The Third Step to a Great Scholarship Essay

The last step of your fantastic award winning scholarship essay is the conclusion. A conclusion is the summation of your essay. There should not be any new points made. It should reiterate what you wanted to get across in the previous paragraphs without restating your ideas word for word. You should be able to show in your conclusion that all your main points were answered as you expected them to be. You may want to pose a provocative question or use an inspiring quotation to end your concluding paragraph. Give the reader something to think about as they pick up the next (not nearly as good as yours) essay.

Remember what we talked about in our first post in this series. In the introduction you “tell them what you’re going to tell them.” In the body you “tell them” and in the conclusion you “tell them what you’ve told them.”

Despite being a short paragraph, the conclusion can be the most important part of your essay. This is where you should leave the reader with a call to action. If this is an essay seeking acceptance in a nursing school you might say “For the preceding reasons, I believe I have much to offer your program and ask that you accept me.” If this is an essay for a scholarship you might say “Based upon the previously mentioned items, I ask that you award me this scholarship so that I might [bla bla bla].”

When you have completed your essay you should have others review it to check for mistakes and clarity. They may see something you missed or point out a part that is not easily understood as it is written. It helps to read the essay aloud or have someone read it to you so that you can hear how it might be interpreted by others. Make sure that you run a spell checker and also have someone proofread it carefully for spelling or grammatical errors. Take a deep breath and place it in the envelope….then let the breath back out.

Now that you know hwo to write a great essay, put it to use.  Apply to a program or scholarship!  Here are some online degree options that might be available in your area:visit link for degree options.

Today we will look at the next step in writing an essay for nursing school or nursing scholarships. The step after the introduction in an essay is the body. This is the meat of your essay. This is where you get to tell everything that needs to be said in your essay. The body of a traditional 5 paragraph essay is made up of 3 paragraphs. Each paragraph should contain one main point of your essay. The first sentence of the paragraph introduces the point and then you can make three to four statements that elaborate on this point.

The paragraphs in the body should follow the same flow. Start the paragraph with an introductory sentence explaining your main idea. Then write a sentence for a supporting point and follow that with some elaboration of at least three sentences.

Each paragraph in the body should relate in some way to the other paragraph. You might want to use transitions words for each body paragraph, such as “First” “Second” “Third” , or “In addition” “Furthermore” “Moreover”, or “Therefore” “Consequently” “Accordingly”

Then end with a supporting sentence for the conclusion of the paragraph to tie it all together.

In the last post of the series we will look at writing the conclusion for our essay.

I found a great scholarship opportunity offered by the National Student Nurses’ Association. They have given away over 2 million dollars to nursing students since 1968. The deadline for 09 has passed but they are taking applications for the semester year of 2010. The main website is http://www.nsna.org/foundation/. On that page click on the links to the left listed “FNSFA scholarships.”
These scholarships range from $1,000 to $2,500 per person. They give away $125,000 a year annually. High school seniors are not eligible. You must be a U.S. citizen or have an alien registration number and be enrolled in a current nursing program. Funds are not available to graduate students unless nursing is your first graduate degree. These scholarships are only available in certain parts of the U.S. Your nursing school/college zip code determines your eligibility.
Criteria for awards are dependent upon academic achievement, financial need and involvement in health care community related activities. A committee of faculty and students is appointed by the NSNA foundations to elect who receives these scholarships. All application must be submitted by Jan 2010. There is a $10 dollar processing fee and the documents needed are as follows: a recent college/nursing school transcript, NSNA members must show proof of membership, RN’s and LVN’s furthering their education will need to submit a copy of their nursing license. Good luck

Essays are a very important part of the application process for nearly all nursing scholarships. How you present yourself in your essay is the best way for the scholarship awards committee to form an opinion about you and improve your chance of winning the award.

It is helpful to first make an outline. There are three parts to an essay, the introduction, body, and conclusion. Your thought progression must be clear and flow easily through the essay. The introduction is where you introduce the main topic of your essay and get the attention of the reader so that they want to continue reading. The body includes several paragraphs that expand upon the topics of your essay. You can incorporate information from sources related to your topic, interesting quotes, and details you feel your readers will find intriguing. The conclusion is used to restate the topic of your essay. The conclusion is also where you would want to write about your future goals and ambitions in nursing.

It is often said that the way to think about the three parts of an essay are this: (1) Tell them what you’re gonna tell them [the intro] (2) Tell them [the body] (3) Tell them what you told them [the conclusion.]

While writing the scholarship essay you must keep in mind the importance of proper grammar, addressing the specific requirements of the essay, and originality. The nursing profession isn’t specifically noted for their literary abilities, but it is still important to present yourself as a knowledgeable and unique individual and obviously you must able to put words together in a meaningful way that illustrates your competence. Know the background and interests of the scholarship for which you are applying and incorporate how your goals could benefit their organization. Above all, be original. The scholarship committee will read numerous essays and in order to win the award yours must stand out amongst the rest.

When you have completed your essay you should have others review it to check for mistakes and clarity. They may see something you missed or point out a part that is not easily understood as it is written. Take a deep breath and place it in the envelope….then let the breath back out.In the next part of this series, I’ll give more in-depth posts on writing each element of the essay. Stay tuned.

Here are a couple of interesting nursing scholarship opportunities I found:


The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Foundation (AANP Foundation) offers scholarships and grants. The current funding cycle has ended but will resume in July 2009. The funding is for nurse practitioner education and research projects. In 2008 scholarships awarded generally were between $1000 – $2000 and grants awarded were between $1000 – $6000.
AANP Foundation Grants and Scholarships


The Nurses Education Funds provides scholarships to registered nurses in a masters program. You must have a GPA of 3.6 or higher. There is a $20 application fee.

Nurses Education Funds