How to Write an Essay for a Scholarship

Applying to colleges is a lot of work from choosing the colleges, sending your applications, finding a scholarship and writing a Scholarship essay for it.

The scholarship essay is the most important and difficult part of getting a scholarship, getting it right is very important.

You want your scholarship essay to be persuasive to make the Scholarship committee understand you and your need for a scholarship over 1000s of other applications.

In this article, we will answer all your questions like How to start off an essay and how to answer the popular essay question “why do you deserve this scholarship” in 8 steps.

Take time to read

Before you start writing the essay you should read about what the committee is looking for in a candidate. You should look at what the essay topic or essay question is and think of different ways to answer that question.

Know what the organization is about if it is an athletic scholarship then it is extremely important that you write about your athletic skills and achievements.

If the organization is about providing scholarships to left-handed students then being a left-handed student and including that you are a left-handed student in your essay is important.

Scholarship essays determine where your career is going to head. Getting financial help is a crucial part of studying in a college, hence you should never risk it by starting your essay at the last minute. Take your time and learn what the committee wants from the candidate, check the count and follow the format.

Think about writing something that you are passionate about, look for unique things in your life that would make the Scholarship Committee want to read and know more about you. Figure out how you can showcase your qualities and strengths in the essay to give the essay a face.

Once you start writing follow the 8 steps mentioned below to write an essay that would win you a scholarship.

1.Attention-grabbing introduction

When a person has to read 1000s of essays every day, it can get repetitive and boring.

You as an applicant need to make sure that your essay engages the reader and makes him want to continue reading. The only way to do that is to grab his attention from the start. Avoid starting with an introduction of yourself as it can get monotonous, you can use a story from your life that you think can help the reader understand you better and make you a potential applicant that they can select for the scholarship.
Another thing you can do is provide a small explanation about what you are going to be talking about in your essay.

2. Structure your scholarship essay

Following a Scholarship essay format will help you write with ease. A well-formatted essay is easy to read which will improve your chances of winning a scholarship

You should ideally write down a list of things that you will be talking about in your essay to help format your essay better. Divide your essay into 3 parts introduction, body, and conclusion.
Read other sample essays and look at how they structure their essays.

Focus on the purpose and don’t drift away from the topic. If the organization has asked you to write about something that changed your life then that’s what you should focus on. You can include other things like your qualities and how you would use the scholarship but don’t write a story about something that is not related to the topic.

3. How to answer “why do you deserve this scholarship”

Writing for why I deserve this scholarship can have many possible answers. You should keep the following points in your mind to get your answer 100% right.

• Showing your emotions and getting the reader to emphasize with you is one of the major ways that helps you land a scholarship. You can do that by sharing personal stories about the challenges that you faced while growing up and how this scholarship would benefit you to meet your career goals.

• Write about the mistakes that you made and how you learned from them and grew as a person. Writing about your mistakes will also make you seem humble and honest. The scholarship committee knows that there is no better teacher than learning from the mistakes that you made.

• You will be writing in detail about the hardships that you faced while growing up but you shouldn't make the tone of the essay sad and boring for the reader. You can always talk about how you’ve been strong through them and successfully managed to perform well academically even when you were going through difficult times.

• It is very important to give them a reason to give you the scholarship. Talk about your passions and the things that make you want to get up and go hustle every day to achieve your dream. Help them see that you don’t take things for granted and that you will do whatever it takes to be successful in life. If you prove this point then nothing will stop them from giving you a scholarship.

4. How to conclude your scholarship essay

After figuring out how to write the perfect introduction for your scholarship essay finding what to write as a conclusion can feel like a difficult task.

Most students make the mistake of summarizing the whole essay as a conclusion but that’s something you should be doing for the introduction. Although you sum up all the main points like a short answer to how the scholarship would impact your future and why you would be a perfectly deserving candidate for it.

Asking a thought-provoking question or ending with something that makes the reader look back and think makes a good conclusion.

5. Proofread

Proofreading is an important thing that most people often skip. Nothing is more frustrating for a reader to read through an article with spelling mistakes, and trust me it is very noticeable.

Proofreading not only will help you figure out the spelling mistakes it will also help you structure your article better. You can also add things if you think something is missing once you have proofread the essay.

6. Stick to the word count

A silly mistake that students do is not sticking to the word count, it is vital to stay within the word limit and not exceed it. Exceeding it can make the reader not want to continue reading and if you don’t meet the word limit then it shows that you started the essay at the last minute and didn’t care enough which can lower your chances of getting the scholarship.

7. Get your family members and friends to review it

Getting other people to read it will help catch any mistakes that you couldn’t find. Your friends and family will also be able to tell you if your essay was interesting to read and could suggest things that would make your essay better.

High schools have teachers assigned that help students get scholarships and with college admissions in general. You can ask them to read your scholarship essay and help you improve it. They can also help you choose a scholarship that is suitable for you.

8. Reuse your essays for other Scholarship

Applying to multiple different colleges and scholarships will require a lot of essays that will require a lot of time. You can’t use the same essay for every scholarship but what you can do is pick up some things from your essay and use it for the other ones.

You need to consider what the Scholarship provider focuses on and what they want you to include in your essay. Every scholarship essay has a different word count and topic. So check all the requirements before you reusing your scholarship essay.

Some quick do’s and don’t for writing a Scholarship Essay

Do’s

• Plan and brainstorm about what you want to include.

• Follow the essay topic and answer the question

• Proofread and Structure the article

• Read about the organization's aim and goal

• Make it personal

• Check if you meet the requirements

Don’ts

• Don’t exceed the word limit

• Don’t start right before the deadline

• Don’t start with directly introducing yourself

• Don’t lie about your achievements

• Don’t drift away from the topic

Conclusion

Getting an organization or a person to pay for your college fees is hard. If you don’t get selected for a scholarship don’t get discouraged you can always apply for more scholarships. You can also look at other forms of financial help such as student loans and grants, there are endless options.