Even seemingly boring topics can be made into exceptional scholarship essays with an innovative
approach. In writing the essay you must bear in mind your two goals: to persuade the scholarship officer
that you are extremely worthy of receiving college assistance and to make the officer aware that you are
more than a GPA and a standardized score, that you are a real-life, intriguing personality.
Unfortunately, there is no surefire step-by-step method to writing a good essay. Every topic requires a
different treatment since no two essays are alike. However, we have compiled the following list of tips that
you should find useful while writing your scholarship essay.
Answer the Question. You can follow the next 12 steps, but if you miss the question, you will not win
any scholarship!
Be Original. Even seemingly boring essay topics can sound interesting if creatively approached. If
writing about a gymnastics competition you trained for, do not start your essay: "I worked long
hours for many weeks to train for XXX competition." Consider an opening like, "Every morning I
awoke at 5:00 to sweat, tears, and blood as I trained on the uneven bars hoping to bring the state
gymnastics trophy to my hometown."
Be Yourself. Scholarship officers want to learn about you and your writing ability. Write about
something meaningful and describe your feelings, not necessarily your actions. If you do this,
your essay will be unique. Many people travel to foreign countries or win competitions, but your
feelings during these events are unique to you. Unless a philosophy or societal problem has
interested you intensely for years, stay away from grand themes that you have little personal
experience with.
Don't "Thesaurize" your Composition. For some reason, students continue to think big words
make good essays. Big words are fine, but only if they are used in the appropriate contexts with
complex styles. Think Hemingway.
Use Imagery and Clear, Vivid Prose. If you are not adept with imagery, you can write an excellent
essay without it, but it's not easy. The application essay lends itself to imagery since the entire
essay requires your experiences as supporting details. Appeal to the five senses of the
scholarship officers.
Spend the Most Time on your Introduction. Expect scholarship officers to spend 1-2 minutes
reading your essay. You must use your introduction to grab their interest from the beginning. You
might even consider completely changing your introduction after writing your body paragraphs.
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Don't Summarize in your Introduction. Ask yourself why a reader would want to read your
entire essay after reading your introduction. If you summarize, the scholarship officer
need not read the rest of your essay.
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Create Mystery or Intrigue in your Introduction. It is not necessary or recommended that
your first sentence give away the subject matter. Raise questions in the minds of the
scholarship officers to force them to read on. Appeal to their emotions to make them
relate to your subject matter.
Body Paragraphs Must Relate to Introduction. Your introduction can be original, but cannot be
silly. The paragraphs that follow must relate to your introduction.
Use Transition. Applicants continue to ignore transition to their own detriment. You must use
transition within paragraphs and especially between paragraphs to preserve the logical flow of
your essay. Transition is not limited to phrases like "as a result, in addition, while . . . , since . . . ,
etc." but includes repeating key words and progressing the idea. Transition provides the
intellectual architecture to argument building.