how long should a scholarship essay be

how long should a scholarship essay be

The Perfect Length for a Scholarship Essay

1. Introduction

What are the basics to write the best scholarship essay? Student’s life may be tough sometimes. The education system becomes more and more difficult every year, now you will find more career competition as not provide a better education. In this kind of situation, scholarship essay writing becomes very important. Many of the scholarship sponsors will require the student to submit the essay, students can’t get the funding unless they write the essay properly. Scholarship essay is a great chance for the students to convince the academic committee and stand out from the crowd. So many students worry about how to cover the topic properly. However, the scholarship essay topic was the first challenge, now it’s time to write the scholarship essay. So, students should have to know how to write a good scholarship essay now. First, students have to know about the information of the scholarship itself. For example, knowing the scholarship sponsor will help the students to know about the sponsor’s goals and spending time to know about what makes the sponsor unique from others. The students can also research the past scholarship awards. This can help the students find what type of student this scholarship needs and this will give an idea of the facts learned from other scholarship winners. This is one way of how to write a better scholarship essay by improving research skills. Last but not least, students have to know about the strategy itself in order to present a great scholarship essay showing the study and explaining the career goal. If the application was based on choosing the topic, then once the student has chosen the subject, they can decide to write the scholarship in one broader aspect or in the aspect of the academic, research leadership, creative or project in which the student has taken. But if the college or the scholarship was not specific, the student can choose anything that is relevant to the scholarship and the sponsor but seems to reuse the main idea in the essay. The scholarship essay helps the students to explore, frame, and focus content in a way that the reader finds the most interesting section. By perfecting the essay writing, students can certainly save a big amount of cash, qualify for career opportunities, and develop a successful career through many other types of scholarships in the future.

2. Benefits of Concise Scholarship Essays

First and foremost, a major benefit of a concise scholarship essay is its length. Since a two-page or even three-page essay is expected for almost all scholarships, it is not easy to narrate a story in such a short essay. If a story is not the main focus and the essay is strictly academic, then the student is better off getting straight to the point. Fluff is boring. Moreover, a brief conclusion will help a recruiter to remember your candidacy. Most of the time, there is no place for details in the conclusion, so the main idea and essence should take the lead. Lastly, scholarship committees give most of their awards to people that prove their desire – not their talent. To prove that you really want to win this scholarship, it’s strongly recommended that you provide an example of a time when you go above and beyond, otherwise known as the “So What?” question. But in a long essay, the example will take too much of the time. So a good answer for this question is 5-6 lines. Last but not least, wrapping up a “too detailed” conclusion will tire the audience’s head. From a paragraph to a page, most conclusions are done, at most, within one. If a writer is asked to extend a conclusion, he or she will face writer’s block, or the “WHAT ELSE CAN I SAY?” syndrome. Honestly, what can be done for a conclusion can be just repeated the main idea again and gain? That is not only wasting time, but also a speed breaker.

3. The Power of a Well-Developed Scholarship Essay

– There are a variety of scholarship essay opportunities out there for students. However, the good news is that the scholarship essay is different – it is no longer you versus the numbers. Instead, you now have an opportunity to give a human face to the grades. Whether it’s a personal statement for your college application or something more specific for a school, scholarship, or program, the underlying principle remains the same. You need to be sincere as well, it will show if you are just writing facts about yourself. However, here are some quick tips to know. Your first sentence could be the most exciting of the whole essay. If the lead sentence is bland, it will be hard to convince. However, if it is captivating, it will have the reader hungry for more. Do not start an essay with a quote from a famous writer. It’s tacky, it’s generic, and it does not say anything about you! We need to see how you are thinking and how you are unique. When you are finished, read the question again and then read your essay to make sure that the essay addresses every point. Do not give the scholarship judges any reason to dislike you. Many students make the mistake of choosing the topic they think will appeal most to the review board, but if you are bored by the topic of your essay it will be reflected in your finished submission. Remember to be creative, take any common question, and make it critical, make it something that you can argue and support. Also, always keep in mind the essay is about you and you are supposed to be putting your best foot forward. You want the reader to see that you have a good handle of what a typical college bound senior’s work should be and that you are also creative. Always start the essay off by letting the reader know what you are writing on. After the lead in, it’s a good idea to couch what the reader will find in the second in the form of three to four good well thought out sentences. Such a process will allow the reader to get an idea of what things he is going to read about and give them something to anticipate. By doing so, you are not only creating a strong introductory paragraph, you are lifting the shroud from the rest of your essay and making it a little less mysterious – something that can get any reviewer to read eagerly on. Always make sure the body of your essay properly addresses and unpacks the title that the reader is meant to answer. Never lead the reader with a ‘frozen’ conclusion! Give them their full “journey,” so that they can understand this ‘frozen’ lead to a conclusion materializes and assumes his or her understanding as well. Be sure, if you are using a thesis for the first time, it is quite the good idea to also provide the reader with the “roadmap” and the thesis.

4. Striking the Right Balance: Ideal Length for a Scholarship Essay

Given the limited word allowance of a scholarship essay, both amateur and experienced writers are often encouraged to keep their essays more or less on the shorter side – approximately between 500 to 1000 words. This approach makes sense, as students should be able to produce concise and well-written essays within that word count. Not to mention, a string of solid ‘A’ grade essays should be all that it takes to secure a successful scholarship application, right? Not necessarily. It’s important to acknowledge the fact that writing a scholarship essay in itself is already a time consuming process. From the research stage to the proofreading procedures, it could get easily overpowering given the strict deadlines and the magnitude of the work to be completed. This is the reason why students are being advised to cherry pick the range of scholarships that they would want to apply for and after that stack the rest of the application process on those selected few. With all things considered, the scholarship essay is like a short paper where students should have the capacity to express themselves and show why they would merit the grant. In one way to another, the perfect word count of a scholarship essay is in the range of 500 to 1000 words. The habit of keeping your essays more or less on the shorter side may suggest the inclination of prioritizing the concise and information-centric characteristic in writing. Let’s be realistic here – people enjoy the reading process when there is an informed and most of all, an organized flow of information. Remember that a good piece of business writing can be simple and short, wearing your heart on your sleeve in a scholarship essay leaves you a pretty vulnerable target – hence it’s better not to show your weakness. If you are considering the opportunity to buy scholarship essay projects, then it’s factually justifiable to do so. In conclusion, we may argue that there is no ideal length for a scholarship essay. In fact, it largely depends on the applicant’s writing ability and the encapsulation of the writer’s own life. The more is given in the essay, the more it’s going to be meaningful and memorable to the reader. Yet for the record, should there be any doubts regarding the perfect essay length, just remember the parent’s advice: ‘not too long, not too short, but just enough’. Or you could go for scholarship essay writing services for more informed support.

5. Conclusion

In general, writing a compelling essay that is well focused and well organized is vital. It must be easy for the scholarship panel to feel the grasp on your points and follow the progression of your ideas. This means that students should avoid going overboard in the length of the essay. The best essay focuses on the completeness and applies brevity with a straightforward writing style and an objective voice. I believe that a perfect essay should neither be too short nor too long, the golden essay is to keep each paragraph 2-3 paragraph in total length no longer than 700 words. Also, remember the goal is to have the panel to see the effort, time and research that has been done. Always be concise in what you have to say and save your word for the significance and the impact of your essay. Through the essay writing, I have been able to challenge myself and improve my skill. I have developed the patience and focus to drafting the 700 words with the discussing of one core idea within the content of scholarship application. This will be very useful in the professional world where I will need to do the same in my work as well. This I believe that will make the work and also the result will be more satisfying and fulfilling. As a conclusion, writing the scholarship essay seem to be not a hard task but after years in high school writing and training, I have developed the skill and interest towards writing. I feel confident in my writing and I’m ready to bring myself to the next higher level and demonstrate it in the university as well.