Thank you sir. Thank you sir!!!

[Michael Taiwo @AskMichaelTaiwo]

Here's what I did wrong:

1. I was checking "yes" to the question of whether I needed visa sponsorship. This automatically sends your resume to a blackhole lol. US companies don't like to deal with the trouble of sponsoring visa to international students. Now, being a hiring manager myself, I get it. There are ways to go about this, and I will address that either in another post or in the comments. Unless the company is well noted for sponsoring work visa (i.e. most big tech companies), checking "yes" means "no."
2. I was applying for jobs that required work experience. I was thinking that my 4 years of PhD counted for 4 years of work experience. It didn't. As far as they are concerned, you are still a student, an advanced student, but a student nonetheless. I should have been applying for "Graduate Trainee" or similar type jobs that is meant solely for new grads with no work experience. I felt this was a set back, since I was now basically on the same level as a Bachelors. It's a faulty reasoning. Once you get in, there will be a separation between BS, MS and PhD. But you all come in through the same door at first. And that door is different from those we normally call "experienced hire."
3. I was favoring quantity over quality. Believing that it is a numbers game, I felt the more I apply the better my chances. On paper, this is flawless logic. In reality, if your strategy is wrong, it's wrong. You won't get to North by travelling South, no matter your speed. I should have tailored each resume to the company and to the position (I didn't.) I should have tried to strike up connections & conversations via LinkedIn with hiring managers, recruiters and decision makers in the companies I wanted (I didn't). I should have started with one industry and deep dive in it rather than scatter my energies (I didn't). I should have attended more career fairs & conferences where I get to actually speak to people face to face. When you inhabit the same physical space with someone, the vibe is different from just shooting them your resume online.

Here's what I did right:
1. I never gave up.
2. I never believed that my time won't come.
3. I never developed a victim mentality.

I would get 25 rejection emails, go out and play soccer, and come back to send 50 more applications. You can't break me. I won't stop when I am tired, I will stop when I have won. People think I am intelligent, maybe. But my real superpower is my tenacity. When I set my eyes on a goal, it is victory or nothing.

[Michael Taiwo @AskMichaelTaiwo]

My Opening Speech for the MT Scholar Meet 2.0
Venue: Norris Conference Center, Houston, TX
Date: Friday, July 25, 2025

I want to speak on three themes today.
I want to speak about me; about us and about legacy.

1. Who is Michael Taiwo?

I get asked that question sometimes. Who are you, really?

Well, I am a man who believes deeply in three things:

First, God, the Creator of both the seen and unseen world.
All-knowing. All-powerful. Everywhere. He walks everywhere incognito. I have many flaws - I’m no saint - but I try to please God because I love Him. That’s my foundation.

Second, I believe in people.
I believe in you. In the untapped power inside every man, woman, and child. I get joy from seeing people come alive: singing their song, building their dream, perfecting their craft. The image of God in each of us is a universe waiting to be explored.

Third, I love this country: the United States of America.
It’s not perfect, but in my view, it is the best civilization humanity has built so far. A land where freedom breathes opportunity. Where effort is rewarded. Where your background doesn’t define your ceiling. I’ve lived it. I’ve seen it.

So when you combine those three - faith in God, belief in man, and love for America - you begin to understand me. And why I started this thing we call the MT Scholarships.

2. Cheating Death

In May 2016, a routine medical checkup found a solid mass on my right kidney. Further imaging showed it was buried deep inside, potentially occupying a third of the organ.

I did the one thing you shouldn’t do: I Googled it. And the internet basically told me, “Yep, you’re dying.”

I had already lost both my parents as a teenager.
I’m familiar with death.
I’ve never had illusions of immortality.
But staring it in the face still shook me.

Those sleepless nights in 2016 made one thing very clear: Life is short. But impact can be long.

And I began to ask: How do I cheat death?

How can I speak in a way that echoes beyond my years?

How can I build something that will outlast me?

That was when I made a lifelong commitment to change as many lives as possible, not just through words, but through action.

I survived that health scare.

But the resolve I forged in that fire still drives me every day.

3. The Power of 1%

In September 2019, I asked myself a simple question:
“Can I commit 1% of my income to help the next generation?” Yes, I could. And I did.

I used that small portion to pay for exam fees - GREs, TOEFLs - for brilliant students in Nigeria who couldn’t afford them. That was the seed that grew into this organization, Michael Taiwo Scholarships Inc.

That year, I thought we’d help maybe 3 students.
But over 1,000 applied!

So a few friends chipped in as well, and we ended up awarding 7 scholarships.

Today, more than 50,000 applicants later…from over 60 countries…we have awarded over 230 scholarships…and our winners have come from Nigeria, Ghana, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, India, and more…

And the impact goes beyond numbers. Some of those first scholars are now mentors. Some are donors.

The 1% has become 100%.

It is amazing what 1% can do.

There is still much work to be done.

Our winners represent just 0.5% of the number of applicants. This means we select only one out of every 200 people who apply for our scholarship.

We would like to increase that number. Currently, it is 7 times harder to get the MT Scholarships than it is to get into Harvard.

Our target is 1% which still makes it an incredibly difficult scholarship to get but spreads the opportunity further.

We also hope to cover more and more of the cost of applying to graduate schools so that we can further our mission of helping the helpless.

I want to encourage you to join our 1% challenge.

If you’re moved, come join us. Mentor. Donate. Connect us.

One small act can shift the trajectory of a life.

That little portion could cover an exam for a future professor, engineer, author, or policy-maker.

You don’t need to be wealthy to be generous. You just need to be willing.

To our donors: thank you for saying yes to a vision that had no track record at the start.

To our mentors: thank you for pouring your wisdom into those coming behind.

To our Board: thank you for your governance and your grace.

To my wife - Aya’ba - you are the heartbeat of everything I do.

And to my children: may you always know that your father lived to make the world kinder than he found it.

And to our scholars: your success is the answer to my prayer.

You don’t have to change the whole world.

But if you change one life deeply enough, the world will never be the same again.

Let’s go and change lives.

Thank you.

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@MtScholarships @AskMichaelTaiwo Happy birthday Sir, Thank you for being a huge source of inspiration to me and many others. Your path continually beams with light. God bless you sir.

[Mr. Czar @Mrczar_]

You can do 2+2 easily in your head, but you would struggle do 7863 x 1278 in your head, and would need to put it down on paper to solve it right.

...the brain of average people is not designed to handle complex problems in the air, you have to write it down.

This is why whenever you are getting overwhelmed with a life problem it gets less heavier when you journal and write about it. Put all the pros and cons on paper, then make a plan in step by step bullet points

Try it next time

[Michael Taiwo Annual Scholarships @MtScholarships]

The MT Scholarships received more applications this year than it did last year.

Nearly 9,200 people applied for the 2026 Application Cycle. This figure is higher than the previous year and shows that the need isn't slowing down.

When this started, it was one simple idea: a graduate school application fee should never be the thing that ends someone's dream. Today, that many people are trusting us with that dream at once.

Behind every application is someone with the grades, the drive, and the potential, held back by a fee most people wouldn't think twice about. Our scholars are now at Yale, Oxford, Cornell, Cambridge, and Howard. This year's applicants are the next chapter waiting to be written.

The need isn't slowing down. Neither are we.

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@AskMichaelTaiwo The resemblance is striking.
Congratulations to her.

[Michael Taiwo @AskMichaelTaiwo]

My first Monday in Arkansas, I sat in an empty lab at seven in the morning and wondered whether I had made an enormous mistake.

No family on the continent. A stipend that did not stretch. Everybody around me seemed to already know something I did not.

Years later, the same building, the same early start, and a finished PhD.

Nothing about that first Monday suggested it would work. Mondays rarely do. You just have to show up to enough of them.

[Henrietta Marcel @HenriettaMarcel]

@AskMichaelTaiwo @MtScholarships Thank you so much sir and the entire MT scholarship community.

Stories like this, give us hope!