Scholarships & The Essay

TWO THINGS WILL INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF APPLYING & COMPETING FOR SCHOLARSHIPS

1. BEFORE your senior year begins, search, identify and create a list of scholarships you qualify for. The number one reason students don't apply for scholarships is because they don't know about them. So go to work and find them using the resources link! Then create a list of those scholarships by the month of the Scholarship Deadline.

2. Before your senior year, write a 500 word general essay using the guidelines below. It needs to be professionally well written as it is the most important part of the all Add-on Scholarships. Save it electronically as a Google Doc or other so it is easily accessible. Once you have this essay complete, you just need to tweak it a little for each scholarship you apply for. The number two reason students don't apply for scholarships is the essay! If you have to write a new essay for each scholarship, you won't do it!

Scholarship Essays

The KEY to winning scholarships is the Essay! Everyone who applies meets the minimum requirements. It is the essay that sets you apart from the other applicants. I encourage all Juniors to write a general essay of 500 words or less. The essay should HIGHLIGHT your strengths. It must be professionally well-written and concise. This general essay should include the four following areas:

- Academic: Do not spend too much time here as most of your academic information in contained on your transcript. You should emphasize honors classes, AP classes, Concurrent Enrollment college classes, high GPA, and high ACT Composite score if possible.

- Citizenship: This includes the kind of person you are i.e. honesty, integrity, dependable, responsible, efficient, hard working, reliable etc.

- Leadership: This includes as much leadership as you can effectively squeeze into your 500 word essay that highlights your best leadership opportunities.

- Service: This area is crucial. It is becoming the separator between many excellent candidates. Highlight activities when you have volunteered and served others including the amount of time/hours given and how it has impacted you.

The importance of the essay cannot be overstated. If you seriously want to compete for Add-on Scholarship money, you must write an outstanding essay. Another important part of this essay is to highlight a life changing event in your life. You want to express a personal experience that can grab the reader's attention and make them say, "WOW!" You want them to REMEMBER your essay in a positive way.

The following is a general outline on How to Write an Essay.

Writing Scholarship Essays

Personal statements are the most common type of scholarship essay. These tips are written with that format in mind. Here are three ideas to help you keep the task in perspective:

1. Space constraints are often frustrating . . . but your competitors face them too.
2. Scholarship essays can pave the road for graduate school essays and cover letter in the future.
3. Many students find that writing a good personal statement helps them clarify who they are and where they are going. This is inherently good.

Get Started

Two mildly contradictory and equally valid bits of advice:

1. Think about what you might say about yourself before you start writing.

• Scribble down a list of experiences and accomplishments. Do not limit yourself to resume items. What stories do you share with friends? What events from the past still linger in your thoughts today? What has changed you recently?
• Talk to other people. What would they include in your biography?
• Simply reflect. What is important to you? What gets you excited or moves you to act? What threads form patterns in your life? What do you hope to accomplish?

2. Use the writing process as a vehicle for discovery.

• Consider writing several different drafts. Experiment.
• Some students start by outlining the points they intend to make.
• Try banging out a draft within some set time limit (like thirty minutes). Read it later to look for gems twinkling amid the rocks.
• Writing is recursive. The fifteenth paragraph may suddenly suggest a better direction for the third sentence.

Read the Instructions

Surely a step that top students would never skip. Right?

1. Adhere to the minimum font size and maximum number of words.
2. Only pare down to the word limit late in the process though.
3. Different awards want different things. Make sure you answer the right questions.
4. Make sure you fit the award. Quit writing and find a different scholarship if you are distorting or contorting yourself to fit their criteria.

Address Fundamental Questions

Regardless of what they ask you . . . readers typically want answers to the following questions:

Content

What belongs in a good personal statement is unique to each individual. Nevertheless . . . here are some ideas that might help.

1. Talk about things that you would enjoy discussing at length.
2. Choose a few key points to develop . . . three or four perhaps.
3. Include concrete examples to illustrate larger themes. Choose anecdotes that show you taking action in your world.
4. Avoid braggy generalizations. Share specific incidents to show your strengths instead.
5. Ask yourself what readers might find memorable and/or unique about you.
6. Have any books or classes or artistic encounters profoundly shaped or shaken your outlook?
7. Write from a positive perspective.
8. Consider how your essay fits with everything else you submit.

Package Carefully

All scholarships value good writing. It measures your ability to communicate well and think clearly.

1. Scrutinize every word as you near the final draft. Edit like they cost twenty dollars each.
2. Avoid technical jargon when possible. Your readers are highly intelligent but not necessarily specialists in your field.
3. Get to the point.
4. Elaborate similes and other forms of narrative artifice generally fail.
5. Establish clear relationships between your paragraphs. Write explicit transitions.
6. Including quotes from others is typically cliché.
7. Your essay should read quickly and easily. Creating an ornate garden of fancy phrases and showy words is not the goal here.
8. The purpose of eloquence is to magnify the power of the idea.

After Drafting

Here are some thoughts regarding the revision process:

1. The best essays will get revised and reworked. Get input from mentors and friends. Ask smart people who are willing to criticize your work.
2. Stay objective. Try not to fall madly in love with your first draft.
3. Set your latest draft aside if time permits. Read it later with fresh eyes.

They say that a picture equals a thousand words. Reverse that idea as you read your essay. Does your thousand words add up to one good picture of you?