CHEVENING SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION TIPS
Chevening Scholarship is a UK Government scholarship programme. The scholarship is awarded to outstanding individuals from over 160 countries and territories to study one-year taught master’s degree programmes in the UK. Chevening Scholarships are fully-funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), sometimes with support from their global partner organizations.
Firstly, I would like to make it clear that Chevening Scholarship is not an academic merit scholarship. This simply means that they are not looking for people with the best results. Instead, they are searching for individuals with strong leadership potential, strong interpersonal skills (call it networking skills if you wish) and clear career plan. What this means is that even if you graduated with 2.2 or 3rd class, you are free to apply for chevening, once you can secure admission on at least one of your chosen three UK university courses. However, in these cases, a relevant PGD might be a valuable asset.
Furthermore, with the Chevening Scholarship, there is no qualification discrimination. I have seen people win this prestigious award with HNDs - you just need to be able to secure at least one admission offer. Again, in cases like this, a relevant PGD might be invaluable.
In summary, the basic requirements include:
Leadership Essay:
You do not need to start this essay with a definition of leadership. You can simply go straight to sharing your leadership experiences. You can also briefly state what leadership means to you before sharing your experiences. Feel free to share one to three of your leadership experiences. Be as detailed as possible. If you worked in a team, make sure the exact roles you played are clearly stated.
Don’t forget that your leadership examples/stories must not only come from your work. They can come from any area of your life where you have demonstrated leadership (Church, Community, et cetera).
You should tell your stories using the PAR (Problem, Action, and Result) approach. “P” simply means the problem/challenge you encountered/perceived, “A” represents the actions you took to solve the problem, and “R” is the result/impact of your actions. Where applicable, express the impact of your actions numerically.
To end this essay, you may wish to state how the Chevening Scholarship will help you become a better leader.
Networking Essay:
For most people, this is the most difficult essay. Some describe it as “Tedious”. To me, this is simply because they do not understand what networking means. So kindly note that networking is about building and maintaining relationships with people. In this case, chevening wants to know how you do this professionally. It might be via social media, it might be via membership of professional associations, it might be by attending conferences, et cetera. Do some soul-searching to find out how you truly build professional networks and how you have benefited from them.
Just like in the leadership essay, you can either go straight to sharing your networking experiences or briefly state your personal understanding of networking first (If your word space permits you, then feel free to include this. In my case, I didn’t have enough space for that). Again, one to three examples will suffice.
Depending on your story, you may have to employ the PAR approach here. Not everyone will need the PAR approach, so look at your points critically. If you think they have the PAR parameters, then use the PAR approach to tell your story.
Finally, you may wish to end by stating how the Chevening Scholarship will add to your overall networking experiences.
Study in UK Essay:
This is a very important section, so treat it as such. You must choose three courses.
At first, I would like to mention that chevening policy is that you must choose the same courses (courses with similar objectives and outcomes) in three different universities OR entirely different courses (courses with different objectives and outcomes) in the same university. Most passionate professionals opt for the former.
I believe most of us currently work in professional fields where we contribute our quotas to specific SDG goals and are here because we wish to secure funding and learn how to scale the works we are already doing at world-class UK universities. This alone should give us a hint on the kind of courses we are to go for and these of course are courses that will deliver knowledge and skills relevant to our goals. For instance, a pharmacist who has taken several short courses on epidemiology and currently works with WHO on the control of infectious diseases in Africa may want to learn more about the control of infectious diseases and will most likely go for Public Health and not Biotechnology. Now, we have seen why someone may decide to go for a particular course and not another.
Now, evidence has shown that similar courses in different universities are thought slightly differently. In other words, modules and possible outcomes may differ. For instance, let us assume that the pharmacist above has strong interests in learning how government policies in developing countries affect the control of infectious diseases in order to prepare them for their political ambitions. Now, they may find out that 20 different universities in the UK offer Public Health, however only 3 of those universities have modules that detail how government policies affect the control of infectious diseases. In this case, they would definitely opt for those three universities. This (module of interest) is one reason why someone may decide to go for one university and not another university offering the same course. There are several other possible reasons. As you do your research, you’ll come up with your own specific reasons. Please create a paragraph for each university as you explain why you chose them.
The two points above have already shown why the pharmacist chose Public Health (and not Biotechnology), why they selected their universities, how their course choice is related to their previous academic experience (they possess a B.Pharm degree and have taken several short courses on epidemiology) and professional experience (they have been working with the WHO on the control of infectious diseases in Africa) and also their plans for the future (some specific modules in their chosen programmes will prepare them for their proposed political career. In fact, their chosen courses will generally equip them with knowledge and skills needed to take a front-row seat and contribute more in their field).
In summary, try and capture the following in this essay:
a. Your motivation for going for your courses (first paragraph)
b. Your previous academic experience and how it relates to your courses (2nd paragraph)
c. Your professional experience and how it relates to your courses (2nd paragraph)
d. The 3rd, 4th and 5th paragraphs should contain specific information about why you chose each of your three universities.
NB: Please b & c are not asking for your entire CV. Just pick and include the most relevant points.
Career Plan Essay:
This is some of the most important essays. You must show that you have a clear and actionable career plan. By actionable, your plan must be realistic. For instance, you are unlikely to become the president of your country within one year of returning from the UK, so desist from making such claims.
As an introduction to this essay, briefly discuss the problems you intend to solve in your country. If possible, state what has been done already and why it isn’t enough. Make sure you don’t cuss any government official or agency as you state these problems.
After the introduction, the following paragraphs should discuss how you intend to solve the problems you stated.
As you may have some very big career plans (like becoming the president of your country), not all of them can be achieved immediately. This is why it is very important to break down your plans into: short-term, mid-term, and long-term. Short-term usually means what you intend to do immediately you come back to your country after your studies. Long-term could be what you intend to do 20 years after coming back. It’s up to you to decide how you want to present these things, but make sure you break them down into stages.
You need to do the following:
Once you submit your application, things go beyond your control. Try as much as you can to avoid unnecessary speculations. They can cause serious anxiety. One way to avoid them is by staying off the application portal and chevening-related groups. If you are shortlisted for an interview, you will be informed by February 2020.
Best wishes guys!
Kennyston®
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed reflect the author's perspectives and not those of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and its partner organizations. Examples given are hypothetical.