How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay – Part 2: Planning the Essay
Now that you know how to think like a scholarship winner, it’s time to start writing like one. But we can’t just start writing, which is a big mistake I think some students make. Like anything important in life, you shouldn’t just jump head first into it. You need a plan.
As we learned in the previous article, you need to market yourself in a way that is conducive to the scholarship judges. So we need to learn how the judges are thinking, find what they are looking for, and emphasize those relevant qualities and experiences we have into our essays.
So how do we know what the judges are looking for?
Read the Scholarship Criteria Carefully
This should be obvious, but there are still students who don’t study this carefully enough. Most scholarships provide at least a few points or brief summary of the type of students they are looking for, both on the application form and on the website.
For example, the Loran Award states that their overall criteria are leadership, service, and character. In the application form, two of the three essays ask you to talk about a community service and leadership experience. As a result, most students just answer the questions normally, and hand in the application.
But hold on, there is a third criteria: character. In fact, the organization specifies the idea of “moral force of character”. What does this mean? If we do a bit of searching, we find a few character traits that are relevant: “honesty, integrity, courtesy, tolerance, maturity, and compassion”. Knowing this, we can then plan our essay to include specific experiences that emphasize some of these character traits, which is much superior to an essay which neglected them. These three criteria for the Loran Award were here for a reason, and ensuring that all three criteria were met in your essay answers is imperative.
So read the scholarship criteria carefully, and take advantage of all the information available. Make sure you address all of the criteria in your essays.
Read the Profiles of Past Winners
A lot of websites for scholarships post profiles of the recipients. By looking at which of the scholarship recipients’ experiences or qualities are highlighted, we can get a sense of the type of things the judges are looking for.
For example, I took a look at the profiles of the 2008 recipients for the TD Canada Trust Scholarship for Community Leadership and tried to look for some common terms. The three most common terms that I found among all of the recipients’ profiles were “create”, “founder”, “initiate”, and “start”: all terms that are essentially synonyms of the same concept. From this, it is easy to see that the TD Scholarship judges looks for students who have taken the initiative to turn an idea into a reality.
With this knowledge, we now know to focus our TD Scholarship essay on our experiences that involved us initiating or creating something, whether it be a youth group, conference on social justice, or an event that celebrates art in the community, etc. These essays are never long enough for us to tell our life stories, so it is important that we mention the right experiences that maximize our chances of being awarded.
Analyze the Essay Question: What is it Really Asking?
At this point, you should have a general idea of types of things the judges for your particular scholarship are looking for, and have a basic idea of which experiences / qualities from your life you wish to draw upon.
The next step is to analyze the particular essay question(s) you need to answer, and further narrow down which specific experiences and qualities are most important to use in each of your essays.
In general, most Canadian scholarships will ask for essays about the following two topics (or some alternatively worded form of it). Here we will analyze these common questions, what they really mean, and how to tackle them:
(1) Leadership: Describe an important leadership experience or important initiative you undertook. What were your successes and failures, and how did they affect your development as a leader?
Most scholarship essay questions on leadership tend to look a bit like the above question. Based on this type of question, and my experiences, it is my opinion that scholarship committees evaluate leadership essays on five major criteria. You generally want to address all of these things in your essay, whether the question explicitly asks for it or not:
- The extent of the leadership experience and degree of accomplishment. Essentially, what were the results? Looking at the actual accomplishment is an easy way (though not necessarily accurate) to measure the success of your leadership. For example, a youth group that has a 100 members sounds a lot better than a youth group with 10 members. It shows that you can organize large numbers, are a strong motivator for your peers, etc. Don’t be afraid to be passionate about your accomplishment (but in a non –arrogant way of course). If you’ve done a lot, say so in detail!
- Why you got involved in the leadership experience: What was your inspiration and how did it make you feel? This is a very important aspect that I feel is the most neglected. Scholarship judges want real students with real feelings and experiences. Sharing your initial inspiration and how it made you feel is crucial. It shows that you are sincere and real. It shows you are passionate. If your inspiration made you cry, angry, frustrated or upset, and it ultimately made you get involved – say so!
- What obstacles did you face? How did you overcome them? Everyone loves a story of the hero overcoming obstacles and achieving victory at the end. You will see this all the time in the best movies and novels. Why? Because it is inspirational. And inspirational stories make anyone reading (in particular, the judges!) want to help you succeed. It shows that you are so passionate about your experience that you were willing to persevere and continue pressing forward despite adversity. This shows that you are genuine about your cause. It also shows that you are able to adapt to new situations, and that you don’t give up. All of these are qualities of a great leader.
- What did you learn? How did these lessons affect you as a leader? No one is born a leader, and no one ever stops growing as a leader. Every experience brings new lessons, and the best leaders are humble and realize this. Being able to recognize that you’ve learned about leadership in your experience shows that you are an active learner, and are cognizant of what’s going on around you. What did you learn about motivation? Leading by example? Communication? Teamwork? Integrity? Vision? These are all qualities of a leader that you learn and improve on by experience. And as such, you want to make it clear that you have gained these qualities through your experience.
By speaking about these lessons, it shows that you have truly reflected on your experiences. And in particular, it shows that you understand what leadership is. Leadership isn’t about the title of “President” or “Captain” or “Executive Director”, and the judges want to see that you know that. The judges want to know how your experience has changed and improved you as a person and as a leader. - What does this mean for the future? So you’ve done some amazing things as a leader and learned a lot – but what’s next? A scholarship isn’t an award – it’s an investment in your future. Scholarship judges want to invest in students who will continue developing as leaders and applying what they’ve learned. If you the initiative you started is continuing, or you plan on continuing being involved in your particular activity in the future, it really helps to tell them. Nothings says more about you and your genuine interest in your experiences than the fact that you will continue to stay involved.
(2) Volunteering / Community Service: Describe your most important contribution to your school or community. Why was it meaningful for you and your community?
For students who are involved in a lot of community leadership activities, it might be easy to fall into the trap of answering it like the leadership essay. But be aware, the two types of essay questions are often asked separately for a reason. The leadership essay is about leadership: the skills you learned, how it has affected your growth, and what you will do with those skills in the future. The community essay is about community service: why the community needed it and how you fulfilled that need, that you learned the value of service, and (I guess a theme that is common to both) what you learned along the way. I highly suggest you address the following four criteria in your community essay:
- This is an activity you dedicated a fair amount of time to. The scholarship judges are looking for students who made a fairly long commitment to a community activity. To say that your one month stint at the local hospital was your most important contribution to your community seems a bit farfetched, and suggests you did not have anything more meaningful to mention. Not to say that one month or less at a certain community service is not meaningful (because that is not true whatsoever!): my point is more geared towards how your essay will be received. From the perspective of the scholarship committee, if one month appears to be your longest commitment, your story simply isn’t very convincing. Between two activities you could talk about, I would almost always choose to mention your activity that you had a significantly longer dedication to.
- Why was it important to you? Whether it be a specific moment that got you involved and/or something personal you gained while being involved, it is important for you to share why it is important that you continue to be involved in this community service activity. Having a genuine reason (that makes sense!) for why you remain involved in the activity goes a long way to building a convincing essay. It might be hard for you to figure this out initially, but that’s okay – set some time to really think about why you are doing these great things you do, and brainstorm ways to put it into words. It might be the simple joy you get from helping others, the excitement of trying something new, or the opportunity to form relationships with others. There are many reasons why there is value in community service, and everyone’s reasons are all true and admirable.
- Why was it important to the community? Simply put, what would happen to your community if you didn’t do what you do? Servant leadership is all about using your leadership skills to help those in need. Being able to respond to those in need in your community is a true sign of altruism, and proof that you have a higher level of observation and willingness to act. It’s admirable for anyone to provide help to others, but it’s even more impressive to see that you recognize the real needs in your communities and do something about it.
Imagine you are a scholarship committee and there are two candidates. Candidate 1 has collected 10,000 cans of food for a local food bank that is already brimming with donations. Candidate 2 has raised $1,000.00 for a forgotten homeless youth shelter that is in terrible shape. Both candidates have done amazing and truly admirable things. But which of the two candidates has really thought about the needs of their communities and acted upon it? - Do you really understand the value of community service? It’s unfortunate that a lot of students simply see community service as a hoop they have to jump through. Or as a bullet point on their resume or student application. To be fair, I was also in that mind set early in high school. But as I got older and more involved in the community, I realized how valuable it is. In my honest opinion, I feel that the education I received through my involvement in the community was more important than my formal education.
Almost everything I have learned in school I could have learned from a text book. Conversely, you can’t learn leadership, communication, team work, conflict resolution, and a myriad of other skills from a text book. These are things you have to experience, and you don’t really experience these on a deeper level in school. Not to say that school isn’t important, but just to illustrate that your education outside of school is just as, if not more, important.
Sharing what community service has taught you and how it helped you develop demonstrates that you have truly gained from community service, and suggests you will continue doing it, whether in the same or different forms. It shows that you realize that by giving, you end up receiving more in the end.
Theme-Specific Scholarship Essays
Some of the scholarship essays you will write may be “theme-specific”. For example, an environmental scholarship might ask you about your most important environmental contribution. Maybe the multiculturalism scholarship wants you to describe your most meaningful contribution to the promotion of cultural diversity.
Just realize that these are simply alternative forms of the two major topics of leadership and volunteerism we discussed above. The only difference is that the activities you choose to answer the essay questions will need to also fit the bill of the theme at hand. All of the other areas you should address remain the same.
A Check List of Scholarship Themes
The following is just a list of important themes and character traits that you should try and highlight about yourself in most scholarship essays. I’m not saying you need to cover all of these (decide what is appropriate for the specific essay), but most strong scholarship essays will cover a combination of these. We have already discussed many of these themes, so most of these will be familiar:
- Passion
- Leadership
- Altruism
- Achievement
- Perseverance
- Overcoming obstacles
- Sincerity
- Visionary
- Long-term / Future
Time to Begin Outlining Your Essay
At this point, you should have a pretty clear idea of which specific experiences, stories, ideas, and lessons you want to mention for each of your scholarship essay questions. Brainstorm and write those down on paper.
Now it’s time to develop an outline for your essay that incorporates all of these things you’ve written down. Not saying this is what it has to look like, but if you’re having writer’s block, a basic type of outline could be:
- Introduction: Your story about how you first got involved in the leadership/community activity.
- Body: A description of your efforts in the activity, the results of the activity, the lessons learned, proof that you understand what leadership means / you understand the value of the community activity, etc.
- Conclusion: How will this experience affect you in the future? Will you be continuing to do this? What’s next? What final thoughts can you take away from this?
At this point, simply organizing bullet points in order for each section of the outline is great. Even just topic sentences or the main ideas are good enough for now.
Feel free to be creative with your outline, but just remember that clear and concise is much better than ambiguous and creative. You don’t want to confuse the judges.
You can now begin writing out the actual essay if you like, though I suggest you first read Part 3 of this series, which will help you figure out how to word and write your essay.
Remember, how you write it is as important as what you write!
* * * * * * * * * *
Read the other parts of the How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay series here:
- Part 1: Thinking Like a Scholarship Winner
- Part 2: Planning the Essay
- Part 3: Writing the Essay
- Part 4: Revising the Essay
Related Posts:
- Mastering the University of Toronto Medical School Essay – Part 2: Background, Interests, and Experiences
- Mastering the University of Toronto Medical School Essay – Part 5: Putting it All Together
- Why Reference Letters are Important and How to Pick Your Referees
- Mastering the University of Toronto Medical School Essay – Part 4: How Your Premedical Studies have Prepared You for Medicine
- Interview Advice: The Importance of Being Memorable and Telling Stories
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Comments
Hi Di Sha,
It’s all about how you tell your story. It sounds to me like this activity truly is the most important one to you – you’ve definitely convinced me. If you relay this same feeling in your essay, I’m sure it will be just as convincing to the committees!
Hi Joshua. I’m currently writing the Queen’s Chancellor’s Award (I know I’m a bit close to the deadline) and I can’t decide which activities to choose for the two essay questions. One question is about leadership and one is about school or community involvement. I’ve narrowed it down to four activities that could fit in either category.
1) I am Environmental Chair for a major youth peace festival that is happening in my city next April. Expected amount of participants is 50 000. I am in charge of ensuring everything at the festival is as environmentally friendly and also for acquring speakers such as David Suzuki. Along with my duties I am helping plan and organize the festival and am presenting it to City Council in January. I am really passionate about helping the environment and this will give me the opportunity to educate youth in my community about the state of our Earth and what they can do to help. The only problem is we are still in the planning stage, the event has not occured yet, and I’m not sure if the judges of the scholarship will look at that fondly.
2) I am secretary of a junior committee that aids patients and family members affected by cancer. This means a lot to me as my aunt died of cancer, there is cancer in my family, and I have very close friends also affected by this horrible disease. I have been involved in this committee for over 2 years. We have done several fundraisers, but my only problem with including this on my scholarship form is that there was not really a need for the junior committee. The adult committe is making huge contributions and youth approached them because we wanted to be involved as well. I know you talked about altruism being an important factor in judges’ decisions, and I’m not sure this is evident in this activity.
3) I founded a Green Team at my school. I founded it at the end of last year and we have only done a few minor events. This is very special to me because it is my own creation and there is dire need for an environmental group at my school. We have done grounds clean up, demanded more recycle bins (and received them from administration), started a pop tab collection, and made a banner to promote recycling that is hung in the cafeteria. My concern with including this on the application is that it is not very impressive compared with the youth festival for example.
4) I have been elected president of Interact Club at my school. The Interact Club is an international organization that is a branch of the Rotary Club. We just began it in our school this year and have only planned several events such as a culture night for February and a fashion show fundraiser for March. We are also beginning to volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Society in my city.
Any help with deciding which one to use for which question would really be appreciated. I love your website and it is a big help! Thank you so much for doing this you are awesome!!
Hey Jacqueline,
You have done some really amazing things, which is what makes this decision so tough!
I understand your concern about the peace festival, since it’s still in the planning stages, but it sounds like a unique and impressive story that you should definitely mention. So here’s my suggestion: I think you should combine founding the Green Team and being the Environmental Chair of the festival into one essay for the leadership question. I would start off by talking about your overall passion for the environment, how that led to the founding of your Green Team, and how that further led to your efforts with the festival.
As for the community involvement essay, I would use your experience with the junior committee. I think particularly for this question, you want to show your dedication, so this example fits perfectly since it’s one of the experiences you’ve devoted the most time to. I think the fact that you guys (as youth) approached them and asked to be involved is very altruistic, and is a positive thing. Just focus on your positives in your essay, and avoid bringing up any possibly negative-sounding ideas, like that you guys weren’t necessary or anything.
Hope that helps!
- Josh
Thanks so much Josh those are great tips! I love your website and it’s going to be saved under my favourites forever!
hey joshua
My problem is not particularly scholarship related but it deals with university applications
Most universities require the completing of supplementary information to verify the dedication on has to choosing their field of study
I am currently filling out the form for university of Waterloo for the Faculty of science
the program I am applying to is scicne and business (major in biotechnology)
I am having problems expressing my ideas on paper.
I chose that program because I feel it will privde me with a well rounde education in two diverse fields.
But one question asks me to talk about myself and say anything releveant that will help selection commitee with their decision
Well I am a hardworking student who is extremely passionate about everything I study. I persevere and am a team player. I work well alone and with others, and I work extremely well under pressure.
my main question is how can I spin my answer in a way that makes me benefit the university?
by the way I love ur blogs and I think what you are doing (providing service) is extremely humble of you. Your blogs help me and make me aspire to excel in whatever career I might choose
Keep up the good work 
!!
Hello Joshua! I would just like to thank you for posting this amazing article! It helped me a lot while preparing my essays for the Millenium Excellence Award. Well, thanks to your guidance, I ending up winning a National Award!!
I just wanted to say thank you again for being a true selfless leader, and using your accomplishments to create future success for others in the community. Good luck with your med school interviews!
Hey Joshua,
This is sort of off topic, but I’m curious about your opinion on lying on scholarship applications. Obviously, your answer would be “Don’t do it, it would only hurt your chances” or something like that, but then I’ve heard of real-life stories where people actually lied on scholarships and won the award. That’s very unfair for the people who actually deserve it…
If you knew that someone lied on a scholarship application, would you tell on him/her?
Hey Joshua,
Thanks for your reply. Being one of the readers of Student Awards forum, I find it very frustrating after reading a many people wouldn’t do anything if they find out a guy lied on a scholarship or an application. People claimed that it wasn’t their business to meddle with someone else’s affairs, but the truth is that you should do something about it because someone else deserve the scholarship more and it is quite unfair for that person. A similar situation showed up there:
What would you do if a guy you know won a big scholarship and you read his bio (posted on the scholarship website) and you find out that he
a) exagerated A LOT about his time commitment and achievement (like saying that he did most of the organization when he was very laid back and missed a lot of the meetings) and/or
b) you applied to the same scholarship and you realize that you did more work than him and you deserve the scholarship more.
P.S. I’m very grateful and amazed at how you could respond so fast with substantial content =P It’s really helpful and I’m very glad I stumbled upon this site.
Hey Josh,
I was wondering…say a few of the friends and family you know have been affected by cancer. Your life has been spent dealing with the the effects of cancer on people around you. As a result, you decide to host a charitable event to raise funds for cancer research. This shows that you have had a reason to do what you did – you were passionate about it and it was important to you, however, does it show that you benefited your community? The reason I’m asking is because I’ve read the short bios of people who have won scholarships, and only a few, if any, have raised money for any sort of medical research. I get the feeling that medical research doesn’t help the community as greatly, or am I wrong? Most recipients have done something for things like the environment, poverty, world hunger, or for places in developing countries. Since cancer is a well known issue, it wouldn’t show that I thought about the needs of my community, just like your example with the food bank versus the forgotten homeless shelter. Anyway the thing is, I’m currently planning on hosting an event for cancer research, but I’ve been thinking of switching to raise money for another cause – something like a homeless shelter for youth, as that would show my care for the community more. What do you think?
And as for how important it is to me, I guess I could say I do have a motivation to help the homeless, although it’s not as strong as cancer. However, this motivation can be exaggerated when it comes to essay writing right? 
Hey joshua,
I would like to say that you are doing an amazing job with the blog and with helping high schoolers.
Right now i’m just getting a head start on scholarship applications and I’m having some trouble. My question is that i’ve been involved in a wide selection of clubs/associations at my school and i’ve been heavily involved with each club at one time or another due to time issues. for example, i was very committed to club A in gr 9 and got exec in gr 10, but in gr 11 i was on the exec of much bigger event Club B, so i ended up doing very little with club A. now that i’m going into gr 12, I don’t really know how to explain this on my scholarship applications, both club A and B are important to me but since i wasn’t as involved with club A in gr 11, i didn’t end up taking a leadership role for gr 12. My lack of time was also due to a very heavy course load, even my guidance counselor said it’s too much, with no spares. on top of these clubs, i was also involved in science/research outside of school. So the problem is that I’ve committed alot of my time in various activities, but I can’t exactly say that I was involved in one or two things for 3 years. I’m just wondering how i can explain myself in scholarship application in such a way that i don’t come off as someone who isn’t committed. Also, Could I put youth programs that i’ve attend (shad valley etc) as community service, because i really want scholarship judges to see that, but some scholarships only ask for an outline of community service instead of a resume or whatnot.
Thank you soo much.
Hey Joshua, I’m writing an essay about volunteering community service for a scholarship application, and I am really bad at writing essays. Right now, I am having trouble how to start it. I was wondering if you could guide me through some of my essay questions. One of the questions asked “What was your volunteer community service activity?” I don’t want to be like an elementary kid who starts their essay with “My volunteer community service activity is…etc.” So could you help me please? I’ll really appreciate it.
Thank you so much
Hey Joshua,
I’m wondering about the whole scholarship application process. What if you’re a person, like myself, that doesn’t have much community involvement and only have the bare minimum (40hours). In terms of academics, I am at the 90 mark. So will I still be able to go for those big shot scholarships that require loads of community involvement or are there ones that are more academic oriented? And I also know that there are many more higher achievers out there, so how far can a 90 take me, I still have time to try and bump it up but that would be difficult in my circumstances?
If possible, can you also recommend me some scholarships?
Thanks for reading this.
Oh and that being said, I still have no idea when is it a good time to apply for a scholarship. It is already Sept. 19, and I some of the deadlines for these scholarships are around Oct. 20 (at least the TD Trust one). My report card comes out on Nov. 9th, so how does that work out? They should be using my grade 12 marks, right? I am also trying to fit in some last minute clubs/teams, but using these clubs/teams for scholarship application seems a bit sketchy, and especially because I was only there for a month.
Sigh, I should have played a more active role in my community/school during the beginning of high school. Now I have all sorts of issues to deal with besides school.
Thanks again, I am looking forward to your reply.
Hey Kevin,
I guess some of those bigger scholarships might be a long shot, but if you have the time, there’s no harm in just going for them. As for the academic scholarships, those are usually automatic, and you don’t need to apply for them.
As for when to apply, anytime before the deadline is good I guess As for your report card, I don’t think it matters. I’m pretty sure they only need to see your Gr. 9 to 11 marks at this point.
9 to 11? Dam, I didn’t finish too strongly in grade 11, or not as strong as I should have. And my marks from 9 to 11 was on a roller coaster. I was hoping that my 90 in first term this year would be used, but looks like that option is out the window.
Ugh, so there is no hopes for a decent scholarship? I always thought that they used the grade 12 marks or is that for university only and not scholarships..? And out of curiosity, what kind of scholarships are those “automatic” ones? How big are they?
I’ll still try to apply for those big scholarships, and squeeze in some extra community involvement but if they really look at 9-11 only, my chances of those big ones are slim. This might be a long shot but would staying a 5th year make them look at my grade 12 marks? I have worked through high school and finally saved up enough to quit and focus on school this year, but that’s a different story.
I’ll probably take the courses I couldn’t do this year? I suppose subjects like philosophy, civilization, law, etc.. and actually have some spares lol. The only two drawback to this plan is that the science won’t be as fresh in my mind when entering university. The other drawback is probably the fact that I’ll be behind “schedule”, so i’ll be a older doctor. Haha. Oh and there is always the dignity part. But in reality, I don’t think i’ll be doing the 5th year anyways. I’ll just borrow money from OSAP and repay them when I am done. Hopefully, the medical field will be the right choice. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time looking up on it and so far, the feedbacks of becoming a doctor are not so good. It basically comes down to, if I want to help people or not.
Hey Joshua,
So I’m writing the essay questions for the Loran application, and as you may know, there are 3 different questions – two of which, (like you mentioned in this blog), asks me to talk about a leadership/community service experience. My question is, would it be not as advantageous to have both of those two questions talk about an initiative from the same club/organization?
What I mean is, for the first question, I’m talking about starting the club and doing our first event; in the second question, I’m talking about doing another event with the same club. Since they both show leadership, I thought it’d be appropriate to do this; however, would it be better to talk about a totally difference leadership experience that has nothing to do with this club in the second question?
My alternative for the second question would be to talk about my experiences as a violin teaching assistant, but when doing this, I didn’t really encounter many “challenges,” and I feel I do not have as much to talk about.
What do you think?
I don’t really have a problem with being a doctor, but the bottom line of when becoming a doctor is not to do it for the money because you won’t be getting a lot of it. Doctors do not make a lot like what everybody have been saying for the past decade. They tend to deal with lawsuits all the time, they have to deal with a load of debt, and the list goes on.
However, there is a slight problem with the whole doctor scenario for me. I see two paths for my future. A doctor or a entrepreneur, and both are very different. I’m a ambitious person, so I am also the kind of person who doesn’t like to be restricted by something like money. I also do not want to be paying off debts by the time I am 30. My parents would be around 80ish and I do not want them to worry about me. That is why time is of an essence to me, but I rather not keep going on about me. 
So back to the whole doctor thing.. well, I have been visiting a blog much like yours but she’s a lot older but she’s been through it all. Here is the link where she talked about not being a doctor for the sake of money:
http://www.mylifemypace.com/2007/03/26/dont-become-a-doctor-if-you-want-money-power-and-respect/
And no, I am not studying all these science courses to make a few bucks in the future, they interest me and that is all. However, I have been told to be a natural leader and I love being in that position, so being some kind of entrepreneur is always a consideration for me.
Oh and I also have a question, do scholarships like stack? What I mean by this is like if I got a $5000 scholarship here and then a $10,000 scholarship there, will I be able to use both for my tuition?
i was wondering if having NO awards/achievements expect for like honor roll mattered for Loran?
And whether being from saskatchewan would be an easier way to get to regionals? (as compared to like toronto!)
and if you needed CONCRETE giant things you accomplished within your said activity..
Hi there,
I recently have been reading many of your blogs and all are amazing and very relevant to my concerns. This blog especially is of relevance to me and I have a few questions that I was hoping you could address. I am a decently successful student (low to high nineties) and I recently began volunteering at the local hospital (in about October). I’m in grade ten , but I am unsure of what other roles I can take on in my community and where to start (volunteer and leadership wise). I’m not to sure what I have a true passion for. I mean I thoroughly enjoy studying science and caring for others (although I feel as though I only know what was taught in school, and perhaps that is why I do not yet have a strong passion for it. Still, I cannot imagine not having science in my life), hence the strive to be in medical school, but I do not know where to begin. Do you have any suggestions on projects or organizations that I could join, but more preferably form? I really do want to help, have a large impact, and be committed in my community but I need guidance.
Thanks so much,
Sonia
Hi Josh,
I’ve only just stumbled upon your website and already I think it’s incredible that you do this for youth like myself! How you find the time along with medschool I have no idea.
I had a question about a scholarship I’m applying to myself. It’s the Youth In Motion Top 20 under 20 Award. I am required to describe an idea or project where I played a leadership role in. Currently, I’m organizing a big project occurring between my own school and another school in Vancouver but I wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to use for the leadership project/idea for the top 20 under 20 award. Do you think I still have a chance of winning if I explain a project I’m currently organizing?
Looking forward to your advice,
Connor.
Hey!
I am writing an essay for a scholarship. The prompt is over My Personal Goals and/or My Professional Goals. It is for a business my father works for and I would eventually like to work for. I don’t want to sound like every other cliche applicant saying that I want to work for them but I actually do. I am also not sure how to start this. Some brainstorming ideas would be nice. Thanks a bunch!
–Morgan.
Hey Joshua. As for the community service bit, if I put volunteering every year at an important cultural event since Grade 9 as one of my most important contributions, would that be unconvincing?
I am dedicated to this group and event because it is a way to share my culture with the rest of my community and educate others. I get a strong sense of pride and see the happiness in people’s faces when they feel a part of a vibrant culture that I experience every day. I’ve always been skeptical about how assessors evaluate true community service.