In Brazil, there is a foundation called, "Fundação Estudar" which is funded by Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Beto Sicupira, some of the wealthiest guys in the world (specially Jorge Paulo Lemann).

They select top Brazilian students and give them scholarships. They usually choose by assessing the candidate's academic and professional track record, besides considering their personality.

They usually select very, very, very impressive young folks.

Fundação Estudar's alumni are really strong. If you are approved, the network you will be part of is a much better gift than the scholarship itself.

For instance, the current CEO of AB InBev (the company which is the owner of Budweiser - among other beer brands) is a former fellow of Fundação Estudar.

Actually, he is won one of the firsts fellows and won a scholarship for an MBA at Stanford.

Every year, some candidates apply for MBA's/LLM's scholarships at top American universities and for undergraduate's scholarships.

I applied for an undergraduate scholarship in a Brazilian university.

I must emphasize that I did not need the money, what I really wanted was to be part of their network.

Actually, this year was my third try. I also made an application in 2013 and 2014.

Previously, I was eliminated on the semifinal phase. Going until this phase means that I was among the best 40/50 out of 80,000 candidates.

This year (2015) I went to the final interview with other 19 students.

On the last interview, there were 20 candidates applying for an undergraduate scholarship for a Brazilian or American university. They chose 18 and cut out me and a girl who was going to Yale.

I was really sad when I received the result because I wanted a lot to be part of their community. And this year I was really close of finally achieving it. I almost got it!

Being refused three times by Fundação Estudar is my greatest failure so far in my life (I have 22 years old).

This third elimination happened in the middle of July.

It has been awhile and I have been reflecting on it a lot lately. The feedback they gave me about why I was not chosen is also clearer now.

The lessons that I took from this experience are:

1 - I am really glad I tried. If I had not tried I would be wondering
for the rest of my life what would have happened. I am quite happy that I will not regret not trying.

2 - Every application process I tried, year after year, I noticed that I was getting better. I was better in interviews and my professional and academic track record were improving on the last years.

3 - Due to the application process I met a lot of people and made some new friends. And they are very impressive guys. Hence, my network has been enhanced.

4- It is clearer for me now my strengths and my weaknesses. Knowing what I need to improve is great. Getting this "no" is an excellent way of reducing the asymmetrical information between my perception about myself and what other people think about me.

5 - Self-knowledge is something weird.

Really difficult to measure, usually with little or no science when people
talk about it and absolutely important.

This "no's" that I received were the best (and the hardest) way I have ever experienced to improve my self-knowledge.

6 - The process did not change much from 2013 to 2015. I was also older on the third try. But a funny (and IMHO cool) thing is that my preparation was better and harder year after year.

I put a lot of effort every time I tried. And this increased. I read books, searched for info on the Internet, rehearsed, created a notebook for self-assessment and spent many hours thinking about how I could pass.
My preparation was definitely over the demand.

7 - I have a few idols. Two of them are Americans: Michael Jordan and Bob Knight. Jordan used to say: I do not accept not trying. And bob knight used to say: the will to succeed is important, but more important is the will to prepare.

I am in peace with the philosophy that two of my idols used to preach.

8 - I took lessons from it.

Hope you guys have enjoyed reading this long answer. My English writing has been a little rusty, sorry for the minor mistakes.