How to Write Winning Chevening Scholarship Essays
- Henry Jones
- Sep 8, 2024
- 20 min read
Updated: Oct 8
Updated on August 8, 2025 to reflect the latest changes to the Chevening essay questions.
Contents:
Introduction
The Chevening Scholarship enables you to study a master’s in the UK for free. This is equivalent to a value of between $31,735 - $95,206 depending on where you fly from, what you study, and where you live.
Naturally, the British government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) receives thousands of Chevening applications every year (last year it was more than 100,000), and you will be competing against many other applicants, many of whom have very strong profiles.
In order to give yourself the best possible chance to win the scholarship, it’s important that in your four essays you convince the Chevening Reading Committee that:
you have strong leadership qualities
you are able to build and maintain professional relationships
you can can influence others
your chosen master’s courses will enable you to make a positive impact
you have clearly defined post-study career goals
you will be a valuable asset to the Chevening alumni network
most importantly, you’re worthy of this large financial investment
2. The Four Chevening Essays
A key part of your application process is to plan, write and submit four essays.
If the Chevening Reading Committee consider you a strong candidate for the scholarship, they will invite you to an interview to discuss your background and goals in more detail.
Each essay has to be between 100 and 300 words long.
The essays are on the four following topics with the four following sets of instructions:
Essay 1: Leadership Experience
Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership. In your answer, please address the following:
What was the context or challenge you faced?
What specific actions did you take as a leader?
What was the outcome, and what did you learn?
How has this experience shaped your approach to leadership?
Essay 2: Relationship Building and Influence
Tell us about a professional relationship you have built and maintained. In your answer, please address:
How was the relationship formed, and what made it important?
What did you contribute to this relationship, and what did you gain?
How have you sustained or developed this relationship over time?
How will these skills help you build connections within the Chevening community and beyond?
Essay 3: Course Choice and Global Challenge
3. Course choice and global challenge
Explain your first choice of course and university. Please relate your answer to one of the UK priority areas for Chevening as referenced on the Chevening website here Chevening application criteria | Chevening:
What is the specific priority area you wish to address?
How will your chosen course equip you to contribute to addressing this theme?
Why have you selected your particular university in the UK?
How do you plan to immediately apply the knowledge or skills you will gain after your studies?
Essay 4: Career Plan and Impact
Outline your medium and long-term career plans. Please relate your answer to a key challenge or priority facing your country or region.
What impact do you intend to make in your home country or region?
How does your career plan connect with your course of study and the challenge or priority you identified?
What barriers or obstacles might you face, and how will you overcome them?
How will being a Chevening Scholar help you achieve your ambitions?
3. General Tips
Essays 1 + 2 are mainly about your past and essays 3 + 4 are mainly about your future. Think of all four essays as telling a single coherent story about your past experiences, how they’ve formed you, the things you’ve achieved and how, by studying your master’s in the UK and becoming part of the Chevening network, you aim to become a future leader that is going to have a positive impact on your country or region and the wider world.
Your essays (especially 3 + 4) should primarily focus on one key humanitarian or development issue which you are involved with and are passionate about. Your key issue or area of interest may be something like:
- Business and Economics
- Education
- Environment and Climate Change
- Food Security
- Gender Issues
- Healthcare and Medicine
- Immigration
- International Relations and Diplomacy
- Law and Human Rights
- Peace Building
- Public Policy and Administration
- Social Development and Non-Profit Sector
- Technology and Innovation
You need to give evidence of leadership in this field, that you have made a positive impact, that your chosen masters’ courses and Chevening membership will help you have even greater positive impact, and that you have clear career plans for how you can solve problems in this field.
You may be interested in more than one area and, of course, many of these issues are naturally interconnected. As such, it’s Ok to explain this in your essays.
For example:
Your work in (1) rainforest conservation also gave (2) vulnerable communities dignified work.
Your work as a (1) human rights lawyer intersects with your (2) activism for gender equality
Your ambition to be a (1) policymaker will help (2) peacebuilding efforts.
Your experience in the (1) development in the agricultural engineering sector lead to your interest (2) climate change.
However, even if you mention interconnected issues, ideally your essays should still have a clear central focus on one, and you definitely should avoid cramming several unrelated topics into your essay.
It’s highly unlikely that you’re an expert in rainforest conservation, employment, human rights, gender equality, policymaking, peacebuilding, agriculture and climate change and that your mission is to solve problems in all of these areas. (I’m exaggerating, but you get the point!)
Basically, don’t throw in lots of random issues and causes just because you think that’s what Chevening want to hear. It’ll make your essays seem unfocused, confused and disingenuous.
Each essay has a maximum word count of 300 words, so make sure each sentence and each paragraph contains substance about you. Avoid writing generic things which anyone else could also write.
As such, don’t write long sentences or whole paragraphs making general points about your industry, your country, or how great the UK is - anyone could say these general things, it tells the Reading Committee nothing about you.
Instead, be highly specific about you, your actions, the lessons you’ve learned, the impact you’ve had, and the impact you’re going to have. Be concrete, be specific and provide evidence.
Compare the two following paragraphs from essay 3 (about course choices). Who do you think sounds like a more convincing Chevening applicant?
The London School of Economics is famous for its high-quality education and global reputation, offering a wide range of courses and top-notch academic guidance, allowing students to collaborate with world-class scholars. Graduates are highly regarded in the global job market, and the university offers extensive career support and internship opportunities with local businesses, enhancing employment prospects. Additionally, the university provides a variety of clubs and activities, and the rich campus life combined with London's cultural and entertainment offerings makes the learning experience dynamic and enjoyable.
The Environmental Policy and Regulation MSc at LSE with its emphasis on both policy design and interdisciplinary work would give me the tools to navigate environmental law, economic development and global governance. The core module Environmental Regulation: Implementing Policy is appealing on a number of levels, as I would like to further improve my ability to design effective policy while taking into account the concerns of diverse stakeholders. Further, in Economic Development and the Environment, I would like to hear the perspectives of other students from the global south while also contributing my own insights from my own experience. I am also keen to learn from professors such as Charles Palmer and Dr. Kathy Hochstetler, as the former is an expert in sustainable forest management and the latter is an expert in interdisciplinary approaches to environmental policymaking.
As you can see, the first paragraph is very general and could be written by anyone. It's a waste of words and it doesn't tell the reader anything the candidate. Also, this paragraph just contains basic information from the front page of the university website and doesn't show any depth of research about the course itself.
The second paragraph is much more concrete and specific. It tells us more about the applicant, why they want to study that particular course, and why they deserve the Chevening scholarship.
As well as being concrete and being specific, when talking about your past, you need to provide evidence and examples to support the points you’re making.
Show, don’t tell!
Compare the two following paragraphs from essay 1 (about leadership). Who do you think sounds like a more convincing Chevening applicant?
Throughout my life and professional career, I have always been cognizant of my potential to convince, guide, and inspire individuals towards new possibilities, ensuring their focus and motivation to lay the groundwork for collective success. Consequently, I define myself today as a dedicated, comprehensive, and enthusiastic leader who, in addition to extensive experience, vision, and conviction, has successfully inspired others to dream, learn, and achieve more, thus facilitating collective transformation.
In 2015, in collaboration with a local charity, Fundación Goles por la Paz, I managed a project which provided free education to children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods in my city. In the first three months of the project, using the charity’s contacts, I persuaded eight volunteer teachers from the city’s best private schools to give free classes on Maths, English and Nutrition. With these free classes as a proof of concept, I then secured 75,000USD in funding from the state of Santander’s education department, and then allocated this money towards building a learning centre in which the children can receive their free classes. Not only do these children now have greater access to high quality education, but this project has been used as a point of reference for two other projects in the region.
Notice how the first paragraph could be written by anyone and it’s just them telling us how they’re a great leader and that they’ve done great things, but in the second paragraph the writer is showing us how they’re a great leader and that they’ve done great things by telling a simple story with a clear example.
These essays are about YOU, so don’t talk about what you did collectively as part of a team, using the pronoun ‘we’; instead, use the pronoun ‘I’ and talk about your individual contribution.
Write a plan for each essay before you start writing. Get some of your main thoughts down on paper, keep the strongest ones and discard the weaker ones, then try to put your ideas in a logical order which flows.
For each essay, consider including a short intro which summarises the main points your essay will develop.
Include body paragraphs which follow the STAR, PAR, or SMART formats (more on this later);
Consider finishing each essay with a short closing paragraph.
Draft, redraft and edit - all in a separate document (not directly on the Chevening platform; you can paste it in there in November before the deadline!)
Start early. Your first drafts will probably be weak, but they will improve with more iterations. A lot of the magic will happen when editing. Try to finish your essays a couple of weeks before the deadline so you have plenty of time to perfect them.
Get support from personal statement/scholarship application experts and/or former Chevening Scholars.
It’s important that your essays are well written but it’s most important that they’re clear, coherent and convey your strengths as an applicant. They don’t have to be beautiful works of literature. The Reading Committee is more interested in your personal substance rather than your essay writing skills. I have read scholarship-winning Chevening essays which I didn’t think were very well written in terms of language and structure (they weren’t bad, they just could’ve been better!), but the content itself was very impressive - the applicants were clearly talented, ambitious people who had made, and were going to make, a big difference to their countries.
Don’t plagiarise other Chevening essays (or anything in here). You will get caught and you won’t win the scholarship. Also, remember, your essays are about YOU, nobody else.
In writing your essays, be proud of your achievements and believe in yourself. Even if you don’t win the scholarship, you’ll find it highly satisfying to see the amazing things you’ve achieved all presented in a short, compelling autobiography!
4. Tips for Essay 1
Essay 1: Leadership Experience Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership. In your answer, please address the following:
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Start with a short intro. This introduction will not only introduce the first essay, but it will introduce all four essays. Therefore, this opening paragraph should give the reader a strong idea of your professional/academic profile and your central mission. For example:
Working in many secondary schools in northern Bucaramanga, Colombia, I have seen how many students struggle with basic numeracy and literacy. I have therefore taken the initiative to provide these children with free, extra tuition.
Don’t start by giving a definition of what leadership means - neither from the dictionary nor a personal definition. The Reading Committee wants to know how you demonstrate leadership and influence, not what you think it is.
Write 2-3 main body paragraphs telling one clear story about how you’ve demonstrated leadership. Don't bombard the reader with a long list of different leadership experiences.
Use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method to structure your main body paragraphs. For example:
In 2015, in collaboration with a local charity, Fundación Goles por la Paz, I managed a project which aimed to provide education to children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods in my city. In the first three months of the project, using the charity’s contacts, I persuaded eight volunteer teachers from the city’s best private schools to give free classes on Maths and English. With these free classes as a proof of concept, I then secured 75,000USD in funding from the state of Santander’s education department, and then allocated this money towards building a learning centre in which the children can receive their free classes. Not only do these children now have greater access to high quality education, but this project has been used as a point of reference for two other projects in the region.
By telling short stories like this, you can clearly: S: Describe the context (who/what/where/when)
T: Describe what you needed to achieve
A: Describe what action you took
R: Describe the results of your actions
You can also use the PAR (Problem, Action, Result) method to tell stories about your achievements and experiences.
Unlike many other countries, Colombia has no Forest Service to help with forest research, so I had to coordinate several different groups to fill this gap. I utilised the existing structure of the National Environmental System, managed a team of 15 highly talented professionals, and supervised various research institutes, herbariums and universities. By emphasising our shared goal of protecting the environment and encouraging the participation of rural communities and minority ethnic groups, I successfully convinced these institutions to work together. Also, as Colombia’s environmental sector has such limited resources, I worked out how best each entity could contribute to the project.
Here, the writer has:
P: Outlined the problem
A: Described what action they took
R: Described the results of their actions
Notice how both paragraphs use storytelling and specific examples to give the reader a clear idea of who the person is. Also notice how the ‘situation’ sections are quite short (anyone can describe the situation) but the ‘action’ section contains the most detail (this is the part that tells the reader most about you).
It’s important to make the impact of your leadership clear - just stating that you had an important position isn’t enough.
Chevening say it’s generally better to focus on achievements from your professional life rather than school or university (although I have read winning essays which make reference to experiences from school/university).
End with a short closing paragraph which summarises how the experience has shaped your approach to leadership. For example:
In managing this team of junior doctors, I learnt that effective leaders must be assertive and decisive as well as patient and compassionate.
Ideally, this 'approach to leadership', your skills and your personal qualities will be reflected in the following three essays.
5. Tips for Essay 2
Essay 2: Relationship Building and Influence Tell us about a professional relationship you have built and maintained. In your answer, please address:
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Start with a short intro which outlines what your following paragraphs will be about. If this paragraph clearly connects with the leadership experience in essay 1, it will give the reader a clearer idea of your profile and your mission.
Hospitals in el Chocó, Colombia lack specialists in internal medicine, when attending conferences, so I always ensure that I connect with doctors who can support us. That is how I met Dr. Susana Gutierrez, and we have now collaborated on malaria research and training initiatives for over five years.
As always, try to avoid making generic, platitudinous statements about what you think about networking or how people make relationships in general. The Reading Committee wants to know how YOU build and maintain relationships in a professional capacity.
Write 2-3 main body paragraphs telling the story of how you've built and maintained a professional relationship and what positive impact you've achieved as a result of this relationship.
Tell the story in chronological order, using the question bullet points to help you. Start by describing how you met. Emphasise your networking skills in making the connection. Then, describe how you how you both contributed to the relationship and how you sustained or developed the relationship.
The central relationship you talk about may involve other people - maybe the person who introduced you or other relationships you made through them - but you should avoid giving a long list of different relationships you've made. You only have 300 words, so give detail about one relationship rather than superficially talking about several relationships.
Again, use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) or PAR (Problem, Action, Result) methods to tell stories about how you built and maintained the relationship.
I met Dr. Gutiérrez at a conference in Cartagena and given her expertise in tropical diseases, I wanted her help in improving our diagonistic processes in the Pacific region. I attended her talk and asked her questions about testing in remote clinics, adding value for all the doctors in attendance. I then talked to her afterwards, explaining that my junior staff lacked training in malaria diagnosis and asking if she could visit us in a consulting role. One week later, she gave an online training session to 40 of our doctors before later coming to visit our rural clinics to assess our diagnostic protocols. Our hospital has since joined a network of malaria research centres coordinated by her institution.
While telling your story about this relationship, make sure you answer all of the bullet point questions and make sure to emphasise your networking/interpersonal skills. The reader will be able to extrapolate these skills into the future and imagine how you could use these skills to make connections in the future.
You may choose to focus on some of the following networking/interpersonal skills:
- Active listening
- Assertiveness
- Being reliable
- Being respectful
- Clear communication
- Conflict resolution
- Diplomacy
- Effective management
- Empathy
- Mentoring or coaching
- Mutual trust - Reciprocity
- Social skills
In your closing paragraph, look to the future and explain how you plan to use the Chevening network, or other networks, to achieve your future goals and/or how you will contribute to the Chevening network.
If you haven’t already, you should contact other Chevening scholars who work in your field/who are from your country and, with their permission, you can mention that you have done this in your networking essay. This will show proactivity and demonstrate your networking skills.
Likewise, I am eager to collaborate with other Chevening scholars who are also driven to build a more sustainable future for the global south, and for the whole planet. Fighting climate change is always a collective effort, and technical experts have to cooperate and share their knowledge; moreover, in Latin American industry and politics, networking is everything. To this end, I have already made contact with current Chevening scholar, Pepito Pérez, an actuary who specialises in carbon credit markets, and I hope to work with, and be inspired by many more people like him.
However, you should try to form a genuine connection based on your shared background and interests rather than just doing it because you think it will look good in your essay!
6. Tips for Essay 3
Essay 3: Course Choice and Global Challenge 3. Course choice and global challenge Explain your first choice of course and university. Please relate your answer to one of the UK priority areas for Chevening as referenced on the Chevening website here Chevening application criteria | Chevening:
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Do your research about the university and the programmes you want to apply to. In your Chevening essays - and your personal statements - you’ll need to give clear, specific examples of some, or all, of the following:
- Modules you’re interested in taking
- Professors you want to work with
- Research projects you’d like to participate in
- Topics you’d like to write about in your dissertation
- Networking opportunities with teachers and other students
- Clubs and societies you’d like to join
Start with an intro which outlines what your following paragraphs will be about. You can outline a problem which you have identified in your country/field which you aim to solve with the expertise gained from your master’s. Consider drawing an explicit link to the UK government’s global priorities, which include:
- Promoting growth and prosperity
- Building resilience in a climate-vulnerable world
- Strengthening security and stability in a volatile world
- Supporting development for more inclusive and effective societies
In my experience in Colombia’s environmental sector, I have been consistently frustrated by two main issues. Firstly, to achieve our Sustainable Development Goals, we need to establish clearer and more immediately realisable policies; and secondly, we need to better understand the interconnectedness of the environment and other pillars of our country’s development. Clarifying environmental policy aims while simultaneously folding in other socioeconomic issues is no easy task, but I believe that my chosen courses, as well as the relationships I make with other academics, will give me the necessary formation to help me achieve this aim.
Avoid just describing why the university is prestigious and the quality of the education will be good. Be specific about how the course will help you build on your previous experience and help you make a positive difference in the future.
You can also be open about weaknesses in your professional/academic profile that you would like to strengthen by studying a master’s in the UK.
As per the instructions, your course choice, and reasons for studying it, should have a clear connection to your background which you describe in essays 1 and 2. Moreover, the knowledge, skills and experience you talk about gaining in essay 3 should provide a platform for the future career plans you describe in essay 4.
Here is an example of a typical paragraph for essay 3.
The International Public Policy MSc at UCL is also a strong choice for my professional development for similar reasons. On top of the modules regarding governance and policy, I would also like to study Introduction to Quantitative Methods, as although I have always been interested in social sciences, my quantitative research skills are somewhat limited. The opportunity to gain competency in statistical analysis using R is incredibly valuable, as being able to analyse and interpret complex data sets will not only enhance my research abilities but also enable me to make evidence-based policy recommendations. I am also drawn to the Conflict Resolution and Post-War Development module, as promoting peace and understanding post-war challenges are crucial in the Colombian context.
Notice how in this paragraph this Chevening-winning essayist demonstrates:
- A connection to their past
- A weakness they would like to address
- Specific detail about modules they’re interested in and why
- How studying those modules will help them solve specific problems in their country
While it is important to connect your courses to your future plans and explain how they will help you achieve your goals, remember that essay 4 is about your post-study career plans, so you need to save a lot of details for that essay to avoid being redundant and repetitive.
Your final paragraph should focus on how you plan to apply what you learn in the course in the short term.
Upon returning to Mexico, I will apply my newfound data analytics skills to the goal of understanding and reducing the causes of youth unemployment. I hope to work for a public entity such as the Secretariat of Economic Development (SE), where I can share my coding skills with other public officials, helping them to assess employment data more effectively. Working at the SE will allow my research to have maximum impact, and I can also learn about policy implementation from senior economic advisors.
7. Tips for Essay 4
Essay 4: Career Plan and Impact Outline your medium and long-term career plans. Please relate your answer to a key challenge or priority facing your country or region.
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Before you start writing, you should really think about what your post-study plans are. If you have really thought about them carefully, then this will come through in your writing.
To guarantee that all 4 of your essays tell a clear and coherent story about your past and your future goals, your post-study plans should connect back to essays 3, 2 and 1.
In essay 3, you will have written about how you plan to immediately apply the skills gained from your master's, and you may mention this in essay 4, but in essay 4 you need to describe your medium and long-term plans and go into greater detail about the positive impact you plan to have in your career as a Chevening scholar. You need to demonstrate career progression and progressive impact. Don't waste lots of words just repeating the plans that you stated in essay 3.
In order to write post-study plans which convince the Reading Committee that you are a worthy investment for the Chevening scholarship, your plans should be ambitious, but they also need to be specific, concrete and achievable. Or, in other words, they should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).
By 2029, I aspire to become Director of Policy Development, where I will collaborate with local government agencies, educational institutions, and private sector partners to create targeted vocational training programs and entrepreneurship initiatives. Specifically, I wish to create a digital innovation program which will increase young people's employability, and reduce youth unemployment levels to below 5%.
(for these purposes, specificity, achievability and relevance are all red, as it’s quite hard to identify those things with one out-of-context paragraph)
While it might not be possible to give exact times and measurements for all of your plans, you should avoid being vague or unrealistic. Consider organising your main paragraphs medium and long term goals. This will make them more SMART, and they will be more compelling in terms of your projected life story.
If possible, you can connect your career goals with some of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)
You should also research what humanitarian/development work that the British government is doing in your country. You can find that here: https://www.gov.uk/world/yourcountry/news (Just replace ‘yourcountry’ with your country)
You should end the fourth essay on an optimistic, constructive note which emphasises the positive impact you could have as a Chevening scholar in your chosen field and in your country. As always, try to be specific and show that you've done your research. Explain to the reader that you understand the benefits of being a member of the Chevening network and how this will help you achieve your goals.
Through the Chevening community, I hope to meet others who are committed to improving food security in their countries. I specifically wish to meet those with agricultural, technological and logistics backgrounds so we can discuss ways to leverage AI and IoT to improve crop yields and supply chains. Such collaborations will help me greatly to reduce hunger in the north of Brazil.
8. Closing Comments
To sum up some main points:
Always be specific. Avoid generic filler. You only have 300 words for each essay (1,200 words in total), so make them all count.
Don't just explain that you're good at your job. Demonstrate the social/developmental impact that you've had and are planning to have.
Write with humanity, energy and presence. The Reading Committee will read hundreds of essays which are cold, distant, inhuman and obviously written by AI. To stand out, tell clear stories which revolve around humans, human problems and human actions.
All four essays should come together to tell a clear overall story about who you are, how effective you are as a leader, influencer and network builder.
Support these with mini-stories with clear, tangible, specific examples and make it clear the impact you have had as an individual.
Make it clear that you’re passionate and knowledgeable about a specific field and that you want to make a positive change in your country or region.
Demonstrate that you’ve done your research about your chosen degree courses and how they can help you make an even greater impact in the future.
Show that you’re ambitious and hungry to make a difference in your post-university career as a Chevening scholar; show that you’ve made realistic plans about how you can do this; and show how Chevening membership will facilitate this.
Persuade the Reading Committee that you would be a worthy investment for the British government's FCDO and that by spending that money on you - an outstanding individual - you will be a valuable member of the Chevening network, and will drive positive change in your country.
If you would like any further help with your Chevening essays
- or with IELTS Preparation -
feel free to get in contact with me at:
✉️ ielts.latam@gmail.com - 📱 +57 305 3584276 🌐 Henry Jones
I provide FREE one-to-one assistance and feedback to anyone who studies IELTS Preparation with me.
Best of luck with your application! 🍀
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