It’s not a secret that to get a great scholarship one has to pen a winning scholarship essay. You may be modest and prefer letting your achievements to speak for themselves, but an essay is often a compulsory – and crucial! – part of your application. You should allot a considerable amount of your time and effort to writing a perfect personal statement.
How to Write Scholarship Essay: Preliminary Stage
Writing a perfect essay for a scholarship begins long before you hit the keyboard. Here are the steps you should take to ensure your success:
1. Research scholarships and find the perfect fit
The first thing you should do is to vet the list of all available scholarships and concentrate on a handful of those, whose eligibility requirements you meet perfectly.
Application is a time-consuming process. It is better to cherry-pick than to cast your nets too wide and write a slew of underwhelming generic essays in a hurry.
2. Line up all the requirements
It is important to make your essay work within the context of your application along with all other required materials (recommendation letters, transcripts, certificates, CV, etc.)
Assess what experience and achievements will be evident from the compulsory materials and what should be brought up in your essay.
3. Read the prompt carefully
The next step is to read the prompt and understand what its main purpose is. You may need to read between the lines keeping in mind the mission of the organization that gives away the scholarship. This will enable you to create an essay that satisfies the scholarship sponsor on two levels:
- - Providing a comprehensive answer to the direct question in the prompt
- - Giving an insight into your personality and putting forward the qualities that the sponsor is looking for (e.g. determination, passion, care for the cause, mental tenacity, leadership, etc.)
4. Decide on important points and words to include
To convey everything important in a short piece of writing, you will need exactly the right words. Mind-map the experiences, values, and character traits that you want to highlight, and brainstorm the words that express them most concisely.
Since the majority of personal statements have strict word limits (with the most common being a 500-word essay for a scholarship), you will need to make a quick list of the main points to touch on before you get down to writing.
Pro Tips on How to Write an Essay for a Scholarship
The scholarship essay format is akin to the admission essay: you must be as authentic as possible and highlight the features that make you a perfect candidate while answering the question from the prompt. However, there are nuances.
- - For a college scholarship essay, you need to highlight your need for financial assistance and show that without it you cannot reach your full potential. As a rule, applications for scholarships include proof of unmet financial needs as one of the mandatory documents you should submit. However, sponsors often ask applicants to expand in their essays why they believe themselves to be the most suitable candidate. If possible, show that you have exhausted all other sources. For example, if you cannot take a full- or part-time job because you care for a family member who is sick, or have other responsibilities that prevent you from seeking employment – this is worth mentioning.
- - Show your resilience in overcoming adversity. Stories of overcoming obstacles make a good narrative basis to display everything that grant givers look for in a candidate: commitment to one’s goals, proactivity, self-reliance, and great potential. They also give you a chance to show off your achievements without feeling as if you were boasting.
- - Demonstrate your qualifications. Apart from personal qualities, you should eloquently put forward the hard and soft skills that you have acquired along the way: research, fundraising experience, networking, internships, leadership, advocacy, mentorship, etc.
- - Highlight your involvement with your community. People who give away scholarships invest funds in a better future. To show that you are a worthy candidate, you should persuade them that these funds won’t be wasted on you and that you will be able to pay it forward. The best way to demonstrate it is by showing what good you have already done for others. For example, you’ve been advocating for the underserved peers, volunteered, came up with a project for neighborhood improvement, organized a group or a movement, etc.
- - Be yourself. The only way to make your essay authentic and relatable is to use your own voice and let your personality shine through. Don’t be afraid to show strong feelings about things you care deeply about. Share personal experiences and family stories if they have inspired you to follow the path you’ve chosen. These are the things that can set you apart among other candidates – and the only place to find them is your essay.
How to Write a Scholarship Essay: Examples Help a Lot!
Many students confess that a scholarship essay is often the toughest one to write. Lauding your own accomplishments can feel awkward. Being a supplicant to people in power is even more awkward. However, scholarships are established with a single goal: to help students like you on the way to their goals. Seize this opportunity!
Moreover, you can always ask us for help. Just like a picture is worth a thousand words, a great example always beats all guides and explanations. Our paper writer website provides samples customized according to your specifications of scholarship essays, admission essays, college essays, and all kinds of academic papers in existence.
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