The following is a sample of a successful Gilman essay submission. The student who wrote this essay was awarded a Gilman scholarship for his summer internship in Brazil. Following the essay, I give a brief discussion of what I feel to be the strong points of this essay.
Essay:
I come from a background of mixed heritage: my mother is from Barbados, an island in the West Indies, and my father is from the United States. With them I have lived a third of my life overseas and have gained a unique perspective not afforded to many. My parents have taught me to be understanding of all walks of life and have taught me the importance of integrating the strengths of various cultures around the world. Five of the eight years that I have lived abroad were spent in Taiwan where I learned what it was like to be in the minority. My parents immersed me in the culture by sending me to Taiwanese kindergarten and elementary school. Entering elementary school, I faced prejudice and misunderstanding. But I also made great friendships. I was able to pick up the language easily and interpret for my family. Participating in school was challenging academically, however, because my parents could not help me with my Chinese homework. My father would often take me to a Chinese tutor so I could practice my Chinese reading skills. This helped, but I still scored low on my tests, and would often compare my low scores to my classmates’ scores. My parents helped me to understand that Chinese was not my first language. Yet, I was speaking it fluently. I was able to speak two languages when most children were speaking one. It helped me to focus on my strengths rather than my weaknesses. I also spent one year living and attending school in Barbados. Here, I was able to learn in a different setting and got the privilege of learning from my mother’s family. My other two years abroad were spent in Brazil where I worked as a humanitarian. My time abroad has given me a love of experiencing new places and people, food and music; I have learned to take something from each culture to make myself a better person.
I have wanted to take part in this internship for quite some time now. But like many college students, I have had to provide means to pay for my college education. My family’s finances would not allow them to pay for my school, let alone provide the funding to pay for this summer internship. The last three years I have paid for my schooling by sacrificing my summers to sell home security systems. Through this summer job, I was able to pay for schooling but knew I was missing out on opportunities to participate in career-building internships. I realized that internships were just as important as schooling itself and that I would have to find another means to pay for my schooling so that I could participate in summer internships. My sister pays for her school through scholarship funding, so I decided to follow suit. I applied for several scholarships, and to my disappointment I was not a recipient for the first few I applied for. However, as someone once told me, “no never means no;” I knew persistence was the key. After filling out many more applications, I was awarded two scholarships along with a Pell grant. This experience taught me diligence and has provided me with the reassurance that failing at first does not mean that you will keep failing. Thanks to my scholarships and grants, I have been able to save money to cover some of the costs of my summer internship, but I still require some funding to cover the remainder of the internship and to make this opportunity a real possibility for me.
During the two years I spent in Brazil I was doing humanitarian work, serving as a missionary. My two years spent there were not spent as a tourist but as someone that became closely involved with the people. I spent most of my time serving others by inviting them to church and helping to lift their spirits. I helped families throughout Rio de Janiero. I recall the joy of helping a family build a water tank so they would always have water, even in the dry season. One of the most physically demanding jobs I experienced was helping a father finish his cement roof. We carried buckets of cement up a ladder, and poured the cement into various prepared sections. This experience was both physically challenging and rewarding at the same time. This and many other experiences helped me to discover that when you lose yourself in helping others, you find yourself as well.
I realized during my time in Rio de Janeiro that Brazil had a lot of potential for economic growth. This realization, along with my sound understanding of Portuguese, led to my decision to pursue this summer international internship working for Azul Airlines. The internship is facilitated through the Hinckley Institute of Politics. The Hinckley Institute of Politics allows students to experience different cultures and global policies while getting hands-on work experience. It allows us to immerse ourselves in a real international work environment. This internship is a major step towards a career in international business, the field in which I hope to work after I graduate. An internship will allow me to pursue my future career goals by making my resume much more competitive. It will allow future employers to see that I have international work experience, which will be especially valuable in my quest to become a consultant for Barbados, my mother’s home country. Improving relations between Brazil and Barbados would be an ideal career path for me, as it would integrate my cultural heritage with my experiences in and love for Brazil. Working for Azul Airlines will allow me to have hands-on experience in one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Over the past few years, Brazil has become a global economic powerhouse. Today it is currently ranked the sixth largest economy overall, having just surpassed the United Kingdom. The Brazilian economy is seeing a vast expansion of the middle-class. The country will host the World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic games in 2016. Much of the world’s spotlight seems to shine on Brazil and I plan to be part of that spotlight. My great love for the culture and people and the positive reviews of several students who had previously participated in this program, made me realize that this internship was what I needed to do and would be key for job placement in the future.
Discussion:
Here are a few key aspects which made this essay a strong contender for the Gilman scholarship:
- The essay opens with an interesting but succinct discussion of the student’s diverse background. This is a great example of telling a personal story without rambling or including extraneous details. After reading the opening paragraph of this essay, we know that this student is multiracial, multilingual, and has had a variety of life experiences. However, the student has not been unduly wordy or lengthy in his descriptions; he tells the reader just enough.
- The student is clear about why he chose this particular study abroad, and how it fits in to his larger career goals. This essay leaves no doubt that this internship will be a great investment for the Gilman scholarship. The student avoids vague phrases like “life changing,” “international experience,” and “cultural education,” and rather uses specifics about Brazil’s booming economy and growing world presence.
- This essay is well edited (no typos or grammatical errors) and is well structured. The essay has a clear progression which is easy for the reader to follow and understand.
Scholarship Sojourn 