Receiving Grace Hopper Scholarship as a student not in the Computer Science field: Essay tips
One essential criterion: Your strive to learn about this field
What is the Grace Hopper Conference?
Grace Hopper Conference is designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront and highlight the contributions of women to the tech world*. Attending the conference, one can expect workshops, countless opportunities to talk with tech companies, and meet women with the same aspirations!
Fun fact: The conference is named after Grace Murray Hopper, one of the first computer programmers to work on the Harvard Mark I, and who is credited to coin the term “bug” and “de-bug” in programming!
I have heard of Grace Hopper Conference (GHC) ever since my first year, yet did not pay attention to it much until my third year in college, when I determined to break into tech. I, unfortunately, missed the opportunity to register for the conference in my third year, so when the scholarship for the 2021 GHC rolled around, I was determined. Not coming from the CS background (my major is Psychology), I knew I needed to convey my desire and ambitions greatly through the essays. This article details some of my tips!
Essay prompts
Please tell us why you would like to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration and how you plan to share your experience with others (including your school community) after attending the celebration. We strongly encourage you to share any experiences with overcoming unique, personally important, and/or challenging factors in your background. While not an exhaustive list, some examples of unique challenges could include: the quality of your early educational environment, your socioeconomic background, culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, having a disability, and other life or work experiences. Please discuss how such factors have influenced your goals and preparation for your career as a woman in computing.
- Tell us why you want to attend GHC. What type of impact will being at a celebration focused on women in computing have on you? (maximum 200 words)
In this question, the committee wants to 1) learn about your story and the factors that made you who you are today, 2) why GHC and what you will learn there.
2. How will you share your experience at GHC with others? What type of impact will your experience at GHC have on others in your community? (maximum 200 words)
This question is about how you will give back.
How I approached the essay prompts?
- Take some time to reflect
Since it is about telling your own stories, I took some time to reflect and note down some thoughts by answering these questions:
- When was the first time I found interest in computing? Did I continue that interest? What continued/stopped it?
- What about computing that draws me in? Is it something personal? Any stories? Any person? Any incidents?
- What does being a woman in computing mean to me? What kinds of impacts am I making?
- How did different environmental factors (family, friends, school teachers) impact my education/dreams/confidence?
I reached far into my early childhood memories and incidents to give evidence to the question “Why am I the way I am?”
2. Bring those stories around GHC
Then, I looked into opportunities GHC brings to attendees. I attended the talk on GHC from my college’s Computer Science Department and connected with students who went before.
After understanding what GHC offers, I tied those opportunities around my aspirations and desires from Part 1’s reflection.
It is important that you detail exactly how GHC will support you to go towards your goals. Since I do not come from the CS field, I emphasized strongly the networking opportunities to learn from others, and the opportunity to increase my self-confidence.
3. Bring those stories around giving back
Finally, I thought about what I can bring from GHC to the community around me (Question 2). The 2 communities that I can give back to are Women in CS of my college and females in the tech industry in Vietnam. For this question, make sure to draw out some actionable items. Some beneficial questions I asked myself were:
- When I were younger, what kind of support would be beneficial to me?
- What would I want to learn from someone who went to GHC?
- Who are the communities I think would be the most benefit from GHC lessons?
4. Checking grammar and proofreading
Make sure to double-check the grammars and spelling, and let a friend proofread your essays.
My Essays
I include my essays here for reference, and covered parts that I found personal to my stories. I hope it will inspire you to become your true self in the best way possible! Please do not plagiarize.
That’s all, and good luck to everyone in the scholarship selection process! I will post more when I attend the Grace Hopper Conference, so stay tuned. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me and have a ☕ chat.
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*From GHC Website
