but, in reality, the admissions officers want you to be you. They aren’t looking for the perfect student who is committed to every subject area, volunteers wholeheartedly for every cause, plays multiple sports with aptitude, and has no faults. Instead, they want to learn about the true you. Present yourself in an honest
way, and you will find it much easier to write an essay about your genuine thoughts and feelings.
2. Choosing a topic that sounds good but that you don’t care
about. Many students think that colleges seek students who have
performed a lot of community service, and it is true that colleges
value contributions to your community. However, this doesn’t
mean that you must write about community service, especially
when it’s not something that has played a major role for you. The
same holds true for any other topic. It’s critical that you select a
topic that’s meaningful to you because you will be able to write
about the topic in a complete and personal way.
3. Not thinking before writing. You should spend as much time
thinking about what you will write as actually putting words on
paper. This will help you weed out the topics that just don’t go
anywhere, determine which topic has the greatest pull for you,
and figure out exactly what you want to say. It can help to talk
yourself through your essay aloud or discuss your thoughts with
a parent, teacher, or friend. The other person may see an angle
or a flaw that you do not.
4. Not answering the question. While this seems simple enough,
many students simply do not heed this. The advice is especially
pertinent for those who recycle essays. We highly recommend
recycling because it saves you time to write one essay that you
use for many colleges, but the caveat is that you need to edit
the essay so that it answers the question being asked. It turns
admissions officers off when students submit an essay, even a
well-written one, that doesn’t answer the question. They think
that the students either aren’t serious enough about the college
to submit an essay that has been specifically written or at least
edited for that college, or that they just don’t follow directions.
Either way, that’s not the impression you want to leave.
5. Not sharing something about yourself. As you know, the main
purpose of the admissions essay is to impart something about
yourself that’s not found in the application. Still, many students
forget this, especially when writing about a topic such as a person
they’d like to meet or a favorite book or piece of literature.
In these cases, they may write so much about why they admire
the person or the plot of the book that they forget to show the
connection to themselves. Always ask yourself if you are letting
the admissions officers know something about yourself through
your essay.
6. Forgetting who your readers are. naturally you speak differently
to your friends than your teachers; when it comes to the
essay, some applicants essentially address the admissions officers
with a too-friendly high five instead of a handshake. In other
words, it’s important to be yourself in the essay, but you should
remember that the admissions officers are adults not peers. The
essay should be comfortable but not too informal. remember
that adults generally have a more conservative view of what’s
funny and what’s appropriate. The best way to make sure you’re
hitting the right tone is to ask an adult to read your essay and
give you feedback.
7. Tackling too much of your life. Because the essay offers a few hundred
words to write about an aspect of your life, some students
think that they need to cram in as many aspects of their life as
possible. This is not the approach we recommend. An essay of 500
to 800 words doesn’t afford you the space to write about your 10
greatest accomplishments since birth or about everything that you
did during your three-week summer program in Europe. rather,
the space can probably fit one or two accomplishments or one or
two experiences from the summer program. Instead of trying to
share your whole life, share what we call a slice of your life. By doing
so, you will give your essay focus and you will have the space
to cover the topic in greater depth.
8. Having a boring introduction. Students have started their essays
by repeating the question asked and even stating their names.
This does little to grab the attention of the admissions officers.
Sure, they’ll read the whole essay, but it always helps to have a
good start. Think about how you can describe a situation that
you were in, convey something that you strongly believe in or
share an anecdote that might not be expected. An introduction
won’t make or break your essay, but it can start you off in the
right direction.
9. Latching on to an issue that you don’t really care about. One
of the prompts for the Common Application is, “Discuss some
issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and
its importance to you.” The key to answering this question is to
carefully think about these words: “its importance to you.” This
is what students most often overlook. They select an issue and
write about the issue itself, but they don’t really explain why it
is important to them or how they see themselves making an impact.
If you write about an issue, be sure to pick one that is truly
meaningful to you and that you know something about. You’ll
probably score extra kudos if you can describe how you have
done something related to the issue.
10. Resorting to gimmicks. Applicants have been known to enclose
a shoe with their essays along with a note that reads, “now I
have one foot in the door.” They have also printed their essays in
different fonts and colors, sent gifts or food and even included
mood music that’s meant to set the mood while the admissions
officer reads the essay. A few students have even sent cash! While
gimmicks like this may grab some attention, they don’t do much
to further the applicants, especially those few who’ve sent money,
a definite no-no. It’s true that you want your essay to stand
out but not in a way in which the admissions officer thinks that
you are inappropriate or just plain silly. If you have an idea for
something creative, run it by a teacher or counselor to see what
he or she thinks first.
11. Trying to make too many points. It’s better to have a single, well
thought-out message in your essay than many incomplete ones.
Focusing allows you to go into depth into a specific topic and
make a strong case for your position. Write persuasively. You can
use examples to illustrate your point.
12. Not being specific. If you think about some of the best stories
you’ve been told, the ones that you remember the most are probably
filled with details. The storyteller may have conveyed what
he or she thought, felt, heard, or saw. From the information imparted,
you may have felt like you were there or you may have
developed a mental image of the situation. This is precisely the
experience that you would like the admissions officers to have
when reading your essay. The key to being memorable is providing
as many details as possible. What thoughts were going
through your mind? What did you see or hear? What were you
feeling during the time? Details help bring the admissions officers
into your mind to feel your story.
13. Crossing the line. Some students take to heart the advice to
share something about themselves, but they end up sharing too
much. They think that they must be so revealing that they use
their essay to admit to something that they would never have
confessed otherwise. There have been students who have written
about getting drunk, feeling suicidal, or pulling pranks on
their teachers. It’s possible that in the right context, these topics
might work. For example, if the pranks were lighthearted and
their teachers had a good sense of humor about them, that’s acceptable.
But for the most part, these kinds of topics are highly
risky. The best way to determine if you’ve crossed the line is to
share your idea with a couple of adults and get their reactions.
14. Repeating what’s in the application form. The essay is not the
application form, and it is not a resume. In other words, the essay
is the best opportunity that you’ll have to either delve into
something you wrote in the application form or to expound on
something new that doesn’t really fit on the application form. It
doesn’t help you to regurgitate what’s already on the application
form.
15. Not having a connection with the application form. While you
don’t want to repeat information from the application form verbatim
in your essay, it’s usually a good idea to have some continuity
between the form and your essay. If you write an essay
about how your greatest passion in life is playing the piano and
how you spend 10 hours a week practicing, this hobby should
be mentioned in the application form along with any performances
you’ve given or awards you’ve won. It doesn’t make
sense to write about how you love an activity in the essay and
then to have no mention of it in the application form. remember
that the admissions officers are looking at your application in its
entirety, and they should have a complete and cohesive image of
you through all the pieces, which include the application form,
essay, transcript, recommendations, and interview.
16. Not going deep enough. One of the best pieces of advice that
we give students is to keep asking, “Why?” As an example, let’s
say that you are writing an essay on organizing a canned food
drive. Ask yourself why you wanted to do this. Your answer is
that you wanted to help the homeless. Ask yourself why this was
important to you. Your answer is that you imagined your family
in this situation. You would greatly appreciate if others showed
compassion and helped you. Why else? Because you wanted to
gain hands-on experience as a leader. The point of this exercise
is to realize that it’s not enough to just state the facts or tell what
happened, that you organized a canned food drive. What makes
an essay truly compelling is explaining the “why.” You want the
readers of your essay to understand your motivation. Keep asking
yourself why until you have analyzed the situation as fully
as possible. The answers you come up with are what will make
your essay stronger.
17. Not getting any feedback. Practically every article that you read
in a magazine, book, or newspaper or on the Internet has been
edited. The reason is that writing should not be an isolated experience.
You may know exactly what you want to convey in
your own mind, but when you put it on paper, it may not come
out as clearly as it was in your mind. It helps to get feedback.
Ask parents, teachers, or even friends to read and comment on
your essay. They can help you identify what can be edited out,
what needs to be explained better, or how you can improve your
work.
18. Getting too much feedback. Asking one or two people for feedback
on your essay is probably enough. If you ask more than
that, you may lose the focus of your writing. Having too many
editors dilutes your work because everyone has a different opinion.
If you try to incorporate all of the opinions, your essay will
no longer sound like you.
19. Trying to be extraordinarily different. There are some people
who are extraordinarily different, but the truth is that most of
us aren’t. What’s more important than conveying yourself as the
most unique person at your school is that you demonstrate selfanalysis,
growth, or insight.
20. Ruling out common topics. There are topics that admissions
officers see over and over again such as your identity, your relationship
with your family, extracurricular activities, and the Big
game. While these topics are very common, it doesn’t mean that
you shouldn’t write about them. Your topic is not as important
as what you say about it. For example, many students choose to
write about their moms or dads. A parent can be one of the most
influential persons in a student’s life, and it makes sense that this
would be the topic of many students’ essays. So don’t rule out
mom or dad, but do rule out writing about mom or dad in the
way that every other person will write. Explain how your dad
made banana pancakes every morning and what that taught you
about family, or how your mom almost got into a fight with another
mom who made a racist comment. Make a common topic
uncommon by personalizing it.
21. Forcing humor. You’ve probably seen at least one sitcom on Tv
or one monologue by Conan O’Brien or David Letterman with
a joke that fell flat. Maybe you groaned at the Tv or gave it an
un-amused expression. Keep in mind that the jokes on Tv are
written by professional writers who earn large salaries to be funny.
now, remember that the great majority of us are not headed
down this career path. What this means is that you shouldn’t
force humor into your essay. If you’re a funny writer, then by all
means, inject some humor. Just be sure to ask an adult or two
to read the essay to see if they agree with you that it is funny. If
you’re not humorous, then it’s okay. You don’t need to force it.
22. Writing the essay the night before it’s due. Almost every student
has done it—waited until the last minute to write a paper
or do a project. Sometimes it comes out all right, but sometimes
not so much. It is not wise to procrastinate when it comes to
writing a college admissions essay. It takes time. Even if you are
able to write an essay the night before it’s due, it’s still better not
to. The best essays marinate. Their authors write, take some time
away from it and then return to it later with a fresh mind.
23. Failing the thumb test. As you are writing your essay, place your
thumb over your name. Could you put another name at the top
because it could be an essay written by many other students? Or
is the essay personal to you so that basically yours is the only
name that could be at the top? If you fail the thumb test, it’s time
to rethink the topic or your approach to it. You want your essay
to be unique to you.
24. Forgetting to proofread. Some students put the wrong college
name in their essays, a mistake that could easily be avoided by
proofreading. Many more students have spelling, grammatical,
or punctuation errors. While these types of errors usually aren’t
completely detrimental, they can be distracting at best and be
signs to the admissions officers that you’re careless and not serious
about their college at worst. Avoid this by not only using
your computer’s spell check but by asking someone else to help
proofread your essay. Twice is better.
25. Not writing to the specific college. In addition to learning about
you, admissions officers also hope to learn how you would fit
in at their college. Be as specific as possible about a college, especially
if you are writing an essay about why you’d like to attend
that particular college. Explain one or two things about the
school that make it the best one for you. Make sure that what
you are writing is not so general that it could be said of any other
college. In other words, it’s good to describe how you visited the
campus and had a conversation about Marx with a sociology
student. It’s not as good to state that you want to go to Harvard
because it offers a high quality education.
26. Not spending time on the rest of your application. remember
that the essay is one piece of the application. It can certainly help
your chances of being accepted, but you need to have everything
else in place as well. Sure, it takes time to work on the application
form, recommendation letters, and interviews, but you are
taking actions now that will affect the next four years of your life
and beyond. It’s worth the effort.
Read More: 25 Essay Mistakes that Guarantee Failure
