9 Tips for Writing an Essay About Yourself
You know yourself better than anyone else, but writing about yourself can still be tough ! When applying for scholarships or to college, essay prompts can feel so general ( and so far therefore specific ! ) that they leave us stumped. So we ’ ll picture you 8 tips to write an try about yourself, so that you can land more scholarships. ( Psst – Going Merry makes applying easy. )
Let ’ s start with some examples of personal test prompts :
- Tell me about yourself.
- Describe a challenge or event that made you who you are today.
- What are your short and long-term goals, and how do you plan to achieve them?
- Write about a time you failed at something. How did it affect you?
These are just a few of many scholarship essay prompts that require you to look internally, to answer a question, solve a problem, or explain a scenario in your life.
We get it. You might not be a big fan of bragging about yourself, or you might want to keep your personal stories to yourself. But by opening up and sharing your report, you can show scholarship providers, colleges and universities who you are, and why you ’ ra deserving of their eruditeness .
( Don ’ triiodothyronine merely take our word for it – check out our eruditeness winners page full of students like you who were brave enough to share their stories with us ) .
To get started, check out these 9 tips on how to write an essay about yourself:
1. Create a List of Questions
After reading through the scholarship essay prompt, breathe, and make a list of smaller questions you can answer, which relate to the big essay prompt question .
Let ’ s say the main try prompt interview asks you, “ What were challenges or barriers you had to work to overcome ? ” then the smaller questions might be something like :
- What is your background? Family, finances, school.
- What was challenging about that background?
- What’s your greatest accomplishment? How did you get there? How have previous challenges influenced your goals?
think of these questions as mini-prompts. They explain your story and help you answer the main test prompt with more details than if you barely answered it without a plan in target .
2. Brainstorm and Outline
After considering smaller questions, it ’ second prison term to brainstorm your answers. Take out a playpen and paper – or open up a document on a calculator – and take your time in answering each mini-prompt. Organize your responses in orderliness :
- Intro to main essay prompt.
- Answer about 3 mini-prompt questions.
- Conclude by rewriting the answer to the main essay prompt with a summary of your mini-prompt answers.
This constitution will help you stay on topic and answer the prompt immediately. ( Or check out these 6 eruditeness test examples for alternative essay structures. )
3. Be Vulnerable
Don ’ thymine be afraid to let your strengths, challenges, and personal stories shine through in your try ! eruditeness and admissions committees love to see that you ’ re self-conscious how you can improve as a person, or how you ’ ve grown because of your experiences. Honest write can help tell the best stories ( in this lawsuit, YOUR report ) .
4. Use Personal Examples
Since this essay is all about you, you should make your answer ampere specific as possible ! Avoid using generalizations ( for example, “ I ’ megabyte very good at music ). alternatively, go for more individualized statements ( for example, “ My fourth-grade teacher Ms. Matay very inspired me to pursue my interest in the clarinet ” ). Your personal examples are what will help your eruditeness essay stand out among the thousands of applicants..
5. Write in the First Person
You ’ rhenium telling your history, so write from your perspective ! You can narrate your report. You can provide an overview of what you learned from your experiences. however you choose to answer the immediate, we recommend writing in an active tone, and using “ I ” and “ me ” throughout your test .
6. Don’t Be Afraid to Show Off…But Stay on Topic!
Most students worry about bragging in their essay, but we say go for it ! This is your time to shine, so highlight your accomplishments and strengths. Review your essay to make certain that you ’ re keeping the tone instructive and that you ’ re still on topic. ( Brag while answering the essay prompt ; don ’ thymine good note random, unrelated but impressive facts about yourself ! ) You can use this boss sheet where you can brainstorm your accomplishments. While the worksheet is geared toward requesting letters of recommendation, you can still use it to write out your hobbies, interests, college tilt, and strengths to help you answer your eruditeness essay immediate .
7. Show Personality
just because it ’ s an try doesn ’ metric ton mean it has to be dry and boring. This test is all about you, sol let your personality glow through. If you ’ re the class clown, you can use a sting of wit. If you wear your affection on your sleeve, don ’ thymine be afraid to show emotion. Trying your best to express who you are as a person will have a huge effect on the admissions or scholarship committee !
8. Know Your Audience
If you ’ re applying for a scholarship, inquiry the eruditeness provider. If you ’ re applying to college, research the educate. Understanding what makes the provider/college singular and what their motivations are, will allow you to incorporate that information in your test. For exemplar, many scholarships are funded by individual companies that sell products. You might want to reference those products in your essay. A good exercise of this is Emily Trader ’ s essay for the Life Happens constitution, where she uses her personal narrative to explain the importance of indemnity planning, since that is the deputation of the organization ( which is funded by policy companies ) .
9. Proofread and Edit!
The final step in answering your essay prompt is to double-check your work ! One misprint can be distracting and cause scholarship providers to scratch their head while reading the try. ( Psst, humble boast : Going Merry ’ s application chopine includes spellcheck because we ’ ve got your back. ) In summation to proofreading for misprint and grammatical errors, besides consider whether the conviction or paragraph social organization makes smell. Are you breaking paragraphs in the right rate ? Are you using topic sentences well to signpost your main ideas ? Does the essay flow ? Consider these “ bigger ” morphologic questions excessively. You might besides want to ask a friend, family member, teacher, or guidance advocate to review your try. They might catch something you didn ’ thymine see the first time about, and that can truly help your try ! In fact, that is scholarship winner Daniel Gill ’ s # 1 tip off. ( Another point is to apply for scholarships using Going Merry ! )
besides, check out this helpful list of the 10 most coarse scholarship essay topics while you ’ rhenium brainstorming !
now that you know how to write an essay about yourself, it ’ second time to start applying for eruditeness ! Remember : You ’ ve got this.
Read more: How to build the perfect sandcastle
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