The Chevening Scholarship is one of the most competitive funding programs in the world, serving over 100 countries and bringing together some of the best aspiring leaders from across the globe. With the number of applicants growing every year and the committee swamped with entries, one way to truly get the attention of the organizers is by writing an outstanding essay. In this article, we’ll teach you how to write a good Chevening scholarship essay.
While this scholarship is open to anyone, the organization is strict about who they award it to, and rightly so. Lucky participants get to do a master’s programme in the UK for free and get funding that covers feeding, accommodation, and any other living costs they’d incur during the duration of their stay.
So, if you’re thinking about applying to the Chevening Scholarship, you’ve made the right choice. This post will share with you some of the best tips on writing a good Chevening scholarship essay that increases your chances of being selected. We’ll also show you some samples and give you more details on how the scholarship application process works. Do well to check our video guide on Chevening scholarship application essay.
Table of Contents
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Everything aspiring applicants should know about the Chevening scholarship
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What is a Chevening scholarship essay?
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7 Top Chevening Essay Writing Tips
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How To Write A Winning Chevening Scholarship Essay
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Format For The Chevening Scholarship Essay
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Chevening Scholarship Essay template pdf
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General Tips for Applying to the Chevening Scholarship
Everything Aspiring Applicants Should Know About the Chevening Scholarship
The Chevening scholarship award is perhaps one of the most important funding opportunities any postgraduate student could ever apply for. And as such, you must learn everything there is to know about it before beginning your application.
Even the scholarship organizers encourage applicants to read their guide on the Chevening application criteria. That guide contains the 4 key questions you should be able to answer to accurately gauge both your eligibility and readiness for the award. We have also done an article discussing the questions you'll be asked to confirm your Chevening Scholarship eligibility.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s look at everything else you should know about the Chevening scholarship.
What is the Chevening Scholarship?
The Chevening Scholarship is the UK government’s international scholarship and fellowship programme that offers fully funded scholarships and fellowships to talented individuals with ideas and influence that can positively impact the world. It is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and partner organizations.
When Will The Chevening Scholarship Application Start?
The Chevening scholarship application started on August 5th, 2025, and will end on October 7th, 2025. Aspiring applicants can get more information on the application timeline.
What is a Chevening Scholarship Essay?
The Chevening scholarship essay is a key requirement in your scholarship application, which allows you to prove to the FCDO that out of over 70,000 applicants, you deserve the funding that they are offering.
Although this essay seems like every other one you wrote for your undergraduate degree, it is different because it allows you to prove to the Chevening Reading Committee (beyond a reasonable doubt) that you possess the leadership and relationship management qualities they look for in worthy applicants.
Usually, applicants are required to write 4 essays for their Chevening scholarship application. We’ll show you how to write each one.
7 Top Chevening Essay Writing Tips
These are some quick tips that’ll help you while writing the 4 Chevening essays we mentioned in the previous section.
1. Proofread Your Grammar
Proofread your grammar and ensure your sentences are sensible. Double-check the spelling of words and institution names.
2. Give Personal Examples
Use examples from your experience to answer the essay questions. Don’t just say you have the skill; give examples of how you’ve used those skills positively for change.
3. Draw Experiences From Voluntary Or Work Positions
Focus your examples on the experiences you acquired with voluntary organizations or employment, rather than at school or university.
4. Use “I”
Use ‘I’ instead of ‘we' when talking about personal achievements. This ensures that the sole focus is on you rather than your achievements.
5. Don’t Use Bullet Points For Job Responsibilities
Don’t just outline your job responsibilities or plans using bullet points. Instead, expand as much as you can on your goals, using full sentences and sharing relevant stories.
6. Don’t Copy And Paste Your Answers
Assessors can tell when you’ve just copied and pasted your answers from a CV, personal statement, or reference letter. This is your experience, so tailor your answers to each essay.
7. Link Your Chosen Course To Previous Experiences
For your application to stand out, ensure you link your chosen course of study to your previous experiences and future vision.
How To Write A Winning Chevening Scholarship Essay (Writing the Four Chevening Essays)
As part of your Chevening scholarship application process, you will be required to write and submit four essays to the Chevening Reading Committee. They will read your essay to decide if you are a strong candidate for the award, and then invite you to an interview to talk more about your background.
Each essay should be between 100 and 300 words long and touch on four core topics:
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Leadership and influencing.
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Relationship building.
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Why you want to study in the UK.
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Career plans.
We’ll first start by showing you how to write an essay for each topic, then finish up this section with 8 killer tips to write a standard Chevening scholarship essay.
1. Leadership And Influencing
When demonstrating your leadership and influencing skills, follow these steps:
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Share an example of how you worked alone or with others to achieve something positive. Just ensure you highlight your contribution.
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Giving one or two detailed examples is more effective than listing out numerous examples. Also, demonstrate how you shaped the opinions and actions of those around you.
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Don’t use quotes or the definitions of leadership. Instead, focus on your personal experiences of leadership.
Guiding Questions:
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What was the context or situation you were in?
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Which specific actions did you take as a leader?
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What was the outcome, and what did you learn?
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How did that experience shape your perspective on leadership?
2. Relationship Building
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Talk about the times you fostered new relationships by volunteering or through employment. Discuss how you built those networks, how you maintain them, and how you’ve used them to achieve something.
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Think deeply about how you will use the Chevening network or other networks to attain your future career goals.
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Share your thoughts on how you and your work will improve the Chevening Alumni network.
Guiding Questions:
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How did you form that relationship, and why was it important?
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What did you contribute to the relationship, and what did you gain?
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How have you developed it over time?
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How will the skills you learned help you build connections in the Chevening community and beyond?
3. Why You Want to Study in the UK
When writing about why you want to study in the UK, mention these things:
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Why did you choose your preferred courses? What do you intend to get out of studying those courses? How would they benefit your career and development? It also helps to refer to professors you’d like to meet, publications you’re excited to read, the reputation of the course, and the specific modules you’d like to study, as this shows you did thorough research.
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Be original and don’t copy write-ups from university or tourism websites. Share your thoughts about why studying at a UK university would benefit you.
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Highlight how the courses you’ve chosen will help you achieve your goals and benefit your home country.
Guiding Questions:
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How will your chosen course empower you to address pressing challenges in your home country?
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Why did you choose the universities and courses you did?
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How do you intend to apply the knowledge or skills you will acquire after your studies?
4. Career Plans
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Think about how you wish to make the most of the opportunity to study a master’s degree with a UK university. Give the committee detailed examples of your short, mid, and long-term career goals. You’ll get extra points if you can match your career goals with any of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
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Ensure your goals are ambitious but also realistic. Show the assessors a clearly defined plan to achieve those goals.
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To be outstanding, demonstrate real zeal for making a lasting, positive contribution to your home country and have clear ideas on how to achieve that. Don’t mention using the master’s degree as a way to only get a PhD.
Guiding Questions:
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How will you impact your home country or region?
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How does your career plan align with your course of study and the challenge or issue you wish to address?
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What are the barriers or obstacles you face, and how will you overcome them?
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How will being a Chevening Scholar support your ambitions?
Note: The guiding questions we’ve shared will help you frame your responses to these essays.
Format For The Chevening Scholarship Essay
When writing the four Chevening scholarship essays: Leadership & Influencing, Relationship Building, Why You Want To Study In The UK, and Career Plans, it is important that you prove to the Reading Committee beyond any reasonable doubt that you are certain of your choices and you do not have any other options aside from the scholarship.
This involves providing clear examples of times when you demonstrated leadership, fostering relationships within your community or workplace, explaining why you wish to study at a university in the UK, and outlining your career plans after completing your master's program.
Remember, over a thousand applicants are vying for the same award as you, so your essays mustn't be just compelling but also reasonable enough to convince the committee that you know what you're doing.
You get 300 words for each essay, so we'll show you samples, complete with formats that can help you write each one.
Essay Format For Leadership and Influencing
Chevening is looking for change makers and aspiring leaders who are not afraid to lead conversations and take charge of crucial matters affecting the communities in their home country. If you must get this scholarship, then you must demonstrate to the Reading Committee that you have what it takes to become a leader. You can do this by simply giving an example of a time or period in your life when you assumed a leadership position.
We will show you how to write the Leadership and Influencing essay below.
Paragraph One: Explain How You First Got Into Leadership And The Challenges You Faced
In this section, you can give examples of any time you headed a team, organized an event, or took the lead in a class project, as a way to demonstrate your leadership experience. Here’s an example detailing the applicant’s first role as a leader.
Leadership for me is to set a good example for people, rather than telling them what to do. A good leader must also act according to his own instructions and follow due process when addressing matters.
My earliest introduction to a leadership position happened when I started the Assisted Readers Program at my university. This programme was established to help students with academic challenges in my faculty with their studies. I and 6 other students were responsible for helping them with revisions, assignments, and customized tutoring. Classes ran from Mondays to Saturdays, and I came up with a timetable where each tutor would spend 2-3 hours with a particular student.
Although our methods were effective and participants reported positive results, the team also had a few challenges that could make delivering help possible. One of the biggest issues we had was tutors teaching participants while still keeping up with their own schoolwork. It became difficult to maintain the 2-3 hours per participant timetable during exam periods. To remedy this, the team and I came up with a buddy study system that only ran during exams. This meant that 2 tutors would handle a group of 6 other students, and they would revise together, finishing up with a quiz segment at the end of every study session.
Paragraph Two: Give Other Leadership Examples
In paragraph two, you can give other examples of times you lead. If your first experience was in the university, then you can use work, personal projects, or outreach programmes as an example.
My work in education did not end with the Assisted Readers Program I ran in school. When I graduated, I took it to the next level by making it a school-wide initiative. Due to the time constraints we had in the past, we enlisted the help of some faculty members who were eager to see the program continue. These faculty members ensured that participants had access to classrooms and the school library at the end of every day.
They also made general revisions a weekly thing, where different subject areas would be tackled for students who had fallen behind during that specific lecture to keep up. When the lecturers were occupied, other student tutors who took over from the team and I headed the revisions. Due to the school-wide Assisted Readers Program, there was a noticeable increase in performance, grades improved, and students were generally more receptive to getting extra lessons.
Paragraph Three: Reaffirm Yourself As A Leader
Finish up by reminding the Committee why you’re the ideal leader and how your ideas have brought a positive impact.
To conclude, I am confident that I possess the leadership qualities to influence decisions positively and mobilize the people around me to drive change. I demonstrated it with the Readers Program, managing my team in the university, and heading a small faction at the company where I currently work. My leadership style is the collaborative kind that is not just open to new ideas, but works hard to ensure that those innovative ideas benefit everyone in my community.
Essay Format For Why You Want To Study In The UK
For this essay, you must outline why you’ve chosen your three university courses, and explain how they relate to your previous or professional academic experience and how they relate to your plans. In the sample below, we’ve shown you how to justify your choice of universities, using one university and course as an example.
Opening Line: Show That You Relate To The University
Begin by talking about the community at your chosen university and why it resonates with you. This shows how motivated you are to not just study, but also identify with the institution.
Glasgow Caledonian University produces some of the best problem-solvers and innovators in the world who are committed to finding innovative solutions to the world's biggest health challenges. My desire to bring an innovative society to the Nigerian health sector drives my decision to study at this university.
Second Line: Explain Why You Want To Study That Course At The Chosen University
The Master of Public Health (MPH) offered by the college has the best selection of modules that will prepare me to become an expert in health systems strengthening, able to apply sound public health research into practices that will improve the delivery of healthcare in Africa.
Third Line: Show That You Understand The Course
Additionally, this program offers Social Action Approaches in Public Health and Applied Statistics and Data Analysis for Public Health modules, which align perfectly with my interest in spearheading community development programs aimed at underdeveloped communities in Nigeria. By studying at Glasgow, I will also get the opportunity to learn from other students and share my knowledge with them as well.
Closing Paragraph:
Studying at a renowned university in the UK and working with my coursemates, and learning from highly experienced faculty members, will allow me to share my healthcare experiences from a resource-limited setting, while gaining the opportunity to positively contribute to conversations surrounding global healthcare management.
Through those conversations, I will also learn from resource-rich experiences, which will enable me to positively impact the healthcare sector in Nigeria and its numerous rural areas. Aside from its rich history and rewarding lifestyle, the scientific advancement that the UK offers has reinforced my decision to pursue a Master's degree at a UK University.
Note: The sample is merely a guide to show you how to write an essay for this section. When writing yours, ensure you mention the three universities and courses you’ve selected, and finish off with a line on why the United Kingdom is the ideal place for you to obtain a Master’s degree.
Chevening Scholarship Essay template pdf
These are 4 Chevening Scholarship Essay Examples to use as a reference for your application. We’ve created them as PDF files so that you can download them. There’s one for each of the four essays.
Chevening Scholarship Leadership And Influencing Essay pdf
This essay is a sample of the Leadership and Influencing Chevening scholarship essay. You can use it as a guide to write yours.
Download: Leadership and Influencing Essay.
Chevening Scholarship Relationship Building Essay pdf
Use this template to write your Relationship building essay, it shows how you've successfully collaborated with those around you.
Download: Relationship Building Essay.
Chevening Scholarship Why You Want To Study In The UK Essay pdf
Wondering how to write a Chevening Essay for Why You Want To Study in the UK? Use this template.
Download: Why You Want To Study in The UK Essay.
Chevening Scholarship Career Plans Essay pdf
This template will show you how to clearly layout your Career Plans after you graduate from your University in the UK.
Download: Career Plans Essay.
General Tips for Applying to the Chevening Scholarship
Applications for the Chevening scholarship have begun, and thousands of applicants from across the globe have already begun to apply. If you’re considering joining that line, we have shared some tips to help you with your application.
1. Start Now
We don’t mean to scare you, but applications began a month ago, and if you want to apply well, it would be wise to begin today. This will give you enough time to research, prepare, and write your application essays properly.
2. Read Guidelines
Chevening has been kind enough to provide an application guide for applicants. Ensure you read through it to find out the exact eligibility criteria for the award.
3. Submit A Solid Personal Statement
In your statement, showcase your academic and professional achievements, including your goals and why you’re the right candidate for the award.
4. Explain Any Career or Academic Gaps
If you have any gaps in your academic or professional history, clearly explain them. Let the organizers know if it was due to personal reasons, further learning, or career changes.
5. Pick The Right References
Pick referees who can speak highly of your achievements, character, and capacity to excel in your chosen programs. Give them enough information about the application so they can write you relevant recommendations. More importantly, choose people who understand that the application is time-sensitive and won’t delay you.
6. Show Cultural Sensitivity
Show your understanding of important cultural issues and the common challenges your home country faces. Also, demonstrate your ability to work and collaborate in a multicultural environment.
7. Do Your Homework On Your Chosen Universities
Don’t just pick whatever you think sounds best on your CV; do enough homework on your institution of study, the courses you’ve chosen, the faculty, and the chosen universities. In your essay on why you want to study in the UK, explain how they align with your career and academic goals.
8. Engage With Past And Future Scholars
When applying for the Chevening scholarship, do not isolate yourself. If you can, seek out and connect with current or previous Chevening scholars to gain information on the application process and their experiences.
9. Follow An Organized Approach
The structure you follow for your application essays should be logical. It should have an introduction, body paragraphs, and an engaging conclusion.
10. Ask For Feedback
Before you submit your essays, ask your teachers, professors, mentors, or professionals to review your application. This can help you identify which areas you need to improve on.
11. Plan Out Your Post-Study Return
Chevening scholarship recipients are expected to return to their home country after their studies. In your essay about your career plans, discuss how you will apply the knowledge and skills you acquired during your master’s programme to improve your country.
