What kind of tips are in the book? The book includes tips about all aspects of the application process: tips about writing style, content that committees love and content they hate, content you should avoid and mistakes that will get your essay discarded quickly. There are also numerous tips about how to improve and preserve the appearance of your essay; tips about email submissions; tips about things NOT to include in your essay, and tips on how to avoid those ever-present spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes. There are even tips about when to send in your essay, and tips about what kind of teachers you should choose to help you. Here are 10 sample scholarship essay tips from the book:
7. Use high-quality paper. You can get 50 sheets of high-quality paper at OfficeMax or Wal-Mart for around $3, and it makes a big difference in the appearance of your essay. It doesn't dog-ear, wrinkle or crease nearly as easily as copy paper or other standard printer paper.
12. If your essay has a page limit, insert your name and contact information in the header or footer to save space. Many scholarships limit your essay to a page or two, and quite often writers will take up five (sometimes double-spaced) lines with their name, address, email address, and other information. When space is at a premium, use the header or footer function of Microsoft Word, Works, Word Perfect or whatever program you use. This function lets you squeeze your name up into the margin area, where your essay wouldn't be appearing anyway. That way, you can squeeze in an extra paragraph if you need to.
23. Go easy on the slang, yo. Every generation uses a great deal of slang, but it's usually not the same slang the previous generation used. And it's most likely that the committee evaluating your essay isn't from your generation. One recent applicant mused about his football career and "leaping for a pick and taking it straight to the house." If you watch Sportscenter, you know he meant he intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. But guess how many of our committee members watch Sportscenter? Not many.
27. Don't knock your peers. For a lot of our applicants, when they're trying to show the committee how hard-working they are, they end up disparaging their peers while making the point. We get a lot of statements like: "While the other kids in my class were out (partying, horsing around, having fun)...I was (studying, working two jobs, caring for my younger siblings)." Most writers don't realize this, but drawing these comparisons makes you sound a little uppity. It's better to just mention what you do, and drop the "While my classmates were out..." part. We already know what some of the other kids are doing in their off-time: We see them street racing down the road, loitering at restaurants and preening at the mall. But we also know that those are mostly normal things that teenagers do, and implying that you're superior to them makes you look a little silly. Don't talk about others; talk about you.
