Scholarship Essay Tips from Committee
These tips are offered by a longtime member of your fraternity’s Foundation committee and to assist you in your scholarship application with the goal of being recognized and awarded money toward your college education.
The most important thing in your application is that the information be accurate, verifiable (by uploads when applicable), and the essay is from you. When AI is used, it is easily detected by the Committee and lessens the possibility of being recognized for an academic or financial need Sigma Alpha Mu Foundation scholarship. Please remember, the money being awarded to applicants is managed by Sigma Alpha Mu Foundation, but comes from the generosity of Sigma Alpha Mu members, families, and friends to assist young men and others that apply.
It is the committee’s hope that upon graduation all Sigma Alpha Mu undergrads and graduate students consider donating annually or even establishing their own scholarship once their professional career begins so other younger students will benefit like yourself. Remember The Bridge Builder poem during Candidate Education?
There are two types of scholarships- financial need or scholastic merit. Considerations of financial need applicants still include academics but there is a heavy emphasis placed on needed financial assistance. For merit, emphasis is placed more on GPA. FRATERNITY & CAMPUS INVOLVEMENT/LEADERHIP, COMMUNITY SERVICE, OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES, AND THE QUALITY OF THE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION are all taken into consideration.
Below are some DOs, DON’Ts and Comments.
DOs:
- Do always use correct grammar and spelling. Please check before submitting and maybe even have a friend double check your submission.
- Do tell the committee about your goals in life but limit “floweriness”. For example “I want to become a medical doctor specializing in pediatrics” versus “I want to become a doctor to cure worldly diseases” that is flowery.
- Do discuss your fraternity experiences, accomplishments, and what Sigma Alpha Mu means to you. Simply saying “Sammy has been a wonderful experience for me, makes me a better man, and I love being around my brothers.” Is not enough. Let the Committee know what those experiences are, precisely how it makes you a better man, and what activities you do with your fraternity brothers. For example, if you were Recruitment Chair, share your results. If you served as Philanthropy Chair, tell the Committee about your events and money generated or the end result. If you were the Prior, share your achievements or even your failures, as growth in a person is not only based on accolades.
- Do make the essay interesting. The Committee reviews over 300 plus essays and we are looking for things that stand out about you and how your life, achievements, family, and life stories.
- Do let the Committee know the reason for the application with honest answers, especially if the application is based on financial need.
- Do brag about yourself and achievements. The Committee wants to know about you and the sponsor of the endowed scholarship that you may receive would like their scholarship be given to an achiever.
- Do upload your entire transcript and not partial excerpts. The reason for this is the Committee wants to see what classes are being taken, hours per semester, and grade trends. It does not need to be an official transcript.
DON’Ts:
- Don’t be too wordy but if it takes a few paragraphs, that is fine. Applications should not be a sprint but should not be a marathon.
- Don’t be too short. The worst thing is being too short and having just a few sentences. The Committee has actually seen one sentence essays saying “I need the money for college since going to school is expensive.”
- Don’t cut and paste an essay from a college application or other program.
- Don’t make statements in your essay where it is proved to be incorrect with an upload. For example- “I owe $75,000 in school loans.” Then in the upload sector of proof of loan balances it only shows $10,000 or has nothing documented. If you do owe money and do not have the supporting evidence, make note of this and why. Having all the supporting documents is vital.
- Don’t overstate GPA but in the essay sector, you might address your GPA being higher in your major than overall GPA and explain the reason for this.
- Don’t be embarrassed with the truth. Your submission is confidential to our Committee. If your family has low income and difficulties, let us know reasons why, especially if your scholarship application is classified as a financial need. If your grades are lower than you expected and there is a reason, don’t be uncomfortable to let us know reasons for this such as sickness in the family or with you, mental health issues, addictions, or other things that may have complicated your education journey. All the Committee members attended college and can sympathize with distractions.
COMMENTS:
Recommendation letters should be completed for all applications. These letters should come from a professor, an advisor, an employer, a Sammy alumnus, clergy, or other people that impact and mentor the applicant’s progress in life.
- Everyone knows a college education is expensive so merely saying this lacks originality. Let the committee know your specific circumstances.
- In your essay, let the committee know how the money, if awarded, will be used. Let us know the money will be used to make a difference in your education, Tuition, books, fees, loans, additional outside study courses etc.
The Scholarship Committee wishes every applicant receives recognition in the form of a scholarship endowed by our alumni and friends. We do our best as volunteers adhering to 501(c) (3) regulations, the wishes of the scholarship sponsor, and being fair to all the applicants. The main determining factors are what we read and review in your application so it is important to be factual, interesting to read, and compelling to the Committee. Not all applicants will be given scholarships but there is a high percentage that do annually. Encourage other fraternity brothers to apply.
Everyone has their own writing skills and storytelling. Your essay should be make sense, grammatically correct, and with impeccable spelling. In your application process, use your style of writing and make a good case to Sigma Alpha Mu Foundation Scholarship committee why you should be given a scholarship.
This publication does not cover “all the angles” of writing a good scholarship essay but will give you a starting point. If there are any questions, feel free to reach out to Ms. Maria Mandell (our wonderful Scholarships and Grants) and she will be able to discuss further about this process or give you a contact on our Committee that is able to assist.
Wish you the best in your endeavors and hope all that apply see value in this amazing program, which is known in the Greek world as the best of all fraternities and sororities. The reason our scholarship program is the top one offered in Greeklife is because our alumni and friends want our members to succeed and back their wishes up with a pocket book.
Nathan Margolis
Beta Sigma (University of North Texas) 1973
Scholarship Committee Member since 2010
Scholarship Donor