Diverse STEM Students: 3 Ways to Make your Scholarship Essay Stand Out
When writing a scholarship essay, follow these tips to win the most money for college
Many STEM scholarship applications require an essay, which is nothing more than a document in which you must present your interests, goals, and highlight how the scholarship to which you are applying contributes to the achievement of your personal and professional goals. It also showcases the ability to express yourself and what inspire you to continue your STEM studies, passion, leadership skills, among other aspects.
Steps to draft a great STEM essay.
1. Think of a good angle
The STEM essay topic should have a personal meaning, it should reveal something about who you are, what your values and interests are, and why you are different from other people competing for this STEM scholarships.
Selecting the right topic is very important. To get you started, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What motivates you to pursue a career in STEM? Explain through concrete examples what has been your experience in the STEM field (you can refer to work experience, acquired knowledge, skills or abilities).
- What have I done in the field of STEM in my community? What am I going to do with the knowledge I have gained in the field of STEM to benefit my community?
- Refer to an important situation you have faced in your life (challenge or problem) and how you managed to solve it.
- What impact do you think your STEM studies and/or scholarship will have on your life?
- How do you expect to use what you learn in the field of STEM to benefit your community in the future?
You can use the following list of ideas as a guideline:
- Academic, STEM community work and/or personal interests.
- STEM professional experience and its relationship to the desired studies.
- Reasons for pursuing STEM studies and how you will apply your knowledge to benefit your community.
- Reasons for choosing the university and scholarship program.
- Benefits and commitments upon receiving the STEM scholarship.
2. Writing the essay
Writing takes time; do not rush or expect to finish the essay in one afternoon. You should carefully read the instructions: including proposed topic, number of words, font size and type, margins, among others. You should use simple words to express your ideas and illustrate each statement you make with an example (comment, evidence, comment, evidence).
In structuring and writing the essay, consider the following:
The essay is to talk about you (not about third parties) about aspects that do not appear in any other document.
- Do not exceed the maximum number of words and/or characters defined by the scholarships to which you are applying and make the most of the number of words.
- Do not write all at once, divide the essay into several paragraphs: an introductory paragraph, several intermediate paragraphs, and a closing paragraph.
- Pay special attention to the introduction; you should try to capture the reader’s interest, so he/she will be interested in knowing more about your goals in STEM.
- Organize the paragraphs in chronological order, past-present-future.
- Do not leave topics or paragraphs open. Close them and do not return to a topic already covered.
- To excel in the competition, you must respond in the best possible way to the requirements and objectives of the STEM scholarship.
- Support your sentences to convince the scholarship committee with comment, evidence; comment, evidence.
- If you are going to talk about the university or the academic program, inform yourself before speaking, otherwise, you may make mistakes.
- It is recommended that in addition to your goals and aspirations, you also express in your essays how you will contribute in the future to the development of your community in the STEM field.
- Avoid talking about religious, faith and political aspects in your essay.
- Try to avoid as much as possible the use of “catch phrases”, those that everyone always says and uses, you must be original and stand out from the rest.
Be sure to proofread, check spelling, and the use of punctuation marks. Don’t rely on your computer’s word processor to check your spelling; your essay should be meticulously proofread to make sure it is well-written.
3. Take your time, look for examples, and ask for help.
Take your time to complete your essay, after you write it allow a few days to revise and rethink it – even a week – and then come back to it. This will allow you to appreciate the essay from a fresh perspective. Be sure to show your essay to friends or family – they will be able to see things you missed or forgot to mention – also ask a student advisor or a school counselor to review it. Also ask for letter of recommendations from professors, mentors and school counselor.
Have fun, take your time, show authenticity, and tell your story well!
It is quite common to become aware of a scholarship that you like and that fits your profile when the deadline to apply is very close, and you do not have enough time to prepare the essay, or the date has already passed.
When this happens many students tend to feel frustrated for not having been able to, at least try, to access this opportunity. Following the feeling of frustration comes the thought that it will never be possible to access this opportunity again. However, most scholarship applications have a regular periodicity, i.e. they open and close applications every year around the same dates.
Additionally, most scholarships maintain the same conditions and requirements from one year to the next, which gives you an advance knowledge of the requirements you must have and the documents you must prepare for the following year. Take advantage of IOScholarships organizer! When you search and save your scholarships in IOScholarships as favorites we will remind you of the application deadline and you can store your documents in one place.
Don’t miss the change to win the most money to go to college, apply today at www.ioscholarships.com