Fatal Flaws: Mistakes to Avoid in Your College Essay
Since writing a college essay can feel a bit nerve-wracking for many students, here’s some good news for you: there isn’t one “right” way to write a college essay, no pun intended. Successful college essays come in a wide array of topics, representing a myriad of student voices. Wait, does that basically mean that anything goes? Nope! While there are many right ways to craft an essay, there are also quite a few wrong ways. If you’re wondering exactly what not to do, you came to the right place. Here, we’ll dive into some common mistakes that can inadvertently send your essay right to the bottom of the stack.
Mistake #1: Your essay is vague or entirely lacks substance. Have you ever mindlessly read through 650 words and literally finished with no idea about who the writer is and what they trying to convey? Unfortunately, I have. An essay can be vague for a variety of reasons: you didn’t answer the prompt, you didn’t cite any specific examples, you didn’t reveal any feelings, motivations, or emotions, or you repeated the same information without adding anything new. If you spend three paragraphs writing about how your determination is one of your greatest qualities, yet you provide no specific examples of how this trait has shown up in your life, you’ve entirely lost your reader. To be completely honest, they’ve probably tossed your essay aside and moved on to the next.
Mistake #2: Your essay overuses cliché words or phrases. Here are a few examples that I’ve observed in the first drafts of my students’ college essays:
“Horseback riding is my passion; when I enter the barn, I’m like a kid at the candy store.”
“This year, I learned that time heals all wounds.”
“As an aspiring scientist, thinking outside of the box is one of my strengths.”
Clichés are cliché for a reason: they’re popular phrases, so they’ve become a bit too popular, and instead, come across as unoriginal and overused. Comparing yourself to a kid at the candy story tells me very little about you, and I’m reading your essay because I want to know your words and your story. When you use cliché phrases in your writing, you risk sounding corny and inauthentic. Please, do college admissions officers everywhere a favor and leave the clichés right where you found them.
Mistake #3: Your personal statement lacks structure. Your college essay allows for unique creativity and self-expression in a way that some highly structured writing assignments do not. You don’t have to follow the five-paragraph essay format that you likely learned in school. In fact, in advising on the college essay process, I often urge my students to think beyond what they learned in high school English class. After all, a personal statement is personal; it doesn’t require MLA citations, topic sentences, or a thesis statement (thank goodness!) Even though you do have some flexibility, it is still very important to still create structure within your essay, even though you are not following a cookie-cutter template. The structure makes your writing coherent and allows your college essay to read like a story. You do need an opening, a body, and a conclusion (even if that doesn’t exactly amount to five paragraphs.) You do want to utilize transitions to make one paragraph flow to the next. Without structure, you risk creating a maze of words that don’t quite flow together.
Mistake #4: Your essay isn’t really about you. Perhaps in brainstorming your favorite places, you begin jotting down childhood memories involving your grandmother’s kitchen. You remember the feeling of warmth and comfort that kitchen evoked, and how much you loved to drink hot chocolate while watching your grandmother make peach cobbler. Boom! You have the perfect essay topic, so you begin writing. Yet, after scribbling down 650 words, rich with vivid descriptions, you realize this essay is really a tribute to your grandmother’s life and isn’t actually about you at all. Now, I’m sure your grandmother was a lovely person and deserves a well-written tribute, but your college personal statement isn’t the time or place for that. If you select a topic that involves another person’s significant impact on your life, make sure that you truly stay focused on that; this writing shouldn’t be about them; it should be about you.
Mistake #5: Your essay is a verbose description of what’s on your resume. So, you have a resume? That’s awesome! Your resume will come in very useful when you complete the Activities section on the Common Application; some colleges also request a resume attachment or request that you expound a bit on one or more of your extracurricular activities. Your personal statement, however, is not your resume. Take a moment to reflect on the analogy of your college application as a giant puzzle; while your extracurricular activities and your college essay are both critical puzzle pieces, they are not the same piece. As tempting as it may be, do not use your personal statement as an opportunity to showcase the extracurricular activities you’ve engaged in as a high school student. This is your opportunity to share a different aspect of yourself and your identity that isn’t already evident in other aspects of your application.
Mistake #6: Your essay is tone-deaf. As you begin writing your personal statement, ask yourself, “Who am I? What aspects of myself do I want to share through my writing? What do I want a college admissions team to learn about me?” Your college essay should showcase your individuality, while maintaining a tone that is thoughtful and appropriate, given the context of this writing. Attempting to be overly humorous, dry and cynical, or extraordinarily confident can all backfire. As you write, imagine your audience. If a topic or word choice feels controversial or questionable to you, it probably is. You don’t have to add any gimmicks or quirks into your writing to grab your reader’s attention; instead, be authentically yourself and tell your story, imagining how you want to be understood and what you’d like your reader to know about you.
Understanding what not to write is important. You have 650 words (or less) to make a great impression, so don’t let any of these potential essay flaws take you on a detour.
