Scholarship Essay Samples
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Harvard Editors.
This section contains three scholarship essays:
Scholarship Essay One
CRABIEL SCHOLARSHIP WINNER - won $3,000 scholarship
Like Mr. Crabiel, I literally work tirelessly in many academic
and leadership roles. I sleep no more than six hours a night because
of my desire to expertly meet my many commitments. Throughout
my life, I have worked as long and as hard as I possibly can to
effect beneficial changes in both school and society.
During the summer of tenth grade, I took a number theory course
at Johns Hopkins University with students from Alaska, California,
and Bogota, Colombia. Similarly, during the summer following eleventh
grade, I was one of ninety students from New Jersey selected to
attend the Governor's School in the Sciences at Drew University.
At Drew, I took courses in molecular orbital theory, special relativity,
cognitive psychology, and I participated in an astrophysics research
project. For my independent research project, I used a telescope
to find the angular velocity of Pluto. With the angular velocity
determined, I used Einstein's field equations and Kepler's laws
to place an upper bound on the magnitude of the cosmological constant,
which describes the curvature of space and the rate of the universe's
expansion.
In addition to learning science, I recently lectured physics
classes on special relativity at the request of my physics teacher.
After lecturing one class for 45 minutes, one student bought many
books on both general and special relativity to read during his
study hall. Inspiring other students to search for knowledge kindles
my own quest to understand the world and the people around me.
As president of the National Honor Society, I tutor students
with difficulties in various subject areas. In addition, I am
ranked number one in my class with an SAT score of 1580 and SATII
scores of 750 in math, 760 in writing, and 800 in physics. In
school, I take the hardest possible courses including every AP
course offered at the high school. I am the leading member of
the Math Team, the Academic Team, and the Model Congress Team.
In the area of leadership, I have recently received the Rotary
Youth Leadership Award from a local rotary club, have been asked
to attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law and the Constitution
in Washington D.C., and wrote the winning essay on patriotism
for South Plainfield's VFW chapter. Currently enrolled in Spanish
6,I am a member of both the Spanish Club and the Spanish Honor
Society. In addition, I recently was named a National Merit Scholar.
Besides involvementin academic and leadership positions, I am
active in athletics. For instance, I lift weights regularly. In
addition, I am the captain of my school's varsity tennis team.
So far this year, my individual record on the team is 3-0.
Working vigorously upon being elected Student Council President,
I have begun a biweekly publication of student council activities
and opinions. Also, the executive board under my direction has
opened the school store for the first time in nearly a decade.
With paint and wood, we turned a janitor's closet into a fantastic
store. I also direct many fund raisers and charity drives. For
instance, I recently organized a charity drive that netted about
$1,500 for the family of Alicia Lehman, a local girl who received
a heart transplant.
As Student Liaison to the South Plainfield Board of Education,
I am working to introduce more advanced-placement courses, more
reading of philosophy, and more math and science electives into
the curriculum. At curriculum committee meetings, I have been
effective in making Board members aware of the need for these
courses. In addition, my speeches at public Board meetings often
draw widespread support, which further helps to advance my plans
for enhancing the curriculum.
I have also been effective as a Sunday school teacher. By helping
elementary school students formulate principles and morals, I
make a difference in their lives every week. The value system
that I hope to instill in them will last them their entire lives.
I find teaching first-graders about Christ extremely rewarding.
Clearly, I have devoted my life both to working to better myself
and to improving civilization as a whole. Throughout the rest
of my life, I hope to continue in this same manner of unselfish
work. Just as freeholder Crabiel dedicates his life to public
service, I commit my life to helping others and to advancing society's
level of understanding.
Scholarship Essay Two
WINNING NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR ESSAY
Nothing in all the world is comparable to reading Ayn Rand beneath
New York's skyline or to studying Nietzsche atop a mountain summit.
Since childhood, the studies of philosophy and science have interested
me profoundly. Having read many books on relativity, quantum mechanics,
existentialism, religion, capitalism, democracy and post-Aristotelian
philosophy, my quest for knowledge has only intensified. Certainly,
the purpose of my life is to discover a greater understanding
of the universe and its people. Specifically, I plan to better
grasp the interrelationship among forces, matter, space, and time.
In addition, I hope to find a unified field theory and a convincing
explanation for the birth of the universe.
During the summer of tenth grade, I took a number theory course at Johns Hopkins
University with students from Alaska, California, and Bogota,
Colombia. My attendance of the New Jersey Governor's School in
the Sciences is another accomplishment that exemplifies my dedication
to knowledge. During the summer following eleventh grade, I took
courses in molecular orbital theory, special relativity, cognitive
psychology, and I participated in an astrophysics research project.
For my independent research project, I used a telescope to find
the angular velocity of Pluto. With the angular velocity determined,
I used Einstein's field equations and Kepler's laws to place an
upper bound on the magnitude of thecosmological constant, which
describes the curvature of space and the rate of the universe's
expansion.
In addition to learning science, I recently lectured physics classes on special
relativity at the request of my physics teacher. After lecturing
one class for 45 minutes, one student bought many books on both
general and special relativity to read during his study hall.
Inspiring other students to search for knowledge kindles my own
quest to understand the world and the people around me.
Also, as president of the National Honor Society, I tutor students with difficulties
in various subject areas. Moreover, I am ranked number one in
my class, and I am the leading member of the Math Team, the Academic
Team, and the Model Congress Team. In the area of leadership,
I have recently received the Rotary Youth Leadership Award from
a local rotary club and have been asked to attend the National
Youth Leadership Forum on Law and the Constitution in Washington
D.C. Currently enrolled in Spanish 6,I am a member of both the
Spanish Club and the Spanish Honor Society.
As student council president, I have begun a biweekly publication of student
council activities and opinions. Also, the executive board under
my direction has opened the school store for the first time in
nearly a decade and is finding speakers to speak at a series of
colloquia on topics ranging from physics to politics. Directing
fund raisers and charity drives also consumes much of my time.
For instance, I recently organized a charity drive that netted
about $1,500 for the family of a local girl in need of a heart
transplant.
Consistent with my love of freedom and my belief in democracy,
which is best summarized by Hayek's Road to Serfdom, I have recently
initiated an application to become the liaison to the local board
of education. Also, in keeping with my belief that individuals
develop strong principles and ideology, I teach Sunday school
three months a year and have chaperoned for a local Christian
school.
Outside pure academics and leadership roles, I lift weights five times a week
for an hour each day. In addition, I play singles for my school's
varsity tennis team. Because I find extraordinary satisfaction
in nature and have dedicated my life to its understanding, I enjoy
mountain climbing. Among the notable peaks I have reached are
Mt. Washington, Mt Jefferson, Mt. Madison, Mt. Marcy and Mt. Katahdin.
Unquestionably, my life's aim is to dramatically raise the height
of the mountain of knowledge so that my successors may have a
more accurate view of the universe around them.
Scholarship Essay Three
Fulbright Application Essay
On one hot late-summer day when I was in high school, my parents
came back from a shopping trip with a surprise present for me:
the legendary board game, Diplomacy. At first I scoffed at such
an old-fashioned game. Who would want to waste glorious sunny
days moving armies around a map of pre-World War I Europe, pretending
to be Bismarck or Disraeli? But after playing the game once, I
became absolutely riveted by the nuances of statecraft, and soon
began losing sleep as I tried to craft clever diplomatic gambits,
hatch devious schemes, and better understand the game's ever-changing
dynamics. As my friends and I spent the second half of the summer
absorbed by the game, my parents grinned knowingly. How could
I resist being fascinated with Diplomacy, they asked me, when
I incessantly read about international affairs, and liked nothing
more than debating politics over dinner? How could I resist being
fascinated, when I had spent most of my summers in Greece (and,
much more briefly, France and England), witnessing first-hand
the ways in which countries differ socially, culturally, and politically?
Though my passion for foreign policy and international affairs
undoubtedly dates back to high school, I never had the chance
to fully develop this interest before college. Once I arrived
at Harvard, however, I discovered that I could learn about international
relations through both my academics and my extracurricular activities.
Academically, I decided to concentrate in Government, and, within
Government, to take classes that elucidated the forces underlying
the relations of states on the world stage. Some of the most memorable
of these classes included Human Rights, in which we discussed
what role humanitarian concerns ought to play in international
relations; Politics of Western Europe, in which I learned about
the social, economic, and political development of five major
European countries; and Causes and Prevention of War, which focused
on unearthing the roots of conflict and finding out how bloodshed
could have been avoided. Currently, for my senior thesis, I am
investigating the strange pattern of American human rights-based
intervention in the post-Cold War era, and trying to determine
which explanatory variables are best able to account for it.
Interestingly, I think that I have learned at least as much about
international relations through my extracurriculars in college
as I have through my classes. For the past three years, for instance,
I have helped run Harvard’ s three Model United Nations
conferences. As a committee director at these conferences, I researched
topics of global importance (e.g. the violent disintegration of
states, weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East), wrote
detailed study guides discussing these subjects, and then moderated
hundreds of students as they debated the topics and strove to
resolve them. Even more enriching for me than directing these
committees was taking part in them myself. As a delegate at other
schools’ conferences, I would be assigned to represent a
particular country on a particular UN committee (e.g. France on
the Security Council). I would then need to research my country’
s position on the topics to be discussed, articulate my view in
front of others in my committee, and convince my fellow delegates
to support my position. Trying to peg down a country’ s
elusive ‘ national interest, ’ clashing over thorny
practical and philosophical issues, making and breaking alliances
— - Model UN was basically a simulation of how diplomacy
really works.
Thankfully, I have also found time over the past few years to
cultivate interests and skills unrelated to Model UN and foreign
policy. One of the most important of these has been community
service. As a volunteer for Evening With Champions, an annual
ice-skating exhibition held to raise money for children with cancer,
and as a teacher of a weekly high school class on current events
and international affairs, I have, whenever possible, used my
time and talents to benefit my community. Another more recent
interest of mine is the fascinating realm of business. Two years
ago, my father’ s Christmas present to me was a challenge
rather than a gift: he gave me $500,but told me that I could keep
it only if I invested it in the stock market — - and earned
a higher rate of return than he did with another $500. Since then,
I have avidly followed the stock market, and become very interested
in how businesses interact and respond to strategic threats (perhaps
because of the similarities between business competition and the
equally cutthroat world of diplomatic realpolitik). A final passion
of mine is writing. As the writer of a biweekly column in the
Independent, one of Harvard’ s student newspapers, I find
very little as satisfying as filling a blank page with words -—
creating from nothing an elegant opinion piece that illuminates
some quirk of college life, or induces my readers to consider
an issue or position that they had ignored until then.
Because of my wide range of interests, I have not yet decided
what career path to follow into the future. In the short run,
I hope to study abroad for a year, in the process immersing myself
in another culture, and deepening my personal and academic understanding
of international affairs. After studying abroad, my options would
include working for a nonprofit organization, entering the corporate
world, and attending law school. In the long run, I envision for
myself a career straddling the highest levels of international
relations, politics, and business. I could achieve this admittedly
ambitious goal by advancing within a nonprofit group, think tank,
or major international company. Perhaps most appealingly, I could
also achieve this goal by entering public service and obtaining
some degree of influence over actual foreign policy decisions
-— that is, becoming a player myself in the real-life game
of Diplomacy.
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