Heeeeeeey students, it's scholarship application time again, and boy howdy am I seeing a lot of fucking AI-written scholarships. Let me tell you right now, you're not likely to get far using AI in your scholarship apps, especially the more reviewers see it pop up.
Every process is different, but these are my three tips for a scholarship essay:
Be Genuine. Yes, I know this sounds stupid, but hear me out. If you're asked to describe a hardship or challenge you've faced, you need to be able to talk about how you relate to it personally. Throwing in those SEO words like "implementing goals" and "the value of perseverance" sounds like a computer wrote it for you. Not sure about it? Read your essay out loud. Does it sound like you? Is there a word or phrase you think would suit you better? Use it! This isn't an academic paper, it's an appeal you're making as a relatable person. You gotta make it sound like it was written by you.
Have clear and specific goals. What are you planning on doing after you graduate? How do you picture your future? Even if you're not quite sure, having stated future goals for what you want out of education is frequently what applicant screeners want to see. Make sure you tie it in with the "be genuine" part (if you are studying medicine, what field interests you, etc). If you are still unsure, look at the careers of people who inspire you. I went to grad school wanting to teach overseas because I had a fantastic teacher in high school who did the same thing. Citing an inspiration is always a good way to lay out your potential goals, even if they're not set in stone.
Be open on why you need the money. Listen, it's not cringe, and few scholarship essay prompts will outright ask for it, but this is the number one thing we are looking for above all else. Are you juggling work and school? Does your family need your support? Are you working from limited resources? Please put that in your essay. You can make it part of your personal section or why you have the goals that you have, but scholarships are granted on need, not on good writing. This is one thing left out of the AI-generated essays I've seen.
Can you plug these factors into ChatGPT and have it spit out something that works? Sure, anyone can. But the big telling factor of AI-written essays is sameness, which quickly becomes bland. If you are going to use AI at all (which I will refrain from rolling my eyes at within this post) I highly recommend using it to generate some ideas to work from only. The more the essay is in your own words, the more it will stand out.
The final piece of advice is for the love of Prime take advantage of the resources your school has. Don't struggle there on your own. Seek out a tutor, ask at the library, look out for sessions on how to better your scholarship essays. Your school or community most likely provide them and they are so worth going to, if only to be more present and engaged in your education. I can't tell you how many resources we offer for students that they don't use simply because they don't know they exist. We can plaster flyers and shout about it from the rooftops as much as we like, but the burden of finding out about these resources is on the student. Please pop into your school library and ask if you're struggling, they love to help you in any way possible.
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