Writing your Scholarship Essay - or How to Sell Yourself
Many, if not most scholarship programs require an essay in order to apply. Scholarship essays have the purpose similar to an application or a resume - they will be used by the awards committee to judge whether, of all the lucky recipients of scholarships they're handing out, you should be one of them.
Many of the guidelines for scholarship essays are common sense. You'll want to show your best side. Only this time, instead of with a resume where you are selling yourself as a good worker, you are selling yourself as a good student. Focus on educational goals you have met and those you hope to achieve. Submit interesting close-ups of examples of scholarly accomplishments to your credit. Focus on prizes you've won in science fairs, math contests, and such. A few more tips for writing winning scholarship essays follow:
Make sure that each essay is customized to the particular scholarship and organization where you'll be sending it. General scholarship essays won't work because they sound like a general essay sent to one hundred applications in bulk. You can always keep a copy of your general scholarship essay, then edit it for the specific scholarship or grant you are applying for.
Get to know the organization sponsoring each scholarship. Learn what it does, what its goals and missions are. Then tailor your essay to touch on those themes, and describe what role they play in your life and your anticipated career. For example, if you are applying to study veterinary science with an animal-rights group, you might describe your work volunteering with the ASPCA, what promoting animal welfare means to you, what you plan to do to make a difference in the world concerning animal welfare, and so on. Every organization has an agenda; find out what they are and target your scholarship essays to it.
Don't whine. Stand out from your generation by being one person who doesn't make their scholarship essays self-centered spiels about how poor they are, how college is too expensive, how desperate they are for the money, and how they've never had a break in life. No matter how badly life has treated you, they're looking for winners. And I've often found that the secret to getting the world to treat you like a winner is to act and sound like one! Make yourself sound like an opportunity that they'll regret passing up.
Writing scholarship essays in a formal business tone is OK, but try to sound more human and less stiff. Make some personality shine through. The person reading scholarship essays will have a stack of them to go through, and with any luck, your sparkling writing style will catch that poor person at the moment they're about to nod off and start dreaming about a tropical beach far away from their desk.
Since the whole point of awarding scholarships is to build a better future, be optimistic and enthusiastic about your plans beyond college. Since you're doing this because you are chasing your dream career (presumably), write about the vision that you have and how you will use your skills to contribute to the world.
It should go without saying, but check for spelling, grammar, and style. It may seem like a little thing, but if you could see the full stack of submissions you'll be competing against, you could appreciate how attention to those little details will already put you ahead of some candidates.
Weird Scholarships
Like to hang around dead people? Morticians for Higher Learning is amongst the many programs for students...
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Siteresources
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Poetry Scholarships
Quite a bit of the poetry scholarships out there depend on some kind of contest entry, yo...
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College Scholarships For Auto Enthusiasts
For the high school senior who spends their weekend wren...
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American Indian Scholarships
There are several different types of American Indian Scholarships available. To determin...
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Art Scholarships
Otherwise, Joe Sixpack will just look up from ...
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Native American Scholarships
One organization helping Native American scholarships become a reality is known as Catching The Dream (CTD). Previousl...
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Unclaimed Scholarships
Unclaimed scholarships do exist, and many are just a matter of not enough people knowing about them, but not nearly as ...
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Cerebral Palsy Scholarships
Cerebral palsy scholarships are being made available for children with cerebral palsy. These can be used...
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Music Scholarships
There are many different areas of music stu...
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Wacky Scholarship
The national Moore Scholarship program w...
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Creative Writing Scholarships
Different colleges and universities offer many different types of creative writing scholarships. Fi...
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Burger King Scholarship
In order to be eligible for the Burger King scholarship there are, of co...
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Hispanic Scholarships
As Hispanics have settled into urban communities where others like them l...
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Bill Gates Scholarship
For starters, the Gates Cambridge Scholarships wade in with a hefty $210 million budget. T...
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Law School Scholarships
There are several law school scholarships out there that you might be able to take...
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Fulbright Scholarships
While this vision is new to many, one person looked forward and saw the need...
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Scholarships Low Income Students
However, there is an answer. You might want to consider scholarships for low income students. This coul...
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Scholarships For Women
This is caused by a number of social factors. American society is still largely patriarchal; and thus it will rema...
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Pharmacy School Scholarships
Because a pharmacist has so many duties, an education is required, which is where pharmacy school scholarships co...
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Scholarships For Military Spouses
Over half of all military spouses join the workforce. I...
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Aviation Scholarships
But first, you have to get your head out of the clouds and start at step one: finding a source of ...
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Vision Impairement Scholarships
This type of scholarship is created especially for people with vision impairments or blindness. Be...
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Hope Scholarship
The HOPE Scholarship pays full tuition, pays a $150 book allow...
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African American Scholarships
Thanks to a long-standing African American...
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Mckay Scholarship
One such plan is the McKay Scholarship program. The McKay Scholarship Prog...
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Scholarships For Teachers
Many of these scholarships are based on special interests or causes associated with the educational field. An example ...
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College Scholarships For Single Mothers
Single mothers always have it at best interest to investigate known avenues, such as State Department for Hi...
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Cosmetology Scholarships
There are many cosmetology scholarships available and you may find them readily available at your local cosme...
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Bright Futures Scholarship Program
And thus is born the Bright Futures Scholarship program. First started in 1997, the pr...
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Short People Scholarships
The short people scholarships are given to those students attending college who meet specific requirements...
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Medical Scholarships
In order to understand what you have to do to meet these eligibility requirements, you must do your homework. Conduct fu...
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Tennessee Lottery Scholarships
The Tennessee lottery scholarships program requires participants to r...
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Unusual Scholarships
Several colleges offer special scholarships or discounts for twins and triplets. Carl Albert State College in Oklaho...
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Nrotc Scholarship
The purpose of the NROTC program is to train college students for leadership roles as commissioned officers in the Na...
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Georgia Hope Scholarship
The Georgia Hope Scholarship is based on the princi...
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Scholarships For Minorities
Lest we forget, minorities in the United States include the native native...
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Scholarships For Left Handed People
While, you may think this is some kind of wacky opportunity someone cooked up, the truth remains that in Huntingdon, Pen...
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Scholarships For Single Mothers
The usual resources for scholarships for single mothers include a high school guidance office, an academic department o...
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Coca Cola Scholarship
On a yearly basis, 250 seniors in high school receive the Coca Cola Schola...
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Nursing Scholarships
Here in the USA, with the growing need for health care as the Baby Boomer populat...
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Minority Scholarship
This could create many problems, for the simpl...
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Scholarships Students With Disabilities
Even fully-enabled college students across the board generally need to borrow from a plethora of financi...
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Scholarships Abroad
This is based on a concept called ...
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