scholarship essay samples

scholarship essay samples

The Importance of Scholarship Essay Samples

1. Understanding the Purpose of Scholarship Essays

The first and foremost thing from an academic writing that comes to the mind of a high school student who is preparing to write a scholarship essay is “What is the purpose of this essay?” It is something every one of us can relate to when we are doing some form of academic writing. You may be asking the question, “If I am not getting any guidance or the goal is not clearly defined, how do I determine what is needed in our company writing?” The best way to answer your question before going further in reading this topic is to first, contact the aim person or persons who will evaluate your efforts. Ask them how you will be judged on your writing. This may be a difficult and drawn out process; however, it can save you wasted time by giving you a clear idea of what you need to accomplish. You can determine which of your writing efforts will be most beneficial in the eyes of the evaluator by selecting to work on the writing that offers the best chance to prove your skills. Broadly speaking, the attempt to provide a scholarship is a task that is both utilitarian and ideological in nature. On the one hand, scholarships can be an ideal tool for a company to round up the best talent possible and put a company in a position of advantage over its rivals. On the other hand, attempting to verbalize or put down on paper these ideals can be a very complicated task that a person can only learn through actually attempting some form of the same and by evaluating the reaction it elicits.

2. Benefits of Using Scholarship Essay Samples

Understanding the task at hand is an important part of being successful. Having to write a scholarship essay, an individual should know that the essay is not to simply reiterate what is on the individual’s resume. Scholarly judges quite often do not even ask for resumes, and as such this would be an inadequate way to try and convince them a scholarship should be awarded. Usually the burden of worthy scholars is proving that they are that, and a good essay is an excellent place to start. This will be apparent throughout a well-written essay because it will focus on the person writing it and less on other things. By looking at a sample, an individual can expertly understand what this means. This is essential because judges will also be looking for some degree of literacy to award the scholarship. This does not mean that the essay has to be very advanced, but it does need to be well-written. A sample will be able to show the individual how the essay should be structured, as well as the grammar and terminology that is expected of the writer. This can be hard to self-teach for some, but others will find this to be very easy and a sample can just be a confirmation of what they know.

By considering the why and how, individuals are more likely to learn the importance of scholarship essay samples. This way they can develop a more informed understanding of how to write an essay that will persuade the judges to award a scholarship. If the individual is or is planning on attending graduate school, there is a great chance that the individual will need to write a letter stating why he or she should be awarded this scholarship. Writing this essay, though, creates many challenges for the individual who is inexperienced at it. This is where a sample essay of the type where to be written comes into play. With access to a sample, individuals are more likely to understand the task at hand, as well as what is expected of them within the essay.

3. How to Analyze and Learn from Scholarship Essay Samples

With this specific essay prompt, this is easy. The position of student ambassador, to me, is an opportunity to gain a better understanding of both the United States and the countries to which I might travel, and an opportunity to help others gain a similar understanding. This is an expectation that any study abroad student would have of themselves, and this essay is a good way to understand what personal goals you have for your time abroad, and how you plan to accomplish them. Both for the position and the student writing the essay, this is a good thing. The more the essay topic matters to you, the easier it will be to write and relate your ideas. At the end of the day, whoever is reading your essay is probably reading at least 20 more essays at that moment, and will be happy to read one that is interesting and cohesive.

With so much freedom, this is a challenge for most students. Many attempt to restate the essay prompt, which to a certain extent is smart; you should be sure that if the essay question is part of your introduction, you answer it clearly and thoroughly. But this is not a perfect world, and the rest of your essay needs to be concise and topically focused. Often, by the end of the first paragraph, they will have “written off” the essay, and it may end up not making much sense. Be sure to fully understand the question and if you have time, have someone else read it and ask you questions about it. Do not try to guess what the reader wants to hear. This is your chance to show them who you are, and the more they can discern about your character from your essay, the better off you are. Make a personal connection. On some level, the reader should be able to relate to the situation or the position into which you have been placed.

Once you have read and understood the essay prompt, you should take time to brainstorm your ideas. Create a mind map or outline detailing the topics you want to cover, and depending on the specific essay question, it can be extremely detailed to very broad. Because of the open-ended nature of many essay prompts, your outline is an ideal place to articulate your ideas and plan of action. You may not know how you want to get from point A to point B, but if you have a general idea of the thesis you want to defend (or the question you want to answer) you are already on the right track.

4. Common Mistakes to Avoid in Scholarship Essays

One of the most egregious errors an applicant can make is to leave the audience with no discernible understanding of who he/she is. The best essays are unique and stand out from the competition, and I have seen countless examples of essays that set up a premise of or analogy about the author, but then do not carry that concept through. The ideas are on the right track, but without showing an illustrative development and conclusion the essay will feel incomplete. Remember, it is always more effective to tell the reader how you’ve changed, rather than waxing philosophic on how you wish to change. A concrete understanding of where you are going is always preferable to speculation about direction.

Another trap that applicants frequently fall into is overly promoting oneself. While your accomplishments are a crucial element to the essay, it is also important to show a semblance of humility. Remember, the aim of these sorts of essays is to foster an appreciation for who you are rather than what you have done. Often, you can accomplish this feat through revealing specifics of character revealing situations rather than listing your accomplishments – prevented a friend from taking their own life, moved an audience to tears with a speech, won a scholarship for college at _____. By writing about the situation you are able to literally exemplify the quality, as well as how deeply you were affected.

Many of the scholarship essays submitted each year are well-intentioned, but they suffer from a tendency to fall back on tired expressions and platitudes. A common mistake in this area is to equate “truisms” with “universal truths.” The most competitive universities will look for essays that are clear, compelling, and original. Writing that is truly one-of-a-kind often comes from a concerted effort to break out of the formula. The truism-based essay is often recognizable by the intro statement, “I believe that,” or “My life is about.” Using dictionary definitions to discuss a topic.

5. Tips for Writing an Outstanding Scholarship Essay

D. Perhaps the most important point of all is to remember that depth beats breadth. Scholarship essays are not the place to see how many things you can list in your achievements. It is better to provide a deeper and more detailed explanation of a less extensive list of activities than to merely rifle off a list of your resume with no depth or concrete details. An obvious tip, yet one often skimmed over.

C. If the question states “I am an excellent community service person,” what evidence do you have for this? What have you done that illustrates this? I cannot stress enough the importance of providing detailed examples to back up your skills. This serves a dual purpose; not only does it provide evidence for the criteria, but it also demonstrates that you have learned through your experiences and have taken the time to reflect on them. It shows that you are not simply stating an opinion, but rather that you have a goal or a vision and are taking steps to realize it. Always provide a H.E.L.P (Hope, Effort, Long-term Plan) to illustrate this.

B. Where possible, you should always try and provide evidence for each of the criteria stated. For example, I am a much stronger community service person than a leader; so I took on more leadership roles so that I could include it as an area of experience worth of the criteria. And, because my evidence for community leadership was more recent, my second essay is far better than my first. Always bring your application back to your criteria and analyze whether you have answered the question.

A. 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.