Generation Google Scholarship’21 -Drafting the essay answers

Hello everyone! This blog describes the Application Essay Round for Generation Google Scholarship’21 (previously Google Women Techmakers Scholarship) and will help you in preparing the answers to the essay questions and some general tips to boost your application and will help you to stand out from the crowd.

Generally, the questions would be related to your passion for computer science, struggles you faced in your tech journey and the things and activities that you have done so far to promote women and other underrepresented communities in tech.

Round I: Essay Round

This year, the applications opened on 1st March and we had approximately 29 days to submit our responses.

Every year, the essay questions keep on changing, but they generally revolve around Technology and communities. The questions for this year were -

1. Please give us one example of how you have exhibited leadership. Explain what you were trying to achieve, your role, how you influenced others, and the impact as a result of your actions. Think broadly and examine the many ways you are having an effect on the members of the different communities you are a part of. Keep in mind, the example you choose does not need to be a formal or traditional leadership role.
2. What is a significant challenge that you believe women in the tech industry face and how do you see yourself as being part of the solution(s) to this challenge? Keep in mind that impact can happen in many ways and at different scales.

We had to submit our resume, our official/unofficial transcripts along with the essay answers to the application questions.

How should you approach the questions?

These are some of the tips that will help you while drafting the answers.

I. Please give us one example of how you have exhibited leadership. Explain what you were trying to achieve, your role, how you influenced others, and the impact as a result of your actions. Think broadly and examine the many ways you are having an effect on the members of the different communities you are a part of. Keep in mind, the example you choose does not need to be a formal or traditional leadership role.

• Mention your leadership roles and experiences while working with underrepresented groups in technology.
• Make sure to show the growth in the form of statistics and numbers. For instance, specify the number of women on whom a particular activity or an event that you have conducted had an impact and try highlighting the positive outcomes.
• Explain your outreach activities, what you were trying to achieve through them and the impact you had as a result.
• Think broadly and examine the ways you are having an effect on the members of your technical community, your university, or any other community that you are a part of.
• Be genuine and be yourself. You are capable of much more than you think.

II. What is a significant challenge that you believe women in the tech industry face and how do you see yourself as being part of the solution(s) to this challenge? Keep in mind that impact can happen in many ways and at different scales.

• Briefly describe the struggles that you have faced as a tech evangelist or as a woman in technology; you can state about the discouragement, bullying, biases, stereotypes, unsupportive family and any other problem that creates hindrance and keeps you from achieving your STEM dreams.
• How do you think these problems would create a bad impact on the world and the future; especially the dreams and happiness of underrepresented groups and the representation of their present and future generations.
• Describe how your experiences have influenced the goals you have for yourself.

Points to keep in mind for essay answers -

1. Ideate and create a draft: It’s better to start ideating as soon as possible. You never know when your creative juices start overflowing. Whatever comes into your mind, prepare a draft and jot down all the points in it for your future reference.
2. Stick to the word limit: Always stick to the word limit, strictly. Even if the word limit is 500 words, try to wrap it up in 495–498 words.
3. Proofread for any errors: No matter how hard we try, it’s almost impossible to write an error-free piece of writing in one go. You can use applications like Grammarly and can ask your friends for their reviews so that you’ll know all the rooms available for any improvement.
4. Keep it Crisp, Clear, Simple and Short: Make sure that your application is easy to read and makes sense to the reader.
5. Include images/hyperlinks: Not only it makes your essay more attractive, but also makes your responses more credible, with proofs to back up your journey.
6. Avoid Clichés: They are interested in learning more about you, your journey and the impact that you have created. Don’t waste this opportunity by including random and irrelevant words and clichés.
7. Ask for an answer review: Absolutely! You can connect with previous scholars and can ask for a review of your essay answers. Since there are a lot of applicants, it’s always better to connect early with them to avoid any last-minute rush.

I’ve tried to mention everything in as much detail as possible. If you wish to know more, then feel free to connect with me on any of the social media platforms(you can check my bio for more details), or if you have any questions, drop me a mail on saloniankitaa@gmail.com and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Till then, Keep Learning, Keep Hustling! 🌟