The Most Important Rule

The Most Basic and Fundamental Rule

Please, please, please: Just follow the instructions. Many of the tips you’ll read about in this book are very specific, but this one I’d consider more as a very general “rule to live by” – at least as far as scholarship applications go. It’s a cliché that rules are made to be broken, but don’t …

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Example A: The length of your essay.

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 …

Example A: The length of your essay. Read More »

Example B: Sending your essay the wrong way, in the wrong format, to the wrong place, to the wrong person, etc.

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 …

Example B: Sending your essay the wrong way, in the wrong format, to the wrong place, to the wrong person, etc. Read More »

Example C: Sending information you weren’t asked to send.

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 »

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