The key to stellar scholarship essays.

Watch the video below, and then I'll tell you how it relates to scholarship essay writing.

                                

   

Most likely, you have seen this commercial and were taken by surprise (I was). The viewer never expects these two friends to hit a car when they were just doing something we all do everyday: have a conversation while driving. What makes this commercial so good is that we are engaged the entire time and then surprised at the conclusion. Both elements combined make an extremely memorable advertisement.

The key to great essay writing is capturing your audience's attention (in your case, scholarship committees), and then making your message stick so you'll be remembered. But here's the kicker. If you don't engage your audience within the first few sentences, you're sunk.  

Here are four ways to create an essay that helps you stand out and makes you memorable:

1. Spend most of the time on your introduction. Like I said, you need to capture your reader's attention within the first sentence. Thus, your introduction is the most important part of your essay, because the goal is to keep your reader reading. Spend at least 60% of your essay writing time on your introduction and you won't be sorry.

2. Lead-in sentences should create a mystery. Lead sentences like "the person who made the biggest impact on my life was. . ." or "If I could have lunch with one person, that person would be. . ." are just plain boring and get committees moaning. The goal is to keep the reader reading. To entice them forward, create a problem or pose a question. For example, "I never thought the worst day of my life would end up teaching me my biggest lesson." With this type of sentence, the reader becomes intrigued: they want to find out what the lesson was, get it?

3. Surprise turn of events. Remember the Sixth Sense and the surprise ending? (I won't ruin it for you if you haven't seen it, but if you want to know what it is, email me). How crazy was that, and how many friends did you tell to see that movie? Here's the thing, if you conclude with a unexpected surprise--good or bad--your essay will be remembered, and committees will talk about you. In my mind, that's a good thing. 

4. Don't white-wash your essay. It is tempting to paint a pretty portrait for scholarship committees. Afterall, you want to make a good impression. However, "white-washing" (including only glowing reviews of yourself) is not a good idea. Committees realize that you are human, with shortcomings as well as talents. If you shed light on all aspects of your character--good and bad--you are more likely to be remembered as an honest applicant.

I know these are pretty general recommendations, so if you want more information, visit my website and sign up for my weekly newsletter: www.collegeboundresource.com. Have a great day and happy writing!