10 Steps to Writing a Winning Scholarship Essay

Speaking of 10 Steps to Writing a Winning Scholarship Essay, they say that scholarship is a lottery — you buy a ticket (submit an essay and additional documents), — and all that follows is just luck. We strongly disagree. Yes, there is definitely a “luck” part due to the fact that too many applications look the same in professors’ eyes, and sometimes they just may pick someone without too much thinking.

10 Steps to Writing a Winning Scholarship Essay

Those are speculations, nothing more. In any situation in our life, especially in situations when decisions related to our future are made by other people, we need some luck. Still, we cannot count on luck like on something that fully determines the outcome.

10 Steps to Writing a Winning Scholarship Essay

It is pretty obvious that if you write a bad scholarship essay or at least a mediocre scholarship essay, luck won’t help, as you compete against brilliant students and their assistants. We cannot influence the luck part of your life. What we can do is show you the 10 steps to writing a winning scholarship essay. Here we go!

Step #1. Start Writing in Advance

Almost all the students suffer from procrastination and we bet you are no exception. It is a problem that makes us start important things too late and come up with worse results than we actually could get if we’ve started on time. Please, once you decide you need to start — start. Pay at least 1 hour of attention to this goal, and you will see how everything else falls into place.

Step #2. Fully Understand and Remember Instructions

Unfortunately, (or fortunately for you), too many students every year lose their chance to receive the scholarship of their dreams because they are not attentive to instructions enough. They just read them diagonally and start writing, choosing a major theme or answering one major question. Be attentive to details, especially if you adapt an already written scholarship essay to the new requirements.

Step #3. Think about your audience

Think about your reader, keep in mind your audience, and imagine that a scholarship committee member has no obligation to read your essay and can put it aside at any moment. Actually, they can. This means you should add enough hooks and passion for them to continue reading. Think about what you would like to read in such an essay, and what would make you interested.

Step #4. Pay Attention to the Underlying Question

We bet, that like us, you sometimes have this feeling — someone asks you about something, and you start answering, and in parallel thinking that it was some different question. Some questions are behind the question, and to move forward you need to answer them directly and well. Most of the questions for the scholarship essay have a catch. Give it some time, try to find it.

Step #5. Be Truthful about your Life

No one expects a superhero to apply for a scholarship, so don’t try to look like one. Your life as it is is interesting. Share a slice of your life with a committee, choosing the most relevant story to prove your point. Also, remember, that your story wasn’t lived to become an essay, so don’t cut rough corners to have a perfect plot.

Step #6. Be Specific and Clear about your Goals

Many scholarship essays are written about goals, but even when the task is different, your goals about why you need this scholarship, and how you are going to change your life with it, should be clear. There are many ways to touch on your goals in life when writing a scholarship essay — ask your professor, look online, or simply experiment and compare the results. If you start writing on time, you will have the opportunity to do it.

Step #7. Don’t be Afraid to Show Passion

Passionate people move this planet forward, they move science forward, industries, literature, politics — you name it. Passionate and smart people are a rare combination worth investing in. Your goal here is to show your passion and to prove that you know how to implement it for the better good. Use more verbs and fewer adjectives — it always makes writing stronger.

Step #8. Ask for Assistance if Necessary

There may be a moment when you realize that for some reason you may not be able to write a quality scholarship essay on your own before the deadline. Don’t hesitate to address scholarship essay writing services like WriteMyPaperHub and ask an academic expert to process your “write my scholarship essay” request online. Technically, not being a part of this educational institution yet, you don’t violate the ethics code doing that. Also, remember that many students choose this path, and you compete not only with them but with their expert assistants.

Step #9. Proofread and Edit Meticulously

Be ruthless when editing. You cannot allow long sentences, unclear statements, and, of course, mistakes and technical omissions to crawl into your scholarship essay. Use online checking and proofreading services. We recommend even paying for some — the scholarship you get is worth it.

Step #10. Give your Essay time to ‘Breathe’

If you start on time, you absolutely have an opportunity to do it. Our brain is built a particular way — you physically cannot see all the mistakes and badly formulated sentences the same day you wrote them. Please, put aside your essay for a day or two, proofread it again, and only then submit it.

Summary

The good thing about scholarship essays is that you need to write one major one first, and later modify it accordingly if you want to receive scholarship support from other organizations or educational institutions.

To do so, your basic essay should be brilliant. Also, again, we strongly recommend you not to be lazy and actually modify your writing according to the demands of another organization — it always counts.

Scholarship committee members say that they can almost always distinguish a scholarship essay written specifically for them, or at least properly modified, from a scholarship essay sent like spam to any available committee.

Be creative, be determined, don’t refuse help if you feel like you are stuck, and make sure to leave enough time for proofreading. With all this and some luck, you have the best chances to win that scholarship.

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