C R E A T E D B Y : M I M E S S A Y S C H O L A R S H I P T I P S SCHOLARSHIP ESSAY TIPS & SAMPLES Usually there are 2 types of Scholarships Essays Merit Based - Scholarship is awarded based on your academic and extracurricular performance Need Based - Scholarship is awarded if you can show a viable financial need Personalizing the essay To win a scholarship essay you need to prove to the school how you are better or more deserving than the thousands or tens of thousands of other students who have applied for the same. Usually scholarship essays range from a short 300 - word essay to large 1 - 2 - page free format SOP or essays. Here the goal is to make sure that you make a pitch as to why you are deserving - highlighting what pursuits you have undertaken, where you have gone above and beyond, how you have utilized your time well and created value for the school or community. For example, here are a few things you can do: 1. Showing yourself as a proactive overachiever since the early days - stating experiences of awards, earlier scholarships won 2. Mention the reason for choosing the particular academic UG - If it’s a good school mention its rankings, talk about your academic performance there (previous scholarships, awards). 3. Talk about how you have undertaken challenging projects, written papers, engaged in competitions - The goal here is to show how you have been proactive with your time. 4. Talk about extracurriculars - Leadership positions in Clubs/Associations, Major events organized, Business case competitions 5. Work ex - Talk about the path taken towards your goals, how did the short term and long - term goals become clearer. Internships done; jobs taken up - Achievements during the same. How did each pursuit make your goals clearer? Apart from the above when writing the scholarship essay, here are a few musts to include. Clear pitch for the Masters You need to be very clear about what your goals are (Role, Company) and show awareness of a skill gap which the masters can fulfil. This can be done by building a narrative of how you engaged in different internships/jobs to reach the current point where you are clear about your goals, and a masters is the best medium to attain the same. Pitch for the particular school Schools are interested in knowing why you have chosen that particular school and country for your masters, what do they particularly offer which will help you get closer to your goals? Courses, Electives, specializations, clubs, location, Alumni, Target recruiting companies, specific experience events - all these can be mentioned here as reasons Why is scholarship needed: In the concluding paras you can talk about what you will do with the scholarship money, some examples can be 1) Will allow you to reduce the financial pressure on your parents/ on you and free up more time and head space for other productive commitments 2) Will allow you to pursue opportunities that the college would provide, and not get bogged down by taking up part time jobs to support yourself 3) If you have any particular undertaking you want to take up, such as joining a particular club, or take up CFA certifications , you can mention how a scholarship will free up time to pursue those commitments You can also give data about the earning potential of your family members and how supporting your education would be a tough task for them, something that can be eased and in extreme cases made possible only via a scholarship. End with a one - line conclusion, thanking them for the opportunity and mentioning that you hope they find merit in your argument. SCHOLARSHIP ESSAY SAMPLES Sample 1 ‘Knowledge when put into practice leads to skill. Skill in action leads to success’ reads the motto of my alma mater - Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), considered one of the top engineering schools in India and one of the toughest to get admission into, with only the top 1% of a million plus aspirants accepted. Already a firm believer in the power of hard work and practice, the four years of undergraduate studies at VNIT further firmly ingrained within me the belief that continuous learning and practice leads one to greatness. The curiosity to know how commodities of everyday life are manufactured and the love for problem solving led me to specialize in Chemical Engineering. To put into practice the knowledge gained in the classroom I participated in a national level heat - exchanger design and fabrication event (Chemix, 2014) and won the first prize. Further, with the need to deal with the threat of climate change and to search for alternative fuel I focused my graduation thesis on ‘Industrial Production of bio - ethanol’, a detailed report on how to optimize the industrial production of ethanol, considered to be an excellent and clean alternative to gasoline. In addition to these activities I have represented both my school and college cricket and basketball teams. Being involved in team sports has instilled within me the qualities of a team - player and made me a firm believer of the saying that the ‘The team always comes first’. Apart from this I utilized the free time I had in college to diversify my experiences and gain new skills. As the event manager for our annual technical festival (Axis, 2013), I took the initiative to reach out to prospective sponsors and pitched to them the advantages of sponsoring our event; this pro - activity helped us garner record sponsorship amounts. Further, the curiosity to understand the process of creating music led me to join the music club at VNIT and learn guitar. Now, I am an adept guitar player and have performed at multiple collegiate festivals owing to this talent. I belong to a farmer community and thus have focused on applying my chemical engineering knowledge in the agribusiness sector. To gain insights into agro - business and the eagerness to put my engineering language into practice led me to grab a summer internship at UPL Ltd (a global crop protection chemicals manufacturing company). There, I ensured that I took up projects related to solving real problems being faced by the industry. For instance, UPL was exploring ways to increase the market value of a by - product. I took this problem as my project and provided them with a comprehensive solution which resulted in an increase of 800% in the market value of the by - product. My work was appreciated & I was offered full time employment in the position of a process engineer. Post these experiences I prepared for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and secured a rank in the top 4% which helped me land a coveted job at KRIBHCO, the largest fertilizer manufacturing facility in India. Working at KRIBHCO I have led two successful cost reduction and process optimization projects. I undertook these projects in addition to my routine responsibility of an assistant shift in - charge (ASI), where I handle a team of 20+ workers and the production and maintenance of 8 utility plants. This experience has made me a confident team leader and improved my man management and interpersonal skills. In addition to this, I have begun working on my French language skills by enrolling in a French class and I am confident of getting a B1 certification by the time the course at ESSEC starts. Professionally, I desire constant challenges and problem - solving scenarios from the work that I do and thus my career goal is to start a consultancy which will provide end to end solutions in the agrobusiness operations and supply chain and to achieve this I aspire to kick - start a career in operations consulting. I believe that my engineering education, internships and professional experience have provided me with experience of identifying problems and the knowledge and expertise to solve these problems, which are important attributes required in a consultant. However, starting one’s own consultancy requires sound business skills and understanding. Thus, undergoing the Master of Science in Management course at this stage of my career will help me gain a comprehensive insight into the fundamentals of business and management, and bridge the present gap between my analytical and technical expertise and limited business skills. The core operations management track at ESSEC will help me build a strong academic base, while the flexible course structure will allow me to hand pick courses and develop an all - round understanding of the dynamics of management. Being awarded with the Eiffel Scholarship would be an honor and it will not only provide me with significant financial support but also with the opportunity to become a part of multiple cultural activities organized across France. Moreover, the scholarship will enable me to contribute to the endeavors of Campus France. Thus, I apply to Eiffel Scholarship and hope to join the illustrious list of Eiffel Scholars. Sample 2 From being one of the top scorers in my class, graduating in just 2.8 years with a final grade of 110/110 cum laude, to taking up various international experiences and the organization of several events, such as a conference on Jobs Act in collaboration with former Minister of Labour Maurizio Sacconi and a conference on tech investing in Tel Aviv, I have tried to make the most of my college life and have grown leaps and bounds as a result. Though balancing these activities required a focused effort from my side, this could not have been possible without the financial support of my father because of whom I did not have to worry about spending valuable time on funding concerns. The understanding of key business management mechanisms and the interpretation of the main economic phenomena, something I was very passionate about, drove me to excel in academics and pushed me to deepen my learnings through the exposure to different experiences. On the one hand, wanting to develop a practical understanding of the management of a real company, I led a three - student team in an online business game, in which I volunteered to take charge of the financial plan. On the other hand, wanting to benefit from the exposure to different ways of thinking and new learning methods, I took part in a summer school and in the Erasmus+ program, in which I got a chance to improve my English proficiency and participate in several finance - focused events. Along this path, intrigued by the dynamic nature of financial markets, I matured an interest in finance. Accordingly, in an effort to enhance my knowledge, I attended the courses of “advanced corporate finance” and “capital markets” offered by my university, and I read Benjamin Graham’s masterpieces “The Intelligent Investor” and “Security Analysis”, develop ing an inclination towards equity investing. Wanting to build upon these teachings and gain some valuable practical experience, I took up two valuable internships. In the first one, being a treasury analyst at Ariston Thermo Group, I approached finance from a corporate viewpoint, while dealing with all the aspects of treasury management due to the small size of the department. Moreover, working in a team on the implementation of a treasury management system, I got an opportunity to network with professionals within the company and external consultants. Motivated by the knowledge gained during this internship, I made further research and drew up my thesis on treasury management, underlining the impacts of technological innovation on it and bringing Ariston Thermo Group as case study. In the second internship, being a sell - side equity research analyst at Intesa Sanpaolo, I was responsible for preparing reports to support the clients of the firm in their decisions to buy or sell stocks. Particularly, I worked in a team on investment ideas generation and I performed financial statement analysis, financial modelling and primary research. Although I enjoy the research into equities, interacting with professionals from Eurizon Capital, the asset manager of Intesa Sanpaolo, made me realize that I am more inclined towards strategizing and decision making. Hence, the perfect fit for me is a position in a buy - side asset management firm, in which I can make active investment decisions. Accordingly, upon graduation from LSE, I envision myself working as an equity analyst at a company such as BlackRock, figuring out the underlying principles and frameworks of a global asset manager. Here, working closely with portfolio managers and making active investment recommendations to them, I can gain the expertise needed to attain, in the long term, a portfolio management position and, eventually, follow the entrepreneurial path of my father and my grandfather, starting my own fund. Thanks to my internships and educational pursuits, I have the right basis to succeed in this goal. However, these experiences also made me realize that, in order to be competitive in this challenging field, I need to go beyond my management degree and develop a powerful theoretical understanding of finance. Accordingly, since the theoretical teaching method of my university was crucial to build a solid foundation in economics and management, I’m attracted by LSE’s pedagogy. The structure of the MSc Finance and, particularly, the courses of asset markets and portfolio management, combined with the conferences and events organized by LSE's Financial Markets Group, would allow me to build up on my previous learnings by getting deeper in advanced concepts. Additionally, having my international experiences and wanting to develop a more global footprint, I am confident that the dynamic LSE environment would give me the opportunity to interact with high level peers from different countries. Similarly, I would be able to build a solid network with recognised industry professionals, from bankers to fund managers, chalking out a path to grow rapidly in the near future. The opportunity of joining a prestigious institution such as LSE would allow me to gain an edge over peers and get closer to my goals. However, from a financial viewpoint, it represents a huge jump from my previous studies in which, facing tuition fees of €3000 per year and living expenses of about €500 per month, I was funded by my father. Moreover, since my brother has begun this year his bachelor’s degree at Bocconi University, my family would need to fund his €12000 annual tuition fees and maintain him in Milan, which is one of the most expensive cities in Europe. Consequently, although my father will be able to support my living expenses in London and X% of the programme’s tuition fees, I would have to take up a loan for the rest of the money and, as I do not want to pressure too much his financial condition, I would have to undertake a part time job to support the living expenses in London. Along this path, a scholarship would be extremely beneficial since it would allow me to save precious time and invest it in making the most of the various opportunities offered by the school. Most conspicuously, taking up varied extracurricular activities, I would develop a comprehensive set of soft skills that are very valuable in the workplace. Firstly, I plan to join the Investment Society, which would allow me to amalgamate theory into practice. Indeed, thanks to the participation in the investment fund project and in the portfolio management competition, I would like to deepen my knowledge of the techniques used by investment managers. Secondly, joining the Finance Society, I would be able to benefit from the exposure to corporate presentations, finance seminars, conferences and exclusive networking events. Thirdly, the active involvement in the Debate Society would help me develop my public speaking skills, which are critical in delivering an impactful performance in interviews. Finally, in order to further develop my financial understanding and to enhance my appeal to the employers, I plan to study for the CFA Level I, which is a significant time commitment on its own. In conclusion, tough I am confident that I will be able to make the most of my time at LSE, and strive hard to make sure this educational endeavour is a resounding success, I am humbly aware how much of a difference a financially unburdened mind and a few extra hours every day, which otherwise would be spent working part time, can make towards gaining an edge in this highly competitive world of business and finance. Hence, I humbly make my case for a scholarship at LSE, and I hope the committee will see merit in my argument, as well as see my potential and the value I can bring to the school and deem me worthy for a scholarship. Sample 3 Please upload an essay of 250 words maximum (preferably in pdf format) explaining: 1. What are the fundamental reasons that lead you to choose the selected Scholarship? If your application is merit based, expound what makes you different as a candidate and describe your academic or personal accomplishments. If your application is economic need based, describe your family’s financial scenario and your financial plan (how you and your family expect to fund the program, with or without a grant). 2. In addition, if you are applying for the IE Fellow Award, please mention the areas of your interest in collaborations (e.g. marketing, sales, research...) and the languages you speak (fluently). Pushing my limits has been my driving motto in life, leading me to undertake various projects during my academic and professional career. Besides excelling in my Undergrad, I co - founded a DJ Club, sharing my passion for music while providing DJ classes to students and entertainment for campus events. Further, I engaged in social volunteering, helping raise $52,000 for social infrastructure and aided the Moroccan Ombudsman identify the best practices for citizens protection. In addition, participating in an exchange program in South Korea and engaging in varied internships from sales to private equity helped me develop my skills in communication, conflict management and problem - solving. Upon graduation, eager to create an impact I contributed to the creation of a graduate business school that aims to transform the higher education scenario in Africa. There, I contributed to getting the School government - authorized, setting up & documenting its processes, managing its Executive MBA’s operational aspects and shaping the digital strategy. In only 18 months, we recruited visiting faculty form the most prestigious academic institutions such as Columbia, M.I.T., Warwick, etc., and 100+ top executives from 5 African countries. At IE, leveraging my fluency in French and English and the skills developed so far, I’m looking to contribute to the venture capital club and initiate networking events while engaging with the highly diverse cohort. Also, hoping the committee will find my application worthy for the fellowship, I hope to contribute to various functions ranging from program creation & management, to partnerships implementation, outreach and marketing. Sample 4 Q1. Explain how the master’s program will add value to your further studies or in launching your career. Ans. An inquisitive nature and a thirst to expose myself to different experiences, has been a defining trait of my life. Right from school, involvement in varied extracurricular activities such as dance, art & craft and music helped me develop holistically. On academic front, the practicality of Business and Economics attracted me and ultimately pushed me to take up bachelor’s in business administration from one of the leading business schools in India. In parallel, wanting to develop a wholesome business understanding, I engaged in several extracurricular activities such as organizin g college fests, participating in the creativity club and engaging in marketing competitions. These events helped me learn teamwork and gave me insights into budgeting, cost cutting, negotiation etc. Further while working at Curature Consulting, I was exposed to digital marketing, client handling and content marketing, and taking initiatives was able to increase the firm’s revenue by 3%. While I realised my performance was good, there were some fields such as marketing strategies, consumer behaviour etc. in which I lacked knowledge, and which prevented me from understanding various aspects of the business and reaching my goal of becoming a brand manager in a leading FMCG. That is when I took the call and decided to pursue my masters from a leading business school. Grenoble MIB with its comprehensive curriculum containing classes on everything from strategy and operations to economics would help me develop a comprehensive business foundation. Further, I am very keen to study subjects such as Global Marketing Management and Strategy Marketing and Planning, as it would give me an in depth understanding of how marketing is done globally. Additionally, Grenoble will provide me the right forum to learn and exchange ideas with students from diverse cultures, making me more perceptive, an essential skill for a marketer. Q2. Explain why/how you chose the French institution to which you have applied or have been admitted. Ans. I was lucky to study in a school where I was always exposed to varied international experiences. My vice principal was German, and we grew up listening to her stories, inspired by which, in grade 11, I opted for an Indo German exchange program which spanned for 15 days. Having been to Germany and having seen how huge the economy of EU is, I wanted to expand my boundaries a bit further and that is when I decided to apply for masters in Europe. This would give me the opportunity to study in a leading business school and to study with people from all over the world which is an experience in itself. Additionally, I am interested in marketing and I believe France is one of the best places to pursue it, since it is one of the biggest economies of the world and is home to luxury brands such as L’Oréal Paris, Chanel etc. Further, already having German knowledge, complementing it with French will give me a broader view of the market which can be utilized once I graduate. In the near future, I aspire to be a brand manager in a leading FMCG for which I need to have a good knowledge in International Business, and Grenoble is one of the most reputed colleges for this course in France. I really like the course structure in which there are general business studies in the first year and the next year we are given the opportunity to implement our learning via internships. This pedagogy would give us an exposure to the practical world and build key skills such as team building, negotiations, communication etc. Grenoble will also provide me the right platform for networking with students and alumni in my field of interest. Q3. Explain why you would be a worthy candidate for the scholarship? Ans. I am the kind of person who is always on the lookout to expand my boundaries, from participating in an Indo German exchange program to taking an active part in sports, art & craft to honing my skills via teaching in an NGO and participating in varied events and initiatives etc. Later in college, a drive to learn more and excel in this field pushed me to participate in several marketing competitions such as “rebranding ” where we analyzed the problems being faced by a car brand and ultimately took the call to rebrand the product in order to improve sales, beating 8 other teams and winning the competition. Further, at ITC via conducting consumer research and creating quantitative interviews, we were able to zero down the cause of the fall in sales of the newly launched Deodorant to packaging, changing which led to a strong recovery. All of these gave me a practical exposure to the world of marketing and an edge over my peers, which helped me stand out. The moment I got an acceptance letter from Grenoble ecole de management, I have started to learn French and I have plans to complete A1 and A2 at least before I leave for France, I also plan to take up some MOOCs and another internship to develop my business knowledge further. I believe that I’ll be able to use my accumulated skills to make the most of my time at Grenoble and accomplish my short term and long term goals and this scholarship will help me immensely in doing the same as it will remove my financial woes and allow me to concentrate completely on building my skill set and make the most of the vast variety of opportunities that are available at Grenoble. Sample 5 As a child, I assumed that the facilities available to me were typically accessible to every child my age. But growing up, I came face to face with the cruel reality that what I earlier thought of as basic human rights were actu ally privileges that I had acquired by virtue of family I was born into. As an individual with beliefs strongly rooted in equality, I never understood this disparity and my mind continuously worked to come up with solutions. As grateful as I was for myself , I knew that I also had to use my advantage to the best of other’s assistance. Hence, I entered college with the drive to add value to the society and look for opportunities to create a tangible impact. I started with the NGO Umeed by teaching written and spoken English to a group of 20 children aged between 11 to 13 years. Over the course of three months, I was able to improve their basics and instill confidence in speaking English. I conducted workshops with the NGO Jaago Teens to educate 1000’s of school children on different types of cybercrimes and laws for protection against them. Eventually, I got multiple children to open up about potential crimes committed against them and worked to prevent many other possible consequences. It was here I realized the importance of reaching out to people and giving them the safe platform to express themselves. Further noticing a lack of simple amenities such as footwear, I joined the Enactus society in my college and conceptualized a social business project aimed towards producing footwear for some 50 barefoot poor of Delhi. Here I learnt how to conduct myself around various types of people, which helped enhance my leadership and team skills, becoming more versatile. Next, I interned with the NGO You’re Wonderful Project; to organize programs on mental health awareness, remove the stigma attached to it in our community and bring general acceptance towards seeking help. I was in - charge of curating and managing of 3 events for about 60 people ea ch. Currently, I am volunteering with The Art of Living where I organize youth - oriented meditation and life skill programs. Having people appreciate me for introducing them to meditation has been a very enriching experience. Over the last few years, my focus has been to choose issues that I believe needed advocation in the society and make use of my skills to help others. But I know that I have barely scratched the surface till now and that I have much more to work towards. For me, studying at SMU will mean improving my business sense which will help me create a larger impact, further I plan to organize initiatives such as Enactus clubs and meditation programs in the univers ity to promote my ideologies of sustainable businesses with social outlook and importance of personal wellbeing. Lastly, getting a scholarship would help me reduce the expenditure borne by my parents and allow me to focus on activities to grow myself. Sample 6 I am currently pursuing my bachelor’s in technology (B - Tech) in the field of Information Technology from one of the premier technical colleges of India, NIT Durgapur. The admission process is hi ghly selective and for that I had to give a very competitive entrance examination JEE MAINS, alongside 1.4 million students. I got a 98.32 percentile score, which along with my excellent grades in the high school leaving exam, earned me the coveted admissi on. During my engineering, I was focused in picking up programming languages and enhancing my coding skills because I was mainly interested in the field of web - based applications where coding is one of the major components. My interest was driven by the f act that it is a means of impacting others’ lives because almost everything that we do is application based be it hotel booking, movie tickets, etc. To enhance my skill set, I applied and got selected out of 89 of my classmates by IT major IBM for a two - month summer project and training program. I learnt a lot on database management and web - functionality and did a comprehensive project -- a fully functional web application used for cab booking, including a payment portal as well. For my project’s excel lence I was given a certificate of merit by IBM. I volunteered for another web - development project during my 5th semester and it was way more complex than the previous one as it involved automating our college medical unit. Run by slow, manual systems, a mishap at the college medical unit, led to the sad demise of a student due to faulty communication and mishandled patient data. I wanted to improve the condition and therefore took the initiative to automate the system. Me and a few of my classmates worked diligently on the project for 10 months and created a user - friendly interactive system, by revamping the old website, embedding newer modules such as online appointment, medicine delivery, etc. improving speed and efficiency 3X more than the previous syst em. Our project was highly appreciated and is now used by many students. Apart from projects, subjects such as Operating System, Optimization Techniques, Networks with a focus on Cyber - Security were the highlights of a few important subjects that I really liked, mainly because of their application in our day to day life. I found the Professional - Communication course taught to us extremely valuable while giving internship interviews mainly. These subjects not only enhanced my knowledge base, but also gave me an analytical and logical mindset as a lot of the course load involved heavy utilization of quantitative skills such as extended calculus, statistics, algebra, etc. I however ensured that my interest a nd my projects should be well complimented by good grades and I was able to stay in the top 10% of my class and am right now poised for achieving the highest possible honour at the end of my B - tech - A Distinction Merit Certificate. My projects and subjects that I mainly focused on, was aimed at fulfilling my vision of helping people by utilizing the most widely used media - the Internet. The fact that everything in this era is app - driven, be it be hotel booking, cab service, food delivery, etc., really sparke d of my interest in this field. Although technical aspects are instrumental in development of this apps, but I was more interested in how to utilize them for communicating ideas to the mass. Upon exploring and researching further, I decided that my next be st step is digital marketing - the latest trend in the marketing sector. I wanted to utilize my technical expertise in web - applications as well and realized that venture into the field of digital marketing would suffice both my goals - entering the marketing domain and leveraging my technical skills at the same time. I was interested in marketing myself and hence went forward with the idea and took the next best step towards it - an internship. I took up Social Media Marketing and Business Development internship at a tech start - up, by the name of supertron - infotech. I wanted to learn how marketing is done in everyday businesses and how social media can be used for business development. My work was centred around managing and branding the school - search engine “Edm ition.Com” and it mainly employed my creative side. I was responsible for content writing for top schools across Kolkata along with designing creatives for the purpose of digital marketing via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc . Though new to this domain, I was quickly able to grasp what was taught to me, such as search engine optimization techniques, or using different designing softwares as well as photo - shopping for making interactive clip - arts, animated graphics, etc.