Student Writing Handbook Fifth+Edition

Applications / 137

In order to emphasize your qualifications for the scholarship, make prewriting notes
in response to the following questions:

• What coursework have you successfully completed that qualifies you for the
  scholarship?


• What extracurricular activities have you participated in that qualify you?


• What leadership roles have you successfully carried out that further qualify you?


• What community volunteer work have you completed that adds to your
  qualifications?


• What honors, awards, or other recognition have you received that set you apart
  from others?


• What challenges have you met; what tragedies or handicaps have you overcome;
  what setbacks have you surmounted or misfortune have you risen above?

STEP 5: Prewriting—Personalizing Your Response

As you make notes about your qualifications, keep in mind that the scholarship
selection committee is reading your response in an effort to get to know you. Your
transcript shows impersonal facts; your essay transforms the impersonal into per-
sonal. By the time the selection committee narrows the field to the final applicants,
all of your fellow competitors show academic excellence, great leadership, commu-
nity involvement, and significant extracurricular participation. To help the selection
committee set you apart from the others, your essay should reflect your personality.
Consider these suggestions:

• Put yourself in the place of the selection committee members. Would you,
  based on your essay, be excited about meeting you?


• Don’t create false scenarios, but be honest about your efforts toward success.


• Avoid a pity party.


• Avoid sounding judgmental of others you see as less accomplished.


• Avoid sounding arrogant or self-centered.

STEP 6: Writing—Putting Your Best Foot Forward

With your prewriting notes in front of you, consider this last bit of advice about writ-
ing your essay:

• Don’t list your achievements unless the application form requests lists. Instead,
  group activities and achievements into parallel parts of a sentence.
  Example: Among my volunteer activities at Mesker Park Zoo, at the local
  Botanical Gardens, and with City Beautiful, I’ve had the opportunity to learn
  about native plants that thrive in local habitats and how they more readily sur-
  vive over hybrids.