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

Share a slice of life
Essay writing workshop

As you are explaining why you deserve to win, it is important that you also reveal something about yourself. Obviously, in the short space of 500 to 1,000 words you can’t cover everything about you. This is why one of the most effective techniques is to share just a “slice of your life.” In other words, don’t try to explain everything. Just focus on one aspect of your life.

If you are writing about your involvement in an activity, it may be tempting to summarize your involvement over the years and list numerous accomplishments. However, this would sound more like a resume and it would not tell the judges something that they could not learn by reading your resume. However, if you focus on just one aspect or one day of an experience, you could spend some time below the surface and share something about who you are. In other words, you would be sharing a slice of your life.

Since many students write about activities in which they are involved, here are a few topics that you might want to consider. These will help you focus the essay and force you to share a slice of your life:

■ What motivated you to get involved with this activity?

■ How do you personally benefit from participating?

■ How do you stay motivated during challenging times?

■ Is there a person that you’ve met through this activity that has inspired you? How?

■ What one accomplishment are you most proud of? Why?

■ Have you ever considered quitting this activity? Why didn’t you?

■ What is one thing you learned from being involved?

These types of questions make you examine yourself and find a specific incident, moment or thought to share. Even if the subject of the essay is an activity that you enjoy, it is important that the judges who read it come away knowing more about you.