The hard part is over: Your college application essays are finished and your applications are ready to be submitted! Now it’s time to turn your attention to college scholarships—and that means more essays.
Just as colleges do, scholarship providers want to know who you are beyond your résumé, so it’s important to understand how to write scholarship essays. The good news is that the best tips for writing college scholarship essays are ones you already know—much of what you learned while writing and polishing your college application essays can also be applied to scholarship essays.
As the cost of attending college continues to rise, more and more students are applying for college scholarships to help lighten their financial burden. Especially for highly competitive scholarships, writing a solid essay is key to your success. Use these scholarship essay tips to help you write an essay that stands out from the rest.
10 Tips for Writing College Scholarship Essays
1. Research the Scholarship Provider
Organizations and companies that sponsor scholarships have different missions and goals, and they are looking to support students who meet particular criteria. Understanding the scholarship provider’s purpose and values will help you write an essay that speaks to your audience and highlights how your background, experiences and future plans align with their mission.
2. Brainstorm Your Topic
It’s hard to write a great essay without a little preparation, so take the time before you start writing to brainstorm ideas. The topic of your essay should clearly relate to the prompt and speak to the scholarship provider, so not every idea will be a good fit for every essay. Keep a running list of ideas in a note on your laptop or phone; a topic that doesn’t work at all for one prompt could be perfect for another one later on.
3. Craft an Attention-Grabbing Introduction
A great introduction grabs the reader’s attention, piques their curiosity, and makes them want to read on. One effective way to do this is to open with an anecdote: a short, descriptive account of an event or experience that relates to the theme and topic of your essay. And remember—you don’t have to write the introduction first! Sometimes it’s easier to write an introduction after you’ve written the body of the essay and know what you want to say.
4. Answer the Entire Prompt
Be sure to carefully read the prompt and make sure you understand everything it’s asking. Some prompts are pretty straightforward, asking you to describe your goals, your achievements, or something specific about yourself or your life experiences. Others are more broad or open-ended, requiring a bit more thought to answer completely. Making an outline or a list of important points to include before you start writing can help keep your essay focused on the prompt and ensure that you answer the prompt completely.
5. Demonstrate Your Strengths, Values, and Virtues
Whatever the prompt, it’s important to highlight positive attributes that will resonate with the scholarship provider. Think about your goals, motivations and values and how you can relate them to the prompt and the topic you’ve chosen. Use the body of your essay to illustrate these attributes and connect them with the scholarship provider’s mission and values.
6. Be Yourself
Essays are your chance to show scholarship providers who you are as a person, so be your authentic self and let your personality shine through! Tell and reflect on your story in your own voice, using your own words, and don’t try to sound like someone you’re not. It’s fine to write in a more informal tone, but remember to keep it professional and avoid slang and textspeak.
7. Tie it All Together
The conclusion is often the hardest part of an essay to write. You’ve told your story and reflected on what it says about you—so now what? Your conclusion should tie together everything you’ve written and connect back to the introduction. It’s also a great place to note your interest in the scholarship and how the award will help you reach your goals.
8. Write within the Word Limit
Exceeding the stated word limit almost certainly guarantees your application will not be considered, and many online application systems won’t accept an essay that is over the limit, so it’s crucial to write within it. But the word limit can be your friend: Writing long is easy, but editing your essay to fit a limit forces you to consider the importance of every word, which will make your writing more concise and effective.
9. Proofread
It’s only human to make mistakes, but be sure to proofread your essay so they don’t end up in your final draft. It can be helpful to have someone else proofread your essay, too. You know what you meant to write, but another set of eyes on your essay can help make sure that’s what you actually wrote and pick up any mistakes you might have missed.
10. Reuse, Recycle, and Repurpose
The more scholarships you apply for, the more essays you’ll have to submit—but you don’t have to write every essay from scratch. Many scholarships have similar prompts, and some topics can be used to answer different prompts. It’s perfectly okay to reuse and repurpose essays, but don’t just copy and paste. Take the time to fine-tune repurposed essays for each application, adapting and tailoring it to the specific scholarship and organization.
Conclusion
Essays are an important part of your scholarship application, providing you an opportunity to show scholarship providers who you are beyond your academics and activities and convince them that you’re a person who will make good use of their support. Using these tips for writing college scholarship essays that shine and earn scholarship awards to support you as you pursue your goals. To learn more about what college admissions counselors are looking for, and how HelloCollege can help, contact us about a free consultation today!
