Regarding the Referees in Chevening Networking Essay

inquiry regarding "Networking Essay"

Hello everybody,

I hope you are doing very well ..

I have an enquiry regarding "Networking Essay" especially for EssayForum's editors, do we have to mention the names of people who are going to write our letters of recommendations? For example, I was able to connect with 2 American university professors who are at the same time famous writers, we participated on creative writing workshops and book discussions and became friends too. We know each other for about 2 years and we still cooperate on many things. They are happy to write recommendations for me but the question is: Can I use their names in my essay and for the scholarship letters taking in account they are not working with me in person (professional referee) and have never taught me at the university (academic referee? (neither academic nor professional)

My second question is: Do you think if I asked one of them to write for me as a professional referee where we worked together online and not in person, Chevning will accept that as they are not my teachers and not my work managers or partners here in Gaza?

I was thinking of asking my general director here in Gaza to write a letter for me, along with one of my academic teachers at the university, but I can't mention them in my networking essay as there is nothing special can be mentioned about our relation concerning networking skills .. we have done nothing special together, but they believe in my skills and my proficiency ..

Hope your answer will help other colleagues to benefit while they are writing their essays ..

Many thanks in advance for your genuine efforts and help and good luck to all of us!

@Ghaidaa it would be better if you can name the people in your networking essay as people who know you on an academic and professional basis. Since the scholarship requires the referees to answer questions in direct relation to your leadership and networking skills, personal, intellectual, and interpersonal assessment of you, and their opinion as to your preparedness to complete the UK academic program, it is imperative that the people who write your letter know you on a personal basis such as your office supervisor and a former college professor. It will matter that the people who are recommending you come from the same country otherwise, their review of your abilities could be suspect.

Consider that the referees will have to submit the recommendation letter online and you will not be able to coach them, it would be best to pick 2 people from each sector early on who know you very well. The people you could put in your possible short list of referees should come from any of the following sectors: professional, educational, supervisory, voluntary, religious. I would not advise using the voluntary aspect because these people are not in Gaza and have not had a direct relationship with you so their recommendation may not be as strong as someone from your country.

Your idea to ask the general director and your university professor will work just fine. Those are the perfect people to ask to recommend you based on the essay requirements of the scholarship. They can back up your claims easily. They believe in your skills and proficiency. That matters the most because they will also be asked how long they have known you and in what capacity along with when the last time they were in contact with you was. So the general director will be able to claim the most recent contact while the professor, can claim your last academic contact in relation to the reference letter.

The reference letters do not need to be people mentioned in your networking essay. That was just a suggestion I made because the applicants I assisted found that when the reference letter came from people they mentioned in their networking essay, the consideration for their skills and abilities became stronger. So, to recap, the referee best come from the same country, have some sort of physical contact with you, and need to be able to attest to your intellectual capacity and professional skills. They may not be mentioned in your networking essay if they do not have a networking relevance to your application. You can mention their names in the network if they will be the referees as well.

P.S. If you mention the general director in the leadership and influencing essay in some capacity in relation to your leadership role, his recommendation will certainly strengthen the claims you will be making about your skills in the leadership and influencing essay as well.

Great! Now I got what you mean .. thank you so much for your elaboration, and here I've another question to ask you and hope you can help me with it since I've written to the Chevening and searched the Frequently asked questions but didn't find an answer. If I chose 3 courses with different titles but related to the same field, let's say:

Drama in Education, Creative arts in Education and Education in Arts and culture, is that acceptable? Thanks once again for everything you do to help us .. I'm so grateful to you ..

The main requirement is that the focus of your chosen course must be within one field alone, with different concentrations. So in this case, the main course is education, everything else is the concentration of the course. It is acceptable. Just make sure that your background will support your chosen courses and, as Chevening requires, you must already have unconditional acceptance to at least one university, acceptance to all universities preferred. That widens the committees choice of university and course for your application.

You want to make sure that, should you be awarded the scholarship, you will already be able to enroll at the university. You do not choose the universities without an assurance that you can attend when the time comes.

More importantly, you need to assure the reviewer that your academic background and current profession relates to your course choices. That is of the utmost importance because you need to convince the reviewer that you have the background with which to succeed or complete your chosen MS course.

I see Mary, this makes things clearer, so the reviewer needs to make sure that you have strong academic and professional background to succeed in your MA too. But, how do a student get an unconditional offer? If the university liked his recommendation letters and his English language requirements and university GAP meet their requirements and expectations?

Thank you :)

I also wanted to ask about something, in case I mentioned one of the british council's programmes in one of the essays, do I have to explain the nature of the programme? or I can talk about it's goal along with my role? Thank you

To get an unconditional offer, you need to have applied for admission to a Chevening accredited university and passed their requirements for an MS student. Before you can apply to the university though, you need to make sure that you have first met their required IELTS score as an international student. Your admission will be based on several factors that I am not privy to at the moment. That is a secret among the university reviewers.

Now I am worried about your application, Did you not prepare the foundation for your application before applying? Do you have your passing IELTS score? Do you know what score will allow you to apply for admission to the university? You need to complete the academic requirements before you can be considered for an unconditional offer from any or all of the 3 universities you are applying to.

If you are talking about the post study career plan, then yes, you should explain the way that the British Council's program fits into the work you are doing via the shared goal or vision explanation. You must have a collaborative project that will help to enhance the UK relationship with your country through the British Council.

Dear Mary, THANK YOU for your elaboration! I'd like to ask about an important thing, since I've left the university 10 years ago, can I use 2 professional referees instead of one academic and one professional? Like my direct supervisor or manger and one of the UNRWA school teachers I work with on some English language programmes through my institute? Can I use a school teacher I cooperated with by conducting joint extracurricular activities with her students as a referee?

Also, do you think that I can use 2 referees form the same institute where I work right now? My manger & my supervisor?

Many thanks for your help ..

There is nothing in the Chevening recommendation requirements that indicate a need to present 2 different referees. They can both come from your professional life. Just make sure that they can attest to your ability to complete the masters course requirements. They should be able to indicate your ability to study and learn based (at least) upon your ability to perform well on the job after attending training sessions, seminars, or other continuing education programs as sponsored by your employer. They should also be able to certify your skills in leadership and networking along with your ability to get along with your co-workers and other interpersonal qualities.

You may use a reference from the school teacher you collaborated with in that person's capacity as a person who knows you in a voluntary capacity. Since you only need 2 referees, you are over by one referee. Personally, I would pick my immediate supervisor or department head and the voluntary reference so that the reviewer gets to know you based on 2 different settings rather than just basing his opinion of you on 2 people from the same workplace. Then again, that's just me. Your choice may be different from mine.

Highly appreciated Mary, then I'll use my Unit head where I work right now and one of the teachers I work with on long term programmes :) You are an added value to this universe Mary, thank you for guiding me .. I'm really so grateful to you and to this forum for giving us a space to seek help ..