How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay

Applying for colleges and universities is an exciting milestone and one that should not be taken lightly. For anybody who requires the financial assistance of a bursary, grant or scholarship, you will usually be asked to submit an essay along with your application. Writing about yourself and listing your achievements and goals can feel daunting! If you want to write a winning scholarship essay that will set you apart from the others in the pile, keep on reading!

 

Grab the judges’ attention immediately

The people who are offering scholarships read hundreds of essays, so you’ve got to make them want to keep on reading yours. The best way to do this is with a story format that enables you to endear yourself to the reader and to appeal to their emotions. Sentences like “I am writing this scholarship essay because I need money to further my studies” are just plain boring and won’t do you any favours. Instead, use strong and memorable words and hook them in from the beginning! 

 

Answer all essay prompts

There are usually several prompts which will all need to be covered in your scholarship essay. Write out all the prompts in a checklist and tick them off as you include them. This way you will know you haven’t missed any of the essay prompts required. If you do skip an essay prompt, your application could be discarded.

 

Talk about yourself

The key is to write your scholarship essay yourself! The judges read hundreds and hundreds of scholarship essays and they can easily tell when one has been written by a parent. Use your essay to highlight what makes you unique. Talk about your abilities, leadership opportunities, how you’ve served your local community and what you’re passionate about. While talking about yourself and your experiences, don’t just list character traits, but provide examples. A well thought-out example can sway hearts and minds, so give this a lot of thought. 

 

Avoid self-doubt

You might not feel comfortable tooting your own horn, but you’ve got to hone in on what makes you stand out and why you deserve this scholarship. With a little self-reflection, you can describe what sets you apart from others and why you are an amazing investment. Remember that your accomplishments are noteworthy, your experience is unique and your perspective is valuable.

 

Remember your target audience

When writing a winning scholarship essay, you want to forge a meaningful connection with the judges. The best way to achieve this is to connect with something they value instead of simply writing about what you think they want to read. A scholarship from a charity will want to hear about how you’ve volunteered and served the community. A company may want to hear about your side business or how you worked part-time while still maintaining impressive grades. An organisation with a focus on academics will want to hear about the hours you’ve spent tutoring. If you’re not sure where to find this information, take a look at the ‘About Us’ section of the scholarship provider’s website. You’ll gain powerful insights into their core values and mission statement. 

 

Share how you plan to serve others

You don’t want to focus your entire scholarship essay on where you’ve come from or what you’ve done in the past, so include details about what you hope and plan to achieve in the future. Make sure you describe how this scholarship will help you reach your goals. You want to look beyond simply obtaining your degree. What will your career be? The judges want to hear how the scholarship will benefit you and ultimately, those who you will help. Use this space to connect your current aspirations, your volunteer work and passion for the local community with the bigger picture. 

 

Make your scholarship essay unique and personal

Make a point of standing out by sharing what is unique to you! Your volunteer experience or the obstacle you overcame isn’t unique enough to simply mention it. Lots of people volunteer their time and many people have had to overcome obstacles every day. It’s important to highlight what makes your story unique, or at least present it in an interesting and completely new way. Your extra-mural activities should have personality behind them. You can’t be interested in everything, so talk about the activities that you are passionate about. And don’t be afraid to include a reasonable amount of humour in your scholarship essay, because this reveals your personality. 

 

If you plan to address how you’ve learnt from past failures, make sure they are actually failures and be prepared to be vulnerable while talking about them. If the consequence of your failure is that life simply continued as normal, then you should consider choosing another topic. You want the story to be classified as a meaningful failure in the eyes of the person reading the scholarship essay. While writing, be detailed, be open and be vulnerable. A basic overview isn’t going to cut it. You want to share details, nuances and the nitty-gritty elements that make your story unique. 

 

The Golden Checklist

Keep this checklist handy to make sure you don’t forget the details!

 

Presentation: Deliver your scholarship essay in the correct format. If printed, select the right envelope and impress the judges with an organised and tidy application. 

Word count: Do not exceed the word count, but use all the available space to impress the judges. 

Essay prompts: Fully answer all the essay prompts. Address each portion of the question and provide complete answers. 

Share it: Ask somebody that you trust to read your essay and critically analyse it for you. Ask them to assess whether or not you have accurately represented yourself and your abilities. 

Proofread: Take the time to read and re-read your scholarship essay a handful of times, keeping an eagle eye out for spelling mistakes and typos. Ask the person who critically analyses your scholarship essay to proofread too.

Make the deadline: Create a personal deadline of 4 - 5 days before the actual deadline. This built-in margin will ensure that you are on time.

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