The essay
Four questions, in this order. This is the part that decides it.
What you want to do
Name the course and the problem you want to work on. Specific beats grand — "improve maternal health data in rural Kenya" reads better than "make a difference in healthcare".
Why you, and not someone else
The evidence you have already started. A project, a job, a paper, a thing you built. Claims without evidence read as ambition; evidence without claims reads as competence.
Why this course, at this university
Name a module, a lab, a supervisor. If your essay would work for any university, they know you copied it.
What you will do afterwards
The one most people rush, and the one funders weigh heaviest. They are buying an outcome, not a degree. Say what changes because of you, and where.
One line, two ways
Weak “I am passionate about healthcare and want to make a difference in my country.”
Strong “I want to build the maternal health data system my district lacks. I spent two years collecting that data on paper.”
Questions about applying
What should a scholarship essay actually say?
Four things, in order: what you want to do, why you rather than someone else, why this course specifically, and what you will do afterwards. Most people write the first three and rush the fourth — which is the one funders weigh heaviest.
Page three has the structure and a worked example of weak against strong.
How long should the essay be?
Whatever the limit says, and no more. Usually 500 to 1,000 words. Going over is read as an inability to follow instructions, which is not the impression you want on a form that is testing exactly that.