College can be expensive, and not many people can afford it. Sure, you can get college loans, but do you want to spend the rest of your life paying for this loan? Loans are an excellent option nonetheless but have you considered scholarships? You can take advantage of different scholarships, but searching for a scholarship that fits you is hard.
Yes. Searching for scholarships can be exhausting, but so is repaying college loans. So, choose your hard. Apart from getting a scholarship to apply for, the application itself can be a bit tedious, and one thing that makes it so is writing an essay. Yes, groan as loudly as you can. If you want a scholarship to help you get through college, you must write one of the best essays.
The big question is, how do you write this essay? There is no wrong or right way for you to write a scholarship essay, but there are key things that you must note. Your essay must show your story, passions, and motivation. Also, it must be original and free from plagiarism. Due to the high stakes, you could use essay writing websites that provide scholarship essays.
Despite the availability of that option, don’t you think it would also be great if you knew what makes a scholarship essay tick? In this post, we will teach you 5 tips that will help you get a scholarship with your scholarship essay.
5 Essential Tips to Write Your Scholarship Winning Essay.
You have written essays throughout high school. That alone qualifies you for writing your scholarship essay. The principles of writing are the same, but the focus is different. Here, you are trying to sell yourself, so instead of telling them about yourself, you have to show them. However, you can’t do this without understanding the scholarship body and its criteria.
We understand that you might be nervous, but you shouldn’t be, as that nervousness could cost you your life-changing opportunity. True, application requirements are different, but the tips we would give you here would be helpful, irrespective of the scholarship body’s requirements.
Research the Body, Identify the Scholarship Theme
You can never go wrong when you research the scholarship issuing body. When you do this, you put yourself in the frame of mind of the body and improve your chances of getting picked. To study this body, examine their mission statement and motivation for the scholarship. Also, studying them allows you to understand the context of the essay theme or prompt.
The essay theme or prompt is the central idea the scholarship committee wants in the essay they have requested of you. Usually, the themes or prompts revolve around your leadership skills, creativity, innovativeness, leadership, and passion. So, when you spot the theme or prompt, your essay must revolve around it. Depending on the prompt, show your abilities and why above other candidates, they should choose you.
It will help if you concentrate your essay on the prompt, as deviating will damage your chances. Break the question if you have to, but don’t go off course.
Brainstorm, Outline, and Hook
You are not most people who would dive into writing an essay without any form of plan. They get confused along the line and start cursing essays for being needlessly complex. First, when you get the essay’s necessary themes, you need to think and generate ideas. These ideas are central to your essay’s map or outline.
The outline contains the list of things you want to discuss in the essay, and it helps you channel your efforts. The beauty of an outline is its flexibility. You can chop off unnecessary parts and add new parts. Rigidity defeats the whole process of an outline, so an open mind is crucial to map your essay successfully.
Your scholarship essay is like a regular essay when it comes to structuring, and this could benefit the way you want to outline your essay. To make your outline to be precise, group it according to the basic structure of an essay. The introduction, body, and conclusion would all have the things you would like to discuss under them.
When you have researched the scholarship body, understand essay themes, brainstormed to generate ideas, and have an outline, you can easily create a hook. Your essay hook is in the first 2 lines of your essay, and it is what gives members of the scholarship body to continue reading your essay. So, the hook has to be glorious.
The hook could be an incident that happened to you. Whatever you choose to use depends on you, but it must be exciting.
Be Vivid. Let Them See You.
Consider these two lines.
My heart clenched as I saw the poor turtle trapped in the familiar rubber that holds a 6-pack beer, writhing in discomfort.
I was sad when I saw the baby turtle trapped in the rubber that holds a 6-pack beer.
You can see the difference. The first one shows how passionate you are about the environment. The other is just meh!. That’s how it is when you tell the scholarship committee instead of showing them. See how one is gripping and engaging, and the other is just another line? So, keep this in mind when writing your essay. Show your story, don’t just tell it.
Keep it Straight to the Point.
True, you want to show yourself, but don’t go thinking you are writing a novel here. You have a world limit, and you must stick to that limit. So while you want to evoke and hook your reader, don’t forget that you also have to be direct. Use simpler words and be focused on passing your message impressively rather than using flowery words.
Also, don’t forget to be humble in your bid to be vivid. Instead of brashly praising yourself, be more subtle.
Proofread
Proofread your essay and be ready to rewrite it when necessary. This is why you must start your essay way before the deadline. This way, you can proofread, edit and rewrite until your essay becomes exactly what you need it to be. You can show your loved ones, teachers, or friends your essay and also learn their input.
Conclusion
A scholarship essay could be what stands before you and a wholesome career. Follow our tips rigorously and improve your chances of having your essay picked.
