This week I am preparing a scholarship application, and I need to write a personal statement and a writing sample (4-5 pages, I guess). I have almost no experience with either of them, and I would appreciate any advice or experience that you would offer. What does a committee like to see?
On the Internet it is possible to find many general treatments but specifically for Classical Studies there is little.
I have a subject to write about (based on a class presentation for which I studied quite a bit) but I have doubts on how should be the tone (as academic and technical as I can, even a bit pretentious / easygoing and slightly informal, like a good blog article). Also, I am not sure on whether I need to refrain from adding passages with translations, footnotes, bibliography etc.
It’s very hard to know how to respond here, as these seem like questions for the institution concerned rather than us… but with anything like this, the first step is to understand what exactly they’re looking for. What information have they provided you with? Is there a person they suggest you contact for further information? It’s strange to me that you are ‘guessing’ how long the sample of work should be, and whether it needs to be academic or not. Surely they make that clear somewhere?
In terms of the sample of writing, I think you should send the best work you can… and presumably that would contain references. But again, as you don’t seem to know what they’re asking you to produce, it is hard to give advice.
There is no information whatsoever, it just says upload a writing sample. However, I could find some instructions for an earlier year suggesting that all documents (personal statement, CV and this) uploaded should not exceed 10 pages, so I think I will send a sample of 4-5 pages…
Writing samples are typically things you’ve already written for classes. Ideally, you’ve received feedback from a teacher or professor and have incorporated that into your paper, so that it’s polished. However, you haven’t provided enough information about what you’re doing and what type of scholarship this is to give you any more detailed advice. A good rule of thumb, though, is if you have questions, you should email some administrator responsible for overseeing the program. Just a simple question of what they’re looking for in a writing sample should suffice.