5 Tips for Your Scholarship Essays
I have spent the last few weeks sifting through the scholarship essays submitted for the scholarships for mothers that we are about to award, and I feel it’s my duty to pass on a few tips to you.
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- Spell Check! Seriously. How hard is it to spell check? If you are submitting scholarship essays to online forms that do not have spell check, just copy and paste it into a Word document to use the spell check. This can make or break your application.
- Quit Complaining. I truly have sympathy for all of the students who face severe adversity, but trust me you are not alone. Unfortunately there are millions of students who have survived horrible situations, but that isn’t what will win you a scholarship. Briefly explain the difficult situations you have endured, but spend the majority of your scholarship essays explaining how you will overcome your adversity. This leads me to my next point……..
- Prove Your Value. A scholarship gift is an investment. Instead of convincing the organization that you are the most deserving by making them feel sorry for you, show them why they will see a return if they decide to invest in you. How will you become an asset to society and why will the world be a better place if you can earn a college degree?
- Write Something Interesting. Remember, your scholarship application reader probably reads hundreds of scholarship essays each day. Start your essay with a bang and write about something you feel passionate about. If you write something you’d like to read, chances are your reader will like it as well. There is nothing worse than an applicant trying to fake enthusiasm for something they think their reader will care about.
- Be Succinct. Be respectful of your reader’s time and get to the point as soon as possible. Re-read your scholarship essays and try to take as many words out as you can.
And with that, I’ll take my own advice and end it there. If you have any more questions or tips for writing scholarship essays, please leave a comment! Happy Hunting….
January 20th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Thank you so much!
January 20th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
These are EXCELLENT tips for scholarship applicants. You would think that spell check was a given, but I’ve seen so many essays with GLARING misspelled words. If you take the time to find the scholarship and apply for the scholarship, take the time to spell check.
January 21st, 2010 at 6:23 pm
All great tips - thanks for putting together! I cannot stress enough how important your #1 tip is. After putting in all the effort to submit for a scholarship, if you make one spelling or grammar error, your essay could be completely overlooked, no matter how great the rest of it was! It is so simple to copy and paste into Word to be sure you have no errors. Don’t forget to read your final essay out loud to yourself - this will help you hear any errors. Have a friend and family member read it over as well. You want to make sure it is perfect, because you can’t fix a mistake once it has been submitted!