Fellowships & Grants: Writing Essays

Before you begin writing the actual essay, you must be able to answer the following questions:

• Why me?

• Why now?

• Why country/school x?

• Where am I going and how does this award fit into that plan?

• What difference will it make?

• How will I engage the culture/serve as an ambassador?

What goes in the essay will vary from scholarship to scholarship, but some general items are:

• Bragging points. What have you accomplished?

• Details. The more specific, the better.

• Chosen details. You can't tell your life story in a couple of pages, so be choosy.  Look for an organizing/defining story about yourself.

• The nature of your project. The more specific, the better.

• What do they get out of it?

• Why should they give you this money?

Start now writing the essay and plan on going through many, many drafts.  Read them out loud and plan on having others and the director read them.