How To Make A List Of Achievements In A Scholarship Essay
Writing a scholarships essay might seem intimidating, but it will get much easier so long as you take the time you need to follow these steps:
- Get to Know Your Audience
- List Your Accomplishments
- What Makes You Unique
This is important. You can't properly list your achievements if you don't know who will be reading your paper. Consider the mission of the organization that is giving out the scholarship. By getting to know their values, you can cater your essay and your list of achievements to showcase how they fit within the purpose of the organization. If you are applying for a scholarship from a law firm, it won't do you much good to talk about your MVP title in soccer when you could instead talk about mock trial participation and awards. The audience should know that awarding the scholarship to you will help them fulfill their organizational purpose. Take some time to think about how you will address the topics for the essay with this in mind.
It may not be easy at first, to talk about yourself, but you need to persevere beyond the uncomfortable feeling and highlight your accomplishments. Don't think of this as your mom bragging about how you are the greatest child in the world. Talking about your accomplishments in a scholarship essay is vastly different from that. The people who decide the winner of the scholarship want to know that you are deserving of the scholarship and that you have earned it. They want you to convince them that you are the most deserving person out of all applicants. This is why it is so important to know your audience. By knowing the target reader, you can think back on the achievements and accomplishments and list them the same way you would on a resume: in order of most relevant to least relevant. Brainstorm a list of your academic accomplishments. List any awards you have received. Think of your extracurricular activities and any awards you may have earned, any jobs you held, or any volunteer service or community service projects you were a part of. Make a complete list so that you can transform it into an essay.
The final step is to read over your list and figure out what sets you apart, what makes you unique. You want to open with this or your essay will get lost amid the piles of other applicants. You want to start with the things that you are most proud of, what things you accomplished in the face of defeat, and what accomplishments have made you unique and will keep you on the track to success.
