It’s Scholarship Season! Here are 7 Tips for Writing Your Application Essay

Austin Community College District’s (ACC) scholarship application requires a personal essay—but don’t stress! It only needs to be 250-500 words. Here’s the prompt: 

Please provide a personal statement of 250-500 words that discusses your educational and career plans and how ACC can help you achieve them. Please also include any extenuating or unusual circumstances you want the committee to consider when reviewing your application.  

Follow these seven tips to generate ideas and organize your thoughts.  

  1. Review the prompt. Underline anything you find confusing and seek clarification before you begin writing. 
  2. Introduce yourself. It’s a good idea to begin with a little background information. You might want to write about your birthplace or heritage. Maybe you’re a single mom, a military veteran, or one of seven children. What are you most proud of having achieved? What have been some of your biggest obstacles in life, and how did you overcome them? This section is all about letting us know what makes you unique. 
  3. Explain why you chose ACC. What made you enroll at ACC over another school? How does ACC align with your college, career, and/or personal goals? 
  4. Describe your educational interests. What are you studying? How did you become interested in this subject? What do you most want to learn while working toward your degree or certificate? 
  5. End on a positive note. Briefly summarize the main points of your essay and conclude with your hopes for the future. What would receiving a scholarship help you achieve? 
  6. Spell check and proofread. This goes a long way! Look for any misspelled words or typos. Have a friend or family member read over your essay. They might catch something you missed.
  7. Chat with a specialist. ACC’s ACCelerator Program specialists are available to assist with every part of your scholarship application, including the personal essay. Email [email protected] or schedule an appointment on Calendly.

Tags: , , ,

Back to Top