How to write good essays for the Mastercard Foundation Scholarship

Summary

This webinar transcript offers guidance on crafting compelling postgraduate scholarship essays, emphasizing recent achievements linked to climate change and sustainability. It advises applicants to demonstrate leadership, quantify their impact, and reflect on their experiences. The discussion also addresses demonstrating financial need without seeming desperate and the importance of connecting past experiences to future goals in the essay.

Takeaways

• 📘 Postgraduate applicants should focus on recent experiences and achievements rather than high school or early life events.
• 🌿 Scholarships are centered on climate change and sustainability, and applicants should show how their skills can be applied to these themes.
• 🔗 It's important to demonstrate a link between one's experiences and the issues of climate change or sustainability, even if the work was in a different field.
• 💡 Leadership should be interpreted broadly, encompassing any situation where one has influenced others or brought about change, not just formal positions.
• 🏆 Postgraduate level applicants are expected to show concrete achievements rather than just interests or aspirations.
• 🔎 Strong applications should provide a broader context for achievements, rather than focusing on small-scale examples.
• 📊 Quantifying achievements with numbers can help convey the scale and impact of one's work.
• 🌟 Reflective capacity is crucial; applicants should be able to articulate what they learned from their experiences and how their understanding evolved.
• 📝 The essay should tell a cohesive story, connecting past experiences, current activities, and future plans in a logical and compelling manner.
• 🚫 Common pitfalls include essays with many mistakes, lack of specificity about why a particular degree program is chosen, and an overemphasis on the desire to study abroad rather than the program itself.

Q & A

What is the general expectation for applicants applying for postgraduate study in terms of their experiences discussed in their applications?

Applicants should focus on experiences later in life, preferably during or after their undergraduate studies, rather than high school or earlier. The experiences should ideally be linked to the themes of climate change and sustainability, even if not directly related.

How important is it for an applicant's work or study to be directly related to climate change and sustainability when applying for these scholarships?

While having a direct connection to climate change and sustainability is helpful, it's not essential. What's important is demonstrating how an applicant's skills and experiences can be applied to these issues.

Can leadership be demonstrated in contexts outside of formal positions like being the president of an organization?

Yes, leadership can be interpreted broadly and demonstrated in various contexts, including instances where an applicant has influenced others and brought about change without necessarily holding a formal position.

What does the term 'demonstrated achievement' mean in the context of postgraduate scholarship applications?

It refers to tangible actions and accomplishments that applicants have achieved, rather than just interests or aspirations. It's about showing what they have actually done, particularly in relation to the themes of the scholarship.

Why is it beneficial to put one's work in a broader context when writing an application essay?

Putting work in a broader context helps to convey the scale and impact of an applicant's achievements, making the essay more compelling and giving a clearer picture of the applicant's capabilities.

How can applicants effectively quantify their achievements in their essays?

Applicants can quantify their achievements by using numbers, such as the number of people influenced, attendees at an event, or the scale of a project in terms of time or budget.

What is the significance of reflecting on one's experiences in the application essay?

Reflection shows the applicant's ability to learn from their experiences, understand the impact of their work, and how their perspectives or approaches may have evolved as a result.

Can you explain the STAR method mentioned in the script for structuring an application essay?

The STAR method stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. It's a structured way to describe a specific scenario, the challenges faced, the actions taken, and the outcomes achieved.

How should applicants address their financial needs in the scholarship application without appearing to beg?

Applicants should focus on describing the challenges they faced in accessing education and how they overcame these barriers, demonstrating their resilience and the necessity of the scholarship for their studies.

What is the importance of linking past experiences, current activities, and future plans in an application essay?

Linking these elements provides a coherent narrative that showcases the applicant's journey, growth, and how the scholarship fits into their broader goals and aspirations.

How can applicants avoid common pitfalls in their essays, such as lack of clarity or appearing desperate for the scholarship?

Applicants should ensure their essays are well-prepared, free of errors, clearly explain their interest in the specific degree program, and convey a sense of having other opportunities, thus maintaining a balance between ambition and realism.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Focusing on Relevant Achievements for Postgraduate Scholarships

The speaker emphasizes the importance of showcasing recent achievements related to undergraduate studies or post-graduation experiences when applying for postgraduate scholarships. While early life experiences can be interesting, the focus should be on demonstrating how one's skills and experiences can be linked to the scholarship's themes of climate change and sustainability. The speaker also encourages applicants to think broadly about leadership and to provide examples that reflect their ability to influence and bring about change, rather than just holding a formal position.

05:03

💡 Enhancing Essays with Quantifiable Achievements and Reflective Insights

This paragraph discusses the value of quantifying one's achievements to provide context and scale to the work done. It suggests avoiding focusing on small-scale projects and instead highlighting broader impacts. The speaker also stresses the importance of reflecting on what was learned from past experiences, including successes and challenges, to demonstrate a candidate's reflective capacity and growth mindset.

10:05

🔍 Crafting Essays with Context and Clarity

The speaker provides guidance on writing effective essays, suggesting the use of a clear structure to outline the context, problem, actions taken, and the resulting changes. They also highlight the importance of setting the context for readers who may not be familiar with the applicant's background or field of work, and the opportunity this presents to demonstrate intercultural communication skills.

15:06

🌐 Linking Diverse Experiences to Climate Change and Sustainability

The speaker addresses how applicants from various backgrounds can demonstrate their interest and potential contribution to climate change and sustainability, even if their previous work was in different areas. They encourage applicants to make a case for how their transferable skills and experiences can be applied to these themes, emphasizing the need to show a clear connection and understanding of the relevance of their past work to the scholarship's focus.

20:07

📈 Demonstrating Financial Need with Dignity

In this paragraph, the speaker advises on how to demonstrate financial need without appearing to beg or seem overly needy. They suggest focusing on the challenges and barriers faced in accessing education, and how these were overcome, as a way to convey financial constraints while maintaining dignity. The speaker acknowledges the sensitivity of the topic and the importance of respecting the applicant's personal circumstances.

25:08

📝 Conveying a Compelling Narrative for the Scholarship Application

The speaker wraps up the discussion by emphasizing the importance of telling a compelling story in the application essays. They advise applicants to consider their past experiences, current activities, and future plans, ensuring that these elements are interconnected and coherent. The speaker also warns against common pitfalls, such as poor preparation, unrealistic ambitions, and a lack of specificity in the choice of degree program, and encourages applicants to show that they have researched and are a good fit for the program.

Keywords

💡Postgraduate study

Postgraduate study refers to advanced academic research and learning after completing a bachelor's degree. In the context of the video, it is emphasized that applicants should focus on their recent achievements and experiences related to climate change and sustainability during or after their undergraduate studies, rather than high school activities.

💡Climate change

Climate change is a significant theme in the video, referring to long-term shifts in global weather patterns. The video mentions that while applicants' work doesn't have to be directly related to climate change, they should demonstrate how their skills and experiences can be applied to address these issues.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability is discussed as a core theme, emphasizing the ability to maintain processes or resources over time without depleting them. The video encourages applicants to show how their past work in various fields can be linked to sustainable practices or how they plan to contribute to sustainability in their future endeavors.

💡Leadership

Leadership is defined broadly in the video, not just as holding a formal position but as the ability to influence others and bring about change. The script encourages applicants to showcase their leadership skills in a variety of contexts, including their capacity to deliver, organize, and reflect on their experiences.

💡Quantify

To 'quantify' in the video means to express the scale or impact of one's work through numbers, such as the number of people influenced, managed, or the duration of a project. This helps to provide a clear understanding of the applicant's achievements and their potential impact.

💡Reflective capacity

Reflective capacity is the ability to think deeply about one's experiences, learning from them, and considering how they might inform future actions. The video stresses the importance of applicants demonstrating this skill by reflecting on their past experiences and how they have grown or changed as a result.

💡Scholarships

Scholarships are financial awards mentioned in the video that are themed around climate change and sustainability. They are intended for applicants who have demonstrated achievements related to these themes and who show potential for future contributions.

💡Intercultural communication

Intercultural communication is the ability to effectively interact with people from different cultural backgrounds. The video suggests that applicants should be able to articulate their experiences and plans in a way that is understandable to readers from diverse backgrounds, showcasing this skill.

💡Demonstrated achievement

Demonstrated achievement refers to tangible accomplishments or actions that applicants have taken, rather than just interests or aspirations. The video emphasizes that postgraduate applicants should provide evidence of what they have actually done, particularly in relation to the themes of the scholarship.

💡Financial need

Financial need is a criterion for the scholarship program, indicating that applicants must show they require financial assistance to pursue their studies. The video advises applicants to discuss this in a dignified manner, focusing on the challenges they've overcome to access education, rather than appearing to beg for assistance.

Highlights

Applicants for postgraduate study should focus on recent achievements rather than high school experiences.

Scholarships are themed around climate change and sustainability, but direct experience in these areas is not mandatory.

Applicants should demonstrate how their skills and experiences can be linked to issues of climate change and sustainability.

Leadership should be interpreted broadly, not just in terms of formal positions held.

Postgraduate level applicants are expected to show demonstrated achievements, not just interests or aspirations.

Applicants should provide context for their work to help evaluators unfamiliar with their field or country.

Quantifying achievements with numbers can help convey the scale and impact of an applicant's work.

Leadership examples should reflect not just the ability to deliver and organize, but also personal values and passions.

Reflective capacity is crucial; applicants should be able to discuss what they learned from their experiences.

Applicants should use a structured format to clearly communicate their situation, task, action, and result (STAR).

Essays should avoid common pitfalls such as lack of preparation, typos, and not explaining the relevance of the chosen degree program.

Essays should demonstrate a realistic progression from past achievements to future plans.

Applicants should show they have done research into the specific degree program and how it will aid their career.

Strong applicants should convey they have opportunities elsewhere due to impressive CVs and accomplishments.

Essays should balance ambition with realism, avoiding extremes of under or over-estimating future goals.

Demonstrating financial need should be done in a dignified way, focusing on overcoming challenges rather than begging.

Applicants should connect their past experiences, current work, and future plans in a coherent narrative.

Essays should be concise, using the 250-word limit effectively to tell a compelling story.

Transcripts

something that's fairly recent uh we

sometimes read um examples where uh

applicants who are going for

postgraduate study but they're talking

about things that they did in high

school or things where they or even

earlier in life than that and although

they can be interesting I think it's

we're generally looking for things a bit

later in life that you've done either

during the course of your undergraduate

study or since

graduating uh as B mentioned our

scholarships are themed around climate

change and sustainability so although

it's not essential that you've worked or

have studied in an area that's closely

related to climate change and

sustainability though certainly that's

helpful um it is important that you show

how you might link your particular

skills and experiences to these issues

so perhaps you've worked primarily with

issues relating to Refugee issues or in

women's health you might want to reflect

on how the particular skills that you've

used in that area might allow you to

help out um and address sustainability

or climate change in some ways and and

lastly I think sometimes people

interpret leadership to only refer to a

formal position that you've held like

president of a of an organization or the

chair of something but I think you can

think about leadership in a much wider

range of context to that anywhere where

you've had an opportunity to show off

your skills and to influence other

people and to uh to bring about change

so I encourage you to incorporate

leadership uh interpret leadership

broadly so let's think about these

examples and and what El might make a

good one and what you should be looking

for um I think at postgraduate level we

are as it's the first thing to say is we

are looking primarily for people who

have demonstrated achievement not just

this is something I'm interested in this

is something I'm aspiring to do I've

read interesting things about

sustainable energy I've read interesting

things about this but we are looking to

see things that you've actually done I

think also um you know we appreciate

that that comes in context we have some

applicants who are uh you know quite

young perhaps in their early 20s having

just graduated and we have some older

applicants and we understand that not

everyone has had the same opportunity to

contribute but we are looking

for um things that you that you've

actually done I think that um some

weaker answers can often focus on and

and give quite a good account of

something but it's actually quite a

small example it might be I organized a

workshop or I I organized an event of

some kind where it's interesting and

it's and it's good but it's perhaps

quite small in scale I think it can be

better to try and put your work in a

slightly broader context so for instance

have you organized a range of workshops

and and and try and tell the bigger

story of that rather than just oh there

was a dispute between colleagues and I

use my leadership skills to resolve that

I think try to think a little bit bigger

than that I think something that goes

along really closely with that and one

that you'll see when I share some

examples later on is that it's

incredibly helpful for you to be able to

quantify what you have done in some way

and quantify by simply mean use numbers

how many people did you influence how

many people came to your event how many

people were you managing how long did it

go on for and sometimes we have um uh

description of a project that sounds

interesting but there's no way to tell

whether this was a project that went for

two weeks or for two years or whether it

was a very small scale project or

whether it was you hundreds of thousands

of dollars so I think something that

gives you some example of the scale of

that is really

important um I think

also it's the leadership examples want

to show ideally a bit more than just

simply Your Capacity to deliver and

organize something because leadership is

a little bit more than just management

it's

also about reflecting your values your

passions the things that interest you

the things that drive you so ideally the

example is not just I delivered on it on

an impressive project but also the

project represents something that I

think is important and change that I

think I want to bring help bring about

in the world so I think that's an

important aspect of that and lastly I

would say this reflective capacity is

very important an ability to not just

describe what you've done uh and uh and

and the skills that you use to do it but

to say what you took away from that

we're not expecting every example to be

some kind of perfect version of of uh of

oh everything went perfectly well it may

be that it was a project that had lots

of ups and downs in it complicated

projects often do come within parts that

go well and parts that go not so well

and you may go in with an understanding

of what the problem is but perhaps your

understanding of the issue you were

working on was changed by your work I

think being able to show off that kind

of those kind of skills are are really

useful and the bit you can't see by my

head there it says um oh let me see what

that says it says yeah do you have uh do

you have skills that you would like to

grow and develop further so yeah are

there things that yeah I felt like I was

able to show off these leadership skills

but there's more I have to learn as

well so how do you do this thing is this

if this is what's on your shopping list

of different things you want to show off

your reflective ability um some of the

skills that you have but then also your

passions and your values how can you try

to do this well if you prepared

professionally for a job interview or a

similar opportunity like this you're

probably aware of some of the kind of

formats that are quite useful to to use

um so what one format I would say is

work through set out the context of what

you're trying to do uh explain the

problem of what the issue was that you

faced explain what you did and and then

explain what change happened and then

have that reflective component uh you

perhaps heard a very similar idea to

this um used with a different acronym uh

star for

situation um task oh wait have I got

that right situation and context I think

the uh the task and then the action and

then the result I think I've got that

the right way around but this thing

where you're taking us through in what

is in it 250 words so you do have to be

concise what happened what the situation

was and how you attacked that situation

and I think this is where it's really

useful to particularly think about the

context because your essays are likely

to be read by someone who is not

necessarily familiar with uh the country

that you work in the country that you

come from they may not immediately be

able to bring to mind what it is to work

in a Marketplace or to work in a

business there so I think it's really

helpful for uh for you to be able to set

that out and that is an opportunity to

showcase your skills for Intercultural

communication as well so um let me look

at a couple of different essay examples

and talk you through those um and I'll

I'll give you one example that I think

is promising but that is underdeveloped

and then I think a much stronger and

better example there and before I do

that just bear with me one minut

okay let's look at that first

example so I'm just going to read it

it's not going to be the most exciting

thing but I think it's important for you

to get a sense of what we're talking

about here okay so it's answering a

question and these two examples are both

going to be answering that same question

uh and it's similar to one of the essays

that you'll have to answer tell us about

a scenario in which you've needed to

show leadership how you approach this

and what the outcomes were so it's this

thing what we're talking about let's

have a let's give us a single example

and I think that's quite important in

that it is asking for a specific

scenario it's not asking for your

general thoughts on leadership or what

makes a good leader it's asking a

specific question give us an example

here so uh it's really important to take

that away from the question okay let's

go leadership being defined by how you

lead it is inevitable your team will

look up to you and remember how you led

them as the women's commissioner for the

department of social sciences 201617

Academic Year it was my core

responsibility to see to it that the

welfare of the students especially

females were addressed I realized that

the students lacked basic knowledge on

campus life upon gaining admission to

the university and lack entrepreneurial

skills hence during the Department's

annual week celebration I invited a

female dignitary as our resource person

person for the program in the person of

Dr Martina Smithson she delivered a talk

on the topic and as a result result the

students were able to understand the

various mechanisms through which

academic and social stress could be

reduced for a better stay on campus a

workshop uh was also organized for the

students which gave them some

prerequisite skills uh to help them have

entrepreneurial opportunities aside from

school

work so when I look at this essay

there's definitely some things I like

about this it's showing an interest in

the Affairs of others it's showing the

ability to organize things and deliver

something um and uh I think it's you

know the ability to size up a situation

and realize something was lacking and

deliver that so I think there's quite a

lot to like here um I think where it

might have some limitations well for one

thing there's a typo in there which is a

little bit annoying a workshop was also

organized should be organized so that's

that's a little bit frustrating that it

wasn't more carefully prepared comped

there but I think more seriously it's

quite difficult for me to judge the sort

of the scale of this work it's talking

about identifying an issue and then they

organize a workshop now for the

individual writing this it might be

obvious to them that this was a really

huge event but I don't know whether 10

people came to the seminar or a thousand

people came to it and I don't know if

there was just a seminar or whether

there was other events going on as well

and because of that it's hard for me to

give this the highest marks on this

because I just don't exactly know enough

about the situation and I would love

also to see the candidate reflect a

little bit more on what they've taken

away from this situation if they were

facing a similar situation in future is

there an even better way they could have

addressed it so I think this essay is

okay it's certainly not disqualifying

but I think it has its limitations here

okay let me show you one that I think is

better

um same

question uh but they've answered it in a

different way it's a little bit it's a

little bit longer too it's it uses the

full 250 words I had an opportunity to

demonstrate leadership skills during my

internship experience as a startup

fashion company relating to their

manufacturing processes I was promoted

to be the assistant manufacturing lead

in three months where I took more

leadership responsibilities by Leading a

team of six so already here I'm starting

to get a sense of scale um in that there

I know how many people they're managing

and and and I have a sense of what's

going on here okay let's continue we

were experiencing challenges within the

team because the department lacked clear

processes for tracking the use of

materials such as dyes and other

chemicals and because some members of

the team had not been properly trained

in the use of equipment this led to both

additional costs using chemicals

excessively for instance through fail

production runs but also environmental

problems where materials were not

disposed of properly

see I find this context quite helpful I

don't know anything about fashion or

clothing production or anything like

that but they've explained the situation

in a way that I can make sense of let's

continue I worked with each member of

the manufacturing team to identify and

provide for their training needs and

organized a series of five halfday

workshops on using our equipment more

efficiently five halfday workshops and

starting to get a sense of the scale of

the work that they did importantly I

also asked the team to design targets

producing waste I felt that the goals

agreed by the team rather than imposed

on them by a manager would be more

inspiring and clearly understood I also

participated in the recruitment process

hiring and overseeing the induction of

three new colleagues so I get the sense

here also that this colleagues growing

in

responsibility and the way that they

describe agreeing these targets together

that's starting to give me a sense of

their not just their capabilities but

also their values as well and what they

think what they see as leadership uh

let's finish finish this example off

over 6 months we were able to reduce our

use of toxic d by 45% with a similar

reduction in costs even as overall

production increased since then I I've

worked in a consultancy role with two

other companies seeking to make similar

changes this work has inspired me to use

efficient business practices to make

environmentally friendly changes and

reminded me that collaboration and

empowerment can be more powerful than

top down management again I really like

the way that I have a sense of scale I

have a sense of what the change was but

I also have a sense of the values and

the passions of the person who's who's

WR written this essay so I think this is

a much stronger

essay um okay let's uh let's let's wrap

up here and make a couple of other

observations on on what I think makes a

strong essay

uh um some of your essays are they're

written in three different tenses some

of them are asking you to write about

things that you've done in the in in the

past reflecting on past examples what

you've learned from those some of them

are will ask you to talk about things

that happening now that you're working

on now but it's also very important to

show what your future plans are because

ultimately the purpose of these

scholarships is to help individuals

bring about positive change in the world

so I think that future plan is really

important and I think for me the um you

should be able to talk about what you're

doing now what you've done in the past

and what you plan to do in the future

and it should all hang

together um at least in the way that you

tell the story there should be a thread

that links these things whether it's

skills that you've learned along the way

or whether it's a particular interest

that's been consistent throughout so I

think it's useful now while you still

have um a little bit more than well a

month or so to submit these these essays

and to prepare these essays to think

about how do I want to tell my story in

terms of what's happened in the past

what am I doing now and what will I do

in the future uh so think about that

connection and I think also you want to

be striking a balance between having an

ambition that is impressive and to bring

about change I think if you don't just

want to be saying well I hope to

graduate and I want to go back home and

do the same thing that I'm doing now um

but also you don't want to say I expect

to become the president of of Nigeria

within the next 18 months after

graduating I think you you want to be

able to show what is a realistic

progression there I think just finally

and I hope this is not finishing on a

sort of negative note but it's worth

noting there are a couple of common

pitfalls and things that are unhelpful

uh I think sometimes we do get a lot of

essays that are just not prepared as

carefully as they might be and I think

it's really hard to give a score a good

Mark to an essay that has lots of

mistakes in it I think if you do have

the opportunity to write it on a laptop

where you can look through it carefully

rather than doing it not on your phone I

would encourage you to do that um I

think also this this also is a big part

of the future question we get a lot of

essays where people say I really want to

study abroad I've always wanted to study

abroad and it would be really exciting

for me it would take me to the next

level in my career but they don't really

explain why they want to study a

specific degree program and it's you get

the sense sometimes that they'd be happy

doing almost anything so long as they

got a chance to study abroad and I think

the better applications show that

they've done research into a particular

degree program and they're able to

demonstrate yeah this is this is how

this is how this degree program will be

able to help me I think lastly we

realized that scholarships can be very

important for uh for our applicants and

there is a lot of pressure to get them

but I think our strongest

applicants um have opportunities

elsewhere that because they have very

impressive CVS they have very impressive

accomplishments so I think sometimes

when applicants communicate a sense of

like if I didn't get get this uh there

would be nothing for me it would be a

disaster I think I understand um and I I

want to be compassionate to where that

is coming from but I think it is not

helpful for us in that um we are are

looking for applicants who are very well

qualified and are likely to have

different kind of of possibilities

elsewhere so those are the main things

that I wanted to share with you about

things that I uh that I think make a

really strong application essay as I say

I haven't gone through all of the

questions individually that's for you to

do and to work out how you want to use

those questions to tell your story but I

hope it's given you a sense of the

different things that would make a a

really strong essay and and hopefully

it's given you some ideas about how you

want to write those questions I want to

hand back over to faithy now as we have

a little bit of time to both wrap up and

answer some of your questions I

think thank you very much pit uh we do

have have a couple of questions in the

Q&A um

area which we are just going to respond

to and then I'll wrap up the webinar so

I'll summarize the questions real bit

because I think they're very tgex to

what your presentation so you spoke

about a timeline as writing experiences

within a timeline that is fairly

reasoned what actually accounts for

Fairly reason is it up to 5 years and

then um the other question is about um

it seems the focus of the Scholars

Program uh in Edinburgh is big on

climate and sustainability this year

which anyone who has other experience

for example you know enabling inclusive

communities through women empowerment

will they have uh a chance to you know

um showcase their work in as much as our

focus is on climate and

sustainability

great they're both really good questions

and maybe I could answer the second one

first and then come to the first one so

yeah so question to that question that

was like maybe I'm interested in working

in climate change and sustainability but

so far I've been working in a different

area and the example you cited with

women's empowerment and and something

something like that have I understood

that correct question

correctly yeah so I guess what I would

say there

is um it's great and we don't expect of

our applicants to have been climate

activists or to have been working in

sustainable energy or working in

Environmental Protection or conservation

for their whole lives people come from

lots of different backgrounds and our

current Scholars do but what I would

like you to do is to show us what the

link is shows the connection um shows

why You' become interested in it but

then also show how the skills that

you've worked which could be in a very

different area working on a different

topic might help you for instance you

might say one of the key things that I

I've had to do in my current role

working for an NGO on women's rights is

the ability to build coalitions and to

work with different groups of actors

even though those they may have

different priorities in and I think

being able to make a case of that's also

very important for working on climate

change and conservation and I think

that's one of the key skills I could

bring or maybe your key skills are in

Communications and presentation or maybe

they're about rights based approaches

and which are also very important in

climate change so being able to show

that

connection um I think the other question

was something like how long ago is too

long

ago uh I guess for that what I would say

is

um

uh I think that we understand that

people have taken many different paths

including we have many applicants who

have uh have have quite complicated

biographies perhaps of are displaced or

refugees work worked in different

countries or have had other complicated

events so we don't have a single

template of we want to see what you've

done in the last 12 months or we want to

see what you've done in the last 3 years

I think we want to hear your your

overall story I think what I would say

is the nature of the students that or

the applicants that we're looking at

people from in their basically from

their mid 20s to mid 30s

is uh we're asking you to reflect

essentially on your working life and the

things that you've done either while you

were studying or since you were studying

and I think if you're only citing

examples from seven or eight years ago

without giving some kind of of sense of

what you've done much more recently that

might make me think what have you been

doing in The Last 5 Years so I think

some kind of sense of of what you've

been doing through your life and but I I

I think still you can choose some

compelling examples that aren't very

recent but I think perhaps it's it's

helpful to know what you've been doing

more recently too I feel like I've not

I've answered that question in a bit of

a vague way but I think it depends on

your own story I don't know if you had

anything to add there faiy

uh Pete you have answered the question

uh comprehensively and I hope the other

attendees uh feel the same so there's

one last question um which has come up

in other webinars and I think it will be

important for pach to address as well

it's around um you know the Scholars

Program one of thep criteria is

applicants must demonstrate financial

needs I know you've touched on this

but what is the best way to demonstrate

that you are actually in need without

appearing as if you're begging or how do

you avoid the pitfall of begging and

coming out as needy in this

essay thanks it's a really interesting

question um I guess perhaps before I

answer it directly I just wanted to

acknowledge that that this is a very

sensitive question and that we're

strangers to you you haven't had the

chance to meet us and get to know us but

we're asking some very personal

questions for you and and we want to try

to do that in a way that is respectful

um we the foundation asks us to recruit

students who wouldn't have an

opportunity to study otherwise who

wouldn't have the financial means to to

to study overseas uh simply by asking

their parents to pay for it um so I I

think trying to do that in a way that is

that feels dignified and respectful for

you I think it is a bit of a challenge I

think one way of doing that can be to

talk about barriers that you faced for

instance or barriers or difficulties

that you faced in accessing education so

far uh and that I think does not have to

be told in a way where you're you feel

like you're obliged to write a very

emotional sub story of things that are

of difficult problems that you've had in

your life in a way that feels

exploitative but it can be saying that I

had to work parttime throughout my

undergraduate studies and you know that

was often very tiring and and you know I

I had to you know I had to I had to work

as in a restaurant to be able to afford

textbooks or I had to do some other kind

of work that was that was really

difficult and that and that was

something that was that was quite hard

for me and I think something like that

can both give some context to your

academic achievements but also reassure

is that uh you're you're somewhat

appropriate for our scholarship in terms

of you don't have the private means to

be able to pay for it so think focusing

on how you've been able to overcome

challenges so far can be I think a

dignified way of doing that again I

don't know if you have anything to

add yeah uh thank you uh thank you for

that um well if I may add to that is

um sometimes you know when you're when

you're writing your there is a question

about demonstrating Financial need you

want to show how you don't want to

really explain what the challenge you

went through but mostly Dell your essay

on showing how you overcome that

particular challenge that just has P

explained and so if you Dell on this I

really um know that it will set you uh

that particular aay part um for you so

those are the only questions that we had

in relation to essay um essay writing

and um I just look through the Q section

real quick and realize others related to

the application process itself

um I'm going to respond uh real quick

but at the same time this webinar has

been recorded and is going to be shared

by all those who um registered to attend

it uh we do also advise all um who are

interested in applying for the

scholarship to always you know check our

socials uh and our website because we do

have uh comprehensive information on how

to apply for for the scholarship the E

the FAQ section has uh a whole lot of

other questions that uh you might uh

find responses to as well and should you

find that uh you have a question that is

not responded to on the website or um

anywhere else you always open to uh

email us at uh mcfp

at.

UK thank you Pete very much and uh thank

you all for attending uh the webinar

today we hope that you find you found it

very useful um in um you know Finding

tips and strategies to submit a

compelling application

essay I do hope that these elements are

going to set you apart and uh your

applications essays are going to capture

the attention of the admission

committees and anybody else who will be

involved in review doing your

vacations thank you so much and uh have

a good

evening bye thank you everyone I

appreciate your

time