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There’s no doubt about it: scholarship essays are a tricky matter to approach. Scholarship competitions often arrive at your doorstep during the last half of the school year, by far the most hectic time in the academic year when students are already bogged down with extracurriculars, final exams, looming end-of-year grades, not to mention stress-inducing standardized tests. More often than not, high-schoolers focus on their “real schoolwork” and procrastinate on the “optional schoolwork” of scholarship applications, to the point where they end up scrambling, up to the final hours, to turn in shoddy, half-hearted applications, essays, and personal statements to a host of scholarship competitions they actually would have had a good chance of winning, had they simply believed in themselves more and taken more time to do a job well done.

There are easy tricks to consider when penning a scholarship essay — a feat which is definitely less challening than students may think. Considering the sheer number of students who write “fluff essays” to scholarship competitions, half-heartedly listing their accomplishments and not ever really investing their full energy into the application process, even putting forth any effort at all immediately puts you above the average crowd. Here are some simple tips on how to channel your inner wunderkind and win that big scholarship, without stretching yourself too thin or causing you too much stress. We promise.

Consider the organization

So what’s the deal with the organization that is giving you this free money? Because it would probably benefit you to do some research. Is this the Alaskan Oceanography Society? Because, if it is, you probably should not write your essay about how you think offshore drilling is a good idea. Is this the National Rifle Association giving you this money? Don’t tell them about your liberal belief that gun control is the only moral way. Be smart, think about where the money is coming from, and sell yourself out. You heard me. Sell yourself out.

Analyze the scholarship application questions and prompts beneath the surface level

Really. It won’t take you take much time to analyze a simple question to a slightly deeper level. If you are willing to walk 10 feet, you might as well go the extra, I don’t know, 5 feet. Although the best thing to do would probably be to take a little more time and walk a mile. Most students are so bored with scholarship essay writing that they spend as little time as they need to, to think of answers to essay prompts that are neither piercing, intellectual, nor remotely interesting. Spend a little more time thinking about the question than you otherwise would. Analyze. Study. Even research, if you need to. A good think will take you a long way when it comes to getting your hands on that cash.

Edit, Edit, Edit

Maybe it’s not a good idea to have your classmate who is applying to the same scholarship edit your essay, but it’s a good idea to show it to a teacher or a parent or a tutor, to get a fresh perspective on what you’ve written. Don’t just write a hasty essay and mail it off to that Impressive Scholarship Committee without having it looked over once, twice, ten times if need be.

Brag

So this scholarship money is supposed to go to the ‘most qualified candidate’ right? So show them how qualified you are! Wow them with your accomplishments, your honors, your academic record. But do it in a graceful way. Don’t boast pompously about how much brighter you are than your lowly peers. Tell the committees, straightforwardly, why you believe that you are a good candidate. Not why they should think you are. Frame it as a personal belief only. And don’t try to be annoyingly modest. False modesty brushes people the wrong way as much as straight-up bragga-lagging, so just be real as possible. Ya heard?