13 Tips to Bring Your Scholarship Essay to the Next Level

Applying for scholarships would be a piece of cake if it wasn ’ t for the try, which much forces us to reflect on ourselves, who we are as people, and what we ’ ve accomplished sol far in life. While it can be the most difficult separate of the application, it ’ randomness besides the most authoritative separate .
The scholarship test is your probability to make a case for yourself and to show the committee why you deserve to win. It gives you the luck to show your personality and what you ’ re most proud of in life sentence. Your scholarship application should inform, but your eruditeness essay should persuade. Scholarship committees read hundreds, or even thousands, of essays, so making your application stand out from the rest is crucial .

But how?

fortunately, you don ’ t need perfect writing skills to make it happen. With a few scholarship essay tips and tricks in thinker, you can easily bring your scholarship lotion to the following degree.

Here are our 13 scholarship essay tips to help you succeed:

The Planning Phase

1. Plan Far in Advance

If you wait until the end hour to write your scholarship try, the quality will probably suffer. To make surely that you have enough prison term for the planning phase, create a calendar ( like this one ) with the deadlines and requirements for all the scholarships you want to apply for. Make surely to give yourself enough of prison term for brainstorming and proofreading !
Hot tip : If you use Going Merry to find and apply for scholarships, you can save your favorite scholarships, and then our dashboard will keep track of all your approaching deadlines for you. We ’ ll even email you reminders so you don ’ thymine miss out ! Learn more about how Going Merry works here .

2. Know Your Audience

The best way to give the eruditeness committee what they ’ ra looking for is to actually know what they ’ re looking for. trope out who their ideal campaigner is and how you fit into that picture. But be careful not to cater to their expectations too much .
Don ’ triiodothyronine sacrifice your voice and personality to fit the beak. Rather, take a look at your strengths and then determine how you can spin them to become the ideal campaigner .
Hot tip : not certain how to do this ? Check out the “ Financial Literacy for Hispanic Women ” and “ Life Happens ” eruditeness essays here, for examples of past winners who ’ ve distinctly taken the scholarship provider ’ s missions into account .

3. Follow the Instructions & Answer the Prompt

It might seem like one of the more obvious scholarship essay tips, but many applicants make their first mistake before they even begin – they don ’ triiodothyronine read the directions. Exceeding ( or not meeting ) the give voice count can hurt your chances since it shows that you didn ’ t prepare your test a well as other applicants. besides, bivalent check to make sure you ’ re responding thoroughly to all parts of the motivate and that you ’ re following the right eruditeness essay format .
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4. Choose a Topic That You’re Interested In and Passionate About

Your subject can have a heavy impact on how well your essay turns out. If you choose a subject that bores you, you ’ ll likely bore your reader excessively ! Try to choose a subject that you ’ rhenium passionate about or that interests you in some manner, rather than a topic that you feel you should write about – that way, your personality and agitation can shine through in your writing !

5. Consider reusing an existing essay.

many scholarship essays use the same try prompt. Some eruditeness providers even use the ones from the Common App or allow you to choose your own topic. This means you can literally copy and paste your essay to submit to multiple applications ( yay ! ) .
early times, scholarships use like try prompts, or ask questions that can be answered in the lapp way. You might be able to slightly change an existing try, quite than writing a new one altogether. For model, these two prompts can often be answered the like way :

• Discuss a moment or experience that caused significant personal growth.
• Discuss a time when you had to overcome an obstacle.

Since overcoming an obstacle often results in personal growth, if you have an test for one of these prompts, you can normally tweak it to make it work for the early prompt .
Hot tip : Going Merry makes it easy for you by combining scholarships with similar essay prompts into application bundles. This way, you can apply for multiple scholarships with just one try. Sign up today .

The Writing Phase

6. Create a Strong Introduction

Since the introduction is what draws the reader into your try and convinces them to keep going, it should be one of the strongest parts of your essay. rather of starting off with a general overview, why not hook your reader with a surprise first line ?
For exercise, which of these two unfold lines pulls you into the floor more ? Which one makes you want to keep going ?
My first time traveling abroad was during a family vacation to Mexico in 2010.
It was 2010; I had just crossed the border into Mexico and my life was about to change.
The second sentence gives the lector something to look for ; it makes them curious about not only how your life changed during your trip but besides why it changed. It gives the readers unanswered questions and they have to keep read to find the answers .
overall, you ’ ll want to give your lector a quick preview of what they can expect from your essay – think of it like the written adaptation of a movie preview. Why should they keep reading ?

7. Keep a Good Structure

After the introduction, it ’ randomness authoritative to make certain that your proofreader can follow along with your try without besides much attempt. Creating a basic draft is a great way to make certain this happens !
To create an delineate, first organize your thoughts. Write down the independent points that you decidedly want to cover in your test. following, organize those thoughts into versatile sections : introduction, body, and decision. Your ideas can either be in sentence form, short phrases, or simple words – whatever you prefer ! last, make surely your ideas flow in a legitimate order and, if necessary, add more detail under each luff. Check out this beginning for more information .
besides, try to avoid going off on a tangent by taking the time to determine which data is relevant and which isn ’ thymine. similarly, consider barely how much detail you should include. Providing some detail can make your point clear or more compel, but besides a lot detail can bog down your try .
Hot tip : Check out Joseph Lee ’ s “ What makes a adept doctor ? ” essay hera, for an example of a well-structured scholarship try .

8. Show Emotions

Connecting with an hearing through writing can be challenging but, when done correct, it can create a identical herculean connection between the subscriber and the generator. Showing your emotions is a great direction to do that and to get the reader personally invested in your essay. Showing emotion can help the proofreader examine you as a person, rather than a faceless writer. evening though it ’ south crucial, it ’ second one of the eruditeness essay tips that people tend to ignore the most .
We all have vulnerabilities, so don ’ metric ton be afraid to show them. eruditeness committees don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate expect you to be perfective and want to see how you ’ ve grown as a person and handled the obstacles that life has thrown your direction. In fact, opening up about times where you felt aflutter or scared demonstrates adulthood and self-awareness – two bang-up qualities for a scholarship applicant to have .
Hot tip : Check out Jesus ’ winning scholarship try here, which discusses a very bad here and now in his life. It ’ s a great exercise of showing vulnerability .

9. Use Real Life Examples (“Show, don’t tell”)

alternatively of telling your subscriber about your experiences, show them. Don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate be afraid to provide real-world examples of your experiences and/or how you ’ ve changed as a person. about every applicant will have a slightly exchangeable response to the essay prompt and your personal examples are your probability to transform your essay from generic to singular .
Consider the difference between these two passages explaining why the scholarship applicant wants to pursue a career in science :
VERSION 1 : I have constantly been concern in science, even from a young senesce. Since my kin supported my interest enthusiastically, I continued to pursue it throughout school. As I ’ ve contract older, though, my scientific endeavors have become increasingly complex .
VERSION 2 : Too young to enter the school science fairs, I took to my family. Force-feeding different animal food to my siblings and parents, I graphed their favorite types. While I was only six, my family has never forgiven me; my “experiments” remain the family joke. Nevertheless, I have progressed from my dog food days, leaving taste tests for DNA gel electrophoresis experiments.  [ essay from Lauren Croda ]
Which is more engage ? While Version 1 explains things and may be well-written, it ’ s a bit boring, right ? Version 2 makes the subject come alive and showcases the author ’ south far-out personality. While anyone ( and probably many applicants ) could write Version 1, only Lauren could write Version 2. It helps her stand out. That ‘ s the might of examples and “ show, wear ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate tell. ”

10. Keep the Tone Inspirational & Positive

One of the most important scholarship essay tips is based entirely on your perspective and timbre. cipher wants to read a press down and self-pitying history. even if you ’ re writing about difficult or sad events in your liveliness, sample and keep the tone positive and inspirational. Rather than good writing about how you were negatively affected by an consequence, focus on how you grew from the know and overcame the obstacle .

11. Stay Away from Dreary & Boring Conclusions

Most people use the decision to simply paraphrase their integral essay…but wear ’ t be afraid to think outside of the box ! Do something surprising and innovative. Make your test interest and attention-grabbing from the first letter until the death period .
One big way to bring your decision to the adjacent flat is to leave your readers with an matter to doubt for them to think about. For more ideas, check out these helpful tips .

The Editing Phase

12. Proofread and Ask for Help!

a much as we like to believe that we ’ rhenium perfect, we all make mistakes…which is why it ’ s so significant to take the time to proofread your essay. One great way to find mistakes is to read your essay out forte. For more ideas, check out these helpful tips .
once you ’ ve taken the time to proofread your own essay a few times, have person else do it for you. Asking a family member or ally for avail can provide you with a different perspective on your spell and a irregular set of eyes might catch a error that you didn ’ triiodothyronine .

13. Take Advantages of Resources

When it comes to writing, you don ’ t have to do it completely on your own. Check out some of our resources including eruditeness essay examples from Going Merry winners, ; a breakdown of why these 5 eruditeness essays worked ; and our guides to writing personal statements, academician goals essays, or career goals essays.

If you ’ re in college, most schools have a write focus on that offers free feedback and guidance to students. They might evening have some insightful scholarship essay tips that you ( or we ! ) didn ’ t think about. Some eminent schools, communities, or libraries might besides have alike services .

But where you do apply?

now that you ’ ra writing leading essays, start applying for scholarship ! here ’ s a list of 10 eruditeness search sites, but we ’ five hundred just recommend you go straight for the best one : Sign up for free with Going Merry, and then upload your essays to your documents section. Get started with your eruditeness applications today .

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