Writing a scholarship essay can be considered by many as the major difficulty when applying for a scholarship. The fear of writing the wrong things makes applicants obsessed with trying to write the perfect essay. From trying to figure out how to format a scholarship essay to writing and trashing so many drafts, this kind of writing presents its challenges. 

A most common mistake, often made by applicants, is the shift in focus from simplicity to complexity. Instead of paying attention to simplifying your essay according to your reality or feelings, numerous candidates, in a bid to impress, make the mistake of choosing big words.

This article aims to provide you with scholarship essay tips and prompts to assist in your quest to gain the scholarship of your dreams. By implementing the above tips and prompts, you will become familiar with the right scholarship essay format, and also how to end a scholarship essay.

Scholarship essay writing prompts

Outlined below are the major scholarship essay prompts. They will act to assist you in drafting your essay.

1. How will getting this scholarship assist you?

Your response to this should be one of three things: professional assistance, academic assistance, or financial assistance.

If a scholarship will assist you financially, include this in your essay by stating the trials and difficulties you have encountered without adequate funding and how the scholarship will provide you with the capacity to purchase materials necessary for your development in school.

If it helps professionally, then state in your essay what your dream job has always been. You could as well highlight how important it is to you and your family that this dream is actualized.

If it assists you academically, explain that the capacity to pay your fees would allow you to focus completely on improving your performance at school and enable you to get the highest grading level possible.

2. In what ways have you positively impacted your community?

Your level of commitment to social service is a very serious deal when applying for scholarships. The organizations or NGOs who organize the scholarship program expect that you respect people and service. This should therefore be reflected in your writing.

Begin by mentioning the projects you have actively engaged in, together with the activities you volunteered for. Briefly expand on your experience while sharing your involvement process.

Furthermore, explain how the scholarship will enable you as a professional (mention your field of study) to contribute to society.

3. Talk about yourself

Due to the open-ended nature of this prompt, you might get stuck and confused about what to say. Try your very best to write accurate information about yourself, which gives just enough to pique the interest of the scholarship board members.

Write about things you find interesting, things that motivate you, your passions, ambitions, academic and personal goals, and the reason you chose to pursue that particular career. Describe your positive traits, soft skills, and “people skills.” Furthermore, include your accomplishments and failures so far, and what each of these high and low stages of your life taught you.

4. Talk about why you think you deserve the scholarship

There are probably a thousand candidates registering for the same scholarship, so why pick you? At this point, make a strong case stating why you believe that you deserve the scholarship. 

Provide a summary of your passions, goals, response to challenges, background, traits, and accomplishments, and end by linking them all up to why you believe you should be granted the scholarship.

Tips for writing essays for scholarships

  • It should be double-spaced.
  • Stay away from fancy font styles and large font sizes.
  • Rather than using indents, leave a space before beginning a paragraph.
  • Consider including an intriguing title to pique your reader’s interest.
  • Before writing, carefully read the rules and requirements.

Conclusion

When thinking of how to start a scholarship essay, remember that simplicity and honesty are two key factors that will make you be distinguished and create a story that is uniquely yours. Rather than search for already existing essays you can rewrite, knowing the right scholarship essay prompts and using them as a guideline to write yours will assist you in successfully writing your scholarship essay.