English Major Scholarships

English Major Scholarships

By Veronica Krully

English majors are all about passion. As a student on the written word you will spend much time reading and writing and for most English majors there is nothing better.

Your future college will have a wonderful treasure trove of reading material for English majors: author�s letters, literary criticism, first edition books, classics and the like. But before you can get to the library you should find a better way to pay for college. You should put your writing skills to use and apply for English scholarships.

A college�s English department is the most fertile source of scholarships for English majors. Most schools have English scholarships will have many awards honoring alumni and faculty. These awards may be one time gifts or renewable year after year.

In addition to typical scholarships, many English departments offer awards and prizes based on writing performance. For example, a school might offer a cash prize for a short story or poetry work by a student. To apply, a student fills out a traditional scholarship application and submits a piece of writing. Other English scholarships include awards for literary criticism. This may be general criticism or an analysis on a particular subject. A school, for instance, may offer an award to the best paper on Shakespeare the prior semester.

Compared to other fields of study, English scholarships are more frequently awarded to students already enrolled in college. There may be some writing-based awards for incoming freshmen, or you may be asked to submit a writing sample, like your work in high school English classes, with your application.

If you are considering applying for English scholarships you may want to hang on to the work you do in high school English classes. If you are still in high school, contact potential colleges and ask them about English scholarships offered. They can tell you now if you need to save your work from high school classes, or if you need to do some creative writing on your own.
Regardless, putting down a few more words on paper for money should be a joy for any budding English major.