Unbeatable Tips To Winning Prestigious Chevening Scholarship Application: Do you plan to apply for the Chevening Scholarship or have you already begun your application? If so, then this piece written by an OD user and 2017 recipient of the Chevening Scholarship would be very helpful to you. As he begins his studies in the UK, Gideon has taken out time to share six tips that can help you as you apply for the scholarship.

It may interest you to know that Chevening scholarships are one of the most prestigious international scholarships in the world which enables students with great leadership and educational abilities from over 160 countries to undertake postgraduate study or courses in the UK.

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Unbeatable Tips To Winning Prestigious Chevening Scholarship Application.

Are you applying for a Chevening Scholarship/Fellowship 2024? Then you have to take a closer look at this piece of information. Chevening awards are highly competitive and for an applicant to be selected for the award is a mark of potential of prestige.

The Chevening Scholarship is the UK’s most prestigious Scholarship Awards coordinated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and it’s managed by British High Commission across the Commonwealth Countries. Established in 1984, the Chevening Awards, has a vibrant global Alumni community of over 46,000 individuals across the beneficiary countries who are policy influencers and leaders across different sectors. The selection criteria for Chevening Scholarship are aimed to identify “high-calibre graduates with the personal, intellectual and interpersonal qualities necessary for leadership.” Specific selection criteria for Chevening Scholarships varies from country to country, and from year to year. Out of 48 000 applicants last year 2016/2017, 1900 scholarships are awarded.

Since Chevening Scholarships and fellowships are highly competitive, interested applicants will have to stand out from the best in other to win such awards. There are several Chevening Awards available, you may need to find awards available in your country/territory.

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General Tips to Note when applying for a Chevening Award

The following tips are to be noted when applying for a Chevening award:

Grammatical structure: Applicants for Chevening awards are encouraged to always ensure that their grammar is correct, and sentences make sense. Ensure to proof-read your work and double check your spellings.
Outline how you have used your skills to achieve something positive and remarkable. It is advised that you use your own experiences to address the essay questions showing how you were able to use your skill set have helped you in achieving success.
Ensure that your curriculum vitae (CV) is original and a true reflection of your life’s journey. Assessors know when CVs are lifted from somewhere else or when personal statements and reference letters are copied. Ensure that you tailor your answers to the specific question.
Avoid using bullet points to outline job responsibilities or future plans. Chevening award assessors wants to know as much as possible about your goals. Write in full sentences and share your stories
An outstanding application has to clearly link an applicant’s chosen course of study to their previous experiences and future aspirations and plans. Make sure to show a link between your course of study and your future goals.
It is advised to use ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ when writing about personal achievements.
Chevening award applicants should endeavor to demonstrate leadership, influencing and relationship-building skills. Applicants will need to have a clear understanding of how studying with a UK institution of higher learning will help him or her achieve their career goals.

This piece of information is to help potential Chevening applicants to be abreast of the expectations of the screening committee as to what they should include in their applications and what to avoid. We believe that if the tips outlined in this piece is adhered to, then the application documents will often than not make a good impression of the applicant.

Advice to Prospective Applicants to Winning Prestigious Chevening Scholarship Application

1. The first winning tip is for you to have a clear sense of direction and intent of purpose.

Candidly evaluate your academic, personal and professional development journey and answer these questions on your own space: Why do I want a Master’s degree? Why do I want it now? Why the course and school of choice and what do I hope to achieve with a second degree? If you can provide clearly articulated thoughts on these, then you are more than ready to proceed.

2. Another determining factor is your KNOWLEDGE BANK.

What you know about the Chevening Program takes you as far as how much you know. So, Increase your fore knowledge about the Chevening Scholarship program: from Global Alumni to Local Alumni, from Foreign and Commonwealth Office Policy Strategies to Local priority areas in your country , from partner universities to funding donors, from application procedures to Chevening Journey events and many more.

I can categorically say that this wealth of knowledge will place you on a different level of confidence to scale through the multiple stages of the Application process. Take time to log on to the website to familiarize yourself with everything that has to do with the CHEVENING Scholarship and subscribe to the *newsletter* called Alphagram.

3. Be determined.

Applying for Chevening Scholarship is one hell of a brainy task and rigorous process but you just have to be determined to get to the very end of it and ace the most coveted Award. It’s a YEAR long process, starting from August to August! One key element that makes the ride worth it is YOUR UNIVERSITIES/COURSES choices.

With an option to select 3 choices for both courses and universities and having an unconditional offer from one at the end, it’s imperative that you RESEARCH CAREFULLY AND THOUGHTFULLY for THREE DIFFERENT COURSES that aligns with your professional or academic track record, in line with the Priority Areas of the United Kingdom in your country. Increase your chances by finalizing on Course options that bring together what you’ve done in the past, what you are doing currently and what seek to do in the future.

More importantly, take your time to conduct research about your choice courses and universities and even their host locations. What makes them special? What do they offer you as an individual? What connection do the courses have with your professional accomplishments and career progressions. Establish those and make them the building blocks of your Career Plan and Study in the UK Essay Questions.

4. Write a winning Essay.

What comes next as the Make or Break is the 4 essays that you need to write to present yourself as an outstanding figure that the UK can invest in so as to contribute positive change at country and global levels. With just 500 words each for the four essays, you have the lifeline to express yourself, showcasing your accomplishments and demonstrating impact and purpose.

To get it done rightly, I suggest you pay attention to both the structure and content of your essays. To start with:

Define your writing style which can either be descriptive or narrative.
Narrative Essays in the CONTEXT OF APPLICATION can be framed to COVER *THREE* SIGNIFICANT facets of social impact: *VISION, PASSION AND IMPACT*, polished with *FACTS, FIGURES AND STATISTICS.
Descriptive Essays in the CONTEXT of APPLICATION can be tackled from the popular “STAR” methodology which guides many interview questions i.e Situation, Task, Action and Results.
Either ways, your essay must be consciously divided into three functional parts: a) Introduction b) Body and c) Conclusion
For whatever way you choose to *approach the Prompt of a question, descriptively or narratively, your main objective must be to address the THEME WORDS OF ANY GIVEN APPLICATION QUESTION within the *WORD LIMIT*. To achieve this, ensure that your write-up portrays you as one with focus and clarity of thought with the the way the essays were composed and presented.

5. Another essay writing tip is to ensure their Flow, Magnitude and Direction.

In other words, your story must obey a logical sequence or flow of thoughts, such that the succeeding paragraph rightly follows from the preceding paragraph, from your introduction to your conclusion.

In general, use the right diction and be consistent with the language type. Let your choice of words reflect your familiarity with the vocabulary of your intended discipline. This does not in any way imply that you overload your essays with so many technical jargon. What I mean is that you should create an impression of knowing what is involved in the desired field.

The Golden rule is for you to SELL yourself handsomely to show the capacity, character and competencies of an emerging leader, leveraging on what you have done, what you are doing and what you seek to do. CHEVENING is in the lookout for individuals that will be of greatest impact in promoting and leading positive change in their fields of endeavour. So show them you’ve got that quality and aim high with your career aspirations and RMEMEBER, stand out with your peculiarity and dynamism but DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO LIE about your accomplishments.

6. Most significantly, you need the EMOTIONAL STRENGTH and MENTAL CAPACITY

To start and complete the application process, from the Essay stage to the Interview Stage(if you scale through).

To cap it all, work towards your References, preferably both from professional and academic affiliations to create a balance. You will need it and to avoid stories that touch, start reaching out to your referees and tell them of your plans of applying to a prestigious Scholarship that requires their support. To get that, you must follow up with them with a sense of urgency and persistence.

7. Lastly, build a strong support system for yourself through the application process.

To avail yourself with tips that transcends beyond the online space, get in touch with current and previous scholars who might help in terms of reviewing your applications from an experienced angle and can also arrange and conduct mock interviews for you. This proved helpful for me and for many other scholars and I know you can as well benefit greatly from such connections.

Thinking of studying in the UK, apply now for the Chevening Scholarship.

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