How To Write A Killer Motivation Letter for Scholarship — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00If your student is applying for
2. 0:01scholarships, chances are they may need
3. 0:03to write something like a motivation
4. 0:06letter. And this can really make or
5. 0:08break an application. There is so much
6. 0:11opportunity here. This is really a
7. 0:13chance for your student to stand out
8. 0:16beyond grades or test scores and really
9. 0:19show the committee who they are. So, in
10. 0:22today's video, I want to walk you
11. 0:24through exactly how to help your
12. 0:26students write a killer motivational
13. 0:29letter. One that can feel authentic,
14. 0:32persuasive, and impossible to forget.
15. 0:36Now, make sure you hit subscribe because
16. 0:37every week we have a new strategy for
17. 0:39your family to work towards a debtfree
18. 0:41degree. Hey there, my name is Jocelyn
19. 0:42Pearson, founder of the scholarship
20. 0:44system where we help families
21. 0:46overwhelmed by the cost of college
22. 0:48secure scholarships so they can help
23. 0:49their student graduate without student
24. 0:52debt. Now, our main weapon against
25. 0:55student loans is scholarships. In fact,
26. 0:57we've helped families secure over $16
27. 0:59million to date, and we are not stopping
28. 1:01there. So, we have seen a lot of
29. 1:04fantastic applications, ones that leave
30. 1:07us wanting a little bit more and
31. 1:09everything in between. and that is what
32. 1:11you're accessing with today's video.
33. 1:13Now, just a quick note, this is for US
34. 1:15citizens and permanent residents who are
35. 1:16not familiar with the international
36. 1:18scholarship system. Let's go ahead and
37. 1:20dive in.
38. 1:24[Music]
39. 1:27So, first I want to help you understand
40. 1:29what is a motivation letter. So, a
41. 1:31motivation letter is similar to a
42. 1:33personal statement, but it's more
43. 1:35focused on why a student is applying for
44. 1:38a particular scholarship and how it
45. 1:40really aligns with their goals. So,
46. 1:43think of it as a conversation between
47. 1:45your student and the scholarship
48. 1:47committee. This should answer why this
49. 1:50scholarship matters to them. There are a
50. 1:53lot of scholarships that ask this
51. 1:54question. In fact, we cover in the
52. 1:56scholarship system course for that
53. 1:57reason. But it's not just why this
54. 1:59matters to them, but what they plan to
55. 2:01do with their education and therefore
56. 2:03this money and how they've shown
57. 2:06determination or impact in their journey
58. 2:08so far. So this is not just about
59. 2:10sounding perfect, it's about sounding
60. 2:12real. And even though a scholarship
61. 2:15organization, they may not require
62. 2:16something specifically called a
63. 2:18motivation letter, the general premises
64. 2:21is always the same. Now, if you're
65. 2:23having a hard time even finding
66. 2:24scholarships that ask this kind of
67. 2:26question, I do have a free webinar at
68. 2:28the scholarshipsystem.com/freeweinar
69. 2:30where I cover exactly how to find
70. 2:32legitimate scholarships that ask
71. 2:34questions like this. So, check that link
72. 2:36out. We'll link it in the description or
73. 2:38you can click on this video and open it
74. 2:40separately and check it out after this.
75. 2:42Now, when helping your student with
76. 2:44their motivation letter, what do you
77. 2:46want to challenge them to begin with? Is
78. 2:48a strong opening. That beginning opening
79. 2:51is going to be one of the most important
80. 2:53pieces. Encouraging your student to
81. 2:55begin with maybe a short memorable
82. 2:58introduction, something that really
83. 3:00draws the reader in. This could be
84. 3:02something like a personal story that
85. 3:04connects with their goals. It could be a
86. 3:07challenge that they've overcome. It
87. 3:09could be a defining moment that really
88. 3:11shaped their motivation to succeed or
89. 3:14shaped their career path and what they
90. 3:16want to do and why. An example here
91. 3:19could be, uh, ever since I spent
92. 3:21weekends volunteering at our local
93. 3:23clinic, I have always known I want to
94. 3:26study nursing, not just to treat
95. 3:28patients, but to advocate for those who
96. 3:31can't afford care. So, right off the
97. 3:34bat, we know, ooh, they have a big
98. 3:35heart. They know what they want to do,
99. 3:37and they know why they want to do it.
100. 3:39Now, to make this even stronger, I think
101. 3:42a student could actually start with a
102. 3:44specific experience of volunteering.
103. 3:47Maybe it's I was running down the
104. 3:49hallway after hearing the loud beeps and
105. 3:52a patient is coding. I had no idea that
106. 3:56that day would determine the rest of my
107. 3:58life. And then they could say what I
108. 4:00said earlier where I said, "Ever since I
109. 4:03spent weekends volunteering, I've always
110. 4:05known I wanted to be a nurse." So, so
111. 4:08just right there, you can see the
112. 4:09difference between a good opening and a
113. 4:11great one. We're going to remember that
114. 4:12story of her running down the ICU as a
115. 4:15volunteer. But no matter what, an
116. 4:17opening like that is memorable and it
117. 4:19helps the person reading it care about
118. 4:21their story. Which leads me to the next
119. 4:24step and that is connecting the story to
120. 4:27the scholarship. So after the
121. 4:29introduction, your student should
122. 4:31explain why they are pursuing this
123. 4:34particular scholarship. If they're
124. 4:35asking for that question of why this
125. 4:38money, this is where a lot of students
126. 4:40go wrong. They they just submit their
127. 4:42admissions letter and hope that it's
128. 4:44enough. they don't actually answer the
129. 4:46question uh or they use a general letter
130. 4:49that could just apply to most of what we
131. 4:51try to say here, but they're not really
132. 4:53fine-tuning it to this topic. So,
133. 4:55instead, what we want to do here is
134. 4:57actually research the organization
135. 4:58behind the scholarship. So, what values
136. 5:01do they emphasize? What kind of students
137. 5:04have they funded before? This could help
138. 5:06them write something like, "This
139. 5:08scholarship's commitment to community
140. 5:10leadership mirrors the work I've done in
141. 5:14mentoring students in my own
142. 5:15neighborhood or in volunteering within
143. 5:17my own neighborhood." So, it can we can
144. 5:20relate that story and that future goal
145. 5:23to the scholarship's mission as well. If
146. 5:27a scholarship committee member is
147. 5:28volunteering for that committee within
148. 5:31that organization, they probably care
149. 5:33about the mission as well. So showing
150. 5:35that connection again proves that your
151. 5:36student has taken the time to understand
152. 5:39the opportunity and that they genuinely
153. 5:42fit what that committee is looking for
154. 5:45and more so it really means that the
155. 5:48committee wants to give their money to
156. 5:49the student because they are aligned in
157. 5:51their future visions. The next aspect to
158. 5:53consider is highlighting achievements
159. 5:56with purpose. And so it it's great to
160. 5:58include accomplishments, but the key is
161. 6:01to tie them back to the motivation. So
162. 6:04for example, instead of saying, well, I
163. 6:06was captain of the debate team, we could
164. 6:09instead say, as captain of the debate
165. 6:11team, I learned how to critically how to
166. 6:14think critically about social issues. a
167. 6:17skill that I plan to use as a future X Y
168. 6:20and Z attorney maybe or uh even a nurse
169. 6:23maybe fighting for access to health care
170. 6:26or quality education or education
171. 6:28equity. So we can actually we don't want
172. 6:31to just say what we do. We want to say
173. 6:32what we got out of it and how it ties to
174. 6:35our future. Each achievement should
175. 6:37point towards their goals and
176. 6:40demonstrate a personality quality that
177. 6:42makes them deserving of the scholarship.
178. 6:44And again, bonus points if it can wrap
179. 6:46back up into my previous point of what
180. 6:49the committee has a mission for. Next, a
181. 6:53great way to get towards wrapping it up
182. 6:56would be showing gratitude and painting
183. 6:58that future vision. So, really
184. 7:00expressing that gratitude for the
185. 7:01opportunity and outline outlining what
186. 7:03they would do with this money. Something
187. 7:05like receiving the scholarship would not
188. 7:07only reduce the financial burden on
189. 7:09myself and my family, but it would also
190. 7:11allow me to focus on continuing to
191. 7:14volunteer. So maybe it's at the ICU or
192. 7:17maybe it's within the community or at a
193. 7:19local youth program, whatever it is. So
194. 7:23this shows appreciation and forward
195. 7:26thinking, both of which leave a strong
196. 7:28final impression with that committee,
197. 7:30which is what we want to do. And then we
198. 7:32want to wrap up our letter with
199. 7:34confidence and uh respectful, right? So
200. 7:38a simple strong closing might sound
201. 7:40like, "Thank you for considering my
202. 7:41application. I'm excited to continue
203. 7:44continue pursuing my education and
204. 7:46giving back to my community in
205. 7:48meaningful ways and I know that these
206. 7:50funds can help me do that in an even
207. 7:52better and bigger way." So again, by
208. 7:55wrapping it up really we're with pretty
209. 7:58much the prompt, we know we've answered
210. 8:00the question. If that sentence does not
211. 8:01make sense after everything else we
212. 8:02wrote, we didn't answer the question in
213. 8:04the essay. But a clean, polished letter,
214. 8:06it should show respect for the
215. 8:07reviewer's time and help that message
216. 8:10really come to a close. Kind of a
217. 8:12wrap-up. Now, we have an entire essay
218. 8:14writing playlist, so we will link to
219. 8:16that in the description as well, but I
220. 8:18really recommend checking out the videos
221. 8:19there because they will even help
222. 8:21fine-tune this even more. Now, once we
223. 8:23have that written, we always want to
224. 8:25review, revise, proofread before sending
225. 8:28this out. Students should really read
226. 8:31that letter out loud. Listen if there's
227. 8:33any anywhere we slipped up. That usually
228. 8:35signals something's missing or a comma
229. 8:37is missing or a wrong word. Parents,
230. 8:40great opportunity to help here is is by
231. 8:42proofreading. You could even push them
232. 8:44to have an English teacher or professor
233. 8:45proofread it. But we want to check a few
234. 8:48key things. First and foremost, word
235. 8:50counts. Okay, we don't want to go over
236. 8:52word counts if they have a maximum.
237. 8:54Please respect the rules. uh formatting,
238. 8:57making making sure it looks clean and
239. 8:59professional. Of course, spelling and
240. 9:01grammar, whether uh we want to also look
241. 9:04at whether each paragraph actually ties
242. 9:06back to the prompt. When they read it
243. 9:08out loud, maybe as a parent h try to
244. 9:10guess what the prompt was. These are all
245. 9:13general suggestions that we include in
246. 9:14the scholarship system course, which I
247. 9:16have a link to if you want to learn more
248. 9:17about down in the description below. You
249. 9:20can also attend that free webinar and I
250. 9:21will describe a little bit more about
251. 9:23that program opportunity at the end
252. 9:24there. So, you just go to the
253. 9:26scholarshipsystem.com/freeweinar.
254. 9:28Now, comment below. Has your student had
255. 9:30a scholarship specifically ask for a
256. 9:32motivation letter or was it called
257. 9:34something different or did they ask why
258. 9:37do you need this money or why do you
259. 9:39deserve this money? I'd love to know if
260. 9:41your family has come across this
261. 9:42question. So, parents, again, when
262. 9:43helping your students with their
263. 9:45motivation letter, remind them that it's
264. 9:47not just it's not a academic letter.
265. 9:50It's not about writing a perfect letter,
266. 9:52but it's about writing a story that
267. 9:55feels honest and purposeful and full of
268. 9:57drive and actually lets the committee
269. 9:59get to know them. If their letter can
270. 10:02clearly show why they're pursuing their
271. 10:05goals and how this scholarship will help
272. 10:07them make a difference, they are already
273. 10:09going to be ahead of most applications.
274. 10:12And this is why in the scholarship
275. 10:13system, our students on average get
276. 10:16double the scholarship value that other
277. 10:18students get because we know what
278. 10:20they're looking for and we follow these
279. 10:22rules. So, I hope that they're helpful.
280. 10:24Again, click subscribe so that you don't
281. 10:25miss our future videos. And if you like
282. 10:27this, I'd love a thumbs up to know if it
283. 10:29was helpful. And don't forget, you can
284. 10:31always comment below with any other
285. 10:33questions that you have. Lastly, don't
286. 10:36forget to attend that free webinar. The
287. 10:37link in is in the description or you go
288. 10:39to the scholarshipsystem.com/freeweinar.
289. 10:41Uh that is where you can find these
290. 10:43scholarships that are asking these
291. 10:44legitimate questions. All right, I'll
292. 10:46see you in next week's video.