The Chevening scholarship is one of the few prestigious and highly competitive, fully-funded scholarships in the UK. The deadline for the 2021/2022 scholarship application is Tuesday, 3rd November 2020. I have been reviewing a growing number of Chevening essays and here are a few tips for those preparing their essays:
1. Do your research
Before even starting the essays, you must do your research to answer this question: What is the problem in my country that I want to solve?
This should be the foundation on which the essays are built. You want to show how your networking and leadership have prepared you to address the problem. You also want to show how your UK program choice and career plan align with solving this problem in your home country. In the career plan section, before you start discussing your plans, you could start with a paragraph that introduces the problem you are trying to solve in your home country. This will set the scene. References to reports and statistics will be nice to have. You should also know what the UK is doing in your country and what plans there are to foster relations between the two countries. In addition to these, thoroughly research the institutions where you intend to study in line with your career plans and the problem you plan to solve.
2. Use concrete and diversified examples
Leadership and networking essays are the ones where the STAR approach can be used. Before you start writing, it can help to list all the different examples of how you have demonstrated leadership and networking skills, and then choose the three most concrete and diversified examples from the list.
The more varied the examples are, the more it can portray your broad scope of influence and relationships. These examples could come from your interactions and activities in voluntary organizations, professional bodies, community development, social media platforms, etc. Also, let the examples be specific and not vague. When speaking of leadership, in what capacity have you led? What was the setting? For networking, the more specific you are about the relationship the better: names of people, location, how long you have known them, and how they contributed.
3. Do not define terms, define you
Don’t consume space using cliches or defining what leadership or networking is. Your definitions must be in the context of you and the problem you want to solve.
If you were to define yourself as a leader in a sentence, what would it be? Rather than just define what leadership is in a broad context, you can have one or two short sentences introducing yourself as a leader and stating the kind of leader you are.
4. Make connections
The essays are not to be written in isolation; they must all be connected and linked to other essays. As mentioned in Point 1, you would have first done your research to pinpoint the exact relevant problem you want to solve in your home country which should reflect in each essay. Have you sufficiently demonstrated in your leadership and networking essays that you have started or are currently having interactions with the people who will help you actualize your career plans? The conclusion of each essay should link up to your introduction as well as the body of the essay.
5. Think STAR!
Do not give too few or too many examples. The goal is not to list out bullet points for the things you have done as a leader or a good networker.
This is not a CV but an essay!
When giving examples of leadership or networking, you want to develop it fully using the STAR approach. You want to drive the point home to make the reader see how your experiences/plans meet the criteria.
How can we help with your Chevening application?
We are offering a drop-in session for two blog readers who are applying for Chevening scholarships this year. This will be a 30-minute session to help review your essays and offer advice and feedback on how you can improve them. It’s free! You can join the pool by leaving a comment on this post. Two persons will be randomly selected and contacted. Success in your Chevening application. I pray you will be one of the “I can’t keep calm” gang next year..
Many thanks for the insightful post on how to make competitive application for the Chevening scholarship. I have done my essays and I think, to a large extent, I followed your principles. Nevertheless, I am very open to corrections thus, a review won’t be a bad idea.
Many thanks and keep touching humanity positively.
J. A
This is informative and eye- opening for some of us who are applying for the first time and thus will need all the help we can get…
Many thanks
I find this very insightful and I’m sure I’ll be needing the advice offered in this post very soon. Thank you so much
Thank you for all you for young people. Great and insightful tips.
This is quite insightful. I am sure ,I would be needing the advice offered on this platform
Thank you for inspiring.
I’ll be glad if I’m privileged for my essays to be reviewed by you
Thanks for willing to review my essays. I can’t wait to receive your email.
This is a great piece, some of us have submitted already we can only hope for positive result…i can’t keep calm.
This is awesome. I don’t think I have read any tips on chevening scholarship application that is as simple and concise like this.
Thanks to you Dr Maryleen
I am interested for a review.
Thank you so much for this concise and straightforward guideline to writing a beautiful piece. I pray I’m selected for the review and also become one of the “I can’t keep calms”…
Many thanks for this insightdul information especially for some of us who are applying for the first time.
Thank you for the insight. Your review would go a long way for a first timer like me.
A very concise write up. I am yet to submit my essays, I would appreciate if mine can be reviewed, I am very much open to corrections.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks
Thanks so much Ma… I find this very helpful…I’m a poor writer…Really appreciate you Ma
So far the best I have read regarding how to write your Chevening essay and excel in the most competitive UK 🇬🇧 scholarship, indeed you’ve done a great job in formulating this couple of information into a giant piece. Job well done and more ink to your pen, I appreciate your effort.
This is really insightful. Finally got the push to apply, I’ve been avoiding this scholarship because of the numerous essays.
I hope to join the review.
A great piece. I feel my essays fit into the points highlighted. Although I saw this post late, I wish my essays could be selected for reviews. Thank you Maryleen