good ways to start scholarship essay

Applying For Scholarships

How to Write a Scholarship Essay Introduction (With Example)

David Nov 27, 2018

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With the thousands of scholarships out there, you have a chance to win serious money to put towards your college tuition. But, the scholarship application process can be quite stressful, so we are here to help. The most difficult part of the application process for students is usually the essay . How do you write it? What should it include? We are going to focus on how to start a scholarship essay introduction.

Scholarships are super competitive and the reviewers may not even have time to read the entire essay submitted. So, the first sentence of your scholarship application is your first and best chance to convince the reader to continue reading. For this reason, your essay’s introduction is crucial.

That sounds stressful, but rest assured, your introduction can actually be your best tool for success. Luckily, there is no one right way to write a scholarship introduction, but there are some things you must keep in mind.

You need to catch the judges’ eyes from the very beginning of the essay. Imagine that your readers have to read hundreds of applications. You must make your essay stand out.

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Your introduction should include the following three things:

Attention-grabbing first sentence
A short explanation for what you will talk about in your essay
The thesis statement in which you address the essay prompt

Your introduction should be short, sweet, and to the point. This is the place to establish for the reader what you will be discussing in the rest of the essay.

Do you have a short story you can open your essay with? Jokes, metaphors, and anecdotes are a great way to capture your reader’s attention. Try to develop a personal connection with the reader from the start of your essay- readers are more likely to remember you if you give them something personal.

Take a look at the following two examples:

Example #1: It is important to take responsibility for your actions for a few reasons.
Example #2: December 2, 2015 was the day my life took a major turning point.

Do you notice the difference? Which example makes you feel like you want to know more about the writer? Of course, example #2. This is the effect that your essay introduction should have on the reader.

Be sure to maintain a unique voice in your introduction and throughout your essay. Remember that there are many other accomplished students like yourself who are fighting for the scholarship. Dive into your passions and share with the reader what makes you special.

Here are things you should avoid doing in the introduction paragraph:

Avoid using big words only to sound intelligent. Your introduction should sound natural.
Avoid starting your essay with quotes; those are somebody else’s words, not your own. Instead, use your own words and let your personality shine in the essay.
Avoid obvious statements such as “I am interested in this scholarship.”
Avoid introducing yourself

Also, remember to keep in mind the values of the organization or the school that you are writing the scholarship for. Express yourself in a way that the readers will appreciate. Yes, it’s important to be yourself. But, it’s also important to share the side of yourself that your reader will appreciate. To find this information out, you must research your audience to know what their values are.

Adapt your personal statement for different scholarships. Finally, make sure that you understand the instructions and essay questions before you begin writing.

Scholarship Essay Introduction Example:

Prompt: Please give the committee an idea of who you are and why you are the perfect candidate for the scholarship.

concept for How to start a scholarship essay introduction

Scholarship Essay

David Tabachnikov is the CEO of ScholarshipOwl. Formerly at Waze and Google, David is an experienced CTO/R&D manager with over 10 years of experience of leading tech teams. David fervently believes that students should have greater access to education, and is passionate about using technology to help them achieve that goal.

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How To Start a Scholarship Essay: Catch Reader’s Attention Fast

EssayEdge > Blog > How To Start a Scholarship Essay: Catch Reader’s Attention Fast

Without any doubt, we can say that the most challenging part of doing something decisive and essential for your life is the beginning. You have so much to think over and put together before you decide on how to start a scholarship essay . Therefore, we prepared some amazing tips and scholarship essay examples to support your goal of getting the scholarship.

Table of Contents:

How to begin a scholarship essay writing process to get an excellent result?

Take a break for a minute and recollect the moment when you had to make a crucial decision in your life. Maybe, you had to decide on the educational institution you want to apply to or the specialization you desire to choose. It all had taken so much time to make up your thoughts before you began doing something. However, you had to start the process to achieve the result. The same regards the issue of how to begin a scholarship essay writing process and get the best essay as a result. First of all, you have to understand why exactly you have to get the scholarship allowance and how it is supposed to change your life.

Of course, you have to read attentively the requirements and think about the strategy on how to write a scholarship essay . These little steps will help you to understand what the scholarship committee wants to see in your essay. Moreover, you can look through the scholarship essay tips to make it easier for you to begin the writing process. It would be good for you to read some blogs and articles about starting the scholarship essay to understand the pattern of the work that has to be done.

We highly recommend you allocate several days only for the writing process. Take a pause and think closely about the ideas for your essay. Pretend to be a reader and try to understand from another perspective what you want to write about. It may help you decide about the fact that must be mentioned in the scholarship essay introduction to make it gripping. Moreover, it may help you improve your scholarship personal statement on the whole. You will understand the pattern of the reader’s thinking.

One more good advice for you is that you should create a plan for the writing process. You will have a list of the points you have to do. Once you have done something, you can cross off it from the list. Therefore, you will be able to see the progress and that will bring more motivation for you to move on.

Another good method is to ask people who have already received the allowance about their success stories. Ask them about their experience on how to open a scholarship essay.

Finally, all you have to do is just to start the process. Yes, it sounds easy. However, as we mentioned above, it is a really important and decisive step. Some people postpone the moment of commencement and struggle with the number of tasks that must be done before the application deadline.

Writing introduction for scholarship essay that catches the attention

If you are struggling with the issue of how to begin a scholarship essay and make the reader interested in you, we have found some tips for you to support your scholarship application process. So, we are to help you deal with the point of how you should write your scholarship essay intro to grab the attention of the reader.

Think closely about the facts that you want to write about. Your scholarship essay introduction has to start the whole story that you want to narrate. It is like the beginning of that red thread that is supposed to go through the whole essay till the concluding paragraph. You aim to choose the fact that is the most significant one to impress the reader from the first sentence. Therefore your introduction for scholarship essay has to be:

Engaging. You have to involve the scholarship tutor in reading from the first sentence. Tell something unexpected and uncommon. Therefore, you increase your chances of having a positive feeling after the moment the reader finishes perusing your text.
Intriguing. Don’t disclose the upshot in the first paragraph. Leave it for the main body. You aim to catch the attention and force the reader to keep reading your essay. If you still decide on how to start an essay for scholarship, write a list of the most intriguing facts from your life and choose the one that is worth mentioning.
Well-written. Regarding the fact that scholarship tutors read a great bunch of essays every day, they can easily detect whether you can manage to write everything clearly from the first sentence. In case you are not sure about some details, you can ask for help and refer to college editing service . Professional readers will highlight the points that must be changed and the issues that must be resolved.

Need help? Check out EssayEdge editing services:

You shouldn’t write a mutual for every student information. You should be unique. Being that one person who stands out from the crowd of applicants will increase your chances immediately. So, here is the guideline on how to start an essay for scholarship.

Write a catchy first sentence
Move on telling the reader about the motives you apply for the scholarship
Conclude the introduction with the thesis statement of the body paragraph

The goal of your intro as a matter of fact is to introduce yourself to the reader. Therefore, you have to keep in mind that you have to show your best sides from the first words.

Scholarship essay introduction examples: how to use them properly

It is not a secret that if you want to get a good result, it is better to go through the process in the state of being inspired. And we can’t leave away the fact that the best way both to improve your essay and find inspiration is to use scholarship essay introduction examples. It is very useful to look through a bunch of samples and take some notes to review them further. While reading examples, you can understand the pattern and the strategies of successful essays. Therefore, you may think about implicating such ideas in your essay.

Moreover, reading examples may force you to decide on how to start a scholarship essay. As a rule, when people have spent enough time thinking about any issue and analyzing the strategies for resolving something, it becomes easier to go into the process.

Last but not least is the fact that you can find some essential information that is somehow related to your personal background. Hence, you can understand how to narrate your story in the right way. Having read several essays may help you to make your thoughts up, realize what information should be mentioned, and what better to get rid of.

Furthermore, there are cases when sampling essays change people’s outlook. You can get so impressed by someone’s story so that you can rethink your essay. There will come new suggestions and ideas. So, don’t be afraid to use examples to aid your intentions on writing introduction for scholarship essay.

Additionally, you can understand some extra features of the essay: what font to use, how to space it, and what to include in each paragraph.

If you are struggling with the issue of how to start a scholarship essay and how to transform it into a masterpiece, you can refer to the EssayEdge blog; we know how to make your essay a winning one.