Be careful with sensitive political issues.
We almost didn’t include this tip, but it’s one that every applicant needs to hear. Unless the scholarship you’re applying for is sponsored by an explicitly liberal or conservative organization, you have almost no chance of winning if you write in a partisan way about controversial issues like abortion, affirmative action, the Iraq war or any other polarizing issues. Why not, you ask? Surely it takes guts and conviction to write such an essay, no?
Yes, it does. And let me be the first to say that I’ve got a ton of admiration for people, students and otherwise, who stick to their convictions and lay their neck out on the line with an unpopular opinion, regardless of who it might offend.
However, I didn’t write this book to tell you how to speak your mind. I wrote it to show you how to win money from a group of people who will sit in judgment of you and thousands of your peers (hey, we’re called judges for a reason). And I submit to you that essays about contentious issues usually don’t win.
More practically, consider this very basic truth: the more contentious the issue you choose to write about, the more likely it is that one or more committee members will completely disagree with you. Divisive issues divide, and in all likelihood, you’ve got no idea who’s even judging your scholarship application, let alone the personal and political beliefs of those people. But if a judge happens to hold beliefs that run counter to the ones in your essay, should that affect their judgment?
In a perfect world, absolutely not. But we don’t live in a perfect world, and if you happen to find one, email me and I’ll meet you there for margaritas for the rest of eternity. Remember Rule #2: Committee members are people just like you and me. They try to keep their emotions and personal beliefs out of their decisions, but it doesn’t always work.
Offend them with the content of your essay and you probably won’t win the scholarship. Again – I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s just how it is. It’s real life, it’s unfair, and that’s how it goes. Rather than pretending otherwise, I’m advising you to acknowledge this reality and go the safe route with safe topics when you have a choice.
Writing about hot-button, partisan issues is like serving veal as the main course at a banquet. Some people will love it, but others will scream and yell until you wish you’d just chosen the bland old chicken dish that everyone’s just lukewarm about. When it’s all said and done, you’ve got a better chance of winning the scholarship writing about chicken than about veal.
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Be careful talking about religion.
See above. Same reason, times 10. I’m not going to repeat everything I said above, but one thing I will: I didn’t write this book to tell you how to say what’s on your mind; I wrote it to tell you how to win. It’s fine to have religious convictions and no one can ever take them away from you, but it’s also one of the quickest possible ways to offend the sensibilities of that one judge who doesn’t agree with or looks down on your religion. Once again – it may not be right, but it’s true. You don’t have to disavow any religious convictions you might have, and it’s not that you can’t make any reference to them at all — it’s just a safer route not to make them the crux of your entire essay.
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Don’t dwell on your GPA – it’s not a point of distinction.
Nothing angers the high-ranking students (and their teachers) more than this one, but Uncle Josh has some bad news for you, and you’re not going to like it. However, you do need to accept it because it’s true, and I know it’s true because I write the scholarship checks and your teachers don’t. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? OK, here goes:
Your GPA doesn’t really matter that much. If at all.
It’s ok, I’ll give you a minute to let it sink in.
Now, here’s why this is true:
A nationwide grade-inflation epidemic has killed the significance of a high GPA. Thousands of pages have been written on this topic over the last 10 years, and I won’t rehash them all here. But I’ll summarize:
At some point in the recent past, someone decided that the horror of seeing the letter “D” or “F” on a report card did much more long-term damage to a kid than, say, not knowing how to read, write or spell. Lots of parents agreed, and convinced schools that even though Johnny still doesn’t know what a comma is, he still deserves a B in English..
Anyhow, the point is this: Nowadays, just about everyone has a GPA of 3.0 or above. Everyone. So what, you say? Well, that means if everyone has a similar GPA, then nobody’s GPA matters anymore. That’s it, plain and simple – if everyone’s GPA is the same (or close), what’s the point of even looking?
Yes, but: I can hear it already: “Yes, but today’s students are smarter than ever! Classes are more advanced, students are better prepared, and their achievements get more outstanding every day. It makes sense that the GPAs are higher.”
It’s absolutely true about the students being smarter than ever, and the achievements, and all that. The stuff that today’s top students know and master and achieve is just mind-boggling. Considering the latest generation has been pushed harder than ever – and earlier than ever – by parents to achieve great things, makes it no surprise. But that just proves the point: if the best students are even better today than before, then why does everyone look the same on paper? If it weren’t for the grade inflation phenomenon, the top students would stick out more; but as it is, they simply don’t.
And last but not least, the quality of education in our country varies so widely that a 4.0 student (or, in some cases, a 5.0 or higher) at one school might flunk out at another. It also works the other way; a solid B-C student at a rigorous academic high school may have the brains to blow through the system with a 4.0 or better at a weaker school.
Thousands of students apply for our scholarships annually, and almost every one has a GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. That’s fine; it’s certainly better than having a GPA of 1.0 or 2.0. But one phenomenon remains the same: when nearly every applicant shares a particular characteristic, then that characteristic becomes unimportant – and that’s the story with GPA. Are we saying not to include your GPA? Not necessarily, especially since many scholarships require you to report it. But don’t dwell on it in your essay, or expect it to carry you to a scholarship victory. It won’t.
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Don’t forget your family.
I know that we miss some incredible stories every day when our applicants write scholarship essays and mention absolutely nothing about the role they play in their own families. Let us say this clearly: your role in your own family is not as important as your school activities – it’s more important. Hey, let’s be honest: School will be over in a few years, but your family is around forever. Members of the cheerleading squad or the football team or the science club will forget your name in 10 years (trust me, it’s true — I’ve been to class reunions.), but your family never will.
Probably the biggest crying shame in the entire world of scholarships is that, for years, thousands of excellent students have been passed over for scholarships. They are the students who have had no time to participate in extracurricular activities because they had to care for their families or work paying jobs to do so. Worse yet, those students are made to feel like they shouldn’t even apply, because they’re not “active” enough.
That’s the biggest and most unfair load of garbage I’ve ever heard, and don’t let anyone sell it to you. If you’re so busy with family responsibilities that you can’t involve yourself in student organizations, then you may just have a stronger application than those who do. But remember: We can’t give you credit for your family responsibilities if you don’t tell us what they are! So by all means, if it’s applicable to you, go into detail about how you spend time doing things for your family.
In the particular case of our company’s scholarships, we’ve always given heavy weight to “work ethic,” and that’s as applicable to those who work hard in their homes and at paying jobs as it is to those who work hard on the varsity field or inside the school walls. Our unwavering advice for scholarship essays is this: Tell your story, regardless of where it takes place.
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Don’t forget what you do out of school.
This is closely related to the above item about family responsibilities, but a little different. Here, we don’t mean taking care of your family or working to do so; rather, we’re talking about outside interests of any kind. Maybe you’re interested in cars or nature or the environment or politics — something they don’t have a particular group for in school (or maybe they do, and you just choose to pursue your interest outside that group). All of this stuff is primo material for a scholarship essay. It shows passion and interest on your part, and not only that, it also shows that you’re motivated enough to go outside the classroom environment to feed this passion. Whatever fuels your personal fire is what you should probably be writing about, and many students forget that when it’s time to write.
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Don’t beg.
A popular phrase around my house, and maybe yours too, was: “It never hurts to ask!” The phrase would be uttered concerning a great variety of things, but to keep it simple here, it was usually when I wanted something that someone else had and was too timid to inquire about whether I could have it (or borrow it, or touch it, or admire it…whatever). And despite what I’m about to say, I think that’s usually true, especially when it comes to asking for help. Many people out there are ready and willing to help others — if anyone would just ask them for help.
But there is such a thing as asking too much.
When our company gave our first-ever scholarship, you’d be absolutely amazed at how often the following would happen: Someone would call our office and ask to speak with someone regarding scholarships. We’d take the call, and the person would tell us they had applied for our scholarship. We’d congratulate them and wish them good luck. So far, so good.
Then, they’d proceed to ask us if they could just please have the money; in essence, to just toss all other applicants aside and cut them a check. No kidding. Happened at least once a week. At first, it was funny — the gall it requires to ask for something like that is remarkable — but it’s really not funny at all. You’re asking the committee to cheat on your behalf and possibly commit fraud by essentially turning a real scholarship contest into a pretend scholarship contest with a predetermined outcome. All this, mind you, for a person we didn’t even know until they picked up the phone!
Scholarships are a pretty level playing field. They require that everyone follow the same procedure, and may the best applicant win. Calling up and asking for the money outright is the absolute quickest way to ensure that you get none.
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Don’t act like your life is over if you don’t get this one scholarship.
Judges know that you would very much like to receive the scholarships that you apply for. It’s natural for you to have some emotional stock in whether you win or not. College costs are serious business, and every dime you can get someone else to pick up for you, the better.
But in thousands of applications over the years, we’ve seen applicants taking this to extreme levels. Time after time, students write that if they don’t receive this very scholarship, they probably won’t be able to attend college. Or they won’t be able to pay the rent, or they’ll be kicked out into the streets (I’m not exaggerating here).
Now I admit that one of my purposes in writing this book is to help you manipulate the scholarship judges and, where appropriate, play on their emotions to your advantage. But remember, it’s a fine line. You must be careful about how hard to try to tug on the judges’ heartstrings. There are a couple of reasons why laying on the desperation in a scholarship essay is a bad idea:
1) It puts undue and unwelcome pressure on the scholarship committee. Judges are human, and no one wants to feel like the person who flushed a kid’s educational dreams down the toilet, or worse yet, got you tossed out of your apartment and onto the streets. Committee members have a heart, but they also have a job to do, and that’s to select the most qualified applicant. By suggesting that you won’t make it without them, you put them in a bind. How? Well, you’re not the only one doing it! There are a dozen stories a week just like these. And when there’s one scholarship to give and 12 people (this week) who say they can’t make ends meet without the award, then it’s a lot easier for the committee to trash all 12 and get back to its job of selecting the most qualified applicant.
2) From a more practical standpoint, you should never depend on receiving any one scholarship. The odds are always stacked against you (although less so, now that you’re reading this), and placing your hopes on one award is like putting all your money on one roulette number. Always have a backup plan. Always investigate all your student loan options, grants, jobs, etc. Even someone with all the inside info on this site shouldn’t bank on receiving scholarships if at all possible. Develop your educational plan first, including costs and how to pay for them; then, as you receive scholarships, start erasing sources of funds like loans and jobs as they’re no longer needed.
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Don’t act like you’re owed the scholarship.
It’s rare, but still regular, that we get applicants who will explicitly state that they are very obviously the best candidate and that the committee will most certainly agree when they’ve finished reading his/her materials. Well, maybe. And maybe not. Don’t get us wrong, confidence in life is generally a good thing, but there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. And remember, the committee likes humility better than swagger. I’m not sure why that is, but it just is.
There’s a Part 2 here as well, and that’s the person who insists the scholarship is owed to them not necessarily because of their achievements, but because they’re currently going through a rough patch in life. These applicants say that because they’ve recently lost a job, come up short on money for their first-choice college, moved into an expensive apartment, etc., that they deserve (their word, not mine) this scholarship.
Well, not really. You deserve a scholarship based on the qualifications the scholarship committee asks for. Sure, we all need an infusion of good luck sometimes, but that doesn’t make you deserving of a scholarship. You’ve got to outshine all the other applicants first!
Complaining about other aspects of your life may resonate with some of the judges, because we too have aspects of our lives that aren’t going so rosy at the moment. But there are too many other applicants out there who aren’t complaining and ARE putting their best foot forward in their application for anyone to win the competition based solely on the fact that they’re having a run of bad luck.
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Don’t be a complete downer.
I debated including this one because, to be honest, a lot of people have had a lot of rotten things happen to them in their lives. More bad than good, unfortunately. And sometimes those things are worth explaining to the scholarship committee if it means you can show them how you’ve overcome these obstacles on your way to success.
That last part is very important — the part where you’re overcoming these obstacles on the way to success. Very often, though, we get pages and pages of depressing anecdote after depressing anecdote, and then when it gets to the part where the writer is supposed to overcome the obstacles — the essay ends. Hey, life isn’t always rosy – we understand that. But it’s a mistake to make your essay a comprehensive study in your personal misery. Here’s why:
If you want to win, the committee needs to feel good about handing you money. We want to feel like we’re helping someone turn the corner, helping them get out of what was once a bad situation, helping take a person’s life from one level to a higher level. But if your essay is one long complaint about your life, the committee doesn’t have much reason to believe that one check will change that.
Money is great and we all need it to live, but it’s just a means to help you achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. If you have no goals, no plan, no outlook for the future, that money will be gone in no time and your life won’t have changed a bit.
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Don’t quote pop-culture icons.
We’ll talk more about quotes as this book goes on, but here’s a good start. If you’re going to use a quote, do yourself a favor by not extracting your quote from the pages of Us magazine. No Madonna, no Tupac, no Michael J. Fox, no Arnold (even though he’s the governor now). It’s not that they and their counterparts have never said anything inspirational – they all have. But remember that your audience in the committee is likely much older than you and probably sees Tupac and Madonna in quite a different light than you.
When you quote people from pop culture, it makes you look shallow and poorly educated. It makes you look like you glean your philosophy of life from gossip websites and reality shows, which will not impress your scholarship judges. This may be unfair, of course — hey, for all I know, Stephen Hawking is inspired by Ludacris and reads Perez Hilton thrice daily — but that’s life, and that’s how you’re perceived.
Not to mention that the legacy of pop-culture icons can change from day to day. For instance, three years ago you may have used a quote from Mel Gibson that sounded very dignified and profound. However, after his DUI arrest and anti-Semitic tirade, that same quote will be viewed very differently. And once you’ve put it on paper and sent it in, you can’t change it.
You’re safer using a quote by a historical figure – the quote will be time-tested and the speaker’s legacy secure. Plus, it’ll make you look like you actually know some history, which is a lot more rare among scholarship applicants than it used to be.
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