Writing a Scholarship Essay – Tips for 2024

Written by

Shane Greenstein

July 15, 2023

7 min read

Every student, who is willing to enter a studies program, a special course or simply to win money in writing contests, will have to complete a scholarship essay. It is quite different from most of the tasks you have ever completed, as it won’t be read by the teacher, who is well aware of your weak and strong sides, and will be able to forgive some mistakes.

Such a paper will be evaluated by a committee, which has to choose one of many applicants, breaking dreams of hundreds of others. That is why you should understand what essay scholarships are about and what you need to do to succeed.

Remember, your essay should be around 500 words long, which means that you need to very brief and clear, when answering the given question. Your essay should consist of such sections, as:

• Introduction;
• Body paragraphs;
• Conclusion.

However, such an assignment has quite a free form and if the subject allows, you can switch sections and adjust them to your personal vision.

Remember that your introduction, the first paragraph of an essay, should be short and catchy. Write an anecdote, a quote, an interesting fact or a story from your personal life to illustrate what you are going to write about in the future.

Proceed with telling the story itself, remaining brief and professional. Don’t forget to use a broad dictionary and various lexical tools, which will help you to enrich the topic. When you are done, write several sentences on the conclusions you have made. Make sure the final section of your work is attention grabbing and thought provoking.

If you want to succeed and understand how to write a scholarship essay, you should also get familiar with the most common mistakes. They include:

• Lack of attention to instructions. Most of the students read the topic and start writing an essay at once, deciding not to waste time on understanding all the guidelines and demands. Unfortunately, this may play a bad joke with you and you will be rejected even if your essay is interesting;
• Missing an outline. Even though such an essay should only be 250 words long, you need to organize your ideas in advance. Write an outline, making a list of the key features you are willing to include to the text. Adjust and update it any time you want;
• Forgetting about the structure. Even though scholarship paper may be lose and have a free structure, you still need to divide it into paragraphs and use transition words to help the reader understand your ideas and views on the subject;
• Avoid complex terms and boring definitions. Your language should be simple and clear, as you can’t know who will read your essay;
• Absence of rereading. You may feel tempted to send your essay at once but don’t hurry! Take some time to read the question carefully and check whether your essay answers it. In addition, you should make sure that your paper has no lexical and grammar mistakes, and looks readable and professional.

With a proper approach, you will surely obtain a scholarship of your dreaming, leaving hundreds of competitors far behind!

Scholarship Essay Examples and Samples

Scholarship essay samples are a great solution for those, who don’t know what to write about or how to impress the committee. If the topic is not given, such examples allow students to understand what the modern academic world is interested in and how to stand out from the rest.

Using scholarship essay examples shouldn’t be considered a fraud, as you only download a paper to get familiar with the subject, structure or any other specific details of an essay. With its help, you will manage the task much quicker and won’t waste lots of time on understanding what to write about.

Scholarship Essay Format

A scholarship essay format is quite informal, so you just need to make sure that you follow all the recommendations of the college or the administration. However, if such details are not specified, you need to stick to the general rules. They include:

• One or two pages long;
• Double-spaced;
• Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri fonts;
• 12 pt size of the font;
• One-inch margins on all of the sides.

To make sure you have all the tools for an outstanding paper, here are additional scholarships essay tips to consider:

• Start in advance. Make sure you have enough time to research the topic, make an outline and reread your essay several times. Try to have at least two-three weeks before the delivery date;
• Know your reader. You need to be sure that the audience will be genuinely interested in your topic. Take some time to research the audience and understand what it wants to read about;
• Brainstorm all the ideas. Make a list of the topics and subjects you find interesting and relevant, and then compare them. This will help you to choose the strongest topic;
• Be passionate about the subject. You won’t be able to write an outstanding essay if you don’t devote your soul to it. Make sure you are passionate about what you write and only then start working on the assignment;
• Always be personalized. It is not a research paper, so you have an outstanding opportunity to show your personality, aspirations and ideas. However, you should still stick to the plot and don’t sound too arrogant;
• Check your essay several times. You can either read it aloud, ask your friends or family members to read it for you or upload to special checking programs. Make sure you eliminate all the typos, mistakes and imperfections before delivering your essay.

Order an Exclusive Paper of Top Standard

100% Originality Assured. Only Qualified Specialists

Top Quality

96% customers' satisfaction rate

400+ Native Writers

with minimum Master's degree

Discounts & Bonuses

5% discount with FIRST5 code

Order Now

Scholarship Essay Prompts and Topics

Every day thousands of scholarship essays are completed, supporting aspirations of students to be accepted to their dream colleges or to win money to buy the things they want. However, the first and the most important problem may cause lots of stress and anxiety, as not knowing what to write about may take lots of your time. That is why we have made a list of the topics, which can be a great idea for a scholarship assignment:

1. The person, who has influenced your outlook on the world;
2. The goals you are willing to achieve in five years;
3. Your future is in your hands;
4. The doors you managed to open;
5. What you consider your main achievements and why do you call them ‘achievements’?
6. Make a list of your favorite books and movies. Explain how they influenced your personality or even changed your life;
7. Do you have a distinguishing hobby or skill? Which one?
8. Describe the hardest period of your life. Did it change your life and who helped you to go through it?
9. Are you a fighter, when it comes to achieving success?
10. Did you have any major failures? If yes, what were the lessons you have learned?
11. If you didn’t have to work to earn money, what would you make your occupation?
12. A place you would go to right now and why;
13. What are your plans for the future? What steps you need to complete to realize that all of the plans have been achieved?
14. Have you ever participated in various activities outside the class? How they can be useful for the future course?
15. What is the strongest and the most important feature of your character?

With the help of these topics, enough courage and passion, you will surely grab attention of the committee and will greatly increase your chances of getting a scholarship of your dreams!