Scholarship Essay: How to Turn Dreams into Reality

Imagine standing at the crossroads of your life, the chilling wind of uncertainty whipping past, knowing that one step in the right direction can pave the path of future success. This is the reality for many college students, teetering on the edge of their dreams yet held back by the constraints of financial burdens.

Scholarship essays have the power to lift this financial weight off our shoulders, to fuel the journey towards educational enlightenment. Scholarship provides an opportunity for students to showcase their real potential to the college board and affirm their confidence in you. Writing these essays for scholarship allows students to soar high and achieve their dreams. If you’re going through the same process and seeking help, fortunately your wishes will be granted.

Today, our professional essay writing experts will ensure this journey of yours goes smoothly without any hindrances. So, if you’re thinking of applying for a scholarship, reading this blog will help you make your dreams come true. Let’s not waste our time and get you up to speed in understanding the intricacies of writing a scholarship essay. Vamos!

Table of Contents

What is a Scholarship Essay?

Essays for scholarships are a great way to use your creative skills to apply for financial aid to support your academic goals. We all know higher education is expensive and requires expenses beyond the means of a normal affordability. Some students even take loans just to make it to college and receive a degree that opens the doors of good opportunities.

A scholarship essay is just like your typical assignment that you submit in your high school. However, where it differs from a routine essay writing assignment is the details and personal narrative you must add in it. Scholarship essays are a deep dive into your character where you show the good and bad about yourself. You can write this essay type about your experiences, how you see a phenomenon or believe in an ideology, etc.

For scholarship write-ups, one can present it in various ways such as descriptive, narrative, opinion based, factual events, etc. Your chances of getting it right and approved by the college scholarship committee depends on how much details and facts you put in it.

Additionally, students must have to follow the guidelines a college has set for acceptance of application such as formatting styles APA, MLA, Chicago, etc. Now that we’ve talked about and informed you about this specific essay type, let’s move on to the steps on how to start them.

How to Start a Scholarship Essay?

Since, scholarship essays are of cardinal importance, it’s imperative for students to know how to start them. Let’s discuss the steps you must take in order to make it to the top step and consequently be awarded the scholarship.

Choose your Audience

The first step any student must take for scholarship essay writing is choosing their target audience. Since, it’s a given that your audience or readers will be a college scholarship selection committee, you must design your application in such a way that suits their standards.

If you’re applying for drama and performing arts at Juilliard School of Arts and Music, then your essay must match that level. Getting a scholarship from such a prestigious educational institute is a bliss. Doing so requires a thorough understanding of how to impress them with your essay writing skills. That will be possible only when you know who is your target audience and what are your objectives in doing this endeavor.

So, it’s pertinent to your success to write an essay that persuades your admission committee in providing you the opportunity you deserve. Writing an essay with an audience centric approach places you above the rest of applicants fighting for the same glory.

Pick your Personal Experience as Topic

The second step begins with choosing a topic for your write-up. There are many methods of doing so like picking a controversial topic or popular one. The best way to showcase your talent is by presenting a personal experience that changed your life such as moments of great sadness, happiness or struggle, etc.

This type of essay or narrative not only provides you a chance to present a factual story but also a glimpse into your life. The more you’re successful in showing your personal experiences, the better it will get in terms of chances. Your essay must demonstrate that you deserve this chance more than anyone else.

Similarly, if you talk about the financial struggles in your scholarship essay and how you remain consistent in moving forward, it will pay off big time! On the other hand, if you share an experience such as death of your mother, father or siblings and ways you’ve got yourself out of that grief shows the persistence in your actions. Hence, when you apply for scholarship study, it’s more important to discuss your personal experience than discussing someone else’s life stories.

Make an Outline of Your Arguments

Third step is outlining your arguments into paragraphs and using a structured approach in defining your narrative. Making an outline helps you in many ways that are essential for successful grant or scholarship programs. Furthermore, it also supports the academic structure you’re following and helps your assessors

By using an outline in scholarship essay writing you can present your application better than other candidates. A typical outline of these essays is just like any other assignment with three parts such as introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. Introduction is the start of the article and provides basic information about the topic under discussion.

On the other hand, a body paragraph is a bulky paragraph that mostly consists of arguments backed by evidence. These proofs are collected by the author and allows them to present their opinion and its corroborating evidence easily.

The last part of an outline is the concluding paragraph. It’s the point where you summarize the entire findings of the topic into a few sentences by reiterating the thesis statement. Lastly you end the discussion by providing a conclusion statement that ends the discussion on the topic for readers. After writing these three parts, the outline for the scholarship essay writing is complete.

Write the First Draft

After making an outline, writing the first draft becomes easy. You can start writing all the thoughts and ideas you wrote in the outline formation. Many students use mind mapping techniques for making an outline and then directly take all the words from it. Since, a mind map is a rough sketch, so you may rearrange the lines or points in the first draft.

The best technique is writing continuously until you get all the ideas on the paper or your laptop and then review it later. The first thing you can do in writing the first draft is allocation of time that’s best suited to your schedule. This way you can write when you are free and at ease to produce good content.

Secondly, when writing the first draft, always remember you shouldn’t think about mistakes because you can revise the essay any time and improve it. After you complete the first draft, the crucial phase starts where you need to go through revision and changes.

Revise the First Draft

The important step in this entire start-up is revision. Scholarship essay without revision might be too good, but taking a big risk should be avoided. You might not be able to identify the key mistakes such as grammatical or structural ones in your write-up. Therefore, it’s imperative to go through revision so remove structural or contextual issues from your essay.

Many students are unable to differentiate the nuances between revision and proofreading. These are both different methods, although they are used for the same purpose of refining your essay. Revision deals with finding context and structural issues and removing them. Whereas, proofreading is removing the grammatical errors and typos from the article.

Proofread the Content

After you complete the first draft and its revision, it’s time to proofread the content for any mistakes related to vocabulary and grammar. Proofreading is the step that typically students combine with revision which is not a wise step because they are both different. That’s why it’s best to divide the two steps.

You may select a few hours gap between both steps or a minimum of one hour where you relax your mind and get it ready for another crucial analysis process. Usually, students take help from essay writing services for proofreading work. This way, they get their hands on a clean and mistake-free assignment that they can use for a scholarship application. After this step, it’s time to submit your scholarship essay writing application quickly before the time runs out.

Scholarship Essay Format

Many students are perplexed by the continuous ambiguity on the subject of which is the best or preferred scholarship essay format. Today, we will discuss this issue and enlighten you with useful information that’ll help you in answering this query.

First of all, essays should be formatted in the style that your professor or college requires. For instance if you’re a medical science student then it’s a given you must use APA (American Psychological Association) styling guide. Additionally, students might be instructed to use AMA (American Medical Association) guidelines for formatting references. These two are commonly used citation styles for medical science subjects.

Furthermore, students of history, art, literature, performing arts, sociology and anthropology, are instructed to use MLA (Modern Language Association). Although these are typical examples of scholarship essay format for use for citing references. We recommend the use of formats that are instructed by your professor or institution even if they differ from the suggestions we mention here.

How to Write a Scholarship Essay?

Scholarship essay writing is a delicate matter and requires thorough and detail oriented work. Here we will mention the best steps to complete this task in an appropriate manner and quickly.

Pick a Topic

The first thing a student must do before writing an essay for scholarship is choosing a topic. This step has a value of its own because this is where most of the students find themselves in a hole. If you choose a good topic and explain it better than other students, then it’s likely your application will get attention. If you’re unable to do so, it means losing a good opportunity that might never be given again.

When picking a topic, think about few things that will help you in making a right selection such as:

Is the topic good enough to demonstrate your skills
Broad enough to absorb multi-spectrum research
Contentious and provides a good opportunity to have a lengthy discussion
Challenging for you and encourages you to dig for more research and educate your readers as well
Relevant to your discipline and interest
Justifies the need and requirement of new perspective or research
Has sufficient evidence that adds credibility to your research or subject matter
Intriguing for college admission / scholarship committee, etc

When you consider these benchmarks before choosing a subject for your essay, it’s guaranteed you’d be successful in picking a perfect fit for your scholarship application.

Doing Thorough Research

Second step of writing a scholarship application essay is doing thorough research. The research part is divided into two parts such as doing a qualitative, quantitative or both at once. It depends on what discipline you’re applying for. For humanities, arts and literature only qualitative research will do.

On the contrary, science subjects require quantitative research methods. Since the scope of both research methods vary extensively, thus it requires different approaches to be employed. The mediums or sources of investigational research are mentioned below:

Scholarly journals, articles, books, interviews, etc
Newspaper articles, scientific or medical journals such as NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine), etc
Online blogs or informational portals by authentic authors
Books based on the topics you have chosen

After completing the research, it’s time to choose the best one and leave the irrelevant ones. Evaluate the ones that are issued or completed by authentic publishers and authors, and leave the rest.

There are three types of research based on the sources. You can choose from primary, secondary or tertiary sources of information accordingly. Primary research is the one that you’ll collect for your topic or subject. Secondary research is categorized as reading material or interviewing people who were involved in the research etc. The last one is called tertiary that deals with books based on the original research or its results.

Write a Perfect Introduction

For a scholarship essay, the introduction paragraph is the first step students need to take with absolute perfection. An intro is a combination of three parts known as triangle of persuasion. The three parts of the introductory paragraph are a hook sentence, background information and a thesis statement. Together these parts provide impeccable persuasion that ensures your audience read the entire essay.

A hook sentence is a persuasive sentence which authors use at the start of the paragraph. It’s a one sentence punchline that evokes an emotional response in readers and captures their attention. After reading this, readers feel gravitated towards the subject matter and give their full attention to the context of the essay.

A background information supports your narrative and educates your readers about the topic and its historical context. This way, a writer gains attention and conveys information to their audience.

The last part of an introduction is a thesis sentence. It’s a crux of your entire research and usually writers make it after going through all the information. Premise statement is the core idea your entire essay will be based on. An essay’s entire arguments are based on the foundation set by the thesis sentence. Therefore, it’s the most important aspect of introduction.

Make Body Paragraphs

The middle part of an essay consists of body paragraphs. This section is the most important part because it contains all the arguments the author has made on the topic. By word count parameters, this section contains 70 to 80% of content.

Body paragraphs are started by writing a topic sentence that provides a summarized version of the content. Right after adding this, an author can add their arguments and start defending them with credible evidence. The proofs you present here can be of qualitative or quantitative methods depending on the discipline’s requirements.

Adding counter-arguments on your research is a practice that allows you to answer the questions opposite to your findings. This step provides authenticity to your essay and allows a student to show their command on the topic. Additionally, students must use transition words to jump from one argument to a different one and connect them.

Add a Conclusion

The last part of the scholarship essay is writing a conclusion about the topic. It’s a short synopsis where you present a summary of main findings and discussions and restate your thesis statement. Lastly, an author presents their concluding remarks and ends the discussion on the topic. It’s essential to discuss the significance your essay and its findings will play for future generations in your field of study. This way, you will be able to provide a lasting impression on your audience.

Revise, Proofread and Submit

After writing all the parts of the essay for scholarship, it’s time to take a little break and put your essay aside and think what would be the point you might have missed in it. After a few hours you can start working on the final touch-ups like revising for structural issues and improving cohesion throughout the essay.

After completing the revision, proofread for typos and grammar mistakes that might change the meaning of the word or context. Congratulations you’ve done it! It’s time to submit the essay.

By following all the steps mentioned here, you can write a scholarship essay effortlessly.

Parts of Scholarship Essay Outline

An outline for a scholarship essay is a well-organized plan that assists you in systematically arranging your thoughts and concepts to captivate the scholarship committee. It generally comprises three primary sections: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.

The Introduction is the section where you captivate the reader and provide a concise summary of your essay’s content. It should encompass a potent thesis statement that delineates the principal point of contention you will be presenting in your essay.

The Body is the section where you offer comprehensive support for your thesis. This section should be partitioned into paragraphs, each concentrating on a distinct point or concept. You should furnish instances, proof, or anecdotes to reinforce each point. Remember to remain concentrated on the scholarship’s theme or criteria.

The Conclusion is the section where you conclude your essay by recapping your principal points and reiterating your thesis in a novel manner. This is your final opportunity to make a lasting impact on the reader.

Bear in mind, a well-structured scholarship essay outline not only assists you in maintaining focus while writing but also ensures that your essay is lucid, persuasive, and succinct. It’s an indispensable instrument for securing that much-desired scholarship.

Winning Scholarship Essay Examples

Here we will present three scholarship essay examples that will make your day. Let’s read them for better understanding:

Scholarship Essay Examples on Death Penalty

“The death penalty is a topic that elicits strong emotions and opinions. On one hand, some argue that it serves as a deterrent for heinous crimes, ensuring justice is served. On the other hand, critics contend that it is inhumane, prone to errors, and does not necessarily deter crime.

The death penalty’s inhumanity is often highlighted by its critics. They argue that no matter the crime committed, taking another person’s life is fundamentally wrong. It is seen as a violation of human rights, particularly the right to life and freedom from torture.

Moreover, the risk of wrongful convictions is a significant concern. Innocent individuals could be sentenced to death due to errors in the judicial process. This irreversible punishment leaves no room for rectification in cases of wrongful conviction.

However, proponents believe that the death penalty serves as a powerful deterrent. They argue that the fear of losing one’s life can prevent individuals from committing serious crimes.

In conclusion, the debate on the death penalty is complex and multifaceted. It involves a careful consideration of ethics, human rights, and the pursuit of justice. As society evolves, so too must our understanding and implementation of such punitive measures.”

Scholarship Essay Examples on Child Labour

“Child labour is a global issue that continues to rob millions of children of their childhood, potential, and dignity. It is a complex problem rooted in poverty, lack of education, and weak enforcement of child protection laws.

In many developing countries, poverty forces children into labor to help support their families. They are often engaged in hazardous and physically demanding work, which can have severe implications on their physical and mental health.

Lack of access to quality education also contributes to child labour. Without education, children are left with limited opportunities, making them more susceptible to exploitation. Education is a fundamental right of every child and a key to breaking the cycle of poverty and child labour.

Moreover, weak enforcement of child protection laws allows child labour to persist. Governments must strengthen their legal frameworks and ensure strict enforcement to protect children from exploitation.

In conclusion, child labour is a grave issue that requires collective efforts to eradicate. Addressing poverty, promoting education, and enforcing child protection laws are crucial steps towards ending this menace. Every child deserves a safe and healthy childhood where they can learn, play, and dream.”

Scholarship Essay Examples on Abortion

“Abortion” is a topic that elicits diverse views due to its moral, ethical, and legal dimensions. Some people argue that a woman has the right to make decisions about her body, including the choice to terminate a pregnancy. They believe in the principle of bodily autonomy and emphasize the potential hardships that an unwanted pregnancy can impose.

On the other hand, some people oppose abortion on moral or religious grounds, arguing that life begins at conception and that abortion is equivalent to taking a life. They advocate for alternatives like adoption and increased support for pregnant women.

Legal perspectives vary worldwide, with some countries allowing unrestricted access to abortion, while others impose severe restrictions or outright bans. The debate often centers around balancing a woman’s rights with the rights of the unborn.

In conclusion, “abortion” is a complex issue with no easy answers. It’s crucial to respect diverse viewpoints while striving for policies that protect women’s health and rights.”

This essay is a brief overview and does not cover all aspects of this multifaceted topic. We hope these examples provide you with sufficient information that’s nothing but helpful. If you’re still not satisfied then click to see more “Scholarship Essay Examples”

15+ Scholarship Essay Prompts

We know finding good scholarship essay prompts is difficult . To make this easy for new students, here are 20 scholarship essay prompts that you might find helpful:

Describe a significant event in your life and how it shaped who you are today.
Discuss a time when you faced a challenge or obstacle and what you did to overcome it.
Explain your educational and career goals and why they are important to you.
Describe a person who has had a significant influence on you and explain why.
Discuss a current event or social issue that concerns you and what you think could be done to change it.
Describe an experience where you demonstrated leadership ability.
Explain why you need this scholarship and how it would impact your future.
Discuss a book, movie, or article that has had an impact on your life.
Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus.
Discuss the importance of giving back to your community, and describe how you have demonstrated community service in your life.
Describe an accomplishment that took a lot of effort or determination on your part.
Discuss a time when you had to make an ethical decision, and explain the outcome.
Describe your favorite academic subject and explain how it has influenced you.
Talk about a personal talent or skill that sets you apart from others.
Discuss an experience that required you to step out of your comfort zone, and what you learned from it.
Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma – anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale.
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose track of time.
Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be and why?

Remember, the key to writing a successful scholarship essay is to make it personal and specific to your experiences and goals! The more it resonates with your life’s experience, the better it will feel to the readers and college scholarship committee.

Scholarship Essay Writing Tips

There are many tips for writing beautifully with mesmerizing details to impress scholarship awarding committee members. Here we are presenting you 10 exciting tips for writing a scholarship essay:

Grasp the Query

Prior to commencing your writing, ensure you comprehend what the scholarship panel seeks in an essay. Scrutinize the query meticulously and ascertain your essay addresses all aspects of the question.

Commence Early

Refrain from procrastinating and begin your essay well in advance to allow ample time for revisions and editing. Additionally, it helps in preplanning and introducing mitigating factors to further improve your work. By starting early, students can look deeply into a topic and write essays full of explicit details. These steps further consolidate your efforts for winning a scholarship.

Be Authentic and Enthusiastic

The scholarship panel is interested in learning about you and your commitment to your objectives. Narrate personal anecdotes or experiences that demonstrate why you are a deserving candidate for this scholarship. Authenticity is the key to success and it only comes when you write everything with passion. By exposing your vulnerability, you can show your individuality and uniqueness to the readers.

Be Precise

Steer clear of ambiguous statements. Instead, furnish concrete instances to substantiate your arguments.

Adhere to a Format

Your essay should encompass a distinct introduction, main body, and conclusion. This facilitates the reader in comprehending your ideas. Following a standard format helps you in adhering to the set standards and format.

Secondly, using such formats helps the college assessors on benchmarking the quality of your essay. An essay that follows all the writing protocols has better chances of outstanding your competitors and students.

Review

Always review your essay for typos and grammatical errors. Contemplate having another individual read it as well—they might spot mistakes that you overlooked. A second set of eyes is always helpful in finding the root cause of mistakes. Utilizing your friend’s opinion and expertise is not a bad idea, you can ask them for a quick review. This way, there’s less chances of failure on your scholarship application and essay.

Remain Concentrated

Adhere to the subject matter and exclude irrelevant information that does not bolster your primary arguments. A lack of concentration might hinder your work and opens the door of baseless and non-significant details into your essay. Thus, it’s imperative to stick to the point and use succinct information that saves time and energy rather than wasting on out of context details.

Demonstrate, Don’t Narrate

Rather than merely informing the panel about your attributes, illustrate them with examples. The words you use in the essay must provide a vivid picture in your audience’s mind. The reader should feel like they are watching a movie by reading your essay. Therefore, use your demonstrative skills to illustrate the ideas into a story that elucidates your narrative.

Be Innovative

Ensure your essay is distinctive and not a replica of someone else’s work. Students can bring innovation in their work by choosing a unique style or writing as well as topic. Innovation also means using your creativity and imagination to bring new character and ideas to life.

Conclude Impressively

Wrap up your essay in a manner that leaves an enduring impact on the scholarship panel. Conclusion is a step that requires finesse and delicacy. Students who devoid their essays from a perfect ending, find it hard to impress the selection committee. Hence, a good essay is the one that fulfills the audience’s set writing standards.

We have provided you with meticulous tips for writing a productive scholarship essay that will break the walls of failures. Following these tips will sort out shortcomings in your essay writing skills and allow you to learn from the best. Ensure to follow these steps and nothing will stop you from getting this scholarship funding you desire the most.

Final Thoughts

To sum-up the entire discussion, it’s imperative for students to create a scholarship essay with fine details. Adding irrelevant or excessive information is an overkill that should be avoided at all cost. We’ve also learned how to write, outline, format, and write scholarship essay prompts, etc. In the end, we would suggest never to hesitate and ask for an opinion from your professor to solidify your work.

After reading this blog, making an essay that wins the race to getting successful scholarship funding is just a submission away. Read the entire blog and use this opportunity to make a difference throughout your academic career.