Tips for Writing a Winning Scholarship Essay

Imagine how easy it would be if you didn’t have to write an essay for your scholarship. There would be no reason to be worried about getting rejected just because you can’t pen down your thoughts on a piece of paper. It would have been a piece of cake, wouldn’t it?

Unfortunately, when it comes to applying for a scholarship, there’s no way of getting around the topic of writing an essay. It’s inevitable. Hence, you either have to buy a college essay and take an easy way out or write something all by yourself.

Keep reading to learn how you can do it.

How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay?

Honestly, you should take the job of writing a scholarship essay as a do-or-die circumstance. It is the only chance you’ll get to show the committee that you deserve to be in their college.

Here’s what you need to do in this case.

1 Plan Everything from the Beginning

No matter what you are writing, you must plan the structure and tone at the beginning. Or else the quality of the article will suffer massively.

How do you do it, though?

Well, as mentioned before, you should always start by researching as much as you can on the topic first. This way, it will be easier for you to structure the whole article quickly.

And once you are done with it, you should write a summary of each point underneath. This, in turn, will help you remember what you were about to write regarding the same.

Then, create a calendar and plan the timetable of when you are going to finish it. You must complete it at least one week before the deadline so that you have enough time to proofread it.

2 What about Your Audience?

Writing a scholarship essay will work as a sort of marketing of your editorial skill set. So, you must ensure that you are using the right tone in accordance with your audience.

For example, if it’s a professor who will read the article, you should maintain a strict or academic tone. The usage of poetic words and language will be fine in this case.

However, writing for someone who’s a reporter should be all about inducing a professional or to-the-point tone. It’s more fitting for writing a newspaper report, after all.

3 Choosing the Topic

In most cases, the scholarship provider will not offer you any instruction regarding the article. Instead, they will focus on how you articulate it in your own way.

Hence, use it to your advantage and work on something that you are passionate about. It could be about a football game or a movie you have recently watched.

This way, you can use the tone required for the article much more intelligently and maintain a natural flow too. Your excitement and personality will also shine through the same.

4 Write from a Personal Viewpoint

Writing on a topic you love or adore is certainly a great thing. Nevertheless, if you can add your personal experience to the same, the essay will literally come alive. For example, the following two fronts can be used effectively in this case –

  • Discuss an incident that has given you a lot of trouble and how you overcame it.
  • Talk about an experience or a moment that has caused significant personal growth.

This way, you can tweak the article as you want and write in a more personal tone. It, in turn, will make the essay even more fun or engaging to read.

5 The Introduction Should be Strong

The introduction of your essay is going to draw the core attention of your reader and convince them to continue further. Hence, you must make it the strongest part of your essay. One of the most common ways to start an introduction is to recite a fact and then explain it.

Or, you can also offer information about something vague and discrete. This way, it’d prompt the reader to look for an answer. And that’s what makes your introduction compelling.

Note: Your introduction should provide an overview of what your article is all about. So, you shouldn’t only focus on the engagement aura of your writing. Additionally, try to provide a lot of information to make the reader go through the essay till the end.

6 The Structure Should be Proper and Correct

The common structure of an essay is – an introduction, body, and conclusion. As you are writing a scholarship essay, I would ask you to stick to the same till the end.

The introduction should be engaging and fitting to the context, while the body will explain the vagueness you have depicted before. And the conclusion will offer a fitting end to your essay.

When writing the body, make sure to use as many transitions as possible to stick to the context properly. The conclusion should focus on offering a review of the whole article.

That’s it, basically.

7 Positive Way of Writing

Yes, you can write an essay about a depressing stage of your life. But, you should always end the same on a positive note. That’s how your conclusion should be, no matter what.

Also, when you are writing about the difficult phase of your life, don’t choose a self-pitying tone. The better you show that you have assessed the situation perfectly, the more efficient the whole thing would look in your case.

So, rather than focusing on how negatively an event has affected your life, write about how it has helped you grow. The clearer you are in this aspect, the better.

Don’t Write for the Sake of Writing!

So, you are done with writing your essay? Well, your work still isn’t done here.

Keep the essay on a table for a day or two and then proofread it. This way, it will be easier for you to take out the mistakes properly and rewrite them from a different point of view.

It would improve the quality of your article by a mile!

For further reading, see our Scholarship Essay Examples.