Scholarship: What is my most significant accomplishment?

Question

I'm trying to figure out a good answer for this essay prompt for a scholarship. "What is your most significant accomplishment and why do you believe it is the most significant." I didn't know if I should go commerical like "getting into college" or broad like "becoming a truly good person". Help Please!!

Answer 1

If I had to give adequate detail for my significant accomplishment, I would provide the following event, which saved life of four persons. This is a real event, for which I am much proud of.

In an early morning I I was going for walk  on my bic. It was very cold weather and the time was just 5 am. On road,at a crossing an accident between a truck and a car took place. In car there were five people, whereas the truck was loaded with debries, and the trucks were not allowed on the road in city area.The persons in car were injured seriously. When the accident occurred there was no other person  on the road. I could also skip, but my conscience did not allow me to run away. I immediately stopped on the site of accident. I brought out injured persons and I took the keys of the trucks into my custody. I stopped anot her passing car and I requested the car owner to take the injured persons to the near by hospital. On the other hand I called Emergency Police Mobile and handed over the truck driver to the police for judicial trial. After doing this work, I went to the hospital myself where the injured Five persons were admitted. Out them only one died wheres four ijured persons were saved by my timely action. I am proud of this, as I could also ignore this accident, as no body likes to get oneself involved in Police Inquires and going to court for trial and interrogation.

Answer 2

Be yourself and DON'T add cliches and commercial lines. Be true. Honest. Real. They really like simple and honest essays. They see a lot of cliches.

Here are a few things to remember:

Evaluate a significant experience that you have taken and its impact on you.

This question is actually a combination of two common questions: Describe a significant achievement and describe a time when you grew as a person.

Accomplishment questions show the admissions committee what you value, what makes you proud, and what you are capable of accomplishing. A common mistake in answering this question is repeating information that can be found elsewhere in the application. You should not try to squeeze every achievement on your resume into the essay. If you do choose to write about an accomplishment that the committee can read about somewhere else on your application, be sure to bring that experience alive by demonstrating what it took to get there and how it affected you personally. Do not be afraid to show them that you feel proud. This is not the place for modesty. On the other hand, do not fall to the other extreme--you can toot your own horn, but do it without being snotty. You will not have to worry about either extreme if you spend the bulk of your essay simply telling the story.

If you feel like you have not done anything worth focusing on, then remind yourself that the best essays are often about modest accomplishments. It does not matter what you have accomplished as long as it was personally meaningful and you can make it come alive. Unless specified, the accomplishment can be professional, personal, or academic. Did you get a compliment from a notoriously tough boss? Did you lose the race but beat your own best time? Did you work around the clock to bring your C in physics up to an A? Do not think about what they want to hear--think about what has really made you proud.

For the second part of the question, they are asking you to open up about who you really are. Although you do want to show that you have matured, do not overplay what a terrible person you once were just to make the point of what a great person you are now. No one changes that much. Besides, the "before" portrait might be the one that sticks in the admissions officer's head. Also, focus on your current personality rather than on the "old you" or on every last detail of the event. The reader wants to know what you are like now, not what you were like a long time ago. Finally, describe real events and scenarios to prove that your growth resulted from the decisions you made and the actions you took. Significant events and people can serve as inspiration. Real change, though, always results from the work, effort, and initiative you have put into yourself. Take some credit.

While looking at your application, you are probably asking yourself: "Why in the world are these admissions people asking me this question? What do they want me to write about?" While there is no one answer to either of these questions, there is some reason behind the most popular questions posed by applications.

Hope this helps!