Pursue Master’s Degree in the UK under the Chevening Scholarships

Chevening Scholarships are awarded to individuals from all backgrounds who can demonstrate that they have the commitment and skills to create a positive change, and can show how a UK master’s degree will help them do that. The scholarship offers full financial support for any eligible master’s degree in the UK while also benefitting from a wide range of academic, professional and cultural experiences. In addition, Chevening scholars will be part of the 50,000 strong global Chevening alumni network.

Members of our Chevening alumni and the Chevening Reading Committee have given some useful tips on how to answer the questions during the Chevening application process.

1. Focus on your proudest achievements and link them back to the lessons learnt

The Chevening Reading Committee suggested that applicants should think about a time where they’ve had to persevere in order to overcome a challenge, or a time that they had to forge new relationships in order to achieve something positive.

“Make sure you can talk about it in detail, including what you did, how you approached it, and what the result was,” the committee added.

Roshini Menon, 2020 Chevening Alumna who studied at King’s College London said, “Describing in detail [one or two] examples will generally have a better impact than listing down everything without too much substance. In a nutshell, less is more.”  

2. Develop and communicate a realistic plan for achieving your future goals

Individuals who have a clear post-study career plan stand a better chance of being selected for Chevening. Life doesn’t always go to plan, but the Chevening Reading Committees wants to know that you’ve put some serious thought into how you’re going to make your dreams a reality.  If you could showcase that you have a realistic plan in place for achieving your goals to create positive change in your home country, half of the battle is already won.

According to Syed Farradino Omar, 2018 Chevening Alumnus who studied in Royal Holloway, University of London said, “It’s not about putting the most beautiful words on the application; it’s about communicating what it is you really want to achieve in your life.”

Roshini said, “It’s helpful to sit down and really think about what logical steps you will need to take to achieve your goals in the future.”  

3. Do necessary research on your selected UK courses and Chevening Scholarships

As applicants, you should have a clear idea about your choices of university courses and explain how these courses relate to your previous academic or professional experience. According to the Chevening Reading Committee, the strongest answers had a clear focus on study outcomes with evidence of research at institution and course level. You may want to consider how the outcome of your study journey will relate to what the UK government is doing in Malaysia.

Syed Farradino urged applicants not to be afraid to dream, “If you dream about going to the best school in the UK, and that’s going to make an impact to your life and the people around you, go for it.”

Roshini asked applicants to think ahead, “Try to focus on how the post graduate degree will act like a steppingstone and help your career to progress.”

4. Communicate your points effectively

You should use relevant examples from your own experience to address the essay questions. Providing generic knowledge about a certain matter might not demonstrate how you process and resolve an issue. The Chevening Reading Committee needs to hear examples of how you’ve used your skills to achieve something positive.

“Don’t use bullet points to outline job responsibilities or future plans in your answers. We want to know as much about your goals as possible, so write in full sentences and share your stories with us,” the committee added.

The committee also reminded applicants to double check your grammar, spelling and institution names.

5. Showcase your skills

Leadership, relationship building and influencing skills are important plus points that the Chevening Reading Committees picks up in Chevening applications. According to the committee, applicants with rich voluntary and leadership experiences are more favourable.

"You are encouraged to share examples of how you’ve worked either alone or with others to achieve something positive. Use ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ when discussing personal achievements and share your thoughts on how you and your work will contribute to the Chevening Alumni network,” the committee suggested.

To apply

Application is open until 2 November 2021. Interested Malaysians can apply HERE.