March 2008

Don’t write the same essay for all the scholarships you apply for.

March 26, 2008

Lots and lots of students do this, and you may be one of them. Every now and then, students get the idea that they’ve written one essay that’s so perfect in every way that it can be used to win not only one scholarship, but multiple scholarships. So they submit this essay for each scholarship [...]

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Don’t write or ask the committee or granting institution for advice on how to write your essay.

March 26, 2008

About once a day, someone calls our office asking about our scholarships. “What do you mean by this question?” they ask. “How should I write this? What are you looking for me to say here?” The answer is always the same: Write it however you like. The company or institution giving the scholarship is going [...]

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Show your essay to a teacher who doesn’t like you – or at least doesn’t know you.

March 26, 2008

Students who actually do go the extra mile and show their essay to a teacher before sending it often go straight to their favorite teacher, or at least one who likes them a lot. That’s natural, but if that person is your favorite teacher, then he/she probably likes you, too, and may be likely to [...]

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Be careful using voice-to-text software.

March 26, 2008

Students rarely do this – for now, it seems to be mostly the domain of the high-level business executive who doesn’t like typing. But the technology is beginning to get more sophisticated, and we know that more of you will be using it in the future. Already, we’ll occasionally get an essay that a student [...]

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Parting Shots

March 26, 2008

You didn’t think this book was going to end without a conclusion, did you? No way, Jose. There’s far too much information on this site to just stop on a dime, without a little bit of a wrap-up. There’s a lot of information to digest here, so if your head is swimming, don’t worry. It [...]

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When you’re talking about your future plans, be specific, and speak in terms of how they’ll benefit others.

March 26, 2008

A rule of thumb in scholarship essays (and life, if you will) is that it’s better to be specific than to be general or vague. Society is accustomed to using vague labels for people and what they do: student, businessman, housewife, factory worker, etc. These labels are convenient for the normal conversations that fill our [...]

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Don’t knock your peers.

March 26, 2008

When they’re trying to show the scholarship judges what hardworking and focused young people they are, a lot of our applicants end up disparaging their peers in order to make the point. We get a lot of statements like: “While the other kids in my class were out(fill in the blank here: partying, horsing around, [...]

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Balance pride with humility.

March 26, 2008

This can be tough, since just about every scholarship essay you’ll ever write is asking you to trumpet all the qualities that make you deserving of free money. But think about it – you’ve known lots of people who were very, very good at certain things. Some you hated, and some you admired – probably [...]

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Avoid references to perfection.

March 26, 2008

Some of the most tired, overused phrases we see in essays is that of “striving for perfection,” “perfecting my skills,” etc. Leave perfection alone – you’re never going to achieve it. No one ever does. And even if they did, no one would recognize it. This may seem like nitpicking, but there’s already too much [...]

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Stay on topic.

March 26, 2008

In other words, exclude any unnecessary information that has nothing to do with your essay. Everything in your essay should be relevant to the topic at hand. We receive bad examples of staying on topic every day. They’re the essays that start like this: “My name is Jane Doe, and I was born in Hershey, [...]

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Common high school activities: Don’t talk solely about participation in them.

March 26, 2008

This is an important tip that you’ll rarely hear, but it’s true. Common, high school activities are not going to set your essay apart from the competition. The Internet has opened scholarship opportunities up to thousands of applicants who wouldn’t have been there 10 years ago. And that means the less unique your essay is, [...]

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Show some industry.

March 26, 2008

Talk about what you’ve actually done – not just the groups you’ve joined. Sure, you were in your church’s youth group. And you can put “Four years in my church youth group” in your application if you want. But if you do that, you’re not telling me much. Since I haven’t been to your church, [...]

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Don’t be preachy.

March 26, 2008

Scholarship essays are certainly about self-expression, and lots of applications ask open-ended questions about how you, the forward-thinking leader of tomorrow, might solve today’s problems. That gives you full license to come out with your ideas on how to change things, and in so doing, you’ll probably find yourself pointing out the flaws of society [...]

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Go easy on the slang, yo.

March 26, 2008

Every generation uses a great deal of slang, but it’s usually not the same slang the previous generation used. And it’s most likely that the committee evaluating your essay isn’t from your generation. One recent applicant mused about his football career and “leaping for a pick and taking it straight to the house.” If you [...]

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Be careful with sensitive political issues.

March 26, 2008

We almost didn’t include this tip, but it’s one that every applicant needs to hear. Unless the scholarship you’re applying for is sponsored by an explicitly liberal or conservative organization, you have almost no chance of winning if you write in a partisan way about controversial issues like abortion, affirmative action, the Iraq war or [...]

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Be careful talking about religion.

March 26, 2008

See above. Same reason, times 10. I’m not going to repeat everything I said above, but one thing I will: I didn’t write this book to tell you how to say what’s on your mind; I wrote it to tell you how to win. It’s fine to have religious convictions and no one can ever [...]

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Don’t dwell on your GPA – it’s not a point of distinction.

March 26, 2008

Nothing angers the high-ranking students (and their teachers) more than this one, but Uncle Josh has some bad news for you, and you’re not going to like it. However, you do need to accept it because it’s true, and I know it’s true because I write the scholarship checks and your teachers don’t. Are you [...]

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Don’t forget your family.

March 26, 2008

I know that we miss some incredible stories every day when our applicants write scholarship essays and mention absolutely nothing about the role they play in their own families. Let us say this clearly: your role in your own family is not as important as your school activities – it’s more important. Hey, let’s be [...]

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Don’t forget what you do out of school.

March 26, 2008

This is closely related to the above item about family responsibilities, but a little different. Here, we don’t mean taking care of your family or working to do so; rather, we’re talking about outside interests of any kind. Maybe you’re interested in cars or nature or the environment or politics — something they don’t have [...]

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Don’t beg.

March 26, 2008

A popular phrase around my house, and maybe yours too, was: “It never hurts to ask!” The phrase would be uttered concerning a great variety of things, but to keep it simple here, it was usually when I wanted something that someone else had and was too timid to inquire about whether I could have [...]

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Don’t act like your life is over if you don’t get this one scholarship.

March 26, 2008

Judges know that you would very much like to receive the scholarships that you apply for. It’s natural for you to have some emotional stock in whether you win or not. College costs are serious business, and every dime you can get someone else to pick up for you, the better. But in thousands of [...]

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Don’t act like you’re owed the scholarship.

March 26, 2008

It’s rare, but still regular, that we get applicants who will explicitly state that they are very obviously the best candidate and that the committee will most certainly agree when they’ve finished reading his/her materials. Well, maybe. And maybe not. Don’t get us wrong, confidence in life is generally a good thing, but there’s a [...]

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Don’t be a complete downer.

March 26, 2008

I debated including this one because, to be honest, a lot of people have had a lot of rotten things happen to them in their lives. More bad than good, unfortunately. And sometimes those things are worth explaining to the scholarship committee if it means you can show them how you’ve overcome these obstacles on [...]

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Don’t quote pop-culture icons.

March 26, 2008

We’ll talk more about quotes as this book goes on, but here’s a good start. If you’re going to use a quote, do yourself a favor by not extracting your quote from the pages of Us magazine. No Madonna, no Tupac, no Michael J. Fox, no Arnold (even though he’s the governor now). It’s not [...]

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Don’t use overly flowery, exaggerated language.

March 26, 2008

There’s a fine line between good, genuine writing and stuff like this: “Receiving this scholarship would certainly be one of the most fulfilling and genuinely rewarding experiences of my life.” That’s just one example, but there are dozens more we could show you. Here’s another: “Receiving this scholarship will be the crown jewel of my [...]

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Don’t use clichés.

March 26, 2008

Don’t write about how you give 110 percent, keep your nose to the grindstone, or how a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. In terms of creativity, this is about as bad as it gets – these phrases have been used so many times by so many people that they had [...]

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Think carefully before using a quotation to start your essay.

March 26, 2008

Sometime long ago, someone started a speech with, “The Famous So-And-So once said, ‘blah blah blah.’” And so began a very, very long love affair with starting speeches and essays with quotes from other people. I can’t completely condemn the practice, because sometimes people do it well. But it’s only well-done if the quote you’re [...]

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If you’re going to use a quote, consider a lesser-known, original quote.

March 26, 2008

The most overused quote in the history of the student essay is probably MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Second is probably FDR’s “fear itself” quote. Using those, or other ones that have been used thousands of times before you, probably won’t serve you well. Not only is it unoriginal, but it’s a tough act [...]

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Make your introduction as creative as possible.

March 26, 2008

So many essay introductions are poorly done (see the next item) that the rare creative introduction stands out a great deal. Challenge yourself to start your essay in a way that grabs the attention of a committee member who has been shuffling through more than 100 essays before looking at yours.

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If you’re going to use a quote, make it brief.

March 26, 2008

A recent submission from a student in Little Rock included a seven-sentence quote from former President Clinton. That’s not a quotation; it’s two paragraphs. One or two sentences should be plenty; any more than that is overkill.

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