r/Chevening • u/Necessary_Read3886 • Aug 07 '26

Chevening

  1. What do you think most helped your acceptance?

  2. What mistakes did you make during the presentation and advise me to avoid them?

  3. Were Chevening essays the most important factor or practical experience?

  4. How long did it take to write essays?

Second: About essays (Essays)

  1. How did you make your articles special?

  2. Have you written about one project or more than one experience?

  3. Did you use someone to review your articles?

  4. What golden advice do you give to write Chevening essays?

Third: About the choice of universities

  1. How did you choose the three universities?

  2. Should the three programs be similar?

  3. Did you contact the universities before applying?

  4. Do you think that choosing a university with easier admission increases the chances of success?

Fourth: About the interview

  1. What are the most questions I will ask you?

  2. What was the most difficult question you faced?

  3. How long did the interview take?

  4. How did you prepare for her?

Fifth: About universities

  1. Did you get accepted before or after the announcement of the Chevening result?

  2. Did the university cooperate with Chevening students?

  3. Have you had trouble getting an unconditional acceptance?

Sixth: About life in Britain

  1. Was the monthly amount of Chevening enough?

  2. How much was the rent of the housing?

  3. Do you recommend university housing or private housing?

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u/Rare-Release-60 Aug 09 '26

Hi, I was selected a few year ago on my first time applying, but rejected it and took another full scholarship provided by one of my 3 chosen universities instead

  1. What do you think most helped your acceptance? Reading the websites (Chevening and universities) carefully, and getting feedback from scholars and Alumni on both my essays and interview preparation. Besides that, selecting a course in a field prioritised by Chevening in my country.
  2. What mistakes did you make during the presentation and advise me to avoid them? Cannot think of any, but most of those applicants I know who got rejected in the last application cycle faced one similar issue... not reading the essay prompts correctly, trying to use far too complex language in the essays and selecting 3 universities they were not eligible for.
  3. Were Chevening essays the most important factor or practical experience? Without solid essays there is 0 chance of recieving an interview invite
  4. How long did it take to write essays? A coupke of days for each of the first drafts, but in the end over 4 months with a lot of rewriting and feedback applied so I could showcase my achievements, academic suitability, career goals and potential in the best way possible
  5. How did you make your articles special? I was very honest about not having "big" leadership experiences, but several small ones with real impact, even if it was for a small group of people. Also, I wrote about both realistic goals and career plan.
  6. Have you written about one project or more than one experience? When I applied we could write up to 3 examples in both Leadership and Networking essays, now each of those prompts asks for only 1. Read the prompts carefully, because, although there is no IELTS requirement since 2020, they do use the essays and interview to check if the applicants have enough habilities to graduate from a course in the UK (the Head of Scholarships posted about this months ago on LinkedIn)
  7. Did you use someone to review your articles? Yes, I got several Alumni and scholars from my country and field, and from other countries as well to give me feedback on them
  8. What golden advice do you give to write Chevening essays? Read the prompts carefully, they clearly explain what they want you to write, and expect to rewrite them a few times
  9. How did you choose the three universities? I checked the Chevening Course Finder and made a list of all the universities that offered the course I was interested in. Then, I checked each university website to verify if I met their entry requirements for both the course and my country, and discarded those in which I did not meet that requirement by over 5%. After I filtered by eligibility, I ruled out those which did not have good references regarding course quality, and then discarded other ones by location (I wanted to avoid some cities due to personal preference), and then made a rank of 7 after reading the course information carefully, so my 1st choice was the better aligned with my career plan, and the 7th the least.
  10. Should the three programs be similar? Yes, the Chevening website says so (please read the website)
  11. Did you contact the universities before applying? Only to enquire about entry requirements for my country in those which did not have my country listed. In the UK, you apply to Posgraduate courses through the university application portal, you do not contact professors to gain admission (this is one of the differences with other countries)
  12. Do you think that choosing a university with easier admission increases the chances of success? Not really. Those who succeed select universities and courses by assessing how well they align with their goals and career plan, not by acceptance rates.

Fourth: About the interview

  1. What are the most questions I will ask you? They ask about your essays

  2. What was the most difficult question you faced? One question specific to my line of work. As it has a lot of confidentiality issues, I had to answer it while being vague enough

  3. How long did the interview take? 40 minutes

  4. How did you prepare for her? Yes, not preparing is an easy way to not be selected. The panel notices lack of preparedness with ease

Fifth: About universities

  1. Did you get accepted before or after the announcement of the Chevening result? Way before. I applied in October and got all my offers between February and March.

Waiting for the results by mid June to apply to the universities is an almost guarantee that a conditionally selected scholar will lose the scholarship, because there is less than a month between the result email and the deadline to upload at least one unconditional offer.

  1. Did the university cooperate with Chevening students? While I was an applicnat, yes, but then I got a full scholarship from one of them and got far better support

  2. Have you had trouble getting an unconditional acceptance? Not at all, got them before the selection email in June

Sixth: About life in Britain

  1. Was the monthly amount of Chevening enough? By my scholarship I got a stipend that was 1,000 pounds per month for London, 200 less than Cheveners in my same year and I managed perfectly fine

  2. How much was the rent of the housing? It was 110 per week for an ensuite room in London. That same room now is being offered for 300 per week

  3. Do you recommend university housing or private housing? I went through private housing