I Found the Essay Trick to Get You a Ton of Scholarships
$10k and above
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I’ve read a ton of scholarship essays and motivation letters enough to know that the typical student starts a scholarship essay like this:
Hi, my name’s X. I’m writing this essay to tell you what I can contribute to the community if I’m accepted.
Say the essay instructions were:
Write about the type of student you’re most likely to be at the university and how you’ll contribute to the campus.
The first mistake was stating exactly the essay instructions in your first paragraph. This makes you look like a weak personality with no good/wrong impression whatsoever. If you’re planning on getting an easy way out then you have to make your first paragraph as memorable as possible.
You have to leave the reader wanting more. You have to put a stamp on their heart, enough for them to consider you.
So how do you do this?
Tell a short life story about something that once happened in your life like a mistake you made that strengthened your decision to go to college. Or something related, definitely a story about something unforgettable that gave you a life-changing perspective.
You’ll then explain why this perspective shaped you into who you are now and who you’re willing to be with their help.
No need for too much vocabulary and overuse of grammar because to be honest, no one really cares. What they care about is your accurate use of punctuation marks and probably the capitalization of I throughout the essay.
As the essay progresses, you start to explain the skills you’ve acquired in the past and how they can bring value to the campus. If you’ve had a job, you can state it and explain what you learned. You can say the type of student you were in your former school and what they can benefit from having you around. In essence, you need to evaluate your values, this increases their expectations making them anticipate what you really have to offer.
Make sure you’re explaining very extensively on these few topics because like I said they want a story, an active and dependable voice. I mean, you’re not a bot.
