You have a better knowledge about yourself than anyone else. However, writing about yourself may be tricky when you apply for scholarships. You may have a general feeling about yourself, but writing an essay regarding your personality requires careful analysis.
There are some scholarship essay prompts that urge you to evaluate yourself from deep inside. These prompts need you to reply to a question, address an issue, or describe a scenario in your life.
Perhaps, you do not want to brag about yourself, or you may not want to reveal your side to other people. Nevertheless, if you open up, and discuss different aspects about your personality, you will be in a position to show to the scholarship providers and educational institutes as to why you are the right candidate for the scholarship.
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Students who have already received scholarships, they were able to write about themselves comprehensively. Therefore, this ability played a role in earning them an award.
Following nine steps will enable you to write about yourself effectively.
1. Make a List of Questions
Once you read the essay prompt of the scholarship, list down smaller questions that you can answer, and the ones that are about the big Essay prompt question.
For example, the first essay prompt says: What were the difficulties or hurdles you worked to overcome? In the next step, you would come across the small questions such as:
- Explain about your background? Family, financial, and educational.
- What was the most challenging aspect about that background?
- Highlight your most notable achievement. How you managed to achieve that? What were the previous challenges that influenced your objectives?
The above questions serve as short prompts. They shed light on your story and enable you to deal with the primary essay prompt that involves more detail. You need to plan your answers before you write them down thoroughly.
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2. Explore and Outline
After taking into account the smaller questions, you should now brainstorm your responses. Get hold of a pen and paper or use your computer to open a document, and take your time to respond to each short-prompt. Arrange all your answers in order:
- Introduction to the main Essay prompt question.
- Answer almost three short prompt questions.
- Conclude by providing a recap to the answer of the main Essay prompt with the main points of your short-prompt responses.
This arrangement will enable you to stick to the topic and respond to the prompt directly. Make sure you write all your answers in a structured form.
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3. Be Honest and Open-Minded
Do not hesitate to describe your strong points, challenges and the real-life stories in your Essay. Admission officer and scholarship committees like to get an insight into your personality.
They want to know how you were as a person at different stages of your life. A well-written essay about yourself succeeds in catching the attention of readers.
You have to demonstrate how you evolved and progressed as an individual.
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4. Mention Personal Example
The Essay is completely about yourself. Therefore, you need to craft a response specific to your personality. Do not generalize things such as I am very good at music, rather come up with personalized statements. For example, you can write, my fifth-grade instructor, Ms Holly guided me to pursue my interest in playing the guitars.
Remember, admission officers and scholar committees deal with hundreds of applications, and you have to produce an impressive piece of writing so that they prefer you to award the scholarship. For this purpose, you have to state relevant and persuasive examples.
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5. Use the First Person Expression
The Essay about yourself reflects your viewpoint. So, you should write in the First Person. Use I and me in the Essay. Provide a background on how you used your experiences to make advancement in your life.
6. Do not Hesitate to Show off, but stick to the topic.
Several students are of the view that it’s all about bragging, but this is not the right approach. It is about stating your achievements and positive characteristics realistically and practically. If you overly praise yourself, admission officers will detect that you are bragging.
Make sure you use an informative tone, and your sentences address the topic. Do not just mention random things to praise yourself. Write everything in the proper context. Do not just rush the things.
Thoughtfully draft your Essay. You can slightly show off by stating situational based characteristics. Do not deviate from the primary prompt at any point in your Essay.
7. Reveal Personality
Essays do not have to be boring and dry. The Essay is about you as a person. Reveal the brighter side of your personality. If you think you are good at humour, you can use a lighter tone.
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Also, do not hesitate to discuss your emotions. However, make sure you do not sound too emotional in the text. If you are a candidate for the scholarship, keep in mind that you have to produce an impactful essay so that scholar committee considers you for the award.
8. Get Information About Your Audience
If you are applying to win a scholarship, conduct research about the scholarship provider. If you plan to apply in a college, get information about the school. You should learn as to what are the motivations of the scholarship provider or the college. When you have the required information, you will be in a position to express your narrative.
9. Proofread
When you complete your Essay, it’s time to double-check what you have written. Proofread your Essay by keeping in view the prompt. Check for spellings, punctuation and grammatical errors.
Your paragraphs should start with the topic sentence to signify your main ideas. Check whether your Essay is coherent? Review the overall structure and edit where necessary. You have to submit an excellently written essay.
Final Word
The Essay is all about yourself. Before writing, list down all your strengths and highlight them effectively in your paper. Follow the 9 points mentioned above. Be specific about your personality and avoid generalization.
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