How to write a good scholarship essay: tips and examples

At some point, you may find yourself in need to apply for a scholarship to enable you advance in your studies since own finances may not be sufficient.

In that case, it would be important for you to learn how to write an essay for a scholarship application. Many applicants usually find writing essays for scholarships very challenging. To make it easier for you, you need to make use of useful tips on writing scholarships essays.

You may be required to write a scholarship essay on educational and career goals which will basically be an explanation of your career and educational goals. You should give a lot of consideration on your educational and career goals when writing your application for scholarship essay. This adds a lot of weight to your application and boosts your chances of being awarded the scholarship.

The following scholarship writing tips should be very useful to help you in writing a good application essay for a scholarship:

1. Emphasize your strong points

2. Highlight your other nonacademic activities and interests. This shows that you are an all-round individual

3. State some of the great accomplishments you have made in your life

4. List your main goals driving you to pursue your degree

5. Follow the given instructions very carefully

6. Make your essay as relevant as possible

7. Be very honest in your essay

8. Ensure it is well written with no typographical errors

9. Ensure your essay is written as per the given specifications such as number of words, pages, type of font and any other specification given

10. Do a thorough proofreading before submission to help eliminate any errors

11. Be original and do not attempt to recycle a pre written essay

Format of a Scholarship essay

It is important to understand how to structure a scholarship essay if you want to be successful in this activity. Make use of this basic essay structure as outlined below.

1. Introduction and body

Start with a brief introduction of yourself stating your name, career choice, career objectives and what motivates you to pursue the career you have chosen.

2. Supporting points

Here you will give examples that bring out your strong traits such as innovation, leadership ability, positive attitude, persistence and focus.

3. Future plans

In this section, bring out your future plans by showing how you intend to use your college education to bring about a positive change for yourself and the community at large. You will also discuss how your career of choice can help bring about this positive change in the society.

Essay topics for a scholarship essay

Some topics that can be used for a scholarship essay include:

1. What are your career goals and how will you use your college degree to help you succeed in achieving your goals?

2. What new challenges did you face in college? How did you manage to overcome these challenges?

3. Why do you think you deserve to be granted this scholarship? Give us examples of your achievements which bring out your strong points

4. What are your expectations after getting a degree? How will you adjust yourself if your expectations are not met?

5. Apart from career development, how else will you use your degree?

6. Demonstrate to us how you plan to achieve the main objectives of this scholarship

7. Have you ever applied for another scholarship before? If so why were you denied the scholarship?

8. Describe a major setback in your life and how you dealt with it?

9. What drove you to pursue your career choice?

10. Apart from obtaining a college degree what are your other ambitions in life?

Winning scholarship essay example

A good scholarship winning essay will bring out your educational and career goals. You can go through sample scholarship essays to help you get an idea but remember that originality is key. Please, do not copy another person’s essay.

Practice all by yourself with a sample. Remember to briefly describe your financial need for this scholarship sample. Again, remember to pay attention to topics given earlier showing examples of essays for scholarships to help you get prepared enough to write the best scholarship essay. Typically, many applications for scholarships will require you to write about leadership and therefore, a leadership essay example for scholarship will be good for you.

A sample scholarship essay: What are your career goals? How will a degree help you achieve your career goals?

My name is Edwin Daniels. I am a student at Binghamton University, a State University of New York pursuing a Bachelors of Law degree. My main career goal is to get a degree in Law specialising in Human Rights law.

I am very passionate about human rights and serving the community and it has always been my dream to fight for the oppressed in the society especially those who lack avenues or are afraid to speak out against injustices carried out against them. In high school, I was an active member of the Boy Scouts and also a member of the welfare club.

My long term vision is to avail affordable legal services to victims of human rights injustices such as police brutality, domestic violence and other injustices. I believe a lot of people who undergo this injustices lack proper avenues to speak out about their grievances and get justice. My aim is to be at the forefront in fighting for justice and equality for all.

However, for me to be able to do this, I must acquire my degree so that I can be allowed to practice as a lawyer. A good degree will also allow me to handle major cases in the highest courts in the country and I am confident that if my voice is heard in the higher courts I will be able to get justice for my clients.

My first goal after getting my degree is to join a law firm which has dedicated significant resources in handling cases that are related to human rights abuses as well as giving priority to justice for the people rather than making money. I believe that being in such a firm will be the best foundation for me as it will allow me to get first-hand experience on handling such cases.

My second major goal is to establish my own law firm that will allow me to be in a better position to handle the cases as I interact face to face with the victims seeking justice. I also look forward to working very closely with like-minded non-governmental organizations in order to offer the services at very affordable prices and hopefully if we get some donors, we can offer these legal services free of charge. I also have a vision of forming a vibrant team of human rights lawyers so that we can spread our services to cover the whole country and make justice for all a reality.

I know that without a degree, my vision and dreams will never be a reality so I am really committed to getting this degree. For this reason, I am putting all my energy, effort and concentration into getting this degree.

I am confident that if you grant me this scholarship, your efforts to support me will not be in vain as I will make sure that I graduate with a very good score. Therefore, I humbly request you to consider my application and together, we can bring about a positive change in the society. That is all. Thank you very much.