Many students procrastinate applying for scholarships to the point where they don't end up applying. Because of this many scholarships only get a measly number of applications. This means that students that bother to submit a half decent application have a great chance of picking up thousands of dollars to help with their education.

Couple hours of time for thousands of dollars? Sounds like a deal to me.

Getting Started

Pick a Scholarship

In this example we will be writing an application for the Marjorie Young Bell Scholarship.

Check the scholarship directory for your university to see if there are any scholarships that require a written application. These will most likely have less competition.

Sign up for ChatGPT

Sign up for a ChatGPT account here.

If ChatGPT is not available (sometimes the service goes down due to demand) you can follow the tutorial using a free trial of a AI writing assistant.

Prompting AI to Write the Scholarship

We will generate the scholarship application step by step. In each step we will write a descriptive prompt telling the AI what to write.

Let's look at an example.

Generating the Structure

The Marjorie Young Bell Scholarship describes the criteria as follows.

Let's ask the AI how to structure our application. Paste the prompt below into the chatbox and hit enter.

Write an outline for a scholarship application demonstrating academic ability, leadership capability, volunteer work, and work experience.

Below is the response from ChatGPT. We will follow this structure when generating the remaining paragraphs.

I. Introduction

• Briefly introduce yourself and your background
• Mention the scholarship you are applying for
• Explain why you are a strong candidate for the scholarship (e.g. your academic achievements, leadership experience, etc.)

II. Academic ability

• Discuss your academic achievements, such as your GPA, class rank, and any awards or honors you have received
• Mention any academic clubs or organizations you have been a member of, and any leadership roles you have held within those groups
• Describe any relevant academic projects or research you have participated in

III. Leadership capability

• Discuss any leadership roles you have held, both inside and outside of school
• Describe your leadership style and how you have used it to achieve success in your leadership roles
• Provide examples of how you have demonstrated leadership, such as by organizing events, managing teams, or leading initiatives

IV. Volunteer work

• Describe your volunteer experience, including the organizations you have worked with and the tasks you have completed
• Explain how your volunteer work has helped you grow as a person and how it has impacted the community
• Mention any awards or recognition you have received for your volunteer work

V. Work experience

Discuss any paid or unpaid work experience you have, including internships and part-time jobs

• Describe the tasks and responsibilities you had in these roles and any skills or knowledge you gained from them
• Explain how your work experience has prepared you for the scholarship and your future goals

VI. Conclusion

• Summarize your strengths as a candidate and why you are deserving of the scholarship
• Express your gratitude for the opportunity to apply and your excitement about the possibility of receiving the scholarship.

Writing About our Academic Ability

Write a narrative about having to work hard to earn a 3.7 GPA, winning the regional science fair, and the amazing feeling of being recognized as an honors student

Below is a screenshot of the response from ChatGPT pasted into a Google Doc.

Writing a Paragraph about Leadership Capability

Write a narrative about being the editor of the student newspaper, being the treasurer for a fundraiser for cancer research, and organizing free soccer lessons for underprivileged children.

Write a Paragraph about Work Experience

Write a narrative about your internship working on web development the local humane society and how it inspired you to study computer science

Closing Paragraph

Write a paragraph describing why you are excited to apply for the Marjorie Young Bell Scholarship and will benefit from the financial aid you receive

Final Product

Hopefully these examples sparked your imagination of how you can use ChatGPT to write your scholarship. You can try editing the prompts to reflect your specific experience. Hopefully this helps you bag several thousand dollars in scholarships!

Good luck and have fun!