Taking Advantage of Cancer: Scholarships

Although cancer is one of the most infamous diseases for reasons which are much too often justified, I thought I'd give a little more detail in how you can take your relationship and experiences with cancer and turn them into you can use, as strengths and tools that are unique to you.

One way to take advantage of having been affected by cancer in some way is to exploit the availability of scholarships that not everybody can apply for. I'm talking about the scholarhships that require you, or someone close to have had cancer. The requirement immensely restricts the amount of people who are going to apply for this type of scholarhsip, thus increasing your odds at success.



Not only can yo exploit this for eligibility, but as a topic for any essay. Most scholarship judges want to see someone who had been faced with a unique obstacle and who used their strengths to overcome it and to learn from their experiences.

Take me for an example, I don't like to write. Never have and I probably never will, because i feel that I've been told too many times that my writing style is wrong. Writing for scholarships is different. I've actually started to enjoy it. I expressed myself freely while maintaining clear thoughts, structure, and grammar. My ability to write about my experiences and to reach out to others by using words really influenced me to start writing this blog.

Back to the essays, in almost every response I've had done to this date ( I have fifteen scholarships done so far and am working on future applications ) I've written about how I faced cancer, overcame it, and grew from it.

When I first started writing about cancer for scholarship essays, I wrote about how I was ill and poor because of it. I asked for money because I had to pay medical bills. Unfortunately, as sad and needy as I was, it wasn't enough to make any judges want to award me with a scholarship, nor will it ever.

I've decided to take a new approach this year by focusing on what I derived from my cancer experiences. (What's funny is, that's really how I should be thinking about my experiences with cancer all the time. Instead of being sad or resentful, reap the benefits.)
At first, I had writer's block. I really struggled to produce a decent essay that I might actually think could have a chance at winning. Yeah, it was that bad, but I didn't stop trying. Scraping several essays, revising with the help of my wonderful girlfriend (thank you by the way!), and adding new ideas periodically over what took maybe a month and a half to finish, I finally produced an essay I deemed worthy of an award. Another month and a half later and I'm still editing that essay, but it's come a long ways and I'm proud of it.

The thought of using cancer as a topic allowed me to really express myself, open memories and doors that have been closed for some time.

I recommend writing about this topic, even if it does end up in the scrap bucket. I've realized a lot about myself since I have and it's affected who I am today.

Therefore, if you ever find yourself writing an essay, consider writing about your experiences. Take advantage of the opportunity to grow and learn from your experiences.