June 13, 2014. June 8, 2015 June 15, 2016 at 5 pm Pacific Time. Make sure you have your short essay and other materials in order so that you get your materials in by the deadline and try and be one of the 50 people they narrow the pool down to. In the end, only 8 students will receive the fellowship, but that doesn’t mean more of you won’t at least get admitted! Click here to get official up-to-date information on the Stanford GSB website. Even if you aren’t applying to the Stanford Africa MBA Fellowship, these tips will help you be specific and clear in your “career vision” type essays. Stanford asks applicants to write a 250-word essay addressing how you plan to make an impact in Africa. I’ve created some questions for you to consider as you answer the 250-word Stanford Africa MBA Fellowship question:
Questions to consider as you write your essay for the Stanford Africa MBA Fellowship:
- What country/countries do you want to work in and why?
- What population of people do you want to work with? (citizens of a certain region, children, women, soldiers, etc.)
- What specific political/social/economic issue do you hope to affect and why?
- What organization(s) do you want to work for? Why?
- What community, political, and social leaders do you want to learn from and partner with? Why?
- What is your plan for right after graduation? (For example, you could stay in the U.S. for two years and then head to Africa for two years. If you plan to stay in the U.S. for two years, where do you want to work and what do you want to be doing?) What is your plan for 3-5 years after graduation? What is your plan for 10 years after graduation?
Of course these are a lot of questions to cover in just 250 words. I suggest you try allowing yourself to write up to 500 words and then go back and edit it down to 250 words. I always believe it’s better to let the words flow and then go back and trim them down than to strangle yourself creatively trying to stay within the word limit. Best of luck on applying and I hope lots and lots of you go for it!
Thank you for the valuable information! Great website !
You are welcome, Bintou!
Hello Kaneisha.
Thank you so much for this material. It has help me alot. You are my inspiration.
Hi Ngum! I’m so glad you found it helpful and inspiring.
Hi Kaneisha, how does one get a hold of you for assistance?
Hi Lebogang, you can always contact me and my team using the contact form on this website. You can also send an email to help@theartofapplying.com. We look forward to connecting with you!
Good work you doing…about the only ‘reasonable source’ on the internet
That’s quite a compliment! Thank you!
Thank you Kaniesha, this is the sort of thing i was looking for . It will definitely help my essay.
Hi Lulu, glad to hear it! I hope it turned out well!
Kaneisha,
This was quite useful last year and will definitely be useful as I re-apply this year.
Thank you for taking the time to give us such valuable information.
I’m glad you found it useful, Ibukayo. Best of luck with your reapplication! Please remember that we are always available to review your materials! Our Services
(also – your name is cool!)
Thank you so much for this article; it was a very good starting point. I am surprised at the dearth of similar resources online for the Stanford Africa Business Fellowship.
Hi Abdulkamal, you are welcome! The dearth of useful resources for the Stanford MBA Africa Fellowship is exactly why I took the time to write this piece. It’s such a great opportunity and I want to make sure people feel encouraged and prepared when they apply!
Thanks Kaneisha, I intend to give this a shot. Initially i looked at the essay topic and just felt blank, at least now i have some sort of guideline, thanks to you.
Hi Lucille, I’m glad to hear that you’re going to give it a shot! I’m glad to have helped you fill in the blank somewhat!
Hi Kaneisha,
Thanks for taking the time to put these guidelines down for us. In structuring the essay, I am wondering how much space should be dedicated to laying out the motivation and context behind my goals. Laying out the goals could be explained in a hundred words or so, but establishing the context could take more space. Keeping in mind that the essay asks for how you will make an impact, do you think one should focus less (perhaps just 50-75 words) on laying some background information and spending the rest of the essay describing in detail how one would execute his/her goals?
Hi Bisi, you totally get this! Yes, that’s what you should do: spend the vast majority of your essay focused on what you will do, being as specific as possible. I think you can establish a relationship with the reader by sharing your background in as few as 3 sentences. Thanks for your question!
Hello,
Thank you very much for your post. Do you believe there is any disadvantage in being a reapplicant for the fellowship as opposed to applying for the first time?
Thank you
Hi Jean, I think it’s always more beneficial to being a first-time applicant for a scholarship or graduate program. However, appying as a reapplicant is better than not applying at all!
Hello Kaneisha, is it OK if my essay exceeds 250 words?
Thanks for your question, Nelson! I am Noah, a consultant with The Art of Applying. Hopefully, this is still helpful for you and someone else in that situation.
Keeping to the word limit is important especially in fellowship application. When clients join our Application Accelerator, each person has an Assessment Call with our team. We work with them to revise their essays to be clear and concise while also reflecting their previous experiences and goals. All within the word count.
While we don’t provide free 1:1 advice via our blog, we’d love to chat more with you about your application process, and how we can help. We offer hourly coaching as well. Contact us [link] to get the conversation started.