The following are five easy tips to help you write college and scholarship essays. These tips are based on sections from The Scholarship & College Essay Planning Kit  and Winning Scholarships for College.

Tip #1 – Do Not Ramble

When you’re writing an essay, it’s easy to ramble. When you finish your first draft, go back and reread the question to make sure you’ve answered it.

Tip #2 – Do not give a laundry list of activities but make sure you write about them!   

An essay is where you can really shine and tell those who read the essay how you feel about a particular activity. In fact, incorporating your activities, how they have helped to make you into the student or person you are, and how those activities may have helped others, are important features to include in an essay and make its content come alive for the readers.

Tip #3 – Always try to answer these questions when writing about an activity.

• What is the activity and why are you involved?
• Who does the activity benefit?
• How does this activity benefit you or others?

Tip #4 – Proofread! Proofread! Proofread!

Typos and spelling or grammatical errors will not make a good first impression. Don’t rely on your computer’s spell check. Reread your essays several times; then ask someone else to read your essays for errors as well. After you’ve proofread your essay several times and corrected errors, ask yourself, “Could anything I’ve written be written by any other student.” For example, you may write, “I want to change the world. I want to make a difference.” That’s wonderful, but you need to be specific with your plans to change the world or make a difference. Otherwise, your essay does not truly reflect you. If you need help learning how to do this, attend a webinar on essay writing or take our online learning course,  How to Write Amazing Scholarship and College Essays.

Tip #5 – If applicable, include your answers to these questions in your essay.

• Have you faced any challenges?
• Have you overcome obstacles or hardships?
• What makes you unique? For example, a girl on a high school football team would be different.
• Have your achievements had an incredible impact on others or yourself?
• Have you significantly changed your life in some way? For example, you transformed from an extremely poor student to a great student.
• How has your commitment and service to others changed your life or that of another person?

If you need help writing essays, review The Scholarship and College Essay Planning Kit, Winning Scholarships for College or if you need step by step guidance, attend  The Scholarship and College Essay Writing Boot Camp or take our online learning course, How to Write Amazing Scholarship and College Essays.