Tips on Writing Essays for Scholarship Applications
Essays are the part of the scholarship application where you can let your personality shine through. You have the freedom to bring in some humor and tell a personal story that is unique to you. However, it is important to be yourself within the guidelines of scholarship essay writing. Be professional, but not too rigid. Finding the right balance between being yourself and being professional can be the trickiest part of writing scholarship essays.
Other People Are Reading
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Stay on Topic
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Part of being professional is answering questions when asked. A sales person has to briefly answer customers' questions about a product, or the customer will go somewhere else to buy the product. The same idea is used when writing a good scholarship essay. The essay prompt or question is what you have to address. Going off on rabbit trails and not answering the question is not going to win you the scholarship. Read the topic thoroughly, and ask any questions you have to the scholarship's representative if you are still not quite sure what to write about.
You only have so many words or pages as outlined in the scholarship guidelines to answer the question. So, make use of every word you have available to support your argument. Write a clear thesis at the beginning of the essay, and support it with relevant and engaging details in the essay's body.
Be Yourself
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Be yourself in your essay. You do not have to use every big word you learned in your Advanced Placement English class in your essay. Write as you would talk during a job interview. You should be professional and courteous, but you could still throw in a joke or two to show your sense of humor. Your essay's tone should speak to the person who will be reading your essay. Read about the mission of the scholarship committee on its website to learn about the backgrounds and expectations of the people reading your essay.
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Personal Statements
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Avoid telling sob stories if you have to write a personal statement for your scholarship essay. Tell the scholarship judges why you deserve the scholarship: it is not because something bad happened to you, but rather because you came out on top when the bad thing occurred. Detail how you took steps to overcome challenges. EssayInfo.com suggests that you also remember that "the most interesting essays often are based on accomplishments that may have been trite at the time but become crucial when placed in the context of your life." Talk about your past successes and failures and what you learned from them. Discuss relationships that have been important in shaping your personality.
Proofread
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Write only a three page essay if that is what is requested. Lay it aside for a few days. Go back and read it, reading it with an eye for good flow of logic and sentence structure. Then double check your essay for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Have a trusted friend or a teacher go over your scholarship essay again to give you a different perspective on it. Go over it one more time before you turn it in.
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