How to write a winning scholarship essay - Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe 2018
Hard to believe but true essay mistakes
Essay writing workshop
Fresch! Let’s get creative scholarship contest Laura DiFiore, the founder of FreSch! Free Scholarship Search, has seen many mistakes. Some have prompted her to separate essays into three piles: the good, the bad and the ugly. Those essays designated as the ugly are put into a box with a tomb-stone drawn on it.—Gen and Kelly Bathroom humor. One applicant wrote an entire essay about excrement. “It met the requirements of originality but not creativity. It was gross.”
Spelling mistakes. “While some mistakes are tolerated, if you can’t spell your own major, you’re not getting a scholarship.”
Inferior, illegible printing. DiFiore received an essay in which the middle section of the applicant’s printing ribbon ran out.
This meant that she could only see the top third and bottom third of each letter. The entire middle of all of the letters was totally illegible.
Plagiarism. During a recent competition, DiFiore received essays from applicants who took last year’s winning essay which was posted on her website, modified it and submitted it as their own.
Copycats. DiFiore received essays from three sisters who all wrote the same basic story.
Threats. One essay writer threatened the selection committee, “If you don’t give me money I’m going to hunt you down.”
Anonymous applicants. DiFiore has received applications with no name or address on them. It’s difficult to award a scholarship to an anonymous applicant.
writing—about your mother. What is it specifically that she has done or said that has been so influential? Can you cite a concrete example?
Maybe your mother has a secret recipe for meatloaf that she has shared with no one except you. Perhaps the moment that she revealed to you her treasured secret recipe was a milestone in your relationship.
Focusing on this event and examining and analyzing it may yield a very powerful and certainly original essay. The truth is that we all have experiences and people that make us unique, and the key is to zero in on these and use them in your scholarship essays.
When you read the example essays in the next chapter, look at how each is unique. Pay special attention to how the authors present their topics. Notice how they often bring in points of view that help to make their essays original.
One sure way to ensure that your essay is original is to avoid common topics or approaches of other essay writers. In fact, these mistakes are so common that we have an entire chapter devoted to them. Be sure to carefully study the essays in Chapter 6, 12 Essays That Bombed, to make sure that your topic or approach does not resemble any of these failures.