How to write an application that gets read

The person reading your application has a stack of them and a shortlist to fill. They are not looking for perfect writing. They are looking for evidence that you will turn up, finish, and use what you learn.

Answer the question that was asked. If it asks why you want to take part, write about you and this programme — not a paragraph that would fit any programme anywhere. A reviewer can tell within a sentence whether an answer was written for them, and the generic ones are the first to go.

Be specific, because specifics are the only thing that can be believed. "I am passionate about technology" tells a reviewer nothing. "I fixed my sister's phone, then three neighbours brought theirs, and I want to understand what I was actually doing" tells them you are curious, practical and already started. A small true story beats a large claim every time.

Say what you will do with it. Programmes exist to produce an outcome, and the people running them are judged on whether their participants get somewhere afterwards. If you know what you want next — a job in a workshop, your own repair stall, a place on a longer course — say so plainly.

Three things sink applications more than anything else. Leaving questions half-answered, because it reads as a lack of interest. Writing far more than was asked for, because it reads as a lack of judgement. And applying at the last hour, because the answers show it.

Write your answers somewhere you can save them before you paste them in. Connections drop, and losing forty minutes of thinking is the reason many people never apply a second time.

You do not need anyone to write it for you, and you should not pay anyone to. Nobody reviewing for AYC will ever ask you for money.