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Personal Statements and Other Essays

Below, you will find the following:

General tips for writing your Personal Statements
Four required Personal Statements
Methods for creating your Four Required Personal Statements
Other essays for individual scholarship programs
Submitting your Personal Statements

General Tips:

Let your Personal Statements tell your story. Donors are looking for reasons why they should choose you for their scholarship award. Show the “unique you” in your Personal Statements and use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Don’t repeat information already included in your application, such as that your greatest accomplishment is your GPA. Focus on something unique about yourself! For all Personal Statements, pay attention to the topic and any length requirements.

Four Required Personal Statements:

Required Personal Statement #1: Explain your career aspirations and your educational plan to meet these goals.
Required Personal Statement #2: Describe a challenge or obstacle you faced in the last ten years. What did you learn about yourself from this experience?
Required Personal Statement #3: Describe a personal accomplishment and the strengths and skills you used to achieve it.
Required Personal Statement #4: Explain how you have helped your family or made your community a better place to live. Please provide specific examples.

Other Required Essays for Individual Scholarship Programs:

Review the eligibility requirements for each scholarship for which you apply. Some scholarships require an additional essay or other information/documentation. Click here to learn more.

The specific instructions for the Personal Statements (below) also apply to other required essays for individual scholarship programs with these exceptions:

Each scholarship essay has length requirement that differs from essay to essay. Be sure to comply with the length of the essay.
For the online eApp, scholarship essays are entered in the Scholarship List Section of eApp.
For paper applications, each scholarship essay must be on a separate page.

Specific Instructions for the Online eApp, Personal Statements Section:

These instructions apply only to those applicants who use the online eApp.

Use the Personal Statements section in the eApp to create your four required Personal Statements.
You can either type in the text directly, or cut and paste in the text from a word processing program such as Microsoft Word.
Use plain text only (no formatting, such as different size fonts, boldface, italics, or underlining).
Only line-space (use a single 'Enter' or 'Return') between paragraphs.
Be sure to check that each Personal Statement is formatted as you expect BEFORE you submit your eApp. The Personal Statements will be printed on the fourth and fifth pages of the eApp PDF file that is generated on the eApp Home page (or the Status page, once you have submitted your eApp).
For Personal Statements, the length is "no more than 150 words"; in the eApp, you also cannot exceed the limit of 1000 characters, inclucing white space. The exact count is based on the 'Count Words' button in eApp.
When eApp saves your Personal Statement, tab characters are converted to 4 spaces, so be sure to factor this in for the character count.
If you do exceed the 1000-character limit for the Personal Statement, the eApp will truncate your Personal Statement and it will not be complete.
If you type a Personal Statement directly without copying from a word processing program:
- Be sure to save often.
- If your computer sits idle too long, eApp will “time out” and you may lose any unsaved information.
If you compose the Personal Statement in a word processing program:
- Check the word count in your word processing program. For Microsoft Word, you can check the word and character count by going to Tools on your menu bar and selecting Word Count.
- When satisfied, you can then cut/paste or copy the Personal Statement into your eApp Personal Statement textbox.
The Personal Statements are submitted online along with your application, Activities Chart, transcripts, and any scholarship-specific information.

Specific Instructions for Paper Applications, Personal Statements:

These instructions apply only to those applicants who choose to submit the OSAC scholarship application using a paper application form, rather than the online eApp.

You may create and print your Personal Statements using whatever method you are most comfortable with.
The four required Personal Statements should be printed two to a page (Personal Statements #1 and #2 on one page, Personal Statements #3 and #4 on a second page). OSAC will discard additional pages.
The word limit for each Personal Statement is no more than 150 words. If you compose the Personal Statement in a word processing program, check the word count there. For Microsoft Word, you can check the word and character count by going to Tools on your menu bar and selecting Word Count.
Be sure your Personal Statements are easy to read—follow these guidelines:
- Personal Statement must be created in a word processing program or typed.
- Use white paper; double space your lines; if using word processing software, use 10-12 pt. type size and an easily readable type style (e.g., Times New Roman).
- Put your name and last four digits of your SSN in the top right corner of each page.