Speaker 1: Hello there. Are you thinking of applying to graduate school and looking for a scholarship? If your answer is yes, keep watching. Most scholarships require an essay, right? And an essay is an integral part to whether or not you get a scholarship, okay? And so, as a university professor, I have reviewed several, several, several, several applications for scholarships. At the university level, at the departmental level, even for some companies, I've helped them review scholarships from international companies. I can't mention those because typically you have to sign some kind of non-disclosure agreement forms, but I've reviewed a ton of scholarships. This video contains information on how to write a very good scholarship essay, and I also give you tips on how to make your essay more competitive. So, in my experience, the most common essay question is, please tell us about yourself and why you are applying for this scholarship. How will this scholarship help your personal and professional goals? Honestly, this is like 80% of every scholarship I have reviewed, this is the question that is asked. I don't know if there's some rule, but I understand why this question is asked a lot, because it makes sense, because this is the question that can really give the reviewer an insight into who you are as a person, as a student, and as a future professional. So, I understand why this question is so common, guys. Like, literally one out of every two scholarships I've reviewed asks this question. So, you guys, I'm going to include the question in the description box, and honestly, I would advise you guys copy that question, write an essay, answering that question, and that would help you moving forward, because not all scholarships are going to ask that question, but since several scholarship bodies ask that question, you are already positioned, because you already have this document, and all you need to do is kind of tweak it to fit the organization, and you're good to go. So, it's something to have, and this is kind of a universal question. And sometimes, even if they don't ask you this question directly, it's still kind of the same question, tell us about yourself, why do you want this scholarship, how is this scholarship going to help you, personally and professionally. Anyway, I love you guys, and if you have not subscribed, what are you waiting for? Join the Island Demand family, okay? Join us, join us. Join us, subscribe, like this video, it helps, like I told you guys, it helps this channel grow, it helps this content to be recommended to other people, so before you get into this video, click the like button, because I promise you this is a good video, I promise you. And leave me a comment if you have any questions, and I will see you in my next video. Enjoy this video, bye bye. So my last video, I talked about how to write a statement of purpose for graduate school. And so, the difference, let me go over the difference. The difference between a statement of purpose and a scholarship essay is that the statement of purpose is for admission into graduate school, right? You're trying to convince the graduate admissions committee that you're awesome, pretty much, right? The scholarship essay though is to get funding, to get money, to get scholarships, right? To get into graduate, to fund your graduate school. If you have money to go to school, it makes learning so much easier, right? And some of you watching actually need money to go to grad school abroad. In Canada, in UK, Germany, in the US, you need money. And so, having a scholarship is essential. And having, getting a scholarship, one of the most important things in actually being competitive for a scholarship is your scholarship essay. There are two things I want you guys to think about when you're drafting your essay, right? One, your essay must absolutely impress the reader, okay? Whenever a reviewer picks up your essay, you want to capture the reviewer in the first paragraph. You want the reviewer to be impressed in the first paragraph, okay? Number two, your essay must directly address the goals of the scholarship. Companies that advertise scholarships have goals. You have to read what the scholarship is about and make sure that your essay targets that scholarship. So, one of the harder things with applying for scholarships is that a lot of the scholarships are targeting different things, right? So, one of the mistakes a lot of people make is that they write one scholarship essay and then it's blanketed throughout. And then they just submit to different scholarship competitions. But that's not going to get you a scholarship because you have to draft, your scholarship essay must be unique to each funding agency, to each company. So, for example, it's like your statement of purpose, right? Your statement of purpose should be unique to each school. Same as your scholarship essay should be unique to each place you're applying for scholarship, okay? So, number one to think about, I have notes here. So, I'm going to read this out. So, read and understand the essay topic properly. Make sure to read between the lines, right? So, a lot of, some scholarships, I know I've reviewed some scholarships and then they ask you, they may ask you, write about a time in your life where you managed a difficult situation. Okay. So, you may not actually have managed a difficult situation well. Sometimes you just have to mix stuff up. That's what it is, you have to imagine things and mix stuff up, right? But there are some things that when they ask you a question like that, when they ask you to write about a particular situation in your life, typically they want to find out about your leadership skills, okay? They want to understand how you handle conflict resolution. They also want to get interested in finding out what your personality is like. Because remember, these people are not going to meet you in person. Most scholarships don't meet you in person, but they're going to give you a lot of money, right? Tens of thousands of dollars or pounds. So, they really want to get a sense of who you are from your essay, okay? Because they, I mean, they have your transcripts, but your scholarship essay gives them a peek into your personality and your life, okay? So, they also want to find out how you're going to survive in a foreign country, okay? So, those are things to look out for. They want to ask, they want to find out how intelligent you are and how good of a student you're going to be. So, these essay topics, they're not just asking you, they're not just wanting a story. They want to find out more about you, things that you're not even thinking about. And a lot of scholarship essays ask you about, like, conflict resolution or leadership skills, those kind of things, right? Because those are the kind of students you're really interested in, okay? All right, I've talked too much on that already, too much. Ask me questions in the comments if you're confused. Okay, so, one thing to think about in your scholarship essays, you want to include key words and, like, key people in your scholarship essay. So, for example, you guys know John Maxwell. He's a leadership god, right? Leadership guru. It's really tricky, but it's really nice if, it says a lot about you if you include, like, a John Maxwell quote in your scholarship essay. Because what does it tell the reviewer? Hmm, this person knows John Maxwell, interesting, cool, right? It means that you're actually interested in developing your leadership skills. So, that's just something to think about, you know, you kind of, like, if you have to talk about, like, conflict resolution or something, you want to say something about Nelson Mandela, you know, like, because you're trying to show these people you're super smart, you read books, you're dedicated, you know, you're dedicated to improving yourself, okay? So, those are just two people to kind of, those are, like, my two people, I always include in everything because I just feel they're awesome, okay? So, my advice is that never have more than two quotes in your scholarship essay, not more than two. Anything more than two quotes is just too much and it's just lazy, it's taking up space that you can actually be talking about yourself in your essay. So, two quotes is good. And never open your essay with a quote. Don't, it's just, like, really, right? So, you want to start strong, not with a quote. Add two separate quotes here and there in your essay, okay? All right, number three, include relevant information about your background, your experiences. You want to make sure, you want to sell yourself. So, when you're writing a scholarship essay, you are trying to sell yourself, right? You're a salesperson and what you're selling is you, okay? So, you want to put your best foot forward. You talk about, give them strong, concise information about your background. You want to talk about how poor you are. You don't have to be poor, but nobody wants to give scholarships to somebody who has, who comes from a wealthy home or who has a lot of money. You're not going to get that scholarship. So, you want to emphasize that you have a need for these scholarships, okay? So, you want to talk about your background. You want to tell a very sweet, sweet story. So, remember, if you haven't watched my Statement of Purpose video, that first, your first paragraph in your Statement of Purpose, in your Statement of Purpose can actually be directly cut, sort of, in your essay. It's kind of the same idea where you're talking about yourself. Very concise, very brief, concise, but powerful, so that they know, they get a sense for who you are and they're sympathetic. That's something you guys need to think about. You need the reviewer to be sympathetic to you. I'm telling you, because this, think about it, these reviewers, they're human, okay? I know, like, whenever I review scholarships, they give us a rubric of what, you know, what you're looking for and things like that. But ultimately, it's up to humans to pick people to fund. So, you want to make sure that these people are sympathetic and like you. And it's really hard, right? Think about it, because how are you going to make someone like you through paper? Like, how are you going to convince someone to be sympathetic and like you through a piece of paper? It's really hard, but that's why your scholarship essay is vital, you know? That's why your writing has to be top-notch, because you really want to convey something. You want to strike a chord with the reviewers and make them like you, okay? So, number four is start writing your essay today. Start a draft, because the issue with writing a scholarship essay is you keep procrastinating. You found the scholarship you want to apply for, you have your transcript, you have all the documents ready, you have your references, but you haven't started your draft yet. If you don't start your scholarship essay draft, it's never going to be done. So, drafts are important. It doesn't have to be perfect, but start today. Start your draft. Dump your ideas on paper. So, you want to start dumping your ideas on paper, and then you can come back to edit, but you have to start writing. You have to start writing your essay. So, start a draft. Whatever it is that they are asking for, just start writing. Start today and start dumping ideas down, and then you can leave it for two to three days, and then come back and edit. The majority of my job is writing. So, what I do is I write and dump. I write, write, write, write, write, leave it for two days or a day, a couple of hours, come back, and then edit. Dump, dump, dump, leave it, come back. Come back with fresh eyes. So, that's just something to think about. You want to start today. So, you want to revise, edit, revise. Remember, in my other video, I keep referring to my Statement of Purpose video, because they are connected. So, if you haven't watched that, go and watch that. But you have to edit your essay. That's very important. So, you revise, and you edit, and you revise, and you edit, and you get somebody from outside to come in, revise, and edit. You want to get someone you trust to revise your essay for you and provide feedback. So, somebody you trust and respect. Maybe even pay someone to revise your essay and provide feedback. So, even if you have to pay a little fee, just do it, because this is for a bigger purpose. If you're trying to get 50,000 pounds, and you're paying 1,000 Naira to have somebody edit your work, I mean, guys, it's huge, right? It's fine. It's fine. So, just do it. So, have somebody you trust read, edit your essay, provide very good constructive feedback for you, for your essay. So, this is probably one of the best investments you can do for yourself. Have somebody professionally edit your essay, so that the grammar is just sweet, crisp. I'm telling you, I always stress this editing, because I know a lot of Nigerians, a lot of Africans, honestly, do not write very well, because they don't teach us writing. Nigeria is my experience, but they don't really teach us writing. That was something I struggled with when I moved here. So, writing is difficult. So, you have to invest in writing. You have to make sure that your essay is crisp, like a fresh vegetable. When the reviewer is reading it, it's like they're biting into this fresh apple, and they're like, oh, my God, this person. You get it? Obviously, there's nothing worse than a scholarship reviewer finding grammatical errors or spelling errors in your essay. I'm one of those reviewers. I'm going to tell you guys today. I'm one of those reviewers that when I see grammatical errors, I literally, I just knock you down, knock your application down, like three notches. I'll finish reading it, but it has already tainted my mind against you, if there are grammatical errors in your essay. So, never go over the word counts. What happens is, if you apply for a scholarship, let's say you apply online, the company gathers your documents and sends to reviewers. So, most times, you have to copy and paste your essay in a box or something. Some of you, let's say they tell you 1,000 words, and you write 1,200 words. That box is going to cut out your essay. So, there are times I've reviewed an essay, and it stops at a weird point, and I'm like, oh, this person went over the word limit. And so, whatever, the company is just going to send me the exact word limit, and they're going to cut out the other parts. So, you have to keep to the word limit. And even if they don't cut it out, you get points ducked off because you could not follow instructions. I know. These things, okay, so they are so strict with this stuff. Why? Why are they so strict? Why are they so strict? Because hundreds and thousands of people apply for scholarships, especially big scholarships, like international scholarships. So many people apply. So, it's the little things that gets you disqualified, right, like going over the word limit, like having grammatical errors. A lot of people have the first class and have great stuff going on, have great experience and great things happening, but this is competitive, right? It's the little things that get points taken off, right? And then if you say, oh, everyone with 90 points and above will get a scholarship, and then you have 89 because you went over the word limit or because you had a grammatical error, like something stupid like that. That's sad. Isn't that sad? Just follow instructions, okay? Okay, so you want to make sure that you research the organization. You want to know the mission of the organization, the vision, the goals, the objectives, and make sure that your essay encompasses these. Also, if there is no formatting guidelines, always use 12-point font times New Roman with double spacing. So, that's like the general rule of thumb, right? Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spacing. I want you to think like you're reviewing a scholarship. Think like a reviewer, right? Your essay must be closely aligned with the funder's mission and priority areas, okay? So, you want to research the organization and check what their priority areas are in. You want to make sure that you understand the company's priority, their priority areas, and tailor your essay to fit their priority areas, okay? If you're a biology major, you want to do your master's in, let's say, biology, but you're more interested in microbiology. So, you have to tailor your essay to microbiology. Do you guys get what I'm saying? Make sure that your essay is tailored to the priority areas of the funding body.