Back when our scholarship committee was switching our scholarship over from postal mail to e-mail, I made a joke on one of our websites about the U.S. Postal Service. I know, I know – you’re thinking, “That’s impossible! How could you possibly find something negative to say about the U.S. Postal Service?” I don’t remember …
Laundry lists are not essays. Essays are coherent papers with a beginning, a middle and an end. If you simply crank out seven paragraphs listing the activities you’ve been involved in, and for how long you’ve been involved in them, and the offices you held, etc. –- that’s not an essay. It’s just a big …
You may have deep, intricate knowledge of a particular subject. Maybe it’s current environmental issues, maybe it’s international news, or maybe it’s baseball. You may be tempted to demonstrate your specialized knowledge in a scholarship essay, but be careful. The committee may be old and wise, but they still may not have anywhere near the …
Don’t assume the committee knows your subject of interest as well as you do. Read More »
Once you read this section, it’ll seem very obvious, but most people completely overlook the advantage you can give yourself by paying great attention to the way you physically package your essay. Remember Rule #1: Competitors are everywhere, and you must put your best foot forward. Your essay’s packaging is one way to do this …
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 »
