TABLE OF CONTENTS
(click to skip ahead)Common Questions About Scholarships
The Top 10 Most Common Scholarship Essay Prompts:
- Tell us about you.
- What impact has sports had on your life?
- Why do you want to study/pursue [X]?
- How have you contributed to your community, or what community service have you provided?
- How are you unique?
- Tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it.
- What are your academic and/or career goals?
- Tell us about a time when you had a belief or idea challenged.
- Why do you deserve this scholarship?
- How will this scholarship help you?
In this guide, I’ll share with you a series of step-by-step mini-guides to answering the top 10 most common scholarship essay question prompts.
How do I know these are the most common scholarship prompts? Because they’re based on a random sample of about 700 scholarship essay prompts analyzed by my friends at the scholarship site Going Merry.
First, we’ll get into questions like:
Where do I find scholarships?
What are colleges and organizations looking for in a scholarship essay?
How do I write a creative scholarship essay that stands out?
Can I re-use scholarship essays as college essays (i.e. personal statement or supplemental essays)—and, if so, how?
After that I’ll break down how to write each prompt.
Here are the top 10 most common scholarship essay prompts:
Tell us about you. (Or another very generic bio request)
What impact has sports had on your life? (Or some other athletics-related question)
How have you contributed to your community, or what community service have you provided?
Why do you want to study/pursue [X]?
How are you unique?
Tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it.
What are your academic and/or career goals?
Tell us about a time when you had a belief or idea challenged.
Why do you deserve this scholarship?
How will this scholarship help you?
Let’s do this.
Where do you find Scholarships?
I love both College Greenlight and Going Merry. They both have great search engines. In fact, try them both!
What are colleges and organizations looking for in a scholarship essay?
Broadly speaking, colleges want to know what skills/qualities/values/interests you’ve developed that will contribute to a college campus. Organizations (i.e. not colleges) are still curious about the skills/qualities/values/interests you’ve developed, but in many cases they’re looking for you to share about those in the context of a specific question—how sports have helped you develop those values, for example, or how those qualities are relevant to your future career or goals. I’ll get into more detail for each type of essay in a moment.
First, let’s get organized.
Chances are you’re not applying for just one or two scholarships; you’re applying for a bunch, right? And if you’re not applying for a bunch—or you aren’t yet—go over to College Greenlight or Going Merry to see what you qualify for. Then come back.
Why should you apply for a bunch of scholarships? Because a) MORE FREE MONEY, b) it’s relatively easy, as I’ll explain in a second, d) it can improve the quality of your essays, and d) another reason that I’ll explain at the very end of this post.
Once you’ve got a big list of scholarship essay prompts, you’ll want to...
Step 1: Create Your Scholarship Essay Tracker (10 min.)
This is basically a big list of all your scholarship essays organized by prompt, due date, word limit, etc. Why do this? Because it’ll save you tons of time and improve your essays.
Click here for a downloadable scholarship tracker you can download and customize.
Once you’ve created your tracker, you might notice something: Some of these prompts look alike. You might also notice that you’ve already written an essay that could work for one or more of these prompts.
So ask yourself:
Could I re-use any essay(s) I’ve already written for college applications?
Could I write an essay that works for multiple prompts?
Wait: I can do that? I can use an essay I’ve already written or write one that works for lots of different scholarships and then just submit the same essay?
Yes, you totally can. In fact, I’m going to recommend doing so because not only is it going to save you time, but it’ll improve your essays. I call this…
A Super Essay is one that’s written on a topic you know well and that works for several different prompts. As a quick example, notice how you could write one essay that answers all these questions:
Tell us about you (or some other very generic profile/bio request).
How are you unique? (Discuss your background, identity, interest, or talent) [Similar to Common App prompt #1]
Tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it.
What are your academic and/or career goals?
Don’t believe one essay could answer all these prompts?
Check out the essay called “With Debate” at this link.
The essay tells us about: who the author is (Prompt 1), how she is unique (Prompt 2), how she failed and learned from the experience (Prompt 3), and even her academic and career goals (Prompt 4).
And get this: if she’d wanted to answer the prompt that asks her to “Tell us about a time when you had a belief or idea challenged,” she could simply have added something like “I didn’t believe I’d ever find my voice/be able to speak up for myself… but I learned I was wrong—that I did have a voice”).
So here’s my first bit of advice:
Write an essay that works for multiple prompts.
How?
The short version: put all of your prompts in your essay tracker and color code them based on which prompts seem similar. Here’s an example of this that a former student created for his college essays. Next, copy and paste prompts of the same color at the top of a blank page and brainstorm topics that might work for each group of prompts. As you create your outline and begin your draft, keep the different prompts in mind.
But wait: that doesn’t really answer how to write each of the prompts above. So let’s take a deep-dive into each one, shall we?
We shall.
The "Tell us about you" scholarship essay
This scholarship prompt is wide open. And by that I mean you can pretty much do anything you want with it. Given that, I’d strongly recommend doubling this with another prompt, which is to say that you can answer this question at the same time that you’re writing an essay for another scholarship prompt.
You’ll also notice that this could easily double with your personal statement, so if you’ve written a great personal statement you really like, you might be able to submit that for this prompt. But if you haven’t written a personal statement, here’s a free guide to writing a great personal statement.
Prefer a YouTube video? Here’s my crash course in writing a personal statement.
Below is a great example essay for the “Tell us about you” prompt. You’ll notice it could’ve also worked for a lot of the other top 10 prompts.
What Had to Be Done
At six years old, I stood locked away in the restroom. I held tightly to a tube of toothpaste because I’d been sent to brush my teeth to distract me from the commotion. Regardless, I knew what was happening: my dad was being put under arrest for domestic abuse. He’d hurt my mom physically and mentally, and my brother Jose and I had shared the mental strain. It’s what had to be done.
Living without a father meant money was tight, mom worked two jobs, and my brother and I took care of each other when she worked. For a brief period of time the quality of our lives slowly started to improve as our soon-to-be step-dad became an integral part of our family. He paid attention to the needs of my mom, my brother, and me. But our prosperity was short-lived as my step dad’s chronic alcoholism became more and more recurrent. When I was eight, my younger brother Fernando’s birth complicated things even further. As my step-dad slipped away, my mom continued working, and Fernando’s care was left to Jose and me. I cooked, Jose cleaned, I dressed Fernando, Jose put him to bed. We did what we had to do.
As undocumented immigrants and with little to no family around us, we had to rely on each other. Fearing that any disclosure of our status would risk deportation, we kept to ourselves when dealing with any financial and medical issues. I avoided going on certain school trips, and at times I was discouraged to even meet new people. I felt isolated and at times disillusioned; my grades started to slip.
Over time, however, I grew determined to improve the quality of life for my family and myself.
Without a father figure to teach me the things a father could, I became my own teacher. I learned how to fix a bike, how to swim, and even how to talk to girls. I became resourceful, fixing shoes with strips of duct tape, and I even found a job to help pay bills. I became as independent as I could to lessen the time and money mom had to spend raising me.
I also worked to apply myself constructively in other ways. I worked hard and took my grades from Bs and Cs to consecutive straight A’s. I shattered my school’s 1ooM breaststroke record, and learned how to play the clarinet, saxophone, and the oboe. Plus, I not only became the first student in my school to pass the AP Physics 1 exam, I’m currently pioneering my school’s first AP Physics 2 course ever.
These changes inspired me to help others. I became president of the California Scholarship Federation, providing students with information to prepare them for college, while creating opportunities for my peers to play a bigger part in our community. I began tutoring kids, teens, and adults on a variety of subjects ranging from basic English to home improvement and even Calculus. As the captain of the water polo and swim team I’ve led practices crafted to individually push my comrades to their limits, and I’ve counseled friends through circumstances similar to mine. I’ve done tons, and I can finally say I’m proud of that.
But I’m excited to say that there’s so much I have yet to do. I haven’t danced the tango, solved a Rubix Cube, explored how perpetual motion might fuel space exploration, or seen the World Trade Center. And I have yet to see the person that Fernando will become.
I’ll do as much as I can from now on. Not because I have to. Because I choose to.
Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to writing the “Tell us about you” essay:
Create Your Scholarship Essay Tracker and check to see what other topics this prompt might overlap with.
Create an outline that works for all the potential overlapping prompts.
Write a draft using the resources linked above, in particular the free guide.
Revise your essay using this exercise.
Use the Great College Essay Test to see how your essay might be improved, then revise as needed until your essay is solid.
Share it with 1-2 people you trust and revise again, as needed.
Submit your essay and any other required documents before the deadline.
The “What impact has sports had on your life?” Essay
Heads-up: this prompt won’t always be phrased precisely like this, but the mini guide I’m about to share will work for most any sports-related prompt.
Here, you’re basically writing an extracurricular essay and the secret to doing it well, IMHO, is making uncommon connections. Here’s what I mean:
I believe the difference between a boring essay and a stand-out essay is this:
Boring essay:
common topic
common connections
common achievements
common language
Stand-out essay:
uncommon topic
uncommon connections
uncommon achievements
uncommon language
Quick definitions:
Topic: Certain sports (like basketball) are more common than others (like indoor skydiving). That doesn’t mean you can’t write a great basketball essay, but it’s harder to stand out. More details in a sec.
Connections: These are values that people don’t normally or immediately associate with your sport. Students often write about the values of “discipline” or “hard work,” but finding uncommon connections (AKA insights) can make for a more interesting essay.
Achievements: Some accolades (like winning a local or state tournament) are more common than others (like being the only female on your wrestling team, for example, or playing for a national team).
Language: Some phrases (like “we learned what being a team is really all about” are pretty common).
And I know what you’re thinking: What if the sport I play is super common, or I can’t come up with any uncommon connections or don’t have any uncommon achievements, or don’t know what you mean by uncommon language?
Don’t worry. Stay with me.
How to Stand Out on Your Sports Essay If Your Topic and Achievements Are Common
If you don’t play an uncommon sport and don’t have uncommon achievements to write about, a great way to stand out is by making uncommon connections. Why? With a common topic that makes common connections and uses common language (i.e., “Basketball taught me hard work and discipline”), you’re likely to blend in. Instead, you want to generate insights others won’t have thought of. How? There’s a game for that:
The UC* Game
*Uncommon Connections
First, pick a cliché topic that you might use for an essay. In fact, maybe it’s the sport you’re considering writing about for a scholarship essay.
Take football, for instance. (And by the way this applies to other typical extracurricular activities—like the classic “mission trip” essay—so let’s do that one too, so you can maybe use this for other essays too.)
Step 1: Brainstorm the cliché version of your essay.
First, tell me what the typical football or mission trip essay will focus on. How? Take a look at this list of Values and think of a few cliché values that you think the typical essay would focus on.
A cliché connection for [football] might be [teamwork, responsibility, hard work, etc.]
A cliché connection for a [mission trip] might be [helping others, hard work, passion, etc.].
You get the idea.
Step 2: Come up with 3-4 uncommon values.
Next, brainstorm values that might not normally be associated with football or a mission trip.
Examples:
An uncommon connection to [football] might be [resourcefulness, healthy boundaries, critical thinking, etc.].
An uncommon connection to [a mission trip] might be [serenity, accountability, practicality, etc.].
If you can find one uncommon connection you can find two, if you can find two you can find three, and if you can find three then you have enough content for a whole essay. Here’s how to develop your content:
Step 3: Tie the value to a specific example from your life.
Describe one specific example of how you’ve developed or explored that value through your activity … and maybe even applied it to other areas of your life.
Example: Football has made me a better reader.
As a cornerback, I meticulously and systematically scan the offense, looking for nuances in formation before the quarterback snaps the ball, all in a matter of seconds. It’s not unlike annotating a novel. Finding the subtle complexities in my rival teams’ spread offense has not only led me to intercepting a pass, but has given me the skills to fully digest, for example, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, where the smallest, and at first glance, almost unnoticeable details, add to an intricate story that I wouldn’t appreciate in the same way had I not been able to notice those details in the first place.
See how that makes for a more interesting football essay?
Uncommon Value (critical thinking) + Application Elsewhere (English class) = Win.
After doing this, you should have a list of 3-4 uncommon values and examples of how they’ve manifested in your life. This may take you a little while, but be patient and stick with it. It’s worth it and will make up the bulk of your essay content.
Step 4: Decide on an order for your details and write a draft.
I recommend chronological order, as it’ll make transitions easier. Then try a draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect the first time, just get something down on paper.
The “Why do you want to study/pursue [X]" Essay
This is basically what they call a “Why major” essay. Here’s a step-by-step approach:
Step #1: Imagine a mini-movie of the moments that led you to your interest and create a simple, bullet point outline:
Why Biology?
Elementary school: Getting my first dinosaur toy and reading dinosaur books
Middle school: Visiting museums, seeing water under a microscope
High school: Doing online research, getting internship where we analyzed brainwaves and dissected a stingray
Step #2: Put your moments (aka the “scenes” of your mini-movie) in chronological order, as it’ll help you see how your interests developed. It also makes it easier to write transitions.
Pro Tip: If you’re writing a shorter essay (e.g., 100-150 words), try writing one scene per sentence. If you’re writing a medium-length (e.g., 250-300 word) essay, try one scene per short paragraph. If you’re writing a longer essay, you can build a montage that uses your major/career as a thematic thread.
Step #3: Decide if you want to include a specific thesis that explicitly states your central argument—in this case what you want to study and why. This thesis can be at the beginning, middle, or end of your essay.
Three “Why Major” Essay Examples
Here’s a short essay that puts the thesis at the beginning:
Why Electrical Engineering?
My decision to major in Electrical Engineering was inspired by my desire to improve security through technology. When I lived in Mexico, my father’s restaurant security system lacked the ability to protect our property from robbers, who would break in multiple times a year. Thanks to the influence of my cousin, who now studies Autonomous Systems, I developed an interest in electrical engineering. I am inspired to not only improve my father’s security system, but contributing to security innovations for larger companies and perhaps, one day, national security. (89 words)
Outline - Why Electrical Engineering?
Thesis: I want to improve security through technology
Robbers broke into dad’s restaurant
Cousin taught me about Autonomous Systems
In the future: work with large companies or on national security
Here’s a medium-length example with the thesis at the end:
Why Gender and Sexuality Studies?
My interest in Gender and Sexuality Studies was sparked in my eighth grade Civics class when we studied topics pertaining to sexual equality. I went into the class knowing I believed women had a right to make choices for their own bodies and that view remained the same, but I discovered the complexity of abortion debates. I challenged myself by thinking about the disparity between actual and potential personhood and the moral rights of unconscious lives. If pregnancy had the same consequences for men as it does women, how might the debate be different? Would this debate even exist?
A year later, I shadowed an OB/GYN at a nearby hospital. On my first shift, I watched an incarcerated woman receive a postpartum exam after giving birth in her cell toilet with just Advil, and the issues discussed in Civics suddenly became urgent and real.
My school projects have often focused on reproductive rights. I’ve spent numerous hours delving into summaries of Supreme Court cases on abortion and contraception, and am even known as the “Tampon Fairy” at school because I frequently restock the school bathrooms with tampons and condoms.
I’m interested in exploring how Gender and Sexuality Studies connect to Public Health and Reproductive Biology, as well as Public Policy and Law. The interdisciplinary nature of this major will allow me to investigate many other areas of study and create a more nuanced understanding of how this particular field interacts with our world and society. (246 words)
Outline - Why Gender and Sexuality Studies:
Eighth grade Civics class conversations
Shadowing OB/GYN at a nearby hospital and seeing woman receive postpartum exam
Being the school “tampon fairy” (restocking school bathrooms with tampons and condoms)
School projects on reproductive rights
Thesis: name my major and briefly say why
You can also use a hook to grab your reader’s attention. Here’s a medium-length example that does this:
Why Neuroscience?
Imagine all the stars in the universe. The brain has a thousand times the number of synapses, making neurological errors a near certainty. I learned this fact firsthand as a 14 year-old, when I suffered from sleepless nights because of an uncomfortable, indescribable feeling in my leg. It took months of appointments and tests to be told it was a condition called cortical dysplasia. Even after the diagnosis, there is no cure.
I am lucky. My condition does not severely affect my quality of life. However, I know this is not the case for everyone. After this experience, I took AP Biology and attended a neuroscience program, which reinforced the subject as my future calling. One of the most impactful lectures discussed the plight of healthcare in developing nations. Newborns with extreme neurological deficits are common, but finding treatments is not. Without prenatal care, this is becoming a growing epidemic, leaving millions of children helpless.
With a degree in neuroscience, I will gain a strong understanding of neural tube development and neuronal migration in infants. I will then become a neurologist, specializing in pediatric care. I hope to work for humanitarian organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders, in Africa, where HIV and polio are rampant, as are numerous other diseases.
Imagine the stars once more. From across the world, I will look at the same stars in the future, as I help children secure the ability to not only look at the stars, but do much more. (247 words)
Outline - Why Neuroscience:
Hook: Connect number of stars to number of connections in brain (and maybe mention cortical dysplasia)
AP Bio + neuroscience program: learning about healthcare in developing nations
Thesis: say why neuroscience (get specific) and what I’ll do with degree
Return to opening (stars) and look to future
What to Do If You’re Unsure of Your Major or Choosing “Undecided” on Your Application:
Even if you’re unsure of your major, you might still research and select 1-3 areas of interest and describe why you chose each one. If possible, connect them.
If you’re choosing “undecided” on your application, that’s okay! Describing 1-3 areas of interest is still a good idea. It shows your intellectual curiosity and demonstrates your ability to make connections across a range of academic disciplines.
The “How have you contributed to your community/community service?” Essay
When it comes to writing about a community service project, you’ll either be describing a challenge or series of challenges you’ve encountered, or you won’t. I’ve developed a structure that works for each case.
The first is called the “Uncommon Connections” approach and works well for students who are not writing about a challenge. It’s basically the one I described in the mini guide to writing the “What impact has sports had on your life?” essay above.
The second is what I call the “Powerwall” approach and it works well for students who have addressed or overcome a challenge through their community service project. It works like this:
The Narrative Approach (aka The powerwall Exercise)
This structure was inspired by an article by Andy Raskin in which he analyzes a pitch Elon Musk gave on the Powerwall. Here’s Raskin's take on Musk’s pitch:
“Musk’s delivery isn’t stellar. He’s self-conscious and fidgety. But at the end, his audience cheers. For a battery. That’s because Musk does five things right that you should emulate in every pitch you ever make to anybody.”
While reading Raskin’s article, I realized (because I’m the College Essay Guy and this is where my brain is half the time) Musk’s approach could easily be applied to a wide range of extracurricular essay topics, so I adapted the structure, added a step, and created an approach that will help you map out a challenge-based extracurricular essay in about ten minutes.
Step 1: Identify the problem.
Describe the challenge you were (or are currently) facing. The problem could be something global, like an environmental issue, or something more local, like a lack of creative opportunities in your high school.
Step 2: Raise the stakes.
Help us understand: Why was (or is) overcoming this challenge important? What might happen if this problem went (or goes) unchecked?
Step 3: Describe what you did.
Tell us the specific things you (or you and your team) did to solve the problem.
Step 4: Clarify your role.
Describe your particular involvement. Why were (or are) you crucial to the project or club’s success?
Step 5: Share the impact you had, lessons you learned, or values you gained.
Provide specific evidence that gives us a sense that your work mattered. I’ll show you some ways to do this in a minute.
Think that’s too much to do in one essay?
Behold:
The Catalyzing Creativity Club
I live in the suburb of Los Angeles, California, known to its residents as the bubble. It has the perfect weather, location, and schools. As amazing as it sounds, however, growing up in La Cañada Flintridge has its drawbacks: the community pressures adolescents to achieve success through mainly academic means. While this approach isn’t necessarily wrong, it can be difficult, particularly in my high school, to thrive in a creative and imaginative way.
Sophomore year, my friends and I began to wonder, What if the teenagers of La Cañada had greater opportunities to express themselves. To pursue their creativity. To follow their dreams.
That’s when we decided to start the Catalyzing Creativity Club.
Founded two years ago, the Catalyzing Creativity Club (C3, for short), provides students in our community the opportunity to pursue their passion and aspirations outside the classroom.
Some of our opportunities include: a yearly music festival for our community’s young aspiring musicians that showcases local talent to the masses and scouts; a technology expo, which allows students to be rewarded with funding and demonstrate their coding abilities to prospective companies; recording sessions for aspiring musicians, photo-publishing competitions, and a variety of guest speakers ranging from nineteen-year-old college seniors to millionaire entrepreneurs. In addition, we have a blog for aspiring writers to publish their work and are holding a shoe drive for underprivileged athletes.
As vice president of finances for C3, I work to ensure we can fund these activities. I handle our bank account, fundraising, and organize the event planning. Moreover, I make sure that C3’s activities and finances are approved by and follow the guidelines of my high school. This role is crucial, as we work to achieve non-profit status.
Even though C3 is only a few years old, I believe it is already making an impact in the community. As we grow and the opportunities we provide become more popular, our hope is to inspire our peers to follow their dreams and burst the La Cañada Flintridge bubble. (332 words)
Brief Notes and Analysis:
I love how direct the tone is in the third paragraph. It’s basically a straightforward listing of the club’s accomplishments. This was pulled directly from the bullet points of his BEABIES exercise. It works.
Notice how specific he gets in the fourth paragraph where he clarifies why he was essential to the club’s success. Doing this helps us understand that he was more than just a passive member who showed up to meetings.
Another potential use of your extracurricular essay is to expand on something you only mentioned briefly in your personal statement. In this case, the author mentioned in his personal statement that he’s “a numbers guy” and, in the fourth paragraph of this essay, expands upon why numbers are meaningful to him.
If he’d had more room, he could have potentially expanded on the club’s impact in the final paragraph, describing specific ways the community changed, or personal lessons learned. But again, not every essay has to be perfect (and not every element has to be included) in order for this structure to work.
The “How are you unique?” Essay
This prompt (and those like it) ask students to discuss their backgrounds, identities, interests, or talents and tell the reader why these are meaningful to them. They’re usually some variation on the Common App prompt #1: Some students have a background, identity, interest or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
So guess what? You can totally use the resources linked above, in particular the free guide.
Why am I sending you to those links instead of spelling it out here? Because there isn’t, as far as I can tell, a short and simple way to describe to you how to express your uniqueness ... besides the process that I’ve spent the past 15 years developing and have summarized in neat, bite-sized chunks at the links above. (And if you’re not sure which guide I mean, it’s this one.) Plus, if I’d listed all that content here it would’ve made this blog post like 2-3 times as long and it’s already pretty long.
Here’s a great example of a student who wrote a personal statement that shows their uniqueness:
I’m no stranger to contrast. A Chinese American with accented Chinese, a Florida-born Texan, a first generation American with a British passport: no label fits me without a caveat.
But I’ve always strived to find connections among the dissimilar. In my home across the sea, although my relatives’ rapid Mandarin sails over my head, in them I recognize the same work ethic that carried my parents out of rural Shanghai to America, that fueled me through sweltering marching band practices and over caffeinated late nights. I even spend my free time doing nonograms, grid-based logic puzzles solved by using clues to fill in seemingly random pixels to create a picture.
It started when I was a kid. One day, my dad captured my fickle kindergartner attention (a herculean feat) and taught me Sudoku. As he explained the rules, those mysterious scaffoldings of numbers I often saw on his computer screen transformed into complex structures of logic built by careful strategy.
From then on, I wondered if I could uncover the hidden order behind other things in my life. In elementary school, I began to recognize patterns in the world around me: thin, dark clouds signaled rain, the moon changed shape every week, and the best snacks were the first to go. I wanted to know what unseen rules affected these things and how they worked. My parents, both pipeline engineers, encouraged this inquisitiveness and sometimes tried explaining to me how they solved puzzles in their own work. Although I didn’t understand the particulars, their analytical mindsets helped me muddle through math homework and optimize matches in Candy Crush.
In high school, I studied by linking concepts across subjects as if my coursework was another puzzle to solve. PEMDAS helped me understand appositive phrases, and the catalysts for revolutions resembled chemical isotopes, nominally different with the same properties.
As I grew older, my interests expanded to include the delicate systems of biology, the complexity of animation, and the nuances of language. Despite these subjects’ apparent dissimilarity, each provided fresh, fascinating perspectives on the world with approaches like color theory and evolution. I was (and remain) voracious for the new and unusual, spending hours entrenched in Wikipedia articles on obscure topics, i.e. classical ciphers or dragons, and analyzing absurdist YouTube videos.
Unsurprisingly, like pilot fish to their sharks, my career aspirations followed my varied passions: one day I wanted to be an illustrator, the next a biochemist, then a stand-up comedian. When it came to narrowing down the choices, narrowing down myself, I felt like nothing would satisfy my ever-fluctuating intellectual appetite.
But when I discovered programming, something seemed to settle. In computer science, I had found a field where I could be creative, explore a different type of language, and (yes) solve puzzles. Coding let me both analyze logic in its purest form and manipulate it to accomplish anything from a simple “print ‘hello world’” to creating functional games. Even when lines of red error messages fill my console, debugging offered me the same thrill as a particularly good puzzle. Now, when I see my buggy versions of Snake, Paint, and Pacman in my files, I’m filled paradoxically with both satisfaction and a restless itch to improve the code and write new, better programs.
While to others my life may seem like a jumble of incompatible fragments, like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece connects to become something more. However, there are still missing pieces at the periphery: experiences to have, knowledge to gain, bad jokes to tell. Someday I hope to solve the unsolvable. But for now, I’ve got a nonogram with my name on it.
Some quick tips and ideas based on this essay:
This author first brainstormed her content using the 21 Details exercise and the "Everything I Want Colleges to Know About Me" List.
As she did that, she noticed that some parts of her seemed to contradict. She decided to use this as a thematic thread for her essay, and brainstormed other specific details that showed other contrasts.
Initially she couldn’t find an ending, but when she realized she also would have to write an essay explaining her career interests, she decided to focus the essay on the contrasts that helped her develop qualities that would serve her in the future (intellectual curiosity, solving puzzles), and use this essay for both. Yup, like a Super Essay.
Then she focused on one smaller theme/value per paragraph (culture for first paragraph, finding connections among the dissimilar for the second paragraph, etc.).
Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to writing your own “How are you unique” essay:
Create Your Scholarship Essay Tracker and check to see what other topics this prompt might overlap with.
Create an outline that works for all the potential overlapping prompts.
Write a draft using the resources linked above.
Revise your essay using this exercise.
Use the Great College Essay Test to see how your essay might be improved, then revise as needed until your essay is solid.
Share it with 1-2 people you trust and revise again, as needed.
Submit your essay (and any other required documents) before the deadline.
For more essays by students who expressed their uniqueness well in their essays, click here.
The “Tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it” Essay
This is the type of challenge-based essay I discuss in the free guide, and which I call the Type A and Type C essays. What’s the difference between those? Simply that Type A essays do talk about a career at the end, while Type C essays don’t.
Want the short version of the guide? Complete this 15-min exercise and you’ll have your outline.
Want the even shorter version? Here are six questions to answer in your essay:
What was the failure you experienced?
What was the impact on your life (not emotions, which come next, but external effects)?
How did you feel?
What were the needs underlying your feelings?
What did you do to meet those needs?
What did you learn from the experience?
Not sure how these six questions can lead to an essay? Watch the Feelings and Needs video, as it’ll walk you through those questions and lead you to an outline.
Here’s an essay that describes a failure (which I’ve highlighted in bold below so you won’t miss it) that was written using the resources above:
Does every life matter? Because it seems like certain lives matter more than others, especially when it comes to money.
I was in eighth grade when a medical volunteer group that my dad had led to Northern Thailand faced a dilemma of choosing between treating a patient with MDR-TB or saving $5000 (the estimated treatment cost for this patient) for future patients. I remember overhearing intense conversations outside the headquarters tent. My dad and his friend were arguing that we should treat the woman regardless of the treatment cost, whereas the others were arguing that it simply cost too much to treat her. Looking back, it was a conflict between ideals—one side argued that everyone should receive treatment whereas the other argued that interventions should be based on cost-effectiveness. I was angry for two reasons. First, because my father lost the argument. Second, because I couldn’t logically defend what I intuitively believed: that every human being has a right to good health. In short, that every life matters.
Over the next four years I read piles of books on social justice and global health equity in order to prove my intuitive belief in a logical manner. I even took online courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. But I failed to find a clear, logical argument for why every life mattered. I did, however, find sound arguments for the other side, supporting the idea that society should pursue the well-being of the greatest number, that interventions should mitigate the most death and disability per dollar spent. Essentially, my research screamed, “Kid, it’s all about the numbers.”
But I continued searching, even saving up pocket money to attend a summer course on global health at Brown University. It was there that I met Cate Oswald, a program director for Partners in Health (PIH), an organization that believed “the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” It was like finding a ray of light in the darkness.
Refueled with hope, I went back to find the answer, but this time I didn’t dive into piles of books or lectures. I searched my memories. Why was I convinced that every life mattered?
When the woman with MDR-TB came to our team, she brought along with her a boy that looked about my age. Six years have passed since I met him, but I still remember the gaze he gave me as he left with his mother. It wasn’t angry, nor was it sad. It was, in a way, serene. It was almost as if he knew this was coming. That burdened me. Something inside me knew this wasn’t right. It just didn’t feel right. Perhaps it was because I, for a second, placed myself in his shoes, picturing what I’d feel if my mother was the woman with MDR-TB.
Upon reflection, I found that my answer didn’t exist in books or research, but somewhere very close from the beginning—my intuition. In other words, I didn’t need an elaborate and intricate reason to prove to myself that health is an inalienable right for every human being—I needed self-reflection.
So I ask again, “Does every life matter?” Yes. “Do I have solid, written proof?” No.
Paul Farmer once said, “The thing about rights is that in the end you can’t prove what is a right.” To me, global health is not merely a study. It’s an attitude—a lens I use to look at the world—and it’s a statement about my commitment to health as a fundamental quality of liberty and equity.
- - -
Some quick tips and ideas based on this essay:
This author decided to use a compelling question as his hook. And get this: he didn’t know the answer to the question. That’s part of what makes it a compelling hook and what keeps us interested throughout the essay.
He describes the many steps he took (and he did a lot!) to try to answer the question. This shows his tenacity. But, again, he never fully answers it. This demonstrates vulnerability. Why? Many essays tie things up in a neat little bow. In this case, there is no bow. Instead, the author explores the complexities surrounding this question, which shows his ability to embrace nuance. The key here was finding a compelling question. And you don’t of course have to use this “start with a question” technique for a failure essay; it’s just one way.
For the ending, the author knew what he wanted to study so, when he couldn’t come up with a conclusion, he decided it might be neat to find a way to connect this failure to his future career. It works, plus allowed him a chance to name a few other values that were important to him: health, liberty, and equity.
Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to writing the “Tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it” essay:
Watch the Feelings and Needs Exercise, and use it to...
Create your outline.
Write your first draft.
Revise your essay using this exercise.
Use the Great College Essay Test to see how your essay might be improved, then revise as needed until your essay is solid.
Share it with 1-2 people you trust and revise again, as needed.
Submit your essay (and any other required documents) before the deadline.
The “What are your academic goals and your career goals?” Essay
Both the Type A and Type B essays I mention in the free guide would answer this prompt. The difference is that a Type A essay describes how your challenges helped you develop skills/qualities/values that will one day serve you in your career. On the other hand, the Type B essay still shows how you’ve developed skills/qualities/values that will one day serve you in the future without explicitly referencing a challenge. In both cases, though, you’ll want to be sure the academic or career goal is clear, and you may want to do this near the end.
Here’s a great Type A essay (i.e., one that demonstrates how challenges helped shape the author’s career interest). Again, I’ve highlighted in bold the academic and career goal so you don’t miss the connection to the prompt.
Easter
It was Easter and we should’ve been celebrating with our family, but my father had locked us in the house. If he wasn’t going out, neither were my mother and I.
My mother came to the U.S. from Mexico to study English. She’d been an exceptional student and had a bright future ahead of her. But she fell in love and eloped with the man that eventually became my father. He loved her in an unhealthy way, and was both physically and verbally abusive. My mother lacked the courage to start over so she stayed with him and slowly let go of her dreams and aspirations. But she wouldn’t allow for the same to happen to me.
In the summer before my junior year I was offered a scholarship to study abroad in Egypt. Not to my surprise, my father refused to let me go. But my mother wouldn’t let him crush my dreams as well. I’d do this for myself and for my mothers unfulfilled aspirations. I accepted the scholarship.
I thought I’d finally have all the freedom I longed for in Egypt, but initially I didn’t. On a weekly basis I heard insults and received harassment in the streets, yet I didn’t yield to the societal expectations for women by staying indoors. I continued to roam throughout Egypt, exploring the Great Pyramids of Giza, cruising on the Nile, and traveling to Luxor and Aswan. And before I returned to the U.S. I received the unexpected opportunity to travel to London and Paris. It was surreal: a girl from the ghetto traveling alone around the world with a map in her hands And no man or cultural standards could dictate what I was to do. I rode the subway from Cambridge University to the British Museum. I took a train from London to Paris and in two days I visited the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, and took a cruise on the Seine. Despite the language barrier I found I had the self-confidence to approach anyone for directions.
While I was in Europe enjoying my freedom, my mother moved out and rented her own place. It was as if we’d simultaneously gained our independence. We were proud of each other. And she vicariously lived through my experiences as I sent her pictures and told her about my adventures.
Finally, we were free.
I currently live in the U.S with my mother. My father has gradually transformed from a frigid man to the loving father I always yearned for. Life isn’t perfect, but for the moment I’m enjoying tranquility and stability with my family and are communicating much better than ever before.
I’m involved in my school’s Leadership Council as leader of our events committee. We plan and execute school dances and create effective donation letters. I see this as a stepping-stone for my future, as I plan to double major in Women’s Studies and International Relations with a focus on Middle Eastern studies. After the political turmoil of the Arab Spring many Middle Eastern countries refuse to grant women equal positions in society because that would contradict Islamic texts. By oppressing women they’re silencing half of their population. I believe these Islamic texts have been misinterpreted throughout time, and my journey towards my own independence has inspired me to help other women find liberation as well.
My Easter will drastically differ from past years. Rather than being locked at home, my mother and I will celebrate outdoors our rebirth and renewal.
Some quick tips and ideas based on this essay:
The author uses as her hook a compelling challenge, which raises a few questions, including, “ Will she be okay?” and “What will she do?” And she doesn’t fully answer either of them until close to the end of the essay, which keeps us engaged.
Her essay follows this simple structure: a) What challenge did you face? b) What did you do about it? c) What did you learn? If you are writing about challenges, you can use this simple structure as well.
This essay also follows pretty closely the Feelings and Needs structure. The main need this author identified was freedom, and she highlights this theme in the beginning (when she describes feeling trapped), middle (when she describes exploring Europe), and end (when she describes her desire to work for the liberation of herself and others).
Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to writing the “What are your academic goals and your career goals?” essay:
If you ARE writing about a challenge...
Watch the Feelings and Needs Exercise and make sure you do the final, seventh column.
Create your outline.
Write a draft.
Revise your essay using this exercise.
Use the Great College Essay Test to see how your essay might be improved, then revise as needed until your essay is solid.
Share it with 1-2 people you trust and revise again, as needed.
Submit your essay (and any other required documents) before the deadline.
If you are NOT writing about a challenge…
Read this essay then do this exercise, which will help you...
Create your outline.
Write a draft.
Revise your essay using this exercise.
Use the Great College Essay Test to see how your essay might be improved, then revise as needed until your essay is solid.
Share it with 1-2 people you trust and revise again, as needed.
Submit your essay (and any other required documents) before the deadline.
The “Tell us about a time when you had a belief or idea challenged” Essay
This prompt is similar to Common App prompt #3: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
The essay example for the “failure” prompt (above) would have worked great for this prompt as well, as that author had his belief—that “every life matters”—challenged.
Some quick tips and ideas for this essay:
Like the authors in the essays above, you might begin with a question that you will explore for the rest of the essay. This question keeps us engaged.
Make sure to clarify the specific idea that was challenged … and how it was challenged … This may seem obvious, but I often find that students working on this prompt can get a bit foggy with what the specific idea or belief was.
Getting super clear on the specific idea or belief that was challenged can help give your essay a structure. One possible structural approach to outline your essay:
a) (Briefly) describe the experience/s that led my initial belief.
b) Describe the experience/s that challenged this belief,
c) Describe what happened + what I learned as a result.
Make sure your insights at the end aren’t super obvious (i.e., “I learned that it’s important to challenge my own beliefs”). You can do this by asking yourself “so what” until you come up with an idea that feels uncommon (scroll up to the “sports” essay guide for more on “uncommon connections”).
You don’t need to tie things up with a neat little bow. Nuance and complexity can show your ability to wrestle with big ideas.
Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to writing the “Tell us about a time when you had a belief or idea challenged” essay:
Watch the Feelings and Needs Exercise to explore in more depth the idea or belief that was challenged. Use the results of that exercise to...
Create your outline. It may be the simple three-part structure I mentioned above:
What led you to develop your initial belief(s)?
What specific experience challenged that/those belief(s)?
What happened? What did you learn?
Write a draft.
Revise your essay using this exercise.
Use the Great College Essay Test to see how your essay might be improved, then revise as needed until your essay is solid.
Share it with 1-2 people you trust and revise again, as needed.
Submit your essay (and any other required documents) before the deadline.
The “Why do you deserve this scholarship?” Essay
I want to make this one simple for you.
Don’t just tell them why you deserve this scholarship ... show them.
How? Tell them your story.
You can do this by sharing some of the challenges you’ve been through, or not.
If you ARE writing about a challenge...
Watch the Feelings and Needs Exercise and use it to...
Create your outline.
Write a draft.
Revise your essay using this exercise.
Use the Great College Essay Test to see how your essay might be improved, then revise as needed until your essay is solid.
Share it with 1-2 people you trust and revise again, as needed.
Submit your essay (and any other required documents) before the deadline.
Side note: Often, scholarships have corporate sponsors, and it doesn’t hurt to understand the mission of the company/organization and ham it up a bit. An example that comes to mind is this scholarship essay by Emily Trader. Here the organization is a group of life insurance companies, and their prompt specifically tells you to mention their mission. But even if it didn’t, it would probably be wise to give a nod to the importance of insurance in your essay.
Here’s a great example of an essay by a student who describes the challenges she faced and how she worked to overcome them:
The Little Porch and a Dog
It was the first Sunday of April. My siblings and I were sitting at the dinner table giggling and spelling out words in our alphabet soup. The phone rang and my mother answered. It was my father; he was calling from prison in Oregon.
My father had been stopped by immigration on his way to Yakima, Washington, where he’d gone in search of work. He wanted to fulfill a promise he’d made to my family of owning our own house with a nice little porch and a dog.
Fortunately, my father was bailed out of prison by a family friend in Yakima. Unfortunately, though, most of our life savings was spent on his bail. We moved into a rented house, and though we did have a porch, it wasn’t ours. My father went from being a costurero (sewing worker) to being a water-filter salesman, mosaic tile maker, lemon deliverer, and butcher.
Money became an issue at home, so I started helping out more. After school I’d rush home to clean up and make dinner. My parents refused to let me have a “real” job, so on Saturday afternoons I’d go to the park with my older brother to collect soda cans. Sundays and summertime were spent cleaning houses with my mother.
I worked twice as hard in school. I helped clean my church, joined the choir, and tutored my younger sister in math. As tensions eased at home, I returned to cheerleading, joined a school club called Step Up, and got involved in my school’s urban farm, where I learned the value of healthy eating. Slowly, life improved. Then I received some life-changing news.
My father’s case was still pending and, due to a form he’d signed when he was released in Yakima, it was not only him that was now in danger of being deported, it was my entire family. My father’s lawyer informed me that I’d have to testify in court and in fact our stay in the US was now dependent on my testimony.
The lawyer had an idea: I had outstanding grades and recommendation letters. If we could show the judge the importance of my family remaining here to support my education, perhaps we had a chance. So I testified.
My father won his case and was granted residency.
Living in a low-income immigrant household has taught me to appreciate all I’ve been given. Testifying in court helped me grow as a person, has made me more open-minded and aware of the problems facing my community. And my involvement in the urban farm has led me to consider a career as a nutritionist.
Though neither of my parents attended college, they understand that college is a key factor to a bright future and therefore have been very supportive. And though we don't yet have the house with the small porch and the dog, we're still holding out hope.
I believe college can help.
If this student doesn’t deserve a scholarship, I don’t know who does.
Some quick tips and ideas based on this essay:
Again, this author uses the following simple structure:
What was the challenge you faced?
What did you do about it?
What did you learn through this experience?
By starting with the problem/question/challenge to be solved and not resolving it ‘til the end she keeps us engaged.
By showing us all the work she did to overcome this challenge we see all the strengths, skills, and qualities she’ll bring to a college campus (and there are many: leadership, perseverance, helping others, awareness of health, etc.).
By ending with her career we get a sense of where she is headed. Tip: You can list your current dream even if you change your mind later. No application reader is going to reference your essay later and say, “But you said you were going to become a nutritionist” if one day you decide to do something else. It just needs to make sense given the experiences you’ve described.
She takes a unique approach at the end by emphasizing the hope she feels, and putting it on the reader “I believe college can help” to invite them into her journey. In other words: “I believe you [person who is determining my college/scholarship acceptance] can help.” So smart.
Having said this, if you are NOT writing about a challenge for this prompt…
Either:
If you know your future career, read this essay then do this exercise.
If you don’t know your future career, read through the “Type D” essay guide that starts on page 21 of this Google doc.
Create your outline.
Write a draft.
Revise your essay using this exercise.
Use the Great College Essay Test to see how your essay might be improved, then revise as needed until your essay is solid.
Share it with 1-2 people you trust and revise again, as needed.
Submit your essay (and any other required documents) before the deadline.
The “How will this scholarship help you?” Essay
Two ways you can go with this:
Approach #1: Use the resources above to write a great essay that spells out your big dreams, then end with 1-3 sentences describing specifically how you’ll use the scholarship money. (We’ll call this the “I have big dreams and you can help” approach.)
Approach #2: Explain your financial situation in detail, then end with 1-3 sentences saying how you’ll use the scholarship money. (We’ll call this the “Financial Details” approach.)
The difference: Approach #1 describes you + your dreams for 75-95% of the essay, then describes where the money will go for 5-25% of the essay, whereas Approach #2 describes financial details for 75-95%, then describes where the money will go for the last 5-25% of the essay.
Let’s look at examples for each.
Approach #1: “I have big dreams and you can help”
This one’s pretty simple. Take any of the great essays above and add 1-3 sentences explaining where the money will go.
Example A: The “Easter” Essay
The ending of that essay reads:
I’m involved in my school’s Leadership Council as leader of our events committee. We plan and execute school dances and create effective donation letters. I see this as a stepping-stone for my future, as I plan to double major in Women’s Studies and International Relations with a focus on Middle Eastern studies. After the political turmoil of the Arab Spring many Middle Eastern countries refuse to grant women equal positions in society because that would contradict Islamic texts. By oppressing women they’re silencing half of their population. I believe these Islamic texts have been misinterpreted throughout time, and my journey towards my own independence has inspired me to help other women find liberation as well.
My Easter will drastically differ from past years. Rather than being locked at home, my mother and I will celebrate outdoors our rebirth and renewal.
But it could have been easily revised to fit this prompt if the author chose to simply include a couple details describing how she’d use the scholarship funds. Like this, for example:
I’m involved in my school’s Leadership Council as leader of our events committee. We plan and execute school dances and create effective donation letters. I see this as a stepping-stone for my future, as I plan to double major in Women’s Studies and International Relations with a focus on Middle Eastern studies. While I have received a full scholarship to attend Georgetown, my financial aid package does not include money for my airfare, school supplies, or books. The funds from this scholarship would help cover those costs.
My Easter will drastically differ from past years. Rather than being locked at home, my mother and I will celebrate outdoors our rebirth and renewal.
Example B: The “Little Porch and a Dog” Essay
The ending of that essay (which is also above) reads:
Though neither of my parents attended college, they understand that college is a key factor to a bright future and therefore have been very supportive. And though we don't yet have the house with the small porch and the dog, we're still holding out hope.
I believe college can help.
But she could add just three words to make the connection to the prompt super clear (and I’ve bolded them below so you don’t miss them). That might look like this:
Though neither of my parents attended college, they understand that college is a key factor to a bright future and therefore have been very supportive. And though we don't yet have the house with the small porch and the dog, we're still holding out hope.
I believe college and this scholarship can help.
Simple, right?
And while tweaking an essay you’ve already written can be efficient (while showing a lot about who you are), it’s not the only way to demonstrate how you’d use scholarship funds.
Approach #2: The Financial Details Approach
The letter below takes a different angle from the approach above by explaining in more detail her family’s current financial situation and why she needs the money. Take a look:
I am so excited to have been admitted to University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) this year, as it was my number one choice.
There is a problem, however, and it is a financial one.
I’d love to attend UCLA—it’s near home, which would allow me to be closer to my family, and the Bio department is phenomenal. But, as a low-income Hispanic student, I simply don’t feel I can afford it.
Here are some more details of my financial situation. Currently, my father works as an assistant supervisor for American Apparel Co. and he is the only source of income for my family of five, while my mother is a housewife. The income my father receives weekly barely meets paying the bills.
My family’s overall income:
Father’s average weekly gross pay: $493.30
Father’s adjusted gross income: $27,022
Our household expenses:
Rent: $850
Legal Services: $200
Car payment: $230.32
My parents cannot afford to have medical insurance, so they do not have a medical bill. My father’s average monthly income is an estimate of $1,973.20 (see attached pay stub). When household expenses such as rent, car payment, legal services, gas bill, and electricity bill are added together the cost is of $1,402.70. Other payments such as the phone bill, internet bill, and groceries also add to the list. But in order to make ends meet my father usually works overtime and tailors clothes for people in our neighborhood.
My family is on an extremely tight budget and unfortunately cannot afford to pay for my schooling. I have worked my way up and was recently awarded Valedictorian for the class of 2014. My goals and my aspiration of becoming a nutritionist have helped me push forward. I appreciate your time in reconsidering my financial aid award.
I’m looking forward to becoming a Bruin, but without additional financial support, that may not be possible. This scholarship could change my life.
This approach still answers the prompt. And if you’re not sure which approach the scholarship provider is looking for or would prefer, don’t be afraid to reach out to them and ask. (Your readers are nice people and they want to help you submit a great application!)
Side note: this approach also works well for a financial aid appeal letter—like, if you don’t get the money you need from a college. You’ll find more on how (and why) to write a financial aid appeal letter at this link.
Final Words
Get this: Going Merry let me know in a recent conversation that more than 15% of the scholarships on their site went unclaimed last year.
That’s basically free money that just sat there … because no one tried to win it.
What’s the lesson?
You miss out on 100% of the scholarships you don’t apply for.
So get on it.
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