College Essay Mistakes

College Essay Mistakes It’s OK to reuse the same story more than once, but we don’t recommend recycling an entire essay. It can be tempting, but will ultimately strip the personality and specificity from your essay, harming your case. As a rule of thumb, everything that is “optional” in the admissions process is something that you should absolutely do. Make it a point to put time and energy into your responses. That’s why we created this guide to help you write powerful essays that will help you get into college. None of them are wrong, but it doesn’t mean they’re right for you. As the name implies, writing apersonal statementis apersonalexperience, making it just a little bit different for everyone. Not just the process, but the actual statement itself, too. In addition to making sure that all of these things are included, you should also be aware of HOW you write your essay. Admissions committees want essays to be concise â€" you want to make your point in about 700 words or less. Either 250 or 650 words, that is quite a short essay. Thus, you should be able to demonstrate your writing skills in such a short paper. The paradox of the overzealous editing of the college essay by many helicopter parents is that they don’t know what a college essay is really about. I won’t know exactly when I’ll snap out of my idiotic insensitivity, but at some point I’ll learn the difference between flat tires and gas showers. They say the brain matures at 24, but even after 24, it will be a slow progression from self-centered kid to empathetic adult. You can certainly submit a résumé with your application, but your essay is not the place to do it. We want you to expand upon a few characteristics that make you great, not just give us a list with the thousand and one things that contribute to your greatness. This way, we are able to fully grasp why these particular characteristics, out of the many you could have selected, are so important to you and who you are as an individual. Besides, that other essay would go on forever, and, as I mentioned, we read thousands of these things each year. You should also make sure that your essay is coherent â€" that your ideas flow and your arguments make sense. Don’t be afraid to show off your writing skills, but don’t do anything that takes away from your core message. This video shows you how to write an effective college admissions essay. Remember, in the grand scheme of the college admissions process, the application essay is a unique opportunity â€" and an opportunity to be unique. Finally, Rachel has a detailed list to work from. For similar categories of essays, Rachel plans to write one rough essay, then tweak it for different colleges. Now Rachel goes through her colleges’ essay prompts and groups similar essays together to come up with a list of what she has to write. Don’t rely on spell check alone to catch all of your mistakes, either. Be sure you are using the correct form of words too (they’re, their, there, your, you’re, etc.). Few things will throw off an application evaluator more than misspellings and typos in the college essay â€" except when you mention the wrong college! Don’t tell us how much you want to attend XYZ University when you are submitting the essay to The College of ABC. While it is important to talk yourself up as the awesome student you truly are, you still have to remember that the application essay is not a résumé. Unlike the other parts of the application, where high grade point averages and SAT scores reign supreme, the essay is less about being impressive than it is about being authentic. It was right there in the last sentence of the first paragraph of Mikey’s college essay. I was supposed to believe this typical high school senior, who had inhabited this planet for a slight 17 years, chose to use the word “henceforth.” Mikey was a good kid. The college essay length requirements differ among universities. However, it ranges between 250 and 650 words in universities. The word limit is usually specified in the requirements.