Meet Scholly + How to Rock that Scholarship Essay

This post is in no way endorsed or sponsored by Scholly. All opinions are those of my own.

Let's face it: college is expensive. However, there are ways to lessen the stress on your wallet (& yourself!). That's where Scholly comes in.

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Scholly is a website (and app!) that allows you to search for both merit-based and need-based scholarships. By inputting information about yourself such as name, grade level, grade point average, and major, among others things, Scholly analyzes its database to find scholarships fit for you. You can then look through your "matched scholarships" and read the descriptions of each. If you find one that interests you, you can save it to your "saved scholarships." Each scholarship posted has a link to its corresponding website, which outlines the details of the scholarship.

Registration costs $2.99, but based on my experience with Scholly thus far, it was completely worth the money. I first came across this program on Shark Tank, one of my favorite TV shows. Christopher Gray, the founder and CEO of Scholly, gave a compelling presentation on the show, which led me to download the app and begin taking advantage of those scholarship opportunities! I'm waiting to hear back about the first few scholarships that I completed applications for, but the benefits go beyond just the possibility of earning money. Applying for scholarships helps sharpen your writing skills, seeing as most scholarships require the submission of an essay on a particular topic. The essay subjects can be diverse, ranging from academic/career goals to your favorite small business.

Writing essays can be tiresome and time-consuming, but if you can rock it, you can turn that hard work into money. And so I bring you...

1. Start with an intriguing hook that draws the reader in. The reader(s) of your essay need to be captivated from the beginning so they are encouraged to keep reading. Like it or not, they have every right to trash your essay and entire application if they are not hooked from the beginning. So, if you're going to put work into your essay, make sure it's enticing to your audience! Here's a way to do so:

• Do not start your essay off by simply rewording the question. For example, if the essay question is "What is your favorite small business?", do not start off your essay with "My favorite small business is _____________." That's boring. Instead, add some interesting details about the business first that readers may not know or describe your favorite item that the business sells. No matter what the topic is about, begin your essay in a way that captures the reader's attention. As you progress through your essay, make sure you keep that attention!

2. Use sophisticated words. You want your essay to sound professional since you are giving the readers a glimpse into your skills. Show those readers how intelligent you are! That does not mean that you need to know twenty-letter words to integrate into your essay. That is where you need to use your resources (i.e. thesaurus.com). Rather than use basic, everyday words like good, walk, and a lot, elevate them to more powerful words like outstanding, venture, and plethora. By using such words throughout your essay, you are able to transmit a sense of sophistication and intelligence through your work. In turn, the impressed readers will take note and remember your essay.

3. Keep it concise and focused. This tip is key. If you ramble on about something completely unrelated to the topic, your application could be disqualified or trashed. You want to be sure to directly answer the topic to the best of your ability in the amount of words you've been given. (Most scholarships usually give a specific range or minimum/maximum amount of words--be sure to find this number or range out before you begin! You do not want to be disqualified for something so simple! That said, be sure to strictly follow the word range or number.) It can be difficult to keep your essay short, especially if you are passionate about a topic and have a lot to say. Here are some ways to keep the essay concise and focused:

• PLAN: Make a game plan for your essay before you write it out, mapping out the main points. Doing so will keep you from going off-topic and allow to say what you want to and get out!
• CHECK: After you've written a few sentences, check the word count to see how far you have to go. It's way better to adjust your essay as you write rather than write the entire essay and then realize you are over by one hundred words! (Trust me, it could happen.)
• AVOID: Avoid repetition. If you already mentioned something, do not spend valuable time or space discussing it again later in the essay. The readers will get bored and/or annoyed. The only reasons for pulling a previous topic back into the essay are for emphasis or concluding. This is something very difficult to avoid, since it can be very difficult to catch yourself repeating. I've struggled with this one a lot when writing.
• REVISIT: After each of your main points, be sure to revisit the topic sentence. If the prompt is about your favorite business, after you spend time describing the great food, be sure to close out the main idea by saying that is a reason why it is your favorite small business. Make sure to change up the phrasing to avoid repetition! Doing so will help you stay focused and remind the readers what the whole essay is about.

4. Finish off with an elevated conclusion. The conclusion is the one sentence that the readers will be left with, so make sure it leaves them in awe of your power. You want to connect to the captivating hook (see tip #1), but also want to summarize everything you've talked about in the body of your essay. In other words, you want to say to the readers: "Here's the main takeaway(s) from my essay and here is why it matters to you and me." To elevate the conclusion beyond simply rewording the topic sentence, think about why everything you have said matters to readers and why it is important to you. How has the small business (staying with the sample topic) impacted yourself and others in your community? Overall, in your conclusion, you want to explain the significance of your topic while incorporating the most important points.

5. Proofread...and proofread again. Once you've finished writing your stellar essay, proofread it to catch the tiny spelling or grammatical errors! DO NOT simply write the essay and submit it! Peruse the essay to catch errors and have someone else read it, just to be safe!

There you have it, folks! Scholly is the place to find scholarship opportunities to help cut down the insane costs of getting a college education. Check out their website here!

And if the essay requirements are stressing you out, use these five tips! Have any other tidbits for students or have a question about scholarships and essays? Feel free to comment below!

Sincerely,