<p>Within international schools, not all young people have the same expectations. This study adopted a standpoint perspective when using a qualitative descriptive approach to interviewing ten Grade 11 participants. The study aimed to address the research question of: How do students attending an elite international school in a major South East Asian City on scholarship perceive “the gift” that underpin their presence? Here, ‘the gift’ is a scholarship to attend the K-12 international school. A critical lens was applied to the notion of "the gift" in scholarships, including unintended negative consequences. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings suggest that participants view the gift as an exchange for academic achievement, permission to be, but not belong in the school community and have obscured expectations of the exchange. Conclusions and implications for other international schools, and as well as other elite schools with scholarship programmes are discussed.</p>