The GHCI Student Scholarship: A Step by Step Guide

One Saturday night, I opened my email expecting a certain mail, but what I actually found in my inbox was “Congratulations! We are happy to inform you that you have been awarded the Student Scholarship to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing India (GHCI) 20 conference.” This was something I wanted to hear for about 1.5 months before it actually happened. The feeling, as expected, was exhilarating and I felt that all efforts that I had put into the application were fruitful after all. Here, I will share all the details of the application and some tips which helped me a lot to apply for this opportunity.

What is Grace Hopper Celebration India and what does the Student Scholarship offer?

The Grace Hopper Celebration India is Asia’s largest gathering of women technologists. It is produced by AnitaB.org and presented in partnership with ACM India.

Anita Borg was a computer scientist with a vision to give voice to women technologists to discuss issues that impact them. As a result of this, she founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Washington D.C. in 1994. The Indian chapter has been organising the conference successfully since 2010 and has now become the largest technical conference for women in Asia. The vision is so well engraved in the organisation that the pandemic did not stop the efforts. Despite the situation, the conference is reaching women in technology virtually!

The Student Scholarship gives you an opportunity to learn, network, and get inspired at the Grace Hopper Celebration India. The scholarship includes the full conference registration fee and access to GHCI’s Career Fair.

Step 1: Ask yourself why?

This is an important question you need to ask yourself, as it will help you answer the essay questions that are asked in the application. Your reason can range from listening to the amazing speakers out there or the career fair or the poster presentation or an opportunity to explore career options or any other thing for that matter. A strong reason will help you clear your mind and push you to apply for the opportunity diligently. To know your reason, you will have to know in depth about the conference first. The main idea is to get the feel of what the conference has to offer. There are numerous ways to do this:

1. Visit the official website of the Grace Hopper Celebration India. There you will find a list of events conducted and a description of the event itself.

2. Watch YouTube video testimonials of people who have attended the conference. You will surely be inspired by the kind of opportunities offered at the conference.

3. Read blogs of previous year attendees. It’s not necessary to do this for the India chapter only. You could even look up for GHC.

These are the few things I did to understand what happens at the conference and it surely motivated me to give my best shot.

Step 2: Check out the eligibility, timeline and sample submission form

Check whether you are eligible to apply for the scholarship in the first place. The criteria is clearly specified on the website.

The application process is a bit time consuming so it is quite important to be aware of the timeline beforehand and work accordingly. The applications for the scholarship open in April and the deadline is in mid June. It’s always an advantage to start early and finish off ahead of time.

The website also contains a sample submission form which is exactly what the real form looks like. It is very helpful to look at the sample form when you first check the website out. It gives you an idea of what is asked in the form.

The submission form usually includes:

• General information like name, address, academic institution, contact number, curriculum being pursued, CGPA etc.
• Essay questions: Statement of Purpose, Technical Skills and Participation in Program Related Co-Curricular Activities
• Video testimonial
• Resume
• Letters of Recommendation (Optional)

Step 3: Pen down your thoughts

As the heading says, the next step is to pen down your thoughts. There is a very strict word limit (50 or 100 words depending on the question) for each of the essay questions. As an initial step you can just write whatever comes to your mind and work on the word limit after you are sure of the points you want to mention. I think that the answers to the essay questions should be as personal as possible. A generic answer would show lack of enthusiasm to attend the conference which offers so much. A breakdown of the three essay questions is as follows:

1. Statement of Purpose- You can talk about any incident or any piece of information that hit you hard and made you a stronger woman in technology. You could also mention why a particular field fascinates you and the impact it had on you. Don’t hesitate in mentioning why you want to attend the conference and how you will benefit from it. Try not to be too wordy as the word limit is 100 words.
2. Technical skills- Mention the skills that you have developed over the years in a concise and crisp manner. Don’t forget to mention where you applied these skills, in an internship or as a project etc. Keep it to the point as the word limit is 50 words.
3. Participation in Program Related Co-Curricular Activities- In this section you have to mention your co-curricular activities which prove your interest in tech. This includes but is not limited to hackathons, certifications, research experience. Do not forget to highlight any kind of volunteering activity that you have done in this field. The word limit of this section is 50.

One technique that I followed was to use bullet points to increase readability and prevent excessive usage of stop words. This helped me cover more in less words.

Step 4: The video

The video along with the essay questions is the most important and time consuming section of the application process. The video is supposed to be 2–3 minutes long. You have to give a small introduction of yourself, explain the role you have played as a contributor in the field, the activities you have been involved in and what is your source of motivation. Be sure to mention how the conference would help you in your career goals. If you want to look at examples of video submissions, you can easily find them on YouTube as most of the candidates submit it through this platform. The video is to be uploaded on any common video sharing site like YouTube. Try to record this video well in time as uploading to a platform might take time.

Step 5: The resume

Keep it short, simple and sweet. Try not to exceed one page, worst case two. Only mention points that are relevant to the conference. Talk about the academic details, internships, projects, publications, personal initiatives and leadership roles.

Step 6: The letters of recommendation

This is an optional part of the application but you can submit up to two letters of recommendation from faculty members under whose guidance you have worked. Approach a professor under whom you have worked and explain to him/her how important the scholarship is for you and how their recommendation might help. Although the LoR is optional, it would be great to have a personalised recommendation where the professor mentions unique positives about you.

I would like to point out something specific with respect to the letter of recommendation which could possibly be missed out. The application deadline which is mentioned in the website includes the deadline for the letter of recommendation too. What exactly happens is that you need to provide email IDs of the professors whose recommendations you seek. They are immediately mailed asking to submit the recommendation and they have to submit the letter before the deadline mentioned on the website. So be sure to take your professor’s approval beforehand.

Here’s a visual to pump you up. Source: Google Images

Finally, read through your submission over and over again to fix any errors and be sure to stick to the word limits provided. Ask someone in your family or friends to proof-read the application and get their point of view too. Last but not the least, feel free to reach out to me if you have any doubts. I would be more than happy to help. All the best! :)

Hi there! Thank you so much for giving this blog a read. You can reach out to me via mail (miloni.mittal@gmail.com) for any queries or for a small chit-chat. :)