Every year, organizations and businesses give out millions of dollars in college scholarships. These scholarships are awarded based on all kinds of different criteria, and there are several resources for searching scholarship opportunities.

Applying for private scholarships is probably the biggest barrier to winning them. Scholarship applications take time and effort to complete, and they are all a little bit different. Today’s students at least have the benefit of online forms for most scholarship applications. Only a decade ago, students had to fill out all of that paperwork by hand! While entering the same information over and over can be tedious, the financial benefit really does make it worthwhile.

Just like with college applications, the most important part of every scholarship application is the essay. Students cannot write a single essay to be copied and pasted into every application form. Because these are private grantors, they want to award the funds to the most qualified candidate who will represent the spirit behind the scholarship well. That means they want to read an essay that conveys an alignment between their values and the candidate’s.

Do Background Research on the Scholarship Grantor

Much like writing a college admissions essay, students need to write a scholarship application essay that forges a connection to the organization or business. When an organization sets up a scholarship fund, they do it with their own values and mission in mind, and they are hoping to grant the award to candidates who match their ideals.

To prepare for an essay that makes that match, get to know the organization and the background of the scholarship first:

• Carefully read the criteria set for scholarship candidacy to ensure eligibility and to get a sense of their ideal scholar

• Research the organization to learn about their mission statement, corporate values, industry, and social concerns

• Find out if past winner information is public to see what stands out among them

• Self-reflect to make sure this organization, and the purpose of their scholarship, is really a good fit

Whether intentionally or not, donating organizations do give a lot of clues about what qualities and characteristics they are looking for in their scholarship recipient. When students get into the habit of doing the background work first, their application process will go smoothly, and they can write an essay that shows how their story connects to the organization’s goals for the funds.

An Essay Template May Streamline the Application Process

While every application essay is unique to the donating organization, common themes will arise for any student who is looking at several scholarship opportunities. To make it more efficient, students can develop an essay template that will then be customized for each application.

This template should be very loosely structured so that students have a great deal of flexibility when they go to write the essay that makes that personal connection I mentioned earlier. It may be set up as a series of bullet points that cover different aspects of the student’s life and experience. Or it could be written in paragraph form, but not necessarily all neatly tied together.

After completing the background research, students should move to the template and pull out the points that will best fit into the official essay. Then they will add information that connects them directly to the organization granting the award and shape it for a well-constructed and personalized essay. With this approach, most students can complete more applications and raise their chances of earning more funds for college.

If you’re overwhelmed or intimidated by the scholarship application process, it can be impossible to even get started at all. While these applications do look like a daunting amount of work at the outset, many of my clients have found them to be one of the best investments of their college planning time. Don’t give up on private scholarship opportunities before you even get started. Contact me for a free strategy session, and I will help you shift your perspective to one of confidence.