It is not a secret to anyone that it takes a lot of work to get financing. First you need to decide on the country, university and specialty in which you want to study. But the most crucial moment comes when applying for a scholarship. After all, admissions committees at universities in Europe and the United States do not communicate personally with applicants from other countries, but make up the primary impression of their future students solely on the basis of the submitted documents.

In this article, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the main stages of writing an essay, as well as tips that will be useful to anyone who collects a package of documents for obtaining an international scholarship.

To begin, set aside enough time to write an essay. Each person spends different amount of time on this assignment — someone spends a week on it, and someone spends a whole month. Even if you are confident in your abilities, you should not start writing an essay the day before the deadline, in a hurry translating the words into English. Such an approach is a failure in advance. Write this document is a big job. Otherwise, you will have to find someone to write an essay for your scholarship application.

It happens that candidates who are very keen on the process of preparation, forget about the last date of admission of documents and miss deadlines. Having spent a lot of time and effort to write an essay, do not forget about the deadline for applying for a scholarship.

Stage 1

Subject essay. Read and re-read the essay questions you are asked to answer, as well as identify key topics. It is very important to formulate a question that your essay will answer. Learn the features and specifics of the scholarship, as well as the organization that provides funding, determine its goals, values. Highlight this information in separate short paragraphs. You can also go directly to a foreign university or organization that provides scholarships, and ask them what should be an essay or what main topic should be covered.

If it is difficult for you to start your essay, you can quote or affirm your intended goal, then they can be linked to the main text. By showing more knowledge and skills on your subject, you can convince the judges that you are a worthy candidate for a scholarship.

Stage 2

Keywords. Fill your essay with keywords and their synonyms used in the initial statement. In this way you will demonstrate your commitment to addressing the question.

Stage 3

Motivation. Tell us briefly what prompted you to choose to study in Europe precisely for the specialty for which you are applying. Do not be afraid to praise yourself. Write that you are hardworking, purposeful, etc. But this characteristic should be confirmed by a clear example (organization or participation in some project, etc.).

Stage 4

Study. Having determined the topic of your essay, start collecting materials that will serve as the basis for the document. Formulate for yourself a simple question, the answer to which must be found in your biography. For example, “How can your past experience in the economic field help this area in the future?” (the industry depends on the specialty you want to receive, it can be business, marketing, etc.). To answer this question, you need to structure your past experience – in the form of a list, a map or in any other form, do not miss anything, specifically formulate and write down.

Then go to the second part of the question (for example, this is your contribution to the future of the international economy) and your research. Namely, identify existing problems in the international economy, and then analyze how your experience will help to cope with them. Put these two pieces in one, which will show you in a winning light. And do not forget to be very specific.

Stage 5

Brainstorm. To get a scholarship, you need good, fresh ideas. To do this, identify simple questions to which you need to find answers within your field. For example, the difference in time, cultural characteristics and features in the work. During a brainstorming session, be sure to write down all your ideas on paper or a voice recorder and in no case discard some ideas at once, you may be able to return to them later.

Stage 6

Idea. At the end of the brainstorming, you need to highlight the main idea, for this you can again refer to the technique of “questions-answers.” Formulate a simple question that reflects the essence of the problem. Using the selected example of the international economy, such a question could be the question: “What is the study of the development of the economy in your country can be useful or beneficial?”. The main message of your essay is defined.

Stage 7

Draft. Now you need to write a draft version of the work, fixing everything that you have analyzed, remembered and invented. Create a complete and clear picture. Avoid complex language, write your story, telling who you are and why you are doing it at all. There must be an understanding that the essay was written by a living person — personalization and a “living language” will play in your favor at the moment when the commission reads your essay.

Do not use cliches and annoying templates. Your essay should stand out in a colorful, active, exciting speech that will attract a sponsor.

Stage 8

Break. Having finished the first edition, put the document aside, ventilate for several hours and do other things. For a while, do not think about your essay, scholarships, etc., switch to other topics and rest.

Stage 9

Check. Carefully read the essay for errors, evaluate its content by analyzing whether you have taken into account and reported everything in your story. Think about whether you personally like it? After completing the check, give the document for evaluation to another person and ask for an honest and complete answer. Do not be afraid of constructive criticism, at this stage it can be useful. If you are not writing your essay in your own language (for example, in English), be sure to give it to the English-speaking person for verification.

And last but not least. You can read examples of other candidates’ essays in order to better understand the structure or logic of writing a text. But do not plagiarize! Now it is very easy to prove the fact of illegal material borrowing. This will not do you good, but it can create many problems.