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Letters
of Recommendation for Scholarships
Scholarship
application letters of recommendation: use for scholarship applications
and school admission
Much
of the advice we give for college letters of recommendation and student
letters of recommendations apply to letters of recommendation for scholarships
as well. However, there are several points that are particular to the
scholarship arena that I'd like to cover here...
Financial Need
Much
of what motivates scholarship awards is financial need. You can be the
most incredible candidate in the world, but if the school thinks you don't
need to money, it is unlikely to give it to you - especially if there
are other candidates with hard-luck stories
that are competing with you.
This is in contrast with business, of course; businesses will generally
hire what they believe to be the best candidate for a job. Not necessarily
so with academia; there's - they will tell you - is a more "enlightened"
approach.
That being
the case, it is important to highlight a candidates needs in a letter
of recommendation. In fact, a letter of recommendation may be one of the
most important places to discuss this kind of information.
Obviously,
financial need is established with official-looking documents like W-2
forms and tax returns, but just as important to describe for the scholarship
committee is hardship - the ways that financial need affects the candidate
on a personal level.
These are
the kinds of things that should be mentioned...
- Deprivation: What has the candidate had to learn to do without?
- Industriousness: How has this deprivation motivated the candidate to try harder?
- Lost
Opportunity: How has this deprivation resulted in missing out on
deserved opportunities?
This last
issue - lost opportunities - is the most effective. In particular, cover
how not receiving the scholarship will lead to a less satisfying outcome
for the candidate, the school, and even to society.
Schools see
scholarships as investmetns; highlight how the investment in your candidate
will provide the best return to all concerned.
Top / Bottom
Having
the Right Angle
It is important
that the recommender is clearly someone who would have an insider's view
on all of this. The best recommender might be a friend, a counselor, or
teacher - but it has to be someone close enough to the candidate to comment
on issues of financial need and its effects on the candidate with some
credibility.
If more than
one letter of recommendation is being submitted, then only one really
needs to explore these issues; the rest can be more standard fare.
Next Steps...
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