Scholarships - Office of Student Financial Aid

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Scholarship and Essay Tips

  • If scholarship requires a nomination, ask department or organization how you can be nominated.
  • Choose essay topics that fit the requirements of a broad range of scholarships. This allows you to recycle essays and saves enormous amounts of time and energy. Later, customize it to meet the needs of each scholarship, but be sure to answer the questions that were asked of you.
  • Many scholarships require you to write a personal statement about yourself. Tightly structure your essay by sticking to the point and supporting your experience with compelling examples. Write with a personal voice and avoid sounding wooden and dry. Evaluators are extremely responsive to stories that overcome adversity. Typically, personal statements should include your academic achievements, community involvement, leadership skills, and aspirations.
  • Many organizations favor student leaders or students involved in community service. Other groups look for students who have exceptional talents - writers, scientists, athletes or musicians. If the application mentions these qualities, emphasize the talents you have as well as your academic achievements.
  • Follow directions. For example, if the application limits you to a 3-page essay, do not go over 3 pages, but neither should you write only one paragraph.
  • Have several strong writers read and edit your essay for structure, grammar, redundancy and logic. Evaluators will mark you down if your essay is unclear, incomplete or just plain difficult to understand. Also, typewritten essays are preferred over hand-written ones.
  • If the scholarship is renewable, then this is practically guaranteed money. Typically, all you need to do is maintain the scholarship requirements and renew your application, as necessary.
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