I’m borrowing here from our forthcoming sister site, givemearesume.com, because the advice applies to the scholarship application process just as much as the job-hunting process. When describing the things you’ve done, use as many strong action verbs as you can. Don’t say that you just “went” somewhere, “signed up” for something or “participated” in an …
Your introduction should be completed in a paragraph, maybe two. Not four or five. Long-form, scene-setting openings are for novels, not scholarship essays. Get to the point quickly and begin to develop the “meat” of your essay right away.
Redundant language is one particular way of writing badly that wastes your writing space and annoys the committee at the same time. There are a lot of commonly used redundant phrases, but some of the most common are “actively involved” (if you’re not active, you’re not involved) “past history” (all history is in the past) …
In a nutshell, this simply means making sure your paragraphs flow well from one to the next. There’s no magic formula for doing it, but you’ll know you’ve done it when the last sentence of one paragraph seems to lead nicely into the first sentence of the next paragraph. Without good transitions, an essay is …
It’s disappointing when an applicant is rolling along with an excellent essay, and then all of a sudden, bang! It’s over. Or at least, we think it’s over. We don’t see a next page, so we assume it must be over. The reason for our confusion is the writer’s lack of a closing. A closing …
That’s cheating. It’s also the equivalent of starting your introduction with “I deserve this award because” – it’s not creative at all. Your closing should speak for itself, without a need to say “in closing” or “listen up, committee, here comes my closing.” It’s a challenge, but you can do it.
Your name should be on the page elsewhere, eliminating any need for you to waste the all-important first sentence of your essay by simply stating your name.
If you’re a member of a minority group, you’re sure to hear conflicting advice about discussing your minority status in scholarship applications. Some say don’t mention it at all; others say get as much mileage out of it as you can. I tend toward the latter, but the problem is, you don’t always know when …
We’ll start with the length of your essay because it’s commonly abused. While I’ve never met a scholarship judge who actually sat down and counted every word to ensure that an applicant didn’t go over the limit, you still must stick to that limit. If an essay calls for 750 words or less and you …
Back in the days when we required our scholarship applicants to send in paper applications (we now do it all via email), we posted a very clear statement in the instructions: “Please do not send your essay via signature-required delivery.” By signature-required delivery, we simply mean when places like FedEx, UPS, DHL and the U.S …
This one is less clear to the layperson, so I’m going to lay down the law for you right here and now, so there’s no confusion. If you aren’t asked or invited to include additional information with your application such as transcripts, photos, newspaper clippings, artwork, CDs, letters of recommendation, trinkets you’ve whittled out of …
Example C: Sending information you weren’t asked to send. Read More »
There are several very important themes in this book, and you’re going to hear me repeat these themes over and over again. And again. You’ll probably get tired of them, but the reason I repeat them so often is because they are constantly overlooked by scholarship applicants every day, and because of that, these applicants …
Three rules worth repeating. Over and over and over again. Read More »
You’ve probably heard me talk about this website before, but it bears repeating: Thanks to the Web, you now have access to thousands of scholarships you never would’ve known about prior to the Internet age. That’s the good news. The bad news is this: So does everyone else. The competition for scholarship money is more …
Rule #1: Competitors are everywhere, so put your Best Foot Forward at all times. Read More »
When you think of a scholarship committee, what do you think of? What do you see in your mind? If you’re like most of us, you see somewhere between 5 and 10 middle-aged academic types sitting around a large table, giving each essay a great deal of scrutiny, debating with one another the merits of …
Rule #2: Scholarship judges are normal, busy human beings. Read More »
The crush of applicants from all over the Internet isn’t only tough on students; it’s also pretty rough on us scholarship judges as well. Not only is it extremely time-consuming to wade through thousands of essays instead of a hundred or even a few dozen, as it used to be, it’s also a lot tougher …
Rule #3: Scholarship judges pay attention to every detail. Read More »
Whether you’re a student or a parent, you’ve probably been assuming all along that getting a scholarship today is not much different from getting a scholarship 5, 10, or even 20 years ago. You compete against your classmates, and may the best man/woman win, right? Wrong. The process of giving and receiving scholarships has changed …
