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• How to Write a Scholarship Essay | Template & Example

How to Write a Scholarship Essay | Template & Example

Published on October 11, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on May 31, 2023.

A good scholarship essay demonstrates the scholarship organization’s values while directly addressing the prompt. If you plan ahead , you can save time by writing one essay for multiple prompts with similar questions.

Table of contents

Apply for a wide variety of scholarships, make a scholarship tracker spreadsheet, tailor your essay to the organization and the prompt, write a focused and relevant personal story, scholarship essay example, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

Scholarships are a type of student financial aid that don’t require repayment. They are awarded based on various factors, including academic merit, financial need, intended major, personal background, or activities and interests.

Like college applications, scholarship applications often require students to submit their grades, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, and an essay.

A scholarship essay shares your values and qualities in the context of a specific question, such as “How does technology affect your daily life?” or “Who has had the greatest impact on your life?”

Be wary of scholarship scams

While some applications may not require an essay, be wary of scholarship scams that do the following:

• Guarantee you scholarship money for a fee
• Claim scholarship information is exclusive to their company
• Ask for your bank or credit card information to hold the scholarship

Some legitimate companies do charge for releasing comprehensive scholarship lists or creating a tailored list of scholarship opportunities based on your profile.

However, you can always discover scholarship opportunities for free through your school counselor, community network, or an online search.

Many students focus on well-known, large scholarship opportunities, which are usually very competitive. To maximize your chance of success, invest time in applying for a wide variety of scholarships: national and local, as well as big and small award amounts. There are also scholarships for international students .

In addition to charitable foundation and corporate scholarships, you should consider applying for institutional scholarships at your prospective universities, which can award money based on your application’s strength, your financial situation, and your demonstrated interest in the school.

Check with your guidance counselor, local organizations, community network, or prospective schools’ financial aid offices for scholarship opportunities. It’s a good idea to start applying as early as your junior year and continue throughout your senior year.

Choose the right scholarships for you

Choose scholarships with missions and essay topics that match your background, experiences, and interests. If the scholarship topic is meaningful to you, it will be easier for you to write an authentic and compelling essay.

Don’t shy away from applying for local scholarships with small dollar amounts. Even a few hundred dollars can help you pay for books.

Local scholarships may be more tailored to your community, background, and activities, so they’re likely more relevant to you. Fewer students apply for these scholarships, so you have less competition and a higher chance of success.

Some places to look for local scholarships include

• Civic organizations, such as the Rotary Club, Lions Club, etc.
• Your church, mosque, synagogue, or place of worship
• Community groups, such as the YMCA
• Ethnicity-based organizations
• Your local library or local small businesses
• Organizations related to your intended major
• Your city or town
• Your school district
• Unions, such as SEIU, the Teamsters, CWA, etc.
• Your employer or your parents’ employers
• Banks, credit unions, and local financial institutions

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

While researching scholarship opportunities, create a scholarship tracker spreadsheet to keep track of the following:

• Scholarship amounts
• Required application materials

You can use our free Google Sheets template to track your scholarship applications.

Scholarship application tracker template

You can also include scholarship essay prompts in your college essay tracker sheet . By grouping or color-code overlapping essay prompts, you can plan to write a single essay for multiple scholarships. Sometimes, you can also reuse or adapt your main college essay .

Even if you’re adapting another essay, it’s important to make sure your essay directly addresses the prompt, stays within the word count limit , and demonstrates the organization’s values. The scholarship committee will be able to tell if you reuse an essay that doesn’t quite respond to the prompt, so be sure to tailor it to the questions asked.

Research each organization

Before writing, research the scholarship organization’s mission and reason for awarding the scholarship. Learning more about the organization can help you select an appropriate topic and relevant story.

While you should tailor your essay to the organization’s values, maintain your authentic voice. Never use false or exaggerated stories. If the organization’s values don’t align with yours or you can’t brainstorm a relevant story for the scholarship, continue searching for other scholarship opportunities to find a more appropriate one for you.

After researching the organization, identify a specific personal experience that embodies its values and exemplifies why you will be a successful student.

Choose a story with the following criteria:

• Responds to the prompt
• Demonstrates the organization’s values
• Includes an authentic story
• Focuses on you and your experience, not someone else’s

A good scholarship essay is not

• A resume of your achievements
• A lengthy opinion piece about the essay topic
• An essay featuring a negative tone that puts down others

If appropriate, you can briefly address how the scholarship money will help you achieve your educational goals. You should also end with a brief thank-you.

Take a look at the full essay example below. Hover over the underlined parts to read explanations of why they work.

Prompt: Describe how working for Chelsea’s Chicken restaurant has developed leadership skills that will help you succeed in college. Give specific examples of leadership characteristics that you have exhibited during your employment with us.

As a nervous 16-year-old, I walked into Chelsea’s Chicken for my first day of work determined to make enough money to put gas in my car and buy pizza on the weekends. My only previous job was mowing my neighbors’ lawns when they were on vacation, so I had no idea what to expect. I was a bit intimidated by my new responsibilities, especially handling money and helping disgruntled customers.

However, it didn’t take me long to learn my way around the cash register and successfully address customer complaints. One day, Roger, the store manager, asked me if I wanted to join Chelsea’s Chicken Leadership Training Initiative. He said he saw leadership potential in me because of my attitude with the customers and my enthusiasm for learning new job responsibilities. It surprised me because I had never thought of myself as a leader, but I quickly agreed, and Roger handed me a three-ring binder that was thicker than my math and science textbooks put together! He told me to take it home and read over it during the following week.

In that binder, I discovered that being a leader means taking the initiative, especially when the job is undesirable. One week later, I got to practice that idea when a little kid threw up in the bathroom and missed the toilet. It smelled terrible, but I stepped forward and told Roger that I would clean it up. My coworkers thought I was crazy, but I started to believe in my leadership potential.

That night as we closed the store, Roger pulled me aside in the parking lot and told me that he could tell that I had been studying the manual. He wanted to give me more responsibility, along with a dollar-per-hour pay raise. I was surprised because I had been working there for only a couple of months, but his encouragement helped me make a connection: good leadership helps other people, and it often is rewarded. I was determined to experience more of both.

Within a month, I was ready to take the Team Leader exam, which mattered because I would receive a promotion and a much bigger raise if I passed. But, when I got to work, two of the scheduled team members had called in sick. We were noticeably short-handed, and our customers weren’t happy about it.

I walked back to the lockers, put on my vest and hat, and took my place behind an open register. Customers immediately moved into my line to place their orders. Roger looked at me with surprise and asked, “Did you forget that you’re testing tonight?” I responded, “No, sir—but what’s the use of taking a leadership test if you aren’t going to lead in real life?” Roger smiled at me and nodded.

He stayed late that night after we closed so that I could leave early and still take the test. I noticed that Roger was always staying late, helping employees learn new skills. His example taught me that leaders take the initiative to develop other leaders. He gave me a clear picture of what shared leadership looks like, making room for others to grow and excel. When I asked him where he learned to do that, he said, “From the same leadership manual I gave you!”

Chelsea’s Chicken has offered me so much more than a paycheck. Because of Roger’s example, I have learned to take the initiative to care for my family and friends, such as being the first to do the dishes without my mom asking or volunteering to pick up my friend for our SAT prep course. Now, as I prepare to enter college, I have confidence in my leadership ability. I know I’m signing up for a challenging major—Biology, Pre-Med—yet I also know that Chelsea’s Chicken has helped me to develop the perseverance required to complete my studies successfully.

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

A scholarship essay requires you to demonstrate your values and qualities while answering the prompt’s specific question.

After researching the scholarship organization, identify a personal experience that embodies its values and exemplifies how you will be a successful student.

Invest time in applying for various scholarships , especially local ones with small dollar amounts, which are likely easier to win and more reflective of your background and interests. It will be easier for you to write an authentic and compelling essay if the scholarship topic is meaningful to you.

You can find scholarships through your school counselor, community network, or an internet search.

You can start applying for scholarships as early as your junior year. Continue applying throughout your senior year.

Yes, but make sure your essay directly addresses the prompt, respects the word count , and demonstrates the organization’s values.

If you plan ahead, you can save time by writing one scholarship essay for multiple prompts with similar questions. In a scholarship tracker spreadsheet, you can group or color-code overlapping essay prompts; then, write a single essay for multiple scholarships. Sometimes, you can even reuse or adapt your main college essay .

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10 Winning Scholarship Essay Examples From Real Students

Make your application shine.

Writing a scholarship essay can be intimidating. The competition is fierce and the stakes are high, so students are bound to feel the pressure. It may be helpful, therefore, to look at essays that were successful. What did those students do to impress the committee? These scholarship essay examples will give you a better idea of how to make an application shine! 

Tips for Writing a Scholarship Essay

We’ve put together a whole guide for how to write a scholarship essay , so if you haven’t read it already, definitely give it a look! In addition, here are some quick tips to help students get started. 

Carefully read the rules

The last thing you need is to be disqualified from winning a scholarship because you didn’t do the right thing. 

Start early

Don’t wait until the last minute to start researching and applying for scholarships. Give yourself plenty of time to work through the process. 

Get to know the provider

Think of the scholarship provider as your target audience. You want to tailor your essay to impress them, so do your research. What kinds of candidates are they looking for? What causes do they support? Dig deep for the information you need!

Think about who you are, what you want to say, and how to appeal to the scholarship committee. Write everything down and then choose the best ideas. 

The scholarship committee will be reviewing many applications. How can you make yours unforgettable? Highlight your strongest assets, share hard lessons if they showcase your growth as a person and/or student, and be honest. Never lie in a scholarship essay!

Be professional

Consider this the most important academic paper you’ve ever written. Don’t use slang or casual language. Submit a properly formatted essay that’s been well-edited and proofread by multiple people.

One last tip

Don’t reuse scholarship essays! Yes, it’s time-consuming, but students need to put the same effort into every application. Use the same process and it will get faster and easier every time!

Scholarship Essay Examples

Afc visionary scholarship essay by nicole kuznetsov.

Award Amount: $5,000

Essay prompt: Why do you want to go to college? Why is it important to you?

Why it was successful: The  beauty of this essay is that it’s well-organized and simple. Nicole Kuznetsov chose to outline her story by using chronology and provided a clean, concise story following a linear path.

North Coast Section Foundation Scholarship Essay by Christine Fung

Award Amount: $1,000

Why it was successful: Christine Fung masterfully shared how her upbringing instilled strong values, a love for education, and a passion for medicine .

The Bill Browning Scholarship Essay by Gabby DeMott

Award Amount: $10,000

Essay prompt: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Why it was successful: Gabby DeMott shared her experiences with personal growth and overcoming fears in Germany. She also appealed to the very human feeling of wanting to belong in a way that was inspiring. 

Life Happens Scholarship Essay by Emily Trader

Award Amount: $15,000

Essay prompt: How has the death of a parent or guardian impacted your life financially and emotionally? Be sure to describe how the loss of your parent/guardian impacted your college plans, and explain how the lack of adequate (or any) life insurance coverage has impacted your family’s financial situation.

Why it was successful: Emily Trader fully addressed the prompt in honest, beautiful detail. She knew her audience and tailored her essay to appeal to them while telling her compelling story. 

Change a Life Foundation Scholarship Essay by Isabella Mendez-Figueroa

Essay prompt: Please explain how your experience volunteering and participating in community service has shaped your perspective on humanity. Elaborate on how these experiences have influenced your future ambitions and career choice.

Why it was successful: Isabella Mendez-Figueroa shared an empowering story about her parents overcoming financial adversity so that she and her sister could be the first in their family to go to college. 

Giva Scholarship Essay by Joseph Lee

Essay prompt: Who is (or what makes) a good doctor?

Why it was successful: Joseph Lee offered a captivating , personal story that was essentially a list of things that make someone a good doctor without it feeling boring or calculated. 

New York University College of Arts and Science Scholarship by Ana

Award amount: $39,500 

Essay prompt: Explain something that made a big impact in your life.

Why it was successful: Ana discussed how early experiences w ith learning difficult things has contributed to her passion for teaching and supporting students. 

The Fund for Education Abroad Rainbow Scholarship Essay  by Steven Fisher

Award amount: $7,500

Essay prompt: The Fund for Education Abroad is committed to diversifying education abroad by providing funding to students who are typically under-represented in study abroad. Please describe how you and/or your plans for study abroad could be viewed as under-represented.

Why it was successful: Steven Fisher’s powerful essay   connected his realizations about his own sexual identity with embracing the beautiful diversity found all around the world. 

Women’s World Banking Founder’s Scholarship Essay by Rosaisha Ozoria

Essay prompt: Write about your hopes for the future of women and girls worldwide.

Why it was successful: Rosaisha Ozoria   focused on a very specific topic , financial literacy for Hispanic women, and emphasized its importance and relevance to her own life. 

The Millennium Gates Last Dollar Scholarship Essay by Famyrah Lafortune

Award amount: $3,500

Essay prompt: Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” —Nelson Mandela Describe a change you would like to make in the world. Tell us about how you would plan to make that change, and what obstacles you might encounter along the way.

Why it was successful: Famyrah Lafortune starts with a strong statement about ending racial inequality and then details the steps she’ll take to make it happen. 

Do you have any great scholarship essay examples? Share them below!

Plus, check out  the ultimate guide to college scholarships, want more suggestions be sure to subscribe to our newsletters ..

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How to Start a Scholarship Essay (With Examples)

Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut. Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.

Learn about our editorial policies

Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.

Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

As an admissions officer, I reviewed thousands of essays for students seeking admission and scholarships. The essay is one of the most important parts of the scholarship application process–a strong essay can go a long way. However, with so much competition, it is important for your scholarship essay to stand out. That’s why it’s important for you to start a scholarship essay off right!

There are some very simple things that you can do to ensure that your essay is engaging from the very first sentence. In fact, beginning your essay with an exciting opening is one of the most important things you can do, because it will immediately distinguish your essay from the others. 

Keep on reading to learn more about how you can nail the very first sentence and start your essay off right!

Engage the reader with the first sentence

No matter what type of essay you are writing, you will want to ensure that the very first line grabs the attention of the reader. One of the biggest mistakes that students make when starting their essay is simply restating the prompt. This is bland and boring. 

Now, you might be wondering, “how do I engage the reader with the very first line of my essay?”. The good news is that there are several ways that you can do this that are very simple to do. 

Related:  How to answer scholarship essay questions about your career goals

Begin with dialogue

First, you could begin your essay with conversation. This can be an interesting and unexpected way to start your scholarship essay. Maybe someone asked you an unexpected question? Perhaps you were having an interesting conversation with a friend or family member? Either way, dialogue can be a powerful tool to start your essay.

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Put the reader in your shoes.

Alternatively, you can choose to start your essay by placing the reader right in your shoes and show them something from your life. Appeal to the senses and show the reader what you see, hear, smell, or taste. These specific details will help your essay come to life and make it even more memorable. 

Also recommended: What’s the best scholarship essay format?

Scholarship essay introduction example

Next,  we’ll look at a specific example of how you can open up your essay. Let’s say you are applying for the Questbridge scholarship program . One of the essays that you will be asked is:

We are interested in learning more about you and the context in which you have grown up, formed your aspirations, and accomplished your academic successes. Please describe the factors and challenges that have most influenced you. How are they shaping your future aspirations?

You might be tempted to rephrase the question and start your essay with something like:

“I have grown up in a rural context and this has formed my aspirations and allowed me to accomplish academic success…”

This is generic and will not engage your reader at all. 

Instead, what if you started off your essay with something like this:

“I look outside my bedroom window and see Henry, my favorite chicken, pecking at something in the dirt.” 

Makes a big difference, right? As a reader, you are probably wondering: why does this person have chickens outside their bedroom window? Why did they name this particular chicken Henry?

See also: Here are our top writing & essay scholarships for students!

Keep the ending of your essay in mind as you write the opening

While crafting your opening, be open to ideas about how to close your essay. There is no need to stress about the ending now, but being mindful of effective ways to end an essay is always a good idea. Say you are opening your scholarship essay with Henry the chicken. Is there a way for Henry to make an impactful appearance at the end of the essay to close things out in a way that perfectly wraps everything up? The key is for the essay ending to be meaningful and memorable for the reader. 

Don’t miss: Our free scholarship search tool

If you can’t think of a “wow” scholarship essay beginning, keep writing!

Sometimes, we know what we want to say, point by point, but we are not ready to be creative when it comes to opening an essay. In that case, keep writing! There is always the option of going back and crafting an engaging opening after your essay is written. Simply write your main idea where the first paragraph would be to guide you as you write. After, go back when your creative juices are flowing, and craft the amazing opening (and closing) that your scholarship essay deserves!

Final thoughts

As shown, there are many questions that we as readers will have after reading an engaging essay opening such as the one just shared; We want to learn more about the student who is writing this essay. After all, as a writer trying to stand out in a pile of essays, that is our main goal. 

We hope that you have a better understanding of how to start a scholarship essay so you can maximize your chances of winning scholarships!

Additional resources

Scholarships360 is the go-to for all things college admissions and scholarships! Wondering how to write a 250 word essay and how to write a 500 word essay ? Curious how to write an essay about yourself ? Wow, do we have the resources to help! Additionally, check out our free scholarship search tool to help you finance your college education. Best of luck to you and your future endeavors! 

Key Takeaways

• The first sentence of the essay is what makes the reader want to continue reading 
• Engage the reader by appealing to the senses
• Create a sense of wonder in your essay, making the reader want to learn more about you
• Keep the ending of the essay in mind as you craft the beginning

Frequently asked questions about how to start a scholarship essay

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How to answer “Why do you deserve this scholarship?” essay prompt (with examples!)

When you’re applying for scholarships, you’ll see tons of different essay prompts. Two of the most common are “Why do you deserve this scholarship?” or its variant “Why are you applying for this scholarship?” While these might seem like intimidating questions, don’t overthink them! These are straightforward questions that you can easily answer. Here’s how.

What’s the scholarship committee looking for?

Tips to consider.

• Examples of “Why I Deserve It” scholarship essays

Variant: “Why are you applying for this scholarship?”

Variant: “why do you need this scholarship”, ready to start answering an essay prompt like this.

Scholarship providers want to give the award to the most deserving student. So by including these prompts, they’re basically asking: Why should it be you?

In particular, they want to know:

• What makes you unique? What are your particular interests and motivations?
• How do your strengths and goals fit in with this particular scholarship? For instance, why you might deserve an athletic scholarship might be different from why you deserve a financial need scholarship . 
• How will you make use of the scholarship funds? Scholarship providers want to know their awards will make a difference. Show them how this money would really help advance your goals.

Link your passions to the scholarship

One of the first things to consider is to express who you are in your writing. Show scholarship providers why you deserve this scholarship by painting them a picture of who you are and what drives you. But remember to keep it related to the scholarship. For example:

• If you’re applying for a journalism-related scholarship, explain how you became interested in journalism, and what kind of journalism you hope to pursue.
• If you’re applying to a community service scholarship , explain what kind of community service you do and why you’re committed to it.

Show your grit

This is where your scholarship essay might get personal . You might deserve this scholarship because you have persevered through some personal struggles. Those struggles might be more serious–for example, related to family income (growing up poor) or physical obstacles (a disability or injury). Or it might be a more fleeting personal circumstance (like not getting that student organization position you were vying for).

In any case, focus on how you overcame these difficulties–and how the experiences have shaped who you are today. Also remember to focus it back on the scholarship topic at hand.

For example, if you’re applying to an arts scholarship, you might say:

Although I always loved art, growing up poor in a rural area made it difficult to have access to the fine arts museums (far away) or materials (too expensive). So I made do in other ways. I borrowed art books from the library and did virtual tours of the Met and the MOMA from my home computer. And since I couldn’t afford a fancy SLDR camera, I learned all the iPhone photography tricks I could, and used open-source software to do post-production on my photos.

This kind of statement shows how much the student loves art and the lengths the’ve gone to, in order to explore the medium, despite obstacles. A scholarship committee might read this and think: “This student is particularly deserving of our scholarship.

Share what you plan to do with the scholarship award

Why you are deserving doesn’t just have to do with your past achievements; it also has to do with your future plans and goals. Scholarship providers want to fund students who will go on to achieve great things or who wish to give back to their communities.

For instance, in scholarship winner Michelle Marie Charles’ essay, she explains how the award money will be put to good use:

My wish is to help guide undocumented people to obtain a job in a foreign country, and to fight for them to stay in the country. […] Once I am an attorney, I will seek new opportunities to expand the help provided to immigrants. I will create programs that specifically target undocumented people to know their own voice and to educated themselves about the law. […] I know the long journey that lays ahead of them and know how difficult the process of transferring to undocumented to citizen is, but I want to be there so they know that they still have a choice.

Examples of “Why I Deserve It” scholarship essay s

In general, there are three ways we’ve seen Going Merry students successfully tackle this essay. 

1. Treat it like a résumé, in paragraph form.

Since it’s asking you to brag about your strengths, some essay answers simply describe the applicant’s multiple accomplishments (either in chronological order, or grouped by interest/category – like academics, sports, research, student clubs). This is a particularly good strategy if the scholarship application doesn’t ask for a résumé or list of extracurricular activities. In that case, this essay is your opportunity to discuss those.

An example version of this might read like this :

“I [have been committed] to programs that would further develop my view of the world. I have been involved in Choir and Music Club. I have also been a member of the Red Crescent club for 3 years, which has expanded my exposures to other cultures by learning another language and studying multiple customs. I have been the captain of both the varsity golf and softball teams for two years, developing my leadership skills. My involvement in both my school and community prove that I am a student committed to developing a promising future.”

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2. Treat it like a personal statement. 

Maybe you deserve the scholarship because of the type of person you are: someone who has overcome adversity, thinks deeply, is passionate about a specific subject, or wants to contribute to their community. In that case, you might simply be able to reuse your personal statement , tweaking it slightly to be able to explain how your personal characteristics or narrative make you a deserving scholarship recipient. 

One example of this is Going Merry winner Jesús Adrian Arroyo-Ramirez’s essay , which discusses how he overcame the obstacle of his immigration status. He writes:

I was illegally brought to this country when I was just six years old. At the time I had no clue that I was breaking any laws, and I did not realize the fact that my life was going to change forever. Growing up with a different citizenship situation than my peers was and still is the biggest challenge I have to face in my life. Looking back there is not a single thing that I would change. Knowing that I had to work harder than everyone else led me to be the person that I am today. I took that fire inside of me, pushed myself, graduated first in my class with a cumulative 4.0 GPA, became a Kansas Scholar, and graduated High School with a semester’s worth of college credit. In November of 2016, everything began to look up for me. I received a work permit and a social security card all thanks to the DACA program. I was finally able to get my license, get a job, and most importantly attend college. I plan to continue my success in the classroom and do everything to the best of my ability as I know that under my current circumstances it can all be ripped away from me at any moment. Growing up with my situation has taught me to not take advantage of a single opportunity. 

3. Treat it like a career and/or academic goals essay. 

You’re likely using your scholarship money to attend college or grad school, so that you can pursue certain academic or career interests. You can discuss those, and then explain how scholarship funding would allow you to continue down that intended path, just like this short essay did : 

“The scholarship award will only push me further towards my Accounting degree and my dreams of one day having a successful career as an Accountant. […] Five years from now I see myself employed at a large local firm, crunching numbers, evaluating,and solving certain financial matters. I just feel blessed that I am given the opportunity to be awarded a scholarship to help fulfill my dream and I will prove that I do have what it takes to not only be a successful student, but an outstanding accountant.”

Here’s a guide on writing a career goals essay , and another guide for writing an essay on your academic goals . 

Is this the same question as “Why do you deserve this scholarship?” Yes and no. Both questions get at the same core idea (why are you relevant and deserving of the scholarship money), so for both essay prompts, your essay should describe your strengths and future plans. 

However, to properly answer this “why are you applying” question, you’ll need to more explicitly address your interest in the scholarship topic (e.g. if it’s a scholarship for nursing, why are you interested in nursing), as well as information about your financial situation (you are likely applying because you have need for the money, to pay for college or grad school). 

What about this one? Is this the same question?

Nope! This is a question about financial need. Although it may be uncomfortable to discuss, this prompt is asking you directly about your financial situation and why additional funding is necessary for you to pursue your academic or career plans.  Here’s more information about how to write a statement of financial need .

Also, check out this helpful list of the 10 most common scholarship essay topics to get started!

Now that you’ve got a better grasp on how to answer a prompt like, “Explain why you deserve this scholarship,” we think you’re ready to start writing and applying to scholarships! Get started by signing up for a free profile with Going Merry . You can write your essay and apply to thousands of scholarships . Just think of us as your one-stop shop for all things scholarships, including essay writing resources.

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The Scholarship System

Paying for college begins here

How to Reuse Scholarship Essays (the RIGHT Way)

Scholarships & Financial Aid

Updated on January 10th, 2024

Many students feel that the most challenging part of the scholarship process is writing the essays. Even if they know  how to write an essay for a scholarship , the time, effort, and energy required to create new pieces for every opportunity are often cumbersome. This makes reusing scholarship essays an attractive option. However, figuring out how to reuse scholarship essays isn’t always easy.

If your student is looking for fresh scholarship opportunities, there are plenty of options available; you just need to know where to look. If you and your student want to learn about finding scholarships,  sign up for our free college scholarship webinar ! Take a quick trip over to http://thescholarshipsystem.com/freewebinar to reserve a spot today.

If your student wants to reuse their own scholarship applications and essays, they need to know when it’s appropriate and how to do it correctly. Here’s a look at whether recycling scholarship essays is wise and how to reuse scholarship essays the right way.

• 1 Can You Reuse Scholarship Essays?
• 2 Should You Reuse Scholarship Essays?
• 3.1 1. Read the General Requirements
• 3.2 2. Review the Prompt
• 3.3 3. Explore the Organization’s Mission and Values
• 3.4 4. Make the Necessary Adjustments
• 3.5 5. Review the Essay Before Submitting
• 3.6 6. Save and Submit the Essay

Can You Reuse Scholarship Essays?

Yes, students can technically reuse scholarship essays when they’re applying for multiple scholarships or awards. In the vast majority of cases, there aren’t any rules barring the practice. As long as your student was the original creator of the essay, they can usually submit it to as many scholarship committees as they want, suggesting that there aren’t any rules stating otherwise.

However, that doesn’t mean they should simply upload the existing document or copy and paste the current version of the essay into a new scholarship application. Every scholarship has distinct essay requirements. Along with unique prompts, the committee may outline different parameters regarding the word count. If those rules aren’t followed, your student might end up disqualified because their essay didn’t align with the requirements.

Additionally, the original tone or focus of the essay may not fit with the new audience. Every committee will have its own priorities and preferences. If the essay doesn’t speak to their needs, the odds that it will resonate with the committee when it’s reviewed drops significantly.

Should You Reuse Scholarship Essays?

While students can recycle scholarship essays, that doesn’t always mean it’s a good idea. As mentioned above, each committee may outline unique requirements and might have different expectations. Ultimately, every committee is a distinct audience, so what resonates with one may not meet the needs of another.

In most cases, students who want to reuse scholarship essays need to adjust the written content before submitting the piece to a different committee. While the core message may remain intact – suggesting it aligns with the prompt – altering the tone, adjusting the word count, and taking other steps might be necessary.

At times, the required changes could make writing a new essay more efficient. As a result, it’s best for students to factor in the work involved before making a choice.

However, if the existing essay is an exceptional fit for a new scholarship, reusing it does come with some benefits. Mainly, it saves your student time and energy, making it easier to apply for more scholarships in a shorter timeframe. Additionally, it could reduce the stress associated with scholarship searches, allowing your student to maintain a better mindset.

In the end, your student needs to honestly assess whether the existing essay actually works for the other scholarship. That way, they can make a smart choice.

How to Reuse Scholarship Essays the Right Way

Generally speaking, reusing a scholarship essay the right way means altering the content before submitting it for a different award. In most cases, sending the piece in as-is means, the material won’t perfectly align with what the committee wants to see. As a result, that approach, while a time saver, can mean missing out on opportunities.

If your student wants to reuse scholarship essays, they need to use a solid strategy. Here is a step-by-step process they can use to determine if recycling an essay is an option and how to adjust the content to make it an excellent fit for a common application.

1. Read the General Requirements

Before your student tries to reuse a scholarship essay, the first thing they need to do is review the essay requirements. Along with the word count, they need to determine anything else relevant the piece needs to cover or contain. Additionally, they’ll want to see if there are any restrictions regarding recycled essays, as some committees may explicitly request fresh content.

2. Review the Prompt

While it isn’t the only example of  what not to write in a scholarship essay , being off-topic is a major misstep. If your student is thinking about recycling a scholarship essay, they need to write it to make sure that the existing content matches what the committee wants to know.

Even if a prompt is similar, that doesn’t mean that the current essay is a perfect fit. There is a slew of variations of  common scholarship questions , creating a level of nuance. For example, one committee may ask students to discuss their biggest influence, while others may ask about heroes. While the difference between essay prompts can be subtle, it’s nonetheless there.

If an existing essay is a solid match for the new prompt, then it’s a contender for reuse. However, if it’s off by any degree, it’s usually better to start fresh.

3. Explore the Organization’s Mission and Values

Every organization has its own mission and values. Often, these define the scholarship committee’s priorities and values, giving students clues about the audience they need to target when writing their essays.

Before recycling an essay, students need to see if the mission and values of the current and previous committees are generally similar. If they’re a strong match, then the essay’s tone may be appropriate to reuse. If not, then the style of the existing piece may not match the expectations or preferences of the new committee. In that situation, writing a new essay is often the best option.

4. Make the Necessary Adjustments

After completing the steps above, students should know if any existing essay is a strong fit for the new application. If so, they can adjust its content to ensure it meets any requirements that differ from the previous one. For example, they can cut back or expand to address a different word count or adjust their word choice to align with a new tone.

Essentially, your student needs to rework the essay to ensure it’s an exceptional fit for the new scholarship they’re trying to land. That way, they save time while also increasing their odds of securing the award.

5. Review the Essay Before Submitting

Once the adjustments are made, your student needs to review their work for errors and flow. Correcting grammar and spelling mistakes is essential. Additionally, checking for smooth transitions between points is a must, especially if your student had to make notable changes to the material.

If possible, your student should ask a trusted guidance counselor, teacher, friend, or family member to give the new essay a once-over. That way, there’s a second set of eyes looking for mistakes and making recommendations, increasing the reader’s attention and odds that the final version will be competitive.

If that isn’t possible, putting the essay into a text-to-speech program and listening to the audio can help. Sometimes, it’s easier to hear a mistake than see it when reviewing a document, making this an easy way to catch overlooked errors.

6. Save and Submit the Essay

After completing the steps above, your student can save the updated essay as a new document and submit it to the committee. That way, they can keep copies of all of their work as they pursue awards, giving them a larger collection of existing content to draw upon over time.

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Hello, just got admission to NYFA, but I haven’t apply scholarships yet, please help me how to write essay

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to win a hispanic scholarship fund award.

Financial Aid

If you’re a high school senior of Hispanic or Latinx heritage, you'll definitely want to learn more about the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) . With more than 150 types of scholarships available through this program, there’s a lot to learn—and a lot to win!

When you submit an HSF award scholarship, you’re actually submitting yourself for consideration for many different awards (much like when you submit a FAFSA ). I’ll talk about all the details you’ll need to take into consideration before submitting your own application for Hispanic scholarships. Then, we'll take a look at application strategies for current high school seniors.

What Is a Hispanic Scholarship Fund Award?

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) is a large organization that oversees many scholarship programs. It has partnerships with both philanthropic and corporate organizations to fund scholarships for Hispanic students.

Since 1975, HSF has awarded more than $675 million in scholarship money, with 5,100+ new scholarships awarded each year . Overall, it's a real powerhouse of an organization, which aims to ensure that every Hispanic household in the US has at least one college graduate.

In essence, there's no single HSF award; instead, HSF offers many different scholarships, each with its own funding sources, eligibility requirements, and award amounts. The great thing about HSF is that you only have to submit one application every year to be considered for all available scholarships .

These scholarships are merit-based,  meaning they're awarded based on academic and personal achievements, not financial need; that said, financial need is taken into consideration when determining the amount of the award.

Most awards are not renewable —you only receive one annual award amount. As I mentioned above, however, you can submit an HSF scholarship application every year. Re-submitting applications in the future may help your chances of getting more scholarship funding . HSF really values building a community and slightly favors past award winners when reviewing scholarship applications.

HSF award amounts vary from $500 to as high as $5,000, but the specific amount you could win will vary depending on your financial need.

HSF scholarships offer more than just funding for school, though. Here's a list of the benefits that come along with an HSF award :

• Career center platform to help you look for jobs and internships
• Mentor match program
• Online course system to augment your normal college studies
• HSF newsletter with extracurricular and volunteer opportunities
• HSF events and programs, such as Latinos United and Networking for Advancement (LUNA) and National Leadership Conference (NLC)
• An extra "point" on future HSF scholarship applications—if you've won an HSF scholarship in the past, you'll be more likely to win one in the future

All in all, an HSF award is a really great resource in more ways than one. Because one application means you'll be considered for countless scholarships, it's well worth your time to apply for an HSF award . So let's get started!

How to Know If You're Eligible for an HSF Scholarship

In order to receive an HSF award, you must meet all of the following eligibility requirements :

• Be of Hispanic heritage (defined as being at least 1/4 Hispanic or Latino)
• Have a minimum 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale (for high school students)
• Have a minimum 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale (for college and graduate students)
• Plan to enroll full-time at an accredited nonprofit four-year university or graduate school during the fall of the scholarship cycle year
• Be a US citizen, permanent legal resident, DACA, or eligible non-citizen as defined by the FAFSA
• Complete the FAFSA
• Complete the State Dream Act financial aid application, if applicable

Students of all majors are considered, although there is an emphasis on STEM fields . This is likely because students of Hispanic heritage are especially underrepresented in the fields of math, science, technology, and engineering.

What Do You Need to Apply for an HSF Scholarship?

Before you start working on your Hispanic Scholarship Fund application, it'd be wise to gather the following information and reports.

To complete your HSF application, you'll need the following materials:

• Your FAFSA and Student Aid Report—get complete instructions here
• School transcripts —you can get these from your guidance counselor
• Enrollment verification from your school—check with the admissions office about this
• Financial aid award letter from the college you're enrolling in—the HSF uses this to determine your award amount but not whether you receive a scholarship
• Letters of recommendation —you'll need at least one academic recommender, but additional writers can be academic or non-academic

Your school guidance counselor should be able to help you gather the paperwork you need.

How Do You Submit an HSF Application?

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund application opens January 1  each year and typically closes mid-February. The 2023-24 cycle is currently underway, and awards will be disbursed sometime in December 2023. For the 2024-25 scholarships, the application is estimated to open January 1, 2024, and close February 15, 2024.

By submitting just one application, you'll be considered for a variety of awards. However, although you might be eligible to receive multiple scholarships, you can only be awarded one scholarship per year. Remember that you are encouraged to submit an HSF scholarship application every year you're in school.

After you submit an HSF scholarship application, you'll learn whether you won an award via email in June or July.

Want to build the best possible college application and financial aid package?

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We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools .

Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.

How May You Use Hispanic Scholarship Fund Award Money?

HSF scholarship funds can be used for tuition, books, fees, and other academic expenses. You can also use the award money to pay for room, board, and transportation expenses.

How to Raise Your Chances of Winning a Hispanic Scholarship Fund Award

HSF scholarships are highly competitive; unfortunately, not all qualified applicants receive a scholarship each year. It’s important, then, that you dedicate yourself fully to the application process if you’re serious about trying to get an HSF award.

I'll address some long- and short-term strategies to help you win an HSF scholarship here.

Long-Term Considerations

As you prepare for HSF scholarship applications, keep in mind that students are evaluated on the following criteria:

• Academic achievement
• Personal strengths
• Commitment to giving back to their communities

HSF also strives to help students achieve their goals, particularly in areas in which Hispanic/Latino students are underrepresented, namely STEM fields .

You'll be considered an even stronger applicant if you plan on going into science, tech, engineering, or mathematics.

You should also note that HSF scholarships are looking for students who are well rounded . In other words, they would prefer a student with a slightly lower GPA and an impressive resume to a student with a perfect GPA and no extracurricular activities.

Nevertheless, the strongest HSF applicant will demonstrate both academic excellence and involvement in extracurricular activities .

If you're a younger high school student, you can start working on making yourself a stronger applicant, both for scholarships and college applications (there tends to be a lot of overlap).

Here are three things that can make applicants more competitive , according to HSF.

#1: Taking Honors or Advanced Classes

This speaks to your academic achievement. Students who challenge themselves with a more difficult course load will seem more ambitious and tenacious.

#2: Consistent Involvement in Extracurricular or Volunteer Activities

Depending on what activities you’re involved in, your participation in extracurriculars/volunteer activities can speak to all the qualities that applicants are evaluated for.

• Academic achievement: Activities such as Science Olympiad , Mock Trial, and Debate can augment what you’re already doing in class. Basically, participation demonstrates intellectual curiosity.
• Personal strengths : Your success in various activities/organizations will speak to your personal strengths. If you win any awards, honors, or accolades through your participation in extracurriculars, these will get you brownie points on applications.
• Leadership : If you hold an authoritative role as a club officer, or if you started a club or volunteer organization, you’ll prove that you are a strong and effective leader.
• Commitment to giving back to the community : Generally, any volunteer or school-related activity will demonstrate a commitment to your community.

#3: Demonstrating Experiences That Have Contributed to Your Personal Growth

You might be questioning what exactly this point is supposed to mean. After all, experiences that contribute to personal growth will be different for everyone.

In general, though, any experience that challenges you or forces you out of your comfort zone will contribute to your growth .

Here are some examples of how you can demonstrate these types of experiences in the domains relevant to the HSF application:

• Academics : Again, difficult coursework, especially in your weaker subject areas, will challenge you intellectually. If you approach the challenge productively by seeking extra help from teachers and keeping up with your work, you’ll come across as a strong applicant. Letters of recommendation from appropriate teachers can really shed light on whether you seek out challenging academic experiences.
• Leadership: No one starts off as a leader in any club or activity; you have to work your way up by proving yourself and earning respect over time. Volunteer to take on new and challenging learning experiences in your extracurriculars. You can do this by leading a group, proposing an independent learning project, or even starting your own club or organization.
• Commitment to giving back to your community: How do you demonstrate commitment or passion to giving back? You do more than what’s required or expected of you. Do you feel that your school or community is missing a particular type of service group? For example, maybe you’ve noticed that the younger kids in your school community don’t have access to tutors or mentors for homework help, and you have a passion for education and teaching. This would be a great opportunity to give back to your community while also demonstrating real initiative and leadership.

Take every opportunity to describe personal growth and development - scholarships (and colleges) love to see this upwards trajectory.

Sometimes, leadership and community commitment go formally unrecognized. Although I know it’s difficult for some students to toot their own horns, formal awards, honors, and accolades can really help you boost scholarship and college applications.

Work on taking the above advice over the long term, but also try to actively seek out award opportunities in your community . You can do this by checking with your school's guidance counselor or by doing a Google search for any awards in your area.

Short-Term Considerations

If you're ready to start working on your applications, this section will be especially helpful. I'll break down the best ways to approach each part of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund application so you can optimize your chances of winning an award.

The actual essay prompts for the 2024-25 HSF scholarship application aren't available yet, but the HSF lists ideas for personal statements that will likely overlap with its own application essays.

You can use the following prompts to brainstorm before you have access to the actual application in January:

• What are your goals? Why did you choose these goals?
• Why did you choose to apply for HSF fund scholarships?
• What are your values and philosophy about education? Why?
• Are there any accomplishments (either in or out of school) that you're particularly proud of? What have you learned from these experiences?
• Do you have a time-management system? What is it?
• How do you schedule your time to include both academic and social activities?
• What difficulties or disadvantages have you faced in your life, and how have you overcome them? What is one area in which you are weak, and how have you or do you plan to overcome this weakness?
• Identify a leadership experience and talk about the most important lessons of the position and experience.
• What makes you unique?

Your actual scholarship essay will be evaluated on four different factors, which are as follows:

#1: Length : There’s a maximum word count for each essay. The best essays will use all the space available. While you don’t need to write the exact max number of words, you should try to get as close as possible to the maximum.

#2: Content : The essay prompts will be focused and direct; make sure your response is as well. If the prompt includes multiple parts, ensure that you’re answering each part of the prompt.

• Highlight the qualities that the HSF values in scholarship recipients, including academic achievement, personal strengths, leadership skills or experiences, and commitment to giving back to the community. Reference the section above for examples of activities, experiences, and challenges you could highlight.
• If there are any major weaknesses in your HSF application (such as a lack of leadership experiences or poor academic performance), use your essays to explain yourself . Don’t make excuses—keep your tone matter-of-fact, but optimistic.
• If you’ve experienced any extraordinary hardships or obstacles, mention them in your essays . It’s important that application readers have a full and comprehensive understanding of situational factors that could have affected different aspects of your application.

#3: Use of Examples : The examples you use in your essays should be personal (without being confessional) and relevant to the prompt. Your essay responses will be more engaging if, for example, you begin your writing with an anecdote or personal story.

#4: Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation: Errors are distracting and detract from the quality of your writing. Avoid mistakes by giving yourself plenty of time to write the essay. Have a trusted teacher or mentor edit and proofread your work, too.

This sign doesn't make a great first impression. Make sure your HSF essay does!

Letters of Recommendation

Your academic recommendation writer must be an instructor, an adviser, or someone who can evaluate you academically (e.g., your academic performance, motivation, plans and goals, etc.). Additional recommenders can be either academic or nonacademic.

Secondary recommendation writers must be able to evaluate your community service and extracurricular activities (e.g., your leadership, work ethic, or commitment). Recommendations from family members, family friends, and other close friends are discouraged by HSF.

Strong letters of recommendation are important for any application. Here’s how you can go about getting the best letters possible for an HSF award application:

#1: Ask the Right People : Ideal recommendation writers are those in educator/mentor positions and with whom you have a long, positive history. The best recommender will be excited to vouch for you.

If you have someone in mind, ask them to write your letters in such a way that they have an "out" if they’re not comfortable doing it. If they don’t have any positive things to say about you, they’ll end up writing a lukewarm letter, and this will really hurt your application.

Ask if they’d be comfortable writing you a "very strong" or "glowing" letter. This way, you'll know that if they decline or hesitate, you’re probably better off asking someone else to write you a letter.

You can ask more than one person to write you a letter of recommendation. This is potentially a great opportunity to present yourself as a well-rounded applicant. I advise you to ask for letters from two to three people; any more than that, though, and the HSF scholarship evaluators will have too much to read!

#2: Give Your Letter Writers Plenty of Advance Notice: Aim for 10-12 weeks, if possible. Since the deadline for HSF is in mid-February, you'll want to aim to ask for rec letters by mid-November.

What's Next?

Although the HSF application means you'll be considered for many scholarships, you don't want to stop there! To really optimize your chances of getting scholarship funding, you should apply to as many scholarship programs as possible.

The good news is that we have comprehensive guides to submitting the best applications for some of the nation's top scholarships. Read these to learn how to win the Gates Millennium Scholarship , the Ronald McDonald House Charities scholarships , the Walmart Scholarships , and the Coca-Cola Scholarship .

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Francesca graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and scored in the 99th percentile on the SATs. She's worked with many students on SAT prep and college counseling, and loves helping students capitalize on their strengths.

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Credit: Mark Smith

A Literary Revival

While many journals of its type have perished owing to budget cuts, the reborn 'hopkins review' defies the odds and continues to champion eminent and emerging writers..

By Aleyna Rentz

T he inaugural 1947 issue of Johns Hopkins University's literary magazine, The Hopkins Review , begins with a poem by then undergraduate John Stephen called "Revaluation":

Mightier than swords, They said- a soothing token Of power's impotence When peace has softly spoken; But blades continue keen, And pens too soon get broken.

These lines speak to the frustration of a young writer who's realized that many things are, in fact, mightier than the pen. Off the heels of World War II, Stephen was probably thinking of land mines and atomic bombs, but his words make me think of money. Mightier than the pen and deadlier than the sword, it's the thing that, only six years later, killed The Hopkins Review .

But in those six brief years, The Hopkins Review had an impressive run. It was established by Writing Seminars founder Professor Elliott Coleman, who felt editorial training and publishing experience were essential for the success of his students. It would become the first literary journal published by a degree-granting creative writing department, setting a precedent for others to come. While Coleman's editorial staff took chances on undergraduates like Stephen, they also solicited work from celebrated poets like E.E. Cummings, Richard Wilbur, and Kenneth Burke. The Hopkins Review launched careers, as well; the Fall 1950 edition included John Barth's first published story, "Lilith and the Lion." Like any cultural institution literary journals are a necessary investment for any society that values the humanities. While putting together the Spring/Summer 1953 edition of the journal, editors Robert K. Burns and H.L. Scharf sensed the end was near and braced readers for the worst. In a foreword titled "Last of the Mohicans?" they warned, "It is entirely possible that this will be the last issue of The Hopkins Review , though that is not a certainty." They were frank about why:

The trouble is finances. Like all literary quarterlies, 'The Hopkins Review' cannot pay its own way. Its revenues during the course of a year amount to something less than the printing costs of a single issue of the magazine. Its subsidy from the university has been $1,000 a year, or just over the cost of one of the four annual numbers. … To say that *The Hopkins Review* is a nonprofit publication would be to belabor litotes. It is not only noncommercial; it is nonsalaried. No contributor has ever been paid for his contribution. Not one of the editors and associate editors has ever received a salary for working on the magazine.

Flipping through the original journals chronologically, one gets a sense of mounting financial unease. In a scholarly publication, I hardly expected to find Mr. Boh, the one-eyed cartoon mascot for National Bohemian beer, but there he was, on the inside covers of every issue from 1950 onward, proclaiming, "Oh boy, what a beer!" By contrast, the previous issues had no ads. Through the years, however, they became ubiquitous: beauty salon and soda fountain ads sandwiched between poems, tear-out forms for mail-ordering the latest paperbacks. Whatever money the editors received for these concessions to capitalism was evidently not enough to sustain the publication.

The 1953 issue was indeed the last issue—for the time being, that is. It would be nearly 60 years before they published the next one.

I f swift and early success, coupled with institutional support, could not guarantee The Hopkins Review 's longevity, it's mind-boggling that any literary publication survives more than a few years. As noted in The Hopkins Review 's farewell letter, these journals are nonprofit enterprises in the most literal sense. They do not make money. The people who start them likely expect to lose a few dollars, a worthy exchange for giving writers space to explore and reinvent. Like any cultural institution—art museums, local theaters, graduate programs in film production—literary journals are a necessary investment for any society that values the humanities.

Typically, the survival of university-based literary publications is not contingent on their ability to make money. Writing Seminars professor and Hopkins Review editor-in-chief emeritus David Yezzi emphasized this fact: "No magazine of this type balances the budget based on subscriptions," he said. "It requires institutional commitment to literature and the humanities." Indeed, subscription fees are almost never enough to cover production costs, let alone pay writers and staff, so magazines usually subsist on a mix of grant and institutional funding. But grant applications aren't always successful, and institutional support has become increasingly unreliable. In 2022, Bard College announced the closure of its elite literary journal, Conjunctions , citing its unsustainable production costs, a move that came on the heels of a $500 million endowment. Perhaps letting these journals die with dignity is better than what the University of Nevada at Las Vegas did to The Believer . In 2017, UNLV bought the popular publication from its parent company, McSweeney's, but in 2022, they decided the production costs were too high, so they sold it to a company called Paradise Media. Replacing the magazine's usual online content—Toni Morrison poems, Bob Odenkirk humor writing—were such headlines as "25 Best Hookup Sites for Flings, New Trysts, and Casual Dating." To introduce the internet's newest salacious search engine optimization farm, the new owners tweeted, "Hi, this is the new owner of The Believer " from a subsidiary company's account called the Sex Toy Collective. The literary community's uproar was so great that Paradise Media quickly sold the journal back to McSweeney's. All this so UNLV could pocket a mere $225,000.

Budget shortfalls in higher education are a nationwide trend. An analysis by the National Education Association revealed that 32 states spent less on public colleges and universities in 2020 than in 2008, with an average decline of nearly $1,500 per student. When faced with uneasy decisions about where to cut costs, universities take aim at less formidable targets—like literary journals and, even more dramatically, sometimes the departments that house them. When the University of Alaska Anchorage defunded its creative writing MFA program, it also ceased funding its publication The Alaska Quarterly Review , a prestigious outlet for poets and fiction writers. Purdue University killed the Sycamore Review after dismantling its highly competitive and esteemed MFA program. And Gettysburg College recently overhauled its budget, choosing to shut down the highly successful Gettysburg Review because it did not, in the administration's view, contribute to "student experience" or "outcomes."

D uring John T. Irwin's 19-year tenure chairing the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins, he surely also cared about student outcomes and expectations, but his metrics for measuring them clearly differed from those of today's decision-makers in higher education. From the outset, he was determined to have a campus literary publication for students to work on, arguing that every top-ranking writing program needed one. Ultimately, he would make his vision a reality by reviving The Hopkins Review in 2008, but it took decades—and a lot of fundraising—for him to get there.

Irwin came to Baltimore from Texas, bringing with him a Southern geniality that made him well liked by most everyone. He was known for his infectious humor and boisterous laugh; Writing Seminars Professor Jean McGarry recalls him having "a real knack with people," though students might have been intimidated by him at first glance. He wore a three-piece suit every day to work, liked to spring pop quizzes on unsuspecting students, and could recite countless poems from memory. His choice of office door decoration aptly captured the two poles of his personality: Next to a stoic photograph of Edgar Allan Poe was a banner declaring "Don't mess with Texas."

His first attempt at creating a lit mag resulted in the short-lived Strivers' Row , a joint venture with the English Department that published exactly one issue, in January 1974. It is impossible to know how Irwin, who died in 2019, felt about the fleeting existence of Strivers' Row , but if his next move is any indication, one can guess he was disappointed—that same year, he left Hopkins for the University of Georgia to edit The Georgia Review . His editorial stint there was also brief; according to McGarry, Irwin was dissatisfied by The Georgia Review 's aesthetic.

"He told me it was a very old-fashioned literary magazine," she says. "Even though it was the '70s, it really reflected the '50s. John was interested in modern, very contemporary fiction, critical theory, and psychoanalysis, so he basically went scorched earth. And so, all the oldtimers couldn't publish [in The Georgia Review ] anymore. He told me after a while he had to leave because he had so many enemies. That's what he said. But he came back to Hopkins in 1980 and was hired by John Barth."

Irwin probably felt much more at home working with Barth, a luminary of postmodern fiction, but The Georgia Review must've made an impression on him. Like The Hopkins Review , it debuted in 1947; unlike The Hopkins Review , it never went under. If its traditionalism wasn't inspiring, its longevity must've been.

Why Irwin waited nearly two decades to undertake another editorial venture is a mystery. Nevertheless, in 2005, he announced his intentions to revive The Hopkins Review , which published its first new issue in winter 2008. The three intervening years were spent soliciting funding, securing authors and editors, and coordinating printing with the Johns Hopkins University Press, potentially tricky tasks at which the affable Irwin excelled.

Rob Friedman, A&S '81, who audited Writing Seminars Master of Fine Arts classes during Irwin's tenure and helped relaunch the journal, notes how much the journal's success hinged on Irwin: "I really salute John. He hungered to do this thing, and he did everything he could to make it work. He really pulled in a lot of heavy hitters to give weight to [the journal]. And it is a testament to the respect that people have for John that they gladly came aboard to help him get this thing going."

If the first iteration of the journal ended with a whimper, it returned with a bang. The "new series," as Irwin dubbed it, launched with a mix of fresh and recognizable voices. The first issue included two unpublished stories by the late experimental writer Donald Barthelme, prefaced with a touching note from his longtime friend and peer John Barth. Award-winning poets Mary Jo Salter, John Hollander, and Richard Wilbur appeared in its pages, and future issues would feature venerated literary critics Harold Bloom and Helen Vendler and decorated novelists Alice McDermott and Colm Tóibín. Fifty-five years after the first editors mourned the journal's uncertain future, it was more alive than ever.

Irwin helmed the journal until 2015, when a stroke forced him to scale back his professorial and editorial duties. At that time, poetry Professor David Yezzi was guest editing an issue of the review, a position he hadn't expected to become permanent. But with Irwin unable to continue, Yezzi volunteered to take over.

"I wanted to stabilize everything," Yezzi says, "kind of keep [the journal] on track and grow it from what John had built without doing a major overhaul—extend and innovate within the existing format."

Yezzi upheld the journal's reputation of publishing excellent writers by including the likes of William Logan, Andrew Motion, and Natalie Shapero. Irwin's efforts were not forgotten—when he retired in 2016, the journal honored him with a 36-page Festschrift , a book of tributes for a retiring academic, with contributions (some in poetic form) from 13 of his colleagues.

Yezzi has since passed the torch to poetry Professor Dora Malech, who became editor-in-chief in 2022, just in time for a 15th anniversary redesign. Malech and her editorial team spent a lot of time reimagining the journal for a new generation.

"We had the opportunity to really do some soul-searching," Malech says. "What are we about? What can we be?"

A lot of things, as it turns out. The covers, once uniformly blue and white with a staid black logo, are now full color and full bleed, featuring vibrant art from Baltimore-based artists. Inside, readers will find art folios, visual essays, and a diverse selection of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and criticism from a roster of esteemed writers including Claudia Rankine, Paul Muldoon, Terrance Hayes, Michael Martone, and John Barth. Each issue also contains works in translation from a variety of languages, from Spanish to Yiddish to Swahili. It's the kind of quarterly that Irwin, wary of traditionalism, would've loved.

The journal is not confined to its physical copies. On its website, readers will find podcast episodes and online exclusive features. In the wider Baltimore community, magazine contributors participate in local literary festivals and gather to recite their work at Bird in Hand, a cafe and bookshop across the street from the Homewood campus.

The new series of the journal has received broad acclaim, especially in the past few years.

Michael Dumanis, editor of Bennington College's literary journal, Bennington Review , praised The Hopkins Review 's precise artistic vision: "I think The Hopkins Review is a terrific reclamation, in a digital age of spontaneous website clicks and a glut of decontextualized literary content floating through the internet, of the value of a bound, tangible, unified art object that carefully selects, compiles, and arranges a spectrum of new fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and criticism through a distinct editorial lens. What you get is a cohesive, engaging volume full of varied literary textures ordered into a beginning, a middle, and an end. Every few months, you can read it like a new book."

Since Malech took over, the number of subscribers has doubled. The editorial team, a mix of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and professional editors and writers, cull work from a large pool of unsolicited submissions. Their ability to recognize good writing and collaborate with writers during the editing process has resulted in individual pieces (from each editor-in-chief's tenure) being reprinted in wide-ranging anthologies such as Best American Poetry , Best American Short Stories , Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses , Best Spiritual Literature , and Best Literary Translations . The journal won a 2022 Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial and Design Achievement from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals, with the judges noting: "The design changes have brought this important arts journal into the social stream of twenty-first-century cultural connections."

D espite the larger trend of colleges defunding their literary journals, The Hopkins Review 's future seems secure, in large part because it belongs to an institution that chooses to invest in the humanities. The journal has a three-year partnership with the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute and funding from the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, in alignment with its five-year strategic plan, Priorities for the Future . Under Dean Christopher Celenza, KSAS outlined four major priorities: revitalize the undergraduate experience, grow the size of our faculty, enhance the graduate student experience, and promote public-facing scholarship and community engagement.

Faculty size aside, this list could easily be presented in answer to any college administrator questioning the purpose of their campus literary magazine. Literary journals might contain the most accessible, and most enjoyable, form of public-facing scholarship, and hands-on editorial work certainly enhances both the undergraduate and graduate experience. Malech called it "one of the more meaningful experiences outside of the workshop that a program can provide for its students."

Phoebe Oathout, A&S '23 (MFA), who is the journal's current senior editor, agreed: "Before I arrived at Johns Hopkins, I was working in a Wyoming town that fluctuated between 20,000 and 30,000 living in it between the seasons," she says. "I knew I wanted to be a writer but had no idea what the publishing process looked like. When I started my MFA, I heard about the opportunity to edit THR through my closest friend in the program, and primarily joined because she said it was fun. Within my first few months as an editor, I learned what the evaluation side of Submittable looks like, the primary tool used by literary magazines to read submissions, along with what helps a piece stand out from the pile. I was given the opportunity to work with an emerging trans author one-on-one about a piece that I really related to, about a nonbinary character in rural North America navigating homelessness. I got to edit work by some of the nation's leading artists, including Terrance Hayes, Claudia Rankine, Vauhini Vara, and Alejandro Varela. It was the kind of responsibility I had no idea I could have access to, and instead only thought I could dream about."

Oathout's experience, coupled with The Hopkins Review 's indelible impact in literary circles, might serve as proof to skeptical college leaders that there is in fact a return on investment in the humanities. For those who remain in doubt, come to the next reading at Bird in Hand. Grab a latte, peruse the bookstore shelves while mingling with Baltimore's literary community, and find a seat among the stacks—maybe you'll change your mind.

"When we had our end-of-year event at Bird in Hand the other day," Malech told me, "I was watching incredible graduate students from Miami, from New Mexico, meeting members of the Baltimore literary community, interfacing, connecting, celebrating one another's work as editors, as writers, getting to know one another, and I just thought that those are the kind of connections that don't show up in a numerical sense. They're qualitative, not quantitative—but they're also, I think, really invaluable."

Aleyna Rentz is a communications specialist at Johns Hopkins University.

Posted in Arts+Culture

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Complaint accuses George Floyd scholarship of discriminating against non-Black students

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the type of legal claim filed regarding the alleged Title VI violation .

Minnesota's North Central University's George Floyd Memorial Scholarship for young Black students is being sued and accused of violating an anti-discrimination law.

A legal complaint filed with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Monday says that the scholarship violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by exclusively qualifying for Black students. The law prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any federally funded program or activity.

The complaint says the Minnesota public institution is discriminating against non-Black students, including those who identify as white, Hispanic or Asian, from being considered for the scholarship.

"Regardless of NCU's reasons for sponsoring and promoting the (scholarship), it is violating Title VI by doing so," the complaint said.

North Central University did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment Thursday.

Scholarship application remains open

The deadline to apply for the scholarship for the 2024–25 academic year is May 5, with the recipient being selected by June 7. The funds are renewable for four years for students who live on campus.

Among the application requirements are that the applicant must "be a student who is Black or African American, that is, a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa."

Additionally, students need to submit an essay and two letters of recommendations from community members, as well as demonstrate leadership roles.

Scholarship created in 2020 after Floyd's death

The scholarship was named after George Floyd, the 46-year-old Black man who was killed in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin , a white police officer who held his knee on Floyd's neck while ignoring protests that he couldn't breathe.

North Central University President Scott Hagan announced the scholarship on June 4 at the Minneapolis memorial service for Floyd.

"It is time to invest like never before in a new generation of young black Americans who are poised and ready to take leadership in our nation. So, university presidents, let’s step up together," Hagan said, according to a 2020 news release .

Las Vegas Mass Shooting Survivors Continue to Struggle with Major Depression, PTSD

SPH Plugs In: What We are Reading, Watching, and More

SPH Plugs In: What We are Reading, Watching, and More .

Members of the SPH community share recommendations for books, films, podcasts, and other content that have resonated with them as they study, research, and practice public health.

Megan jones.

Occasionally, a book, film, or podcast comes along that both engages audiences and prominently features important topics in public health. These stories, whether fiction or nonfiction, remind those in the field of the vital role of narrative in communication, education, and inspiration.

In light of a new series premiering on PBS called The Invisible Shield that explores public health infrastructure in the U.S. (and features Dean Sandro Galea ), School of Public Health community members share their recommendations for the stories and storytellers that have resonated with them.

Dacia Beard / Dopesick

Dacia Beard , a communications project manager in the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management, has spent the last several years collaborating with communities heavily affected by the opioid crisis on research aimed to reduce opioid overdoses. As a result, Beard is acutely aware of the role pharmaceutical companies have played in opioid misuse. She recommends that the SPH community watch the Hulu miniseries Dopesick to better understand “how did we get here” in terms of the over-dispensing of opioids.

Muka Chikuba-McLeod / And the Band Played On

Muka Chikuba-McLeod (SPH’98), a co-recipient of SPH’s 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award , is a Zambian physician and the executive vice president of international programs at the global health consulting organization John Snow, Inc. (JSI). Following medical school, Chikuba-McLeod worked on the frontlines of Zambia’s HIV crisis for seven years. The experience drove her to pursue a career in public health, where she felt she could make an impact on a larger scale. When asked what one piece of public health content she would recommend to the SPH community, Chikuba-McLeod says, “I think it has to be And the Band Played On .”

The 1993 film, based on American journalist Randy Shilts’s 1987 book by the same name, tells a story not unlike Chikuba-McLeod’s own, following an epidemiologist who worked on an Ebola outbreak in Zaire in the late 1970s and later studied HIV/AIDS at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the early 1980s. “I’m also an epidemiologist—apart from having an MPH in international health, I have a master of science in epidemiology,” says Chikuba-McLeod, who was responsible for organizing HIV treatment for over 300,000 Zambians in her last role at JSI. “And this movie was so heartbreaking, but also a realistic depiction of public health work as we do it, warts and all.”

Jirair Ratevosian / Sex Education

Jirair Ratevosian (SPH’07) also dedicated a large chunk of his career to HIV/AIDS work. In his most recent role as the first ever health equity advisor in the US State Department, Ratevosian helped oversee the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program. He then left the field to campaign for US representative of California’s 30 th Congressional District. Ratevosian, who is openly gay and married to Nigerian HIV activist Micheal Ighodaro , enthusiastically recommends the Netflix TV series Sex Education . He appreciates how the show raises awareness of sexual health in a way that destigmatizes coming out as LGBTQ+, which he says is an identity that personally took him many years to embrace.

Anoop Jain / “The Covenant of Water”

Anoop Jain , an assistant professor of environmental health, studies sanitation issues as social determinants of health in India. Trained in social epidemiology, Jain researches how access to clean water and toilets early in life affects health outcomes later in life. He is also the founding director of Sanitation and Health Rights in India , a nonprofit on a mission to end open defecation in the country.

Jain, who both conducts research in northern India and has family there, says he enjoys reading books by Indian and Indian-diaspora authors. He recently read Indian American physician and New York Times -bestselling author Abraham Verghese’s “ The Covenant of Water .” The novel, set in the coastal Indian state of Kerala, follows three generations of a family as they reckon with the drowning deaths of at least one person from each generation. Ultimately—without giving too much away—the matriarch connects the dots and uncovers the root cause of her family’s “curse,” says Jain.

“It is this interesting example of the ways in which epidemiology works,” he says. “It is this beautiful illustration of how people and their stories are data, and the ways in which it is incumbent on us, as public health researchers and scholars, to sift through that in order to seek out the truth.”

Jeneczka Roman / “A Primer on Power: Housing Justice and Health Equity” & Alexis Walls / Beacon Hill and 5

Alums Jeneczka Roman  (SPH’20) and  Alexis Walls  (SPH’17) are colleagues at the  Massachusetts Public Health Association  (MPHA) where they collaborate to promote policies that support the health of Commonwealth residents. To stay abreast of the latest developments in local policy, Walls, an assistant campaign director at MPHA, listens to the New England Public Media podcast Beacon Hill and 5 . She says that while the podcast does not exclusively cover public health issues, it is a useful for keeping up broadly with what is happening in the Massachusetts State House, such as ongoing discussions on gun control. “It is five minutes and only comes out about once a week,” says Walls. “I think that is a great place for people to dig in.”

Roman, the assistant director of advocacy and communication at MPHA, says she returns time and time again to “ A Primer on Power: Housing Justice and Health Equity ,” a report published by the research organization Human Impact Partners. “I am not kidding when I say I refer to it almost weekly,” she says. “Oftentimes we get asked why a public health association is working on housing, and I think that this resource lays out beautifully the role public health practitioners can play in organizing in solidarity with movement groups to bring power back to community to advance housing and justice and how building power is so integral to advancing health equity and reducing negative health outcomes.”

Nickita Gupta / Health Pilots

Nickita Gupta is a current MPH student studying Community Assessment, Program Development, Implementation and Evaluation (CAPDIE) . During the summer of 2023, Gupta applied what she is learning to document the needs of Dorchester’s Grove Hall community during a practicum funded by the Activist Lab . In addition to her studies, Gupta also works as a part-time program coordinator for the nonprofit Center for Care Innovations (CCI), which aims to strengthen healthcare systems that provide care to historically underserved communities.

Gupta says she likes to listen to CCI’s podcast Health Pilots and would recommend it to others in the field. “All the topics are very pertinent to storytelling within public health practice,” she says. Some examples of topics covered in Health Pilots episodes include centering the resilience and wellness of care teams (“ Help the Helpers: Embracing the Cultural Shift for Trauma-Informed Care ”) and amplifying community voices in design projects (“ Centering Lived-Experience Experts as Equity Designers ”).

Dana Vasers / “Five Days at Memorial”

Dana Vasers , a former lawyer and a current MPH student studying healthcare management , also completed an Activist Practicum , using her skills as an attorney to support the Massachusetts Alcohol Policy Coalition.

Vasers recommends “ Five Days at Memorial ” by Sheri Fink. She says she read the book after completing an in-class activity in her Human Resource Management in Public Health course that referenced the events it chronicles. Set in New Orleans, Louisiana during the week following Hurricane Katrina, the book follows the staff of Memorial Medical Center (today, Ochsner Baptist Medical Center) as they grappled with how to care for their patients in the midst of severe flooding, a loss of power, and other challenging conditions.

MacKenzie Hilton / Coded Bias

MacKenzie Hilton (SPH ’24), who graduated with her MPH in December 2023, developed an interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging digital technologies while a student in the course Digital Disruption in Health: The Effects of Health Information Technologies on Polices, Delivery, Patient Engagement, And Health Outcomes taught by Michelle Sasso . Hilton proceeded to go down a rabbit hole, watching a variety of shows about AI on Netflix.

Hilton recommends the 2020 documentary Coded Bias . She found that the film, which investigates racial bias in facial recognition algorithms, provided her with a useful framework for thinking about the challenges of implementing digital tools in a way that reduces rather than exacerbates health inequities. Hilton went on to find a practicum position at Boston Children’s Hospital that allowed her to explore the topic further and even gave her the opportunity to help outline guiding principles for the equitable development and application of AI in healthcare. She says that she recommended Sasso’s course to all her friends, telling them, “You’re going to love it!”

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Megan Jones is the writer and editor focusing on school news at the School of Public Health. Profile

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