I’m applying for a scholarship to a Media Literacy summer course at Syracuse University. It’s due on Friday and I’m almost done, but I’m stuck on the two essay prompts:
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If selected to receive a scholarship, what do you expect to get out of your Summer College experience?
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Of the many qualified applicants, why should the selection committee choose you to receive a scholarship?
I’ve already begun on the first prompt. I started out talking about how even though I’ve done a lot of research on college and taken college-level courses in college, it can’t prepare me for the experience, so this summer program will be a way for me to “test drive” college and see what I want out of it. Then I wrote about how enthusiastic I am about the Media Literacy course because my passion/desired field of study is journalism, and I just… froze. I don’t know what else to say. I was going to talk about how I’m looking forward to the social aspects (i.e. meeting new people from different backgrounds and experiencing a month living away from home), but I feel like that might be a little too honest.
For the second prompt, I was going to write about my academic merits, but when I asked my guidance counselor about it, she said it was more about need for a scholarship. I could talk about my family situation and how important it is for me to get away and start the next chapter of my life, but again, that’s too honest. If they’re asking about my qualifications and I come up with a sob story, that looks really bad for me.
Can someone please help?