5 Tips to Write a Strong Essentials or Tiny App
Applications are now open for 4.0’s Essentials and Tiny Fellowship. Visit 4pt0.org/apply to start your app!
Got an idea for how to build a more equitable future of education? 4.0 is now accepting applications for our Tiny and Essentials Fellowships! Applications close September 30, 2019 at noon central time. Visit 4pt0.org/apply to apply and find resources. Learn more about 4.0 here and more about our fellowships here.
Applicants always as us what we look for and how to best prepare their application. This year, we’ve revamped our apply page to be a one stop spot to get all the resources to write a great application including an application toolkit, eligibility quiz, and FAQ among many other resources. However, we also wanted to share a few additional tips that will help you write a quality application.
1. Start Early
Our applications close on September 30, 2019 at noon central time, and starting now gives you time to take advantage of resources and write a strong application.
Starting earlier makes it easier for you to have someone review your application and allows you to take advantage of the application coaching 4.0 is providing. 4.0 alumni from all across the country are offering up advice and insight on our fellowships. You can catch our alumni hosting events across the country or you can register for a webinar with the 4.0 staff to ask questions about the fellowship or the application. If you have more questions, you can drop us a line on our website’s chat box in the lower right corner or shoot us an email at apply@4pt0.org. If talking on the phone is more your thing, you can schedule a time to chat with an alumni coach.
If you start early, you’re in a better position to take advantage of these tools and so many more found on our apply page. Also, by starting early you have the ability to start talking with your community and gain credibility. Any one of these things could help you level up your application.
2. Show Your Work
Whether you are telling us about the problem or the idea you have to solve it, concrete evidence helps us connect the dots. Give specific examples, reasons and details in each question. Ask yourself, when we read your application, will we understand where your evidence comes from? Is it from your experiences and data about or conversations with your community?
Three Things to Keep in Mind to Show your Work Clearly
- Treat your application like you are talking to someone about your idea for the first time.
- Tell us what you’ve done, not what you’ve thought about doing
- Connect your idea to your personal experience
3. Embrace Vulnerability
As a community, 4.0 encourages you to be curious and to not have all the answers. It is much easier to coach someone who knows what they don’t know than someone who projects that they know everything. So, we actually look forward to riding alongside as you dig into your unknowns.
4. Get Feedback
Make sure you have someone review your application before submitting. It’s good to have both someone who knows your idea and someone who doesn’t know your idea to review your application — to make sure you’re nailing all the great aspects of your idea, but still making it clear enough.
Also, make sure you’re taking advantage of ways you can get feedback from 4.0. We’re offering application coaching through 4.0 alumni. You can chat with applications through our website’s chat box, catch a live webinar, or set up a phone call with one of our coaches.
5. Be Clear and Concise
Applications we receive that are clear and to the point are more likely to move forward. Specificity shows credibility and inspires confidence, while conciseness shows thoughtful storytelling. Make sure to stay away from jargon and use language everyone can understand. Also, stick to the word limits that we’ve included in the application. A tool that we sometimes use to help us keep our language clear and concise is the Hemingway App.
We’re so excited for this application cycle and we hope to see an application with your name on it! To start your application visit 4pt0.org/apply. On our apply page you’ll find additional resources to help you write a great application. Know someone who would be a good fit? We’d love if you referred them.
