scholarship essay help

scholarship essay help

How to Write an Effective Scholarship Essay

1. Introduction

Remembering to tell the individualist all a scholarship means to you can be key to success. It is often difficult for candidates to go over the objective they are deserving of an award and to import why exactly this is the case. Various less a visual presentation to evaluate money as a pay packet and go through the objective of the take away income on a percentage basis from potential gains towards education. Take a moment to think about these factors; if the award is given at the end of the academic year and you are only chopping away at your cash pile right now, what do you have a year from now? An A- in Econ class may yield great immediate results of raised GPA or clarity on the material because it is fresh in your mind, but this recent pattern of making academic endeavor has aimed you towards an unspecific future career in teaching.

Writing a scholarship essay can be very difficult – especially if you want to do it well. Your essay will need to wow the reader and speak directly to the goals of that organization, as well as the objectives of that award. If done properly, you will very rarely be able to submit the same application to multiple awards – it is not a one-size-fits-all; most essays will need to be tweaked or completely altered to show the reader that you are deserving of the award above and beyond any of the other participants who also applied. This is why the same advice in our last blog post regarding “preparing for and writing a piece of work that matters” is of the utmost relevance to the process of writing a scholarship essay. I will outline the importance of adhering to the program, some strategies to help with your writing, and a common pitfall to be watchful for.

2. Understanding the Scholarship Essay Prompt

Criteria: 2. Relevance to the essay title: One common pitfall for applicants is not reading an essay’s title or prompt carefully enough and creating one essay to submit to multiple different scholarships. Make sure your essay for the scholarship has one unified statement, or thesis, behind it. You can look at your thesis as your one-sentence response to the essay question. Let’s say the essay title is “What is the most difficult obstacle you have had to overcome in your life? Describe how you have used leadership and community service to overcome this challenge and provide evidence of how this has increased your ability to succeed in college and/or beyond”. Your thesis could be how the challenge has positively impacted your leadership or community skills. Now each paragraph is going to have a point to support that thesis. This is an ideal situation for all of you and 100% achievable. This will ensure that your essay is relevant to the essay title. This technique is one that you can use as the writing process develops. Create a thesis and outline, then keep referring back to this through the writing process. This will keep your essay on title. This will be evident to the reader and vastly increase the chance of your essay being highly relevant. If finishing your essay right and then doing this leaves you with no spare room to add more content, then your essay is most likely on title.

Criteria: 1. Length: Typically, a scholarship essay is 300 to 500 words in length. Ensure that your essay is 300 words minimum and that you answer all of the questions posed in the essay title. If you are significantly under the word count, consider adding a supporting paragraph. If you are significantly over the word count, consider whether you are trying to say too much. You undoubtedly have more to say on the topic and will be able to address a broader or different question in the future.

Understand the criteria used by the scholarship committee to evaluate application essays. Based on my own experience, I have outlined what I believe to be the key criteria used by scholarship committee judges for evaluating scholarship application essays on the themes of leadership and community impact. My advice would be to address all of these areas in your essay, whether the question explicitly asks for it or not.

3. Crafting a Compelling Personal Statement

While crafting your personal statement for a scholarship application, it is important to devote considerable time to addressing supplemental questions or customizing your personal statement to the mission and purpose of the scholarship. A well-conceived personal statement will keep you in the forefront of the minds of the committee that is reviewing it. Remember that everyone is writing similar personal statements, so you want to do everything possible to make yours stand out. Take risks. While you want to sound confident, you do not want to come across as arrogant. You also want to stand out in your personal statement. There are several ways of doing this. Mentioning personal hardships, life-changing experiences, academic and career goals, your philosophy on life, your involvement in the community, and your desire to contribute to society are going to make you stand out that much more. Finally, a crucial step in the process of writing a personal statement involves writing a draft and then editing it down to an assignment personal statement. Always get a second opinion. A fresh pair of eyes can often see things that you cannot. Good luck writing your personal statement!

4. Highlighting Academic Achievements and Extracurricular Activities

Being a scholar, focus on your academic and future goals. In highlighting academic achievements, involve analysis of the transcript, grades and the most evident indicator of intelligence – standardized test scores. Discuss the courses that have inspired, influenced, or confirmed your desire to pursue advanced education or a specific career. Be sure to include any experiences of advanced or honors courses to display your improved work ethic and desire to challenge yourself. After evaluating the past and present, shift the attention toward the future. Expound on your intended major and career plans and how they relate to your future goals. Suggest an academic preparation plan to assure the admission committee of your readiness for college. This could be followed by a request for a specific recommendation from an academic teacher who can attest to your hard work and intelligence. Overall, the goal of the academic focus is to link your past, present and future in a well thought out and convincing manner. When discussing extracurricular activities, remember there are many forms of involvement, but the most notable activity is one that shows dedicated leadership and that it has had a significant impact on your school or community. This should be the focal point of the essay and the activity can be expounded upon by providing concrete examples with details about the impact. Other involvement should still be included and can be briefly summarized, but remember to place more emphasis on the quality the activity than the quantity. An activity that can be linked to your future goals or an activity that is continued in college can also be noted as it can help to further prove the commitment shown through the academic focus.

5. Conclusion: Making a Strong Case for Your Candidacy

It should be a summary of your essay and include the key point of your essay. If you are writing about a problem, try to provide a few solutions. This will make your conclusion strong and will therefore exemplify your points much better. If you are writing about your involvement in an activity, it may be best to summarize your involvement and how the skills you have developed and the experience you have gained will help you in your future. An example of this would be “From all the experience I have gained, I know that what it takes to be a part of a team, and from my involvement in _________ I know that the skills I have developed and the experience I have gained will help me in the future.” This technique will allow you to focus on the future and therefore provide an image of success. Make sure that when you are writing your conclusion, you make sure that you are referring back to your introduction and thesis statement. Make sure the ideas in your conclusion follow on from the rest of your essay. Avoid ending your essay with a statement such as “In conclusion,” or anything else that suggests to the reader that the essay is coming to a close. A great way to end a conclusion is to leave the reader with a question or, in the case of an argumentative essay, to give the reader a call to action. For example, if you are arguing for better living conditions in Africa, providing the reader with the actions they can take to better the cause will be a strong ending to your essay.