Last updated: 09/09/2026
Did you know I got selected as a 2019/2020 Chevening Scholar with application attempt?
Yes, your first attempt can land it! It is interesting to note that some people (particularly in the Nigerian community) ask me, “How many times did you apply before you got it?”, each time they discover I am a Chevening scholar.
Before the year I applied (2018), I had known about the Chevening Awards for two years. Before you go through this guide, here is the one thing that makes a Chevening application work: research.
All the information you need is on the website, alongside the many blogs and YouTube videos on the subject.
I am sharing my perspective because I have reviewed several applications and keep getting requests. I can no longer take them all on, so this guide is my answer.
I’m Not Reinventing the Wheel
There is nothing here that someone has not covered already. Also, Chevening has a great guide on its website. So here is what I am doing. This page is a central repository of all the resources I came across during my application process, in addition to any other resources I find useful for you. In addition, I commented on key subjects that require special attention and clarity.
Note: I’m focusing on the master’s scholarship process and not the fellowship.
What is Chevening?
It is the UK government’s scholarship and fellowship programme, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and partner organisations, enabling future leaders to study in the UK whilst joining a global community of professionals creating positive change around the world. The Chevening program has a robust and rich network of over 60,000 alumni across more than 160 countries and territories.
Why is Chevening Relevant?
Chevening reshaped my career. It put me in the room with a remarkable set of minds, changed how I see the UK and the world, and opened relationships I would not otherwise have had. It also lets you study at almost any UK university, which means access to world-class education that, for many of us, would otherwise sit out of reach.
Why Study in the UK?
Studying in the UK had been my plan for years. Several of the international creative and digital agencies that inspired my work while I was running Bramo Digi are based there, as is my interest in communications technology for development. The UK government’s communications system, GOV.UK, has fascinated me for a while, especially the brand architecture of its agencies and commissions, alongside the reputation of UK universities and institutions like the BBC. Those were the things I wanted to explore.
So do not sound like a blog. Personalise your answer. Why do you want to study in the UK?
If you don’t want to sound like an article or point you picked from a blog, personalise your answer to this question. Why do I want to study in the UK?
Getting Started With Your Chevening Scholarship Application
When you read about Chevening and you come across the application portal and all these amazing past scholars, there is a possibility you begin to feel like you don’t stand a chance, and you may want to back out.
“There is no such thing as a ‘typical’ Chevening Scholar, but those who are successful tend to have ambition, leadership qualities, and a strong academic background.” – Chevening Website
Don’t write yourself off.
I know that feeling because I was there. I worked on my application for weeks and gave up a day before the official deadline. However, I believe God gave me a second chance when I discovered the deadline was extended for another 2 days. I pulled up my application draft and spent another 18 hours completing the process. If I had further disqualified myself, I would not have published this kind of article.
Some people applied once, and some tried a couple of times – and from my observation, it is not solely dependent on a robust professional profile. You need to be able to articulate your responses to satisfy the questions with clear examples; being able to show a clear pattern of progressive professional and leadership development and the need for a Master’s degree. I will address this in detail later in this article. Read on.
Chevening Scholarships Eligibility
To be eligible for a Chevening Scholarship, you must:
- Be a citizen of a Chevening-eligible country or territory.
- Return to your country of citizenship for a minimum of two years after your award has ended.
- Have completed all components of an undergraduate degree that will enable you to gain entry into a postgraduate programme at a UK university by the time you submit your application. This is typically equivalent to an upper second-class 2:1 honours degree in the UK but may be different depending on your course and university choice.
- Have at least two years of work experience (equivalent to 2,800 hours).
If you are a Nigerian, your National Youth Service Corps Experience counts.
- Apply to three different eligible UK university courses and receive an unconditional offer from one of these choices by the stated deadline. For the current cycle, this is 8 July 2027. This date moves each year, so check the application timeline for your cycle.
Learn more about eligibility | Learn more about the Application Timeline.
Chevening’s Priority Areas
Since I first wrote this guide, Chevening has been clearer about the outcomes its funding is meant to serve. The programme now points applicants toward four priority areas:
- Promoting growth and prosperity
- Building climate resilience
- Strengthening security and stability
- Supporting development for more inclusive and effective societies
You do not have to bend your story to fit one of these. A strained fit reads worse than a real one, and the reviewers have seen every version of the stretch. But where your work already sits near one of these areas, say so plainly rather than leaving the reader to make the link. This matters most in your course and career essays, where you are asked to connect your first-choice course to challenges that matter to both the UK and your home country. Do that mapping for the reader instead of hoping they arrive at it themselves.
Your country page lists the priorities Chevening funds where you are, which can differ from the four above.
On English Language Requirement
As of this time, Chevening no longer requires an English language Test as part of the application process. However, you may still need to meet the language requirement for the individual school you are applying to.
Since I am quite proficient in English, during my application year I used online platforms like IELTS Simon, IELTS Buddy, and IELTS Mentor, along with the official British Council IELTS Mobile App, to study for the exam. I prepared for the exam in under a month and scored an overall band of 7.5. If English is not your first language and/or you are not proficient in it, give yourself enough time to prepare. That way, you understand the format of each paper type and the techniques for excelling. This is an extra tip in case your university still requires you to submit an English proficiency certificate.
In some cases, if you write directly to the admissions office, with other proofs, such as publications, writings, and speaking videos, you can get a waiver.
Chevening’s Application Essay Section
Chevening receives tens of thousands of applications each year and selects around 1,500 scholars. The award covers tuition, a monthly stipend, and travel, so the investment in each scholar is substantial. You need to put your best foot forward. If anyone were to invest that amount of money, you must sound convincing.
To have a full grasp of this process, please take your time to go through the official Chevening Application Guidance.
The essay will test you in four areas: Leadership, Networking, Course of Study, and Future Career Goals. Chevening has since shortened these essays. When I applied, each answer had a 500-word maximum. The programme has cut that back to push applicants toward tighter, example-led writing, with the current limit widely reported at around 300 words (roughly 1,500 characters). Chevening keeps the exact wording and word counts inside the application portal, so confirm the current limit there before you draft rather than trusting any older guide, this one included.
At this point, I would give some pointers for each essay section – based on how I approached my application. Let’s dive!
First Thing – Reflection and Milestone Timeline.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to spend 1-2 hours reflecting on your life’s journey and designing what I call your “Milestone Timeline”. This is you tracking your life/professional growth timeline to highlight those significant events in your life and arranging them in chronological order. In this Milestone Timeline, we are highlighting both the positive and the so-called negative events in the form of headlines – recognising that it’s the combination of these two types of events that shape our story at any given time.
Here is a synoptic example of what my timeline looked like at the time of my application:
- Graduated from High School – 2010
- Continuous struggle with identity, habits and low self-esteem – 2010
- Search for answers and solutions – 2010
- Discovery and excitement to share with other teenagers – 2011
- Created a Facebook Group – Royal Youths Forum – 2011
- Grew to 800 members in One Year – 2011
- Discovered Blogging, started one and later self-coded mine (Seasonedlifejournal.com.ng) – 2012
- Inspired to use my story and experience to teach young people on campus to use technology to drive socio-economic change (Leverage Conference) – 2015
- Started my speaking career in technology for good, leadership development and community development. – 2015
- Launched an ebook – No Excuse Challenge – 2016
- Launched my Digital Agency (To help Innovators and Changemakers use communications technologies for more impact) – 2016
- Leverage Conference, University of Ibadan – 2016
- Had a major identity breakdown – 2016
- Launched my Book – Lead Your Life – 2017
- Got Selected as an Obama Young African Leader, West Africa – 2017
- Volunteered to offer technical support to the first YALI RLC, West Africa, Nigeria Alumni Chapter. Election – 2017
- Unanimously Appointed as Communications Chair of YALI RLC, West Africa, Nigeria Alumni Chapter. – 2017
- Worked with 4 other YALI RLC alumni to start a YALI Lagos Network Community – 2017
- Hosted a local meetup of the UN Foundation – Social Good Summit – 2017
- Leverage Conference, Lagos – 2017
- Published over 150 articles, over 520,000 views and 50,000 all-time readers on Seasoned Life Journal- 2018
- Merged Seasoned Life Journal with another organisation to become The Leverage Africa – 2018
- Nominated as Associate Fellow, Royal Commonwealth Society – 2018
- Founded SocialGood Lagos with 2 amazing friends – in 2018
- Served as a Delegate of UN Foundation +SocialGood Community at International Government Communications Forum, UAE – 2018
- Bramo Digi was awarded as Top 100 Emerging SMEs in Nigeria (Union Bank – Connect Nigeria – after working with over 30 social change brands in 4 West African countries) – 2018
- Hosted the second SocialGood Summit Lagos- 2018
- Selected as Global People’s Fellow – 2018
- Selected as an Ashoka Emerging Innovator – 2018
Remember I said I didn’t think I stood a chance? After this exercise, I thought: thank you, Jesus. At 23, I was proud of who I had become. That is what gave me the confidence to put my application forward.
I learnt a significant lesson. Many of us do not even appreciate our journey and choose to make other people the heroes! I had been comparing myself with friends doing remarkable work. This doesn’t change the fact that my story is also valid. With gratitude and proper reflection, we see we were not as far behind as we feared.
This exercise helped me to find the consistent theme and focus of my passion, projects and business in those years. And it’s about Leadership and Technology – I have been committed to programs and projects that improve the leadership skills (on personal, organisational, and community levels) of young people; and to helping these innovators and changemakers use communication technologies to amplify the impact of their work (a.k.a technology for SocialGood).
I also think this is relevant for those who have several entrepreneurial branches like me. Even though you may not have all figured it out yet, you need to be clear about the niche you are committed to from the start – so that you can build your story across each essay.
This is a very important exercise to help you dig out your leadership journey. You will be shocked by the kind of clarity you will get from this exercise. You can choose to design yours visually, in audio format or in whatever form appeals to you.
Free companion worksheet
Do the exercise before you draft
The milestone timeline, STAR prompts, and priority mapping from this guide, blank for you to fill in. No model answers, just your own story.
Download the worksheet (PDF) →
Leadership
Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.
What the reviewer would like to see here is your philosophy of leadership (in one or two lines), a clear example showing how you live up to your definition of leadership, and why that should qualify you for a Chevening Scholarship.
In giving an example, there are two ways you may want to approach this; you can use your milestone timeline (like I described above) to arrange your story in a connected and more narrative style. This was what I did – I picked 3 major milestones from my timeline and connected them: how I started Seasoned Life Journal; how it led to me starting Leverage Conference; and how that also led to me starting my Digital Agency (Bramo Digi). But my awards and recognition came in the last paragraph before my closing hook.
The other approach is to give a background story and narrow it down to 1 or 2 projects you have done or 1 or 2 professional scenarios in your career journey.
Whichever approach you use, make sure you highlight your contribution to the successful outcome of that event. The safest way to do this is by using the STAR APPROACH. What this means is to simply:
- Describe the Situation and when did it take place.
- Explain the Task and what the objective was
- Give details about the Action you took to achieve this.
- Close with the Result of your action.
Then you can follow up with a line of sentences highlighting what you learnt from that experience. I have included links below for further study and explanation.
Networking
Chevening is looking for individuals with strong professional relationship-building skills, who will engage with the Chevening community and influence and lead others in their chosen profession. Please explain how you build and maintain relationships in a professional capacity, using clear examples of how you currently do this and outline how you hope to use these skills in the future (check the current word limit in the application portal).
Similar to the leadership essay, what the reviewer would like to see here is what networking means to you (in one or two lines), how you build relationships and a clear example of how you have strategically benefitted from these relationships.
You may be tempted to want to share all the amazing connections you have, but you must understand why this question is relevant. One of the project objectives of Chevening is to “develop and nurture relationships between the UK and former Scholars. This allows the UK to engage with and invest in future leaders, helping us to work better together in the future.” You have to show that you can build long-term relationships with the Chevening network and the potential to be lifelong friends with the United Kingdom.
I recommend you show how you have used networking to drive the goals and leadership impact you described in your leadership essay; each essay question is an opportunity to elaborate more on who you are.
Course of Study
Outline why you have selected your chosen three university courses, and explain how this relates to your previous academic or professional experience and your plans for the future. Please do not duplicate the information you have entered on the work experience and education section of this form (check the current word limit in the application portal).
Chevening has revised this essay since my cycle. The current version asks you to focus on your first-choice course rather than all three, and to show how it connects to the priority areas below and to challenges shared by the UK and your home country. Check the exact wording in the portal. The approach I describe still holds, applied to your first choice.
I did this with four (4) paragraphs: the introductory paragraph; 3 paragraphs outlining the relevance of each choice of course and school; and a closing paragraph. I had to use my introductory paragraph to once again establish the transition from my first degree (which was a double major in Physics and Education) to my current interests, and how the need for a master’s degree will help enhance my academic and professional qualifications in media and communications, and how it links to my current work in international development.
Just for the record, I studied Media Practice for Development and Social Change at the University of Sussex.
Please try to avoid sounding like the information you see in your course module on the school’s website. Try to simplify the relevance of that module to your career interests. Research the school, the course, and even the professors convening the courses.
Once again, the key thing here is to offer insight into how these 3 courses will enhance your ability and capacity to further your career aspirations.
Must Read- University applications: four key points to help you apply.
Future Plans
Chevening is looking for individuals who have a clear post-study career plan. Please outline your immediate plans upon returning home and your longer-term career goals. You may wish to consider how these relate to what the UK government is doing in your country (check the current word limit in the application portal).
The question wants to see a clear plan upon return from the UK. Avoid writing all your future goals. The main call to action here is to show that you know what you want to do when you are back. Again, if you are still figuring it out, write with conviction anyway.
I divided mine into 6 to 12 months, 1 to 3 years, and 3 to 5 years. I focused on 2 major ideas and elaborated my step-by-step plan using figures, estimates, and dates. Of course, you have to link this to what the UK government is doing in your country. You have to do the research yourself.
Write your own answers, in your own voice. Chevening now screens applications for plagiarism and AI-generated text, and beyond that, a borrowed voice reads as a borrowed voice. The milestone exercise above exists so that the words are unmistakably yours.
My Lessons From the Application Process
- Patience: It was a long process that tested my faith and my ability to wait. The whole thing runs about eight months.
- Reflection – The questions got me thinking about my professional and leadership journey, and I got to discover many unexplored parts of my journey and interests.
- Mentorship – I didn’t have anyone review my application, but I was detailed about all the instructions and guides I got from videos and blogs of past scholars, in addition to Chevening application guidelines and personal research.
Other Things to Pay Attention to
- Describe scenarios with clear details, such as dates and statistics, so you can paint a vivid picture.
- Don’t leave your reviewer to assume anything – from statements to abbreviations to the local context. Don’t just say things like “I supported Dr Joke…” explain what your support entailed.
- Be yourself; be honest; be humble; and demonstrate passion.
- Ensure you link your study plan to your long-term goals.
- Get other people to read your essays.
I Hope This Helps!
As I mentioned, I will not be able to take any more reviews at the moment. Feel free to ask questions in the comments, or email me at fa@abrahamologundudu.com. The interview stage has its own guide, which you can read next. I hope you find it helpful as you share it with your friends.
Disclaimer: These are totally ideas based on my experience and should not be taken as Chevening’s Official Guide.
Free companion worksheet
Do the exercise before you draft
The milestone timeline, STAR prompts, and priority mapping from this guide, blank for you to fill in. No model answers, just your own story.
Download the worksheet (PDF) →Resources
Start here (official Chevening)
- Chevening Resource Hub
- Eligibility criteria
- Application criteria
- How to apply (the online system)
- References
- Common application errors
- Longlists, shortlists, references and interviews
- Frequently asked questions
- Application timeline
- Terms and conditions
Tools to use before you apply
-
- Eligibility quiz: a two-minute check that you qualify, before you invest weeks in the essays.
- Course finder: search the master’s courses that are eligible for Chevening, so you build your application around courses that actually count.
- Your country page: your local deadline and the priority areas Chevening funds in your country, which differ from the global ones.
Writing your essays
- University of Exeter: the STAR approach (PDF)
- The STAR approach to admissions essays
- Scholarship essay examples
If your university still asks for an English test
Wider reading (optional)
Comments
Vivian
This article is refreshingly useful. I’ve read through others that were really good too but this one has it’s own spice which I love. Well done. Thanks for the idea of the milestone timeline. You really have milestones. I may not be able to go through all the videos and links because the deadline is so close, but I’ll give my best shot. Hopefully it works out. Perhaps it doesn’t, I’ll deepen my research, impact, etc and give it a shot until I get this. Thanks Abraham.
Rosmary
This is really insightful. Thank you for this. I particularly became more self confident when I read the part that speaks to ” no typical chevening scholar”.
Mutiat Mustapha
Reading through this articles has given me a fresh POV of the whole Chevening Scholarship. Thank you, Abraham.
TAMBA Thérèse Elodie
I really want to join this group
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Nkiruka Helen Eleodimuo
Am interested sir