Scholarship Paragraphs

Letters of Intent and Potential Application Questions

Choose 2 to 3 questions from real scholarship applications you will actually do and prepare your answers for critique.

Sample Questions (if you can’t find any)

“Drawing from your personal experiences, tell us what leadership means to you. Describe an experience where you called upon your qualities of leadership, explaining what attributes you contributed towards achieving a desired outcome. What did you learn from this experience? (400 words or less)”

Describe your most meaningful achievements and how they relate to your field of study and your future goals. (400 words or less)

Describe what you consider to be your most significant volunteer contribution to date in terms of its value to your school or larger community. Why was it important to you and to others? (400 words or less)

STRONG WRITING

1. Avoid passive writing – use the active voice

Eg: “I started the Environment Club.” NOT – “The Environment Club was started by me.”

2. Use active verbs

Eg: I coordinated, organized, consulted, arranged, facilitated

3. Do not use 3 and 4 syllable words when a 1 or 2 syllable word will do.

4. Get right to the point. You don’t have time or space to write a formal 5 paragraph essay.

5. Tap into your own original voice.

6. Use descriptors sparingly – you can overdo adjectives and adverbs.

7. Avoid repetitions.

Sample Interview Questions from BYU