Type — don’t handwrite — your essay.

Now that computers are omnipresent, this seems obvious; however, we continue to receive a steady stream of handwritten essays. There are exceptions to this rule: for instance, many of our applicants from Africa and other underdeveloped nations have very limited access to computers, and have no choice but to use paper and pen. But even those applicants are at a disadvantage for one simple reason: legibility. At this point in time, scholarship committees are accustomed to reading typed, laser-printed essays. Even if your handwriting is excellent, it’s not as easy to read as a typed essay. So if you absolutely must handwrite – and few people reading these words could make that claim, since you purchased this book over the Internet with a computer! – do so as legibly as you can. But if you can gain access to a computer – even for an hour or so – take your handwritten essay, type it up and print it out.