How to write a winning scholarship essay - Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe 2018

Why the essay is critical to winning
Essay writing workshop

In this chapter:

■ Why the essay is critical

■ What judges look for in the scholarship essay

■ The three common features of all money-winning essays

■ How to find the perfect topic

■ The keys to crafting a powerful essay

■ Why sob stories don’t work

■ Hard to believe but true essay mistakes

■ How to recycle your essay

Why the essay is critical to winning

Let’s imagine for a moment that you are a scholarship judge. You have an enormous pile of applications in front of you. From the application forms, you can get basic information about each applicant such as grades, test scores and brief descriptions of their activities.

But without being able to meet each candidate, how do you get a sense of who they are so that you can determine if they are the most deserving of your money? One of the best (and sometimes only) ways to get to know the applicants beyond their cut and dry statistics is through their essays.

This is why for many scholarship competitions the essay is the most important part of the application and where you should spend the most time. Scholarship judges view the essay as their window into who you are, your passions and your potential. It is their way of getting to know you without actually meeting you. And it is where you can make the strongest and most meaningful impression.

There are some interesting implications depending on the type of student that you are. If you are a straight “A” student with excellent test scores and a flawless academic record, you may be tempted to rely on these achievements to carry your application all the way to the final round. However, if you neglect the essay, your achievements (no matter how impressive) may advance you beyond the preliminary round, but you won’t win the big prize.

On the other hand, if you are an average student and know that other applicants will have better academic achievements, you can use the opportunity that the essay provides to make yourself stand out. In many cases you will actually be able to beat applicants who have higher GPAs and test scores.

Regardless of your accomplishments and academic achievements, you need to write a powerful essay if you want to win a scholarship.