15-05-2014, 04:14 PM
Writing an Effective Personal Profile
Scholarship applications, personal profiles and supplemental information (when required) are reviewed
by a scholarship committee comprised of UA faculty and/or staff. Depending on how many scholarships
each applicant is eligible for, many applications are reviewed by multiple committees. The committees’
task is to match the scholarship program with a scholar. Direct the readers. Why are you the exemplary
choice to receive a scholarship?
Committees will evaluate the following: leadership, extracurricular involvement, presentation (grammar,
punctuation, etc), your educational and career goals and plans, and any other information you feel the
committee should know about you or your application. Try to touch upon each of those criterions in
your personal profile and go into as much detail as you can within the 3000 character (approximately
500 word) limit. It is recommended that you compose your profile in a word processing program such as
Microsoft Word, and then copy and paste into the box provided.
Effective profiles successfully do the following:
Give insight about who you are. They show us who you are, how you think, how you decide to act (or not act) upon
something, how you approach a problem or dilemma, how you interact with your environment.
Avoid being melancholy! You do have something interesting to write about. Don’t write a
resume (unless asked for); let us know what makes you stand out amongst the other applicants.
Your personal profile is read by committee members making scholarship recommendations so
take the time to put your best foot forward.
Profile Brainstorms:
Describe activities you are involved in that relate to your educational plan or your future
career
Describe a scholastic achievement you have made, and why it is important to you
Describe contributions you have made to your community and/or campus and explain
how those experiences have contributed to your personal growth
Pick an experience from your own life and explain how it has influenced your
development
Where do you see yourself 10 years from now