Scholarship Essay: Format, Examples and Don'ts
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Jon Pearson, founder of the Scholarship System, emphasizes the critical role of scholarship essays in distinguishing applicants. He outlines key 'don'ts' to avoid, such as excessive emotion, disregarding essay requirements, clichéd topics, filler words, and neglecting proofreading. Pearson suggests focusing on personal growth and perseverance, adhering to guidelines, and seeking professional feedback to craft a compelling and unique essay that can enhance a student's chances of securing financial aid for college.
Takeaways
- 📚 Scholarship essays are crucial for standing out among applicants who meet the criteria.
- 🎓 It's important to ensure essays are strong, well-written, and avoid common mistakes to increase chances of winning.
- 📈 Jon Pearson, founder of the Scholarship System, emphasizes the importance of essays in securing scholarships.
- 📝 The essay provides an opportunity for the scholarship committee to gain deeper insight into the student's life and experiences.
- ✍️ Structuring an essay effectively with a dynamic introduction, detailed body, and memorable conclusion is key.
- 🚫 Avoid getting too emotional; focus on perseverance and determination rather than victimization.
- 📋 Adhere strictly to the essay requirements, including word count, topic, and deadlines.
- 💡 Think outside the box and avoid clichés; strive for unique and compelling narratives.
- 🗣️ Avoid using filler words that do not contribute to the essay's content or message.
- 👀 Ensure the essay is proofread by someone with experience in creative writing to enhance its quality.
- 🔄 With careful crafting, a well-written essay can be reused with minor tweaks for multiple scholarship applications.
Q & A
What is the significance of a scholarship essay in the application process?
-A scholarship essay is crucial as it allows the scholarship committee to gain deeper insight into the applicant's life, experiences, character, and future aspirations, which can set them apart from other applicants who meet the basic criteria.
Why is it important for a scholarship essay to be strong and well-written?
-A strong and well-written essay can make a student stand out among other applicants who also meet the scholarship criteria. It's an opportunity to showcase their personality, experiences, and goals in a compelling and memorable way.
What are some common mistakes that students make when writing scholarship essays?
-Common mistakes include getting too emotional, disregarding the essay requirements, using cliché words, using filler words, and neglecting to have the essay proofread by someone with experience in creative writing.
How can a student's essay demonstrate their worthiness for a scholarship investment?
-By providing a personal narrative that illustrates perseverance, determination, and growth from challenges, a student can demonstrate their potential and worthiness for the scholarship investment.
What is the correlation between a scholarship essay and a written paper in school?
-Both require a structured format with an attention-grabbing introduction, a body with key points and supporting evidence, and a conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.
Why is it advised not to let the essay become too emotional or sappy?
-While personal stories are important, the essay should focus on how the student learned and grew from their experiences rather than dwelling on the emotional aspects, to maintain a tone of resilience and determination.
What are the consequences of disregarding the essay requirements or rules?
-Disregarding the requirements can lead to disqualification, as the essay may not be considered if it does not meet the word count, answer the prompt, or is submitted after the deadline.
How can a student avoid using cliché words in their scholarship essay?
-By thinking outside the box and choosing unique words or phrases that are less commonly used, and by digging deeper into their personal experiences to create a more distinctive narrative.
Why should students avoid using filler words in their essays?
-Filler words can detract from the essay's impact, waste valuable word count, and reduce the space available for more meaningful content and storytelling.
What is the importance of having someone else proofread the scholarship essay?
-Having an experienced proofreader can help enhance the essay's creativity, clarity, and overall quality, ensuring that it is free from grammatical errors and effectively communicates the student's story.
How can students find scholarships that require essays?
-Students can utilize resources like the free scholarship training provided by the Scholarship System, which offers steps on how to build a legitimate scholarship list.
Outlines
📚 Importance of Scholarship Essays and Avoiding Common Mistakes
This paragraph emphasizes the critical role of scholarship application essays in the selection process. It highlights that even if a student meets all the criteria, standing out through their essay is crucial. The founder of the Scholarship System, Jon Pearson, introduces himself and his organization's focus on assisting families in securing scholarships. He shares insights into common mistakes to avoid when writing a scholarship essay, such as not being overly emotional, disregarding requirements, and missing deadlines. The paragraph also mentions the importance of the essay in providing the scholarship committee with a deeper understanding of the student's life, experiences, and potential. It encourages viewers to subscribe for weekly strategies on paying for college and to check out a linked video on structuring a winning scholarship essay.
🚫 Scholarship Essay 'Don'ts': Avoiding Clichés and Improving Quality
The second paragraph delves into specific 'don'ts' for writing scholarship essays. It advises against using clichéd words like 'perseverance' and 'hardworking,' which can make essays blend together and lack uniqueness. The paragraph stresses the importance of originality and depth in essay topics and stories. It also warns against using filler words that do not contribute to the essay's quality and can waste valuable word count. The speaker suggests that transitional words should be used sparingly as they can also consume word count without adding substantial value. Lastly, the paragraph underscores the necessity of having an experienced individual, preferably with a background in creative writing, to proofread the essay. It mentions that the Scholarship System offers one-on-one essay reviews for its course members and encourages viewers to engage with the content by commenting on additional 'don'ts' they might have encountered. The paragraph concludes by reminding viewers of the available resources, including a blog with scholarship essay examples that have won awards, and encourages subscribing for more content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡scholarship application essays
💡stand out
💡essay structure
💡perserverance and determination
💡disregard the requirements
💡deadline
💡think outside the box
💡filler words
💡proofread
💡legitimate scholarship list
💡scholarship system
Highlights
Scholarship application essays are crucial in distinguishing applicants who meet all criteria.
The essay should be strong, well-written, and avoid common mistakes to stand out.
Jon Pearson, founder of the Scholarship System, shares insights on essay writing for scholarships.
Essays offer a chance for scholarship committees to gain deeper insight into the student's life and experiences.
Structure of an essay includes a dynamic introduction, a body with key points, and a memorable conclusion.
Students should avoid getting too emotional and focus on perseverance and determination.
Disregarding essay requirements such as word count and deadlines can lead to disqualification.
Essays should be unique and avoid cliché words like 'perseverance' or 'hardworking'.
Using filler words or unnecessary transitional phrases can detract from the essay's impact.
Proofreading by someone with creative writing experience is essential for a strong scholarship essay.
The Scholarship System provides resources and training to help build a legitimate scholarship list.
Essays should be well-crafted, creative, and captivating to secure scholarships.
The Scholarship System offers one-on-one reviews for essay crafting.
Essays can often be reused with minor tweaks for different scholarship applications.
Legitimate scholarships often require essays, so it's important to write them well.
The Scholarship System course teaches frameworks for writing essays quickly and creatively.
Avoiding common 'don'ts' in essay writing can significantly improve a student's chances of winning scholarships.
Transcripts
scholarship application essays carry a
ton of weight when it comes to choosing
a winner even if your student meets all
the criteria perfectly there will be
other applicants that can do the same
and so how do we stand out your student
will stand out with their essay and so
that is why it is so important to make
sure that it is strong and well written
but also we want to make sure that it
does not do certain things so in this
video I want to share some of the
biggest don'ts when it comes to writing
a scholarship essay now make sure you
hit subscribe because every single week
we release a new strategy when it comes
to paying for college hey there my name
is Jon Pearson founder of the
scholarship system so scholarship essays
is what we do we focus on how to help
families secure scholarships to help pay
for college and in fact our families
have secured well over 10 a. half
million to date in fact the most recent
month they got over
$155,000 only in a of 30 days so we've
seen quite a few essays and we've seen
quite a few mistakes and so that's why
we want to help you and your student
avoid
those so the essay provides scholarship
committee is the opportunity to learn
more about your students life a deeper
insight into what they've experienced
who they are and where they're going
whether or not they're worth the invest
investment this is again also where your
student can really shine now I have a
whole video on how to structure an essay
called how to write a winning
scholarship essay we'll link to that in
the description or somewhere here on the
screen so check that out after this
video but just a very quick summary when
we're talking about writing an essay
there is somewhat of a correlation
between and a scholarship essay and a a
written paper that say they do at school
where we have the introduction we want
to be dynamic attention grabbing we have
a body where we can really draft out and
and sketch out a few key points and have
proof or some kind of story that shows
our our argument and then we have a
conclusion where that's our final
opportunity to really make a lasting
impression on the reader and on the
scholarship committee and make it
memorable now before I get into the
don'ts if your student is not finding
SCH ships that require essays or if
you're just wondering where to find more
scholarships that require essays then
make sure you check out our free
scholarship training you'll find it
again Linked In the description or
somewhere here on the screen I will give
you the exact steps on how to build a
legitimate scholarship list because if
it's legitimate nine times out of 10 it
will require an essay okay let's get
into the don'ts one is don't let your
student get too emotional we do want the
essay to be personal but that's
different than making it too sappy or
kind of victimized instead we want to
focus on perseverance and determination
as we overcome the challenges so while
we can get sappy and sad for a little
bit we want to focus on more how we
learned and Grew From that experience
number two is don't disregard the
requirements or the the the rules you
would be amazed at how many times we
have read essays in fact through the
scholarship system we give out thousands
of dollars every single school year and
they are required to write essays to win
our scholarship so we've seen I think
just this last year over 700 essays so
that said we've seen a lot of this where
there are certain word counters and the
students don't meet them or maybe we ask
a question and the student just totally
misses it they don't answer it you can
tell usually that happens when they're
reusing an essay and forcing it to fit
or maybe we ask for one example of
something and the student just goes on
and on with a million examples so paying
attention to that topic paying attention
to that word count and then most
importantly paying attention to that
deadline so missing the deadline is a
sure way for a student to have their
application thrown out and I would hate
for them to focus on and and spend so
much time writing an amazing scholarship
essay just for it not to even be
considered because they simp missed the
deadline you've got to remember that
there are going to be tons of other
students that applied that did meet the
deadline so the the the incentive to let
a student submit late is is not really
there unless they haven't received any
applications now the third one is to
think outside the box so we had and if
your student wrote about this it's okay
because again we've seen this over and
over but one of the examples this past
year was that our team read so many
essays about perseverance or resilience
those two words by the end of the week
when we were done reviewing a lot of the
stories just kind of blurred together
because we saw that that keyword so many
times I think Co really blew that
keyword up and it just it and and for a
student to know that everyone else is
writing about it there's the only way to
know that is if you're following someone
like us at the scholarship system and
we're telling you guys this this Insight
uh but but that said we want to avoid
cliche words or hardworking is another
one so these are ones that we see over
and over we really want to try to pick
something that's more unique try to dig
a little bit deeper try to have stories
that go with it because again we want to
stand out and if we're choosing a key
word to describe ourselves that everyone
else chooses then pretty much our our
essay there's no way we're going to be
able to stand out unless we really have
a unique story around it next one is to
not use filler words or words that just
are deemed
unnecessary it it really takes away from
the essay I know students like to use
them to get to their word counts I think
there's funny memes out there about um
when I'm writing an essay paper and it
says he starved but then the the essay
paper is without food he withered to
hunger right it it was like a 10-word
version of saying something that could
have been said in two words by doing by
creating that fluff we are wasting word
counts okay and uh just taking away from
the opportunities to tell more story to
to better describe it to use more
examples Etc some examples could be
clearly obviously somewhat perhaps I
believe I think these are are words that
really if you removed those from the
essay the essay would still continue on
just fine another one that that falls
into this or another category could be
uh transitional words things like in
conclusion first the next point is if we
really need to create a transition we
can but I would be careful with these as
well as we could they can also be a big
waste of a of word count now the last
one that we really really need to
remember is to make sure that we don't
neglect having someone else proofread
the essay so don't skip that step of
having someone review the essay and
while parents if you are if you feel
qualified then that's great but really
we want someone that has experience in
creative writing maybe it's a teacher a
professor or if you're a creative writer
as a parent that's great but as someone
who just understands basic grammar
Corrections and structure that's really
not enough when it comes to scholarship
essays we really need them to be
creative and captivating memorable so
this is something actually through the
scholarship system for our course
members in the scholarship system on
online program where we actually have
one-on-one reviews that families can
take advantage of because again we focus
on the crafting of the essay not
necessarily capitalize this dot your dot
your eyes cross your te's kind of thing
it's much much more than that now did I
mention any don'ts that you can think of
if so comment below what do you think
are some essay don'ts that come to mind
I would love to see what your family has
found to not be help or to sabotage your
students chances of winning comment
below with those now we'll also we are
linking to an amazing resource in the
from our blog in the description and it
is scholarship essay examples that won
money so if you want to check out actual
essays that have done well you can check
out that resource again all of the the
free resources I mentioned are linked in
the description including that free
training where you can learn exactly how
to build a legitimate scholarship list
with your student so that said essay
writing it's time consuming but if we
put the time up front to write a
well-written compelling strong essay
then we can often reuse it with just
minor tweaks so really the amount of
time and effort we put up front we
benefit from it every application
thereafter usually if not the same essay
prompt we usually can at least pull the
same stories but we want to remember
that if a scholarship is legitimate most
likely they will require a Ansa so we
want to make sure that we're not doing
these don'ts that I covered now in the
scholarship system course we do cover
exactly how to write essays we have two
different main Frameworks that teach
students how to write quickly but then
also how to write creatively we also
share we have a specific lesson on how
to reuse essays what tweaks to watch for
and how to make sure that we don't get
caught kind of thing um so that's all
inside the the scholarship system course
so you can learn more about that at the
free training also don't forget to hit
subscribe I'll see you in the next video
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