10 Best Recommendation Letters for Scholarship

In most regions, the cost of education is usually high, limiting the number of people who get entry into higher institutions of education. This necessitates the use of scholarships among students, especially among the underprivileged in society. Scholarship candidates are required to apply, and the grantor sets some criteria that applicants are expected to meet to receive the scholarship.

Besides the application, the grantor can request the applicant to include a recommendation letter for scholarship, which is a letter by a teacher or a counselor giving the reasons why they believe the candidate is worthy of the scholarship.

Recommendation letters are letters written by someone in a position to recommend a person’s academic or work performance to an admissions officer or hiring committee in an effort to present the candidate as worthy of acceptance for the opportunity at hand. The opportunity could be a job position or even a scholarship opportunity.

Recommendation Letter for Scholarship

A recommendation letter for scholarship is written by a third party, on behalf of a scholarship candidate/applicant, to convince the grantor why the candidate deserves the scholarship. A scholarship recommendation letter is written, on behalf of a candidate, by a professional or someone in authority that has interacted with the candidate long enough to have a conclusive idea of who the candidate is in person. It gives the qualities, traits, and achievements of the candidate that meet the criteria set out for scholarship awarding. It should give past events that support the characteristics of the candidate highlighted by the recommended.

Why write a recommendation letter for scholarship? Its significance varies from one case to another; however, the primary purpose should be to convince the grantor of an applicant’s suitability for a scholarship.

A recommendation letter for scholarship helps reduce the grantor’s doubt on the validity of the candidate’s information during application. Since the author is usually a professional (teacher, lecturer, or counselor), the information provided is taken to be of high integrity. The letter is meant to demonstrate the candidate as a worthwhile investment.

A recommendation letter for scholarship increases a candidate’s chances to receive the scholarship as it is another person’s perception of the candidate, which is less biased than if the candidate described.

It is used to show how the candidate meets the criteria for selection.

Who Should Write a Scholarship Recommendation Letter?

A recommendation letter for scholarship is written by any person whom the grantor declares as a viable source of information, for example, a lecturer, dean, counselor, employer, or team coach when it comes to sports scholarships. The author should be familiar with the candidate personally to clearly and concisely base their description of the candidate. A personal interaction also helps in citing actions/events that best support the author’s claims.

If incorporated in your recommendation letter for scholarship, there are several tips that would help you achieve maximum efficiency in your letter. Remember, you want the recommendation letter for scholarship to be as professional, engaging, and convincing as possible.

Research

As the author, you should familiarize yourself with details about the scholarship like the grantor, what level of education it is meant for, what is expected of the candidate to receive the scholarship, and the selection criteria the grantor has laid out? This helps you narrow down the candidate’s traits and achievements that meet these criteria to base your recommendation around them. You should also find out any projects (ongoing or previous) the candidate has been involved in.

Specificity

As an author, try to major in the candidate’s strengths. Identify their traits and clearly give them. The words used should describe a candidate’s qualities should be free of ambiguity. For example, the phrase ‘He is a good person is somewhat too ambiguous; consider using a phrase like ‘He is a diligent basketballer.’

Seek clarity

Should you have questions for the candidate, ensure they are answered before and NOT after writing the recommendation letter for scholarship. Contacting the candidate would also go a long way in addressing this and seeking a bit more information to help with the letter writing.

When to say no

When you feel you do not know the candidate well enough to recommend, refrain from writing the recommendation letter for scholarship. It might end up sounding ingenuine and mean you cannot validate some of the candidate’s information. This could consequently end up costing the candidate the scholarship.

Follow the grantor’s guidelines

Lastly, some grantors tend to give guidelines and format the recommendation letter for scholarship should ensure you adhere to this. These can be considered the basic conditions that the letter has to meet to make it to the review stage—for example, the font, type or size, format of the recommendation letter for scholarship, and such.  

You can write a good recommendation letter for scholarship by following a few steps. These steps ensure that you include all the essential parts: letterhead, introduction, the body, summary, contact information, and signature.

The steps include;

Letterhead

At the top left corner, introduce the sender to the grantor. It should contain the date, name of the author, position/title, institution name, and address. The letterhead is usually inserted at the top left corner.

Salutation

Following the header is the salutation, which is used as a courtesy gesture. It is directed to the recipient/reader of the recommendation letter for scholarship, a committee, and an individual or organization.

An introduction

You can then proceed to introduce the candidate, who you are in support of, to the recipient as many people usually apply for scholarships. Here, the relationship or interaction between you and the candidate is declared in capacity and duration. You should ensure that the period is reasonably long else it would harm the candidate’s chances of receiving the scholarship.

The body

After the candidate has been declared, the author highlights the candidate’s outstanding characteristics that best describe his ethical stand when dealing with academics and other fields such as sports. It is recommended that you focus on the qualities that set them apart from the lot. Describe how this candidate meets the criteria for selection. You can support this by showing a candidate’s performance, be it academic or athletic, by s citing their grades or roles in the team.

State any academic or athletic achievements such competitions participated in, level of education or silverware won. If the candidate has been active in certain programs in the school, community, or any other organization, make it known to the grantor. Make sure to give examples to support your claims. A story that shows the candidate’s qualities in practice could go a long way in convincing the committee.

In case the candidate has been in leadership positions, you can list their responsibilities and your take on how they performed in that position. Be direct to the point as much as you want to give as much information as possible; you do not want to make the recommendation letter for scholarship unnecessarily long and boring.

Summary

After all the relevant information has been written down, you should conclude the recommendation letter for scholarship by reassuring the grantor/committee that this particular candidate would be an excellent selection. Aim to clear any doubt in the grantor’s mind on this candidate’s suitability.

Contact information and signature

Lastly, provide your contact information in case the grantor has more questions or concerns about the candidate. This could be an email address or phone number. The author should sign off as a sign that the given information is strictly by the signature owner.

To ensure the letter efficiently serves its intended purpose, the author should consider some components if they are to achieve this. There are various formats you can use to draft the letter. However, the process of writing a recommendation letter for scholarship remains constant despite the format the author chooses to use.

Your experience with the student

Your interaction with the student and the nature of your relationship with them should be declared in the letter’s first paragraph. This includes how long you have interacted with them and their capacity as their teacher, professor, or coach.

The student’s potential

In the second paragraph, describe the candidate to the grantor in terms of personality and traits. This information shows the candidate’s capability if given the opportunity. Do not be vague while describing the student. You want to sound convinced that the student is who you say they are. A student’s potential can be demonstrated by pointing out their achievements so far in their studies, sports, or other co-curricular activities. For example, any competition won club membership or leadership positions held. Show how the candidate meets the scholarship’s criteria.

Significant events during interactions with the student

Any significant event that reassured your belief in the candidate can be described in the third paragraph. Aim to be interesting, to the point, and brief for this is a letter after all. Use words that portray a first-hand encounter of the event.

Reasons the student is likely to succeed in a higher academic institution

As the author, show your confidence that the student will prevail in a higher education institution by giving your professional remarks on the candidate’s capabilities. You can achieve this by summarizing the information in the recommendation letter for scholarship by stating the key points.

Having to develop a recommendation letter for scholarship from scratch every time you are required to craft one can be a hustle. In this regard, we have provided free downloadable templates that you can customize to suit your needs. The templates have all the essential parts of a recommendation letter. Kindly download!

There are a few do’s and don’ts that must be kept in consideration when preparing a recommendation letter for scholarhsip. They are as follows;

The objective is to stand out from dozens of applications; therefore, a letter that completely captures the reader’s attention is essential. To achieve this, there are certain dos and don’ts that an author should consider before crafting the recommendation letter for scholarship.

Customize your letter 

Customization is done by including your details such as your name, job title, organization, and address. This information must appear in the recommendation letter for scholarship. This helps the grantor have an idea of who the recommender is to some extent.

Speak enthusiastically

Show excitement when writing the letter using words that show you wrote the recommendation letter for scholarship out of your own will. This helps keep the reader’s interest and regard the given as genuine.

Highlight the primary strengths

Since the aim is to market the candidate, focus on their strengths, and highlight the qualities that show their better nature.

Give stories, examples

Stories apart from keeping the reader engaged show there is indeed a personal relationship with the candidate. This makes the information given more believable. Stories give an account where the candidate prevailed therefore validating their traits further.

Be intentional with your phrasing and flow of ideas

When selecting the words to use, be intentional. The words or phrases should invoke certain emotions or reactions from the grantor. The ideas/information given should flow in a logical sequence whose end goal is to convince the grantor that the candidate deserves the scholarship.

You should write a recommendation letter for scholarship for a candidate with whom you are well familiar. A recommendation letter should be factual and should contain the genuine opinions of the author. Candidates should consider using a recommendation letter for scholarship to boost their chances of receiving scholarships. It is important to proofread before sending to correct grammar and spelling mistakes.

Here are a few things that you must not do while writing the recommendation letter

Lukewarm praise

You can avoid this by using words and phrases that are to the point. Vague compliments such as ‘ a good student’ come off as not genuine and cost the candidate the scholarship. Avoid overused adjectives as they do not make the candidate standouts.

Non-descriptive reasons

You should avoid stating adjectives without an event to back them up. The objective is to give as much information as possible; stories tend to do this for you as the grantor can deduce other qualities not mentioned. They facilitate the committee to make their conclusive take on the candidate’s characteristics.

Generic writing

Generic writing is unspecific writing. You should focus on narrowing it down to the point which you want to put across. Remember you are trying to sell the candidate to the grantor; focus on the objective. The recommendation letter for scholarship should aim to maximize its impact on the grantor’s perception.