The College Application Essay
How Poor Writing Can Earn You a Rejection Letter
College admissions offices are looking for thoughtful essays that reflect who you are. Constructing that essay is difficult, and it's important to know how to put together a quality piece of writing. Below are some destructive mistakes that may just take your application out of the potential “yes” pile:
Simple, Easily Avoidable Essay Mistakes
Bad grammar and/or misspellings: This is self-explanatory. The college won’t take you seriously, because you aren’t serious enough to proofread your own application.
Not getting a second (and third, and fourth…) opinion on what you’ve written: Even if you think your essay is fantastic, getting someone else to read it is vital. Other readers might catch a mistake you missed, or have suggestions on style, content, and so forth.
Not answering the question completely: Many questions are multi-faceted, and it’s important to make sure you cover everything a school asks for.
Getting the name of anything related to the school wrong: Even worse would be getting the name of the school itself wrong…yes, believe it or not, some students have made this simple, stupid mistake. Again, proofread, proofread, proofread (and keep application materials organized; know which school goes with which question).
More Complex College Essay Problems
Spitting back your academic and extracurricular accomplishments: The Admissions committee has already read all about this on the list you made in the application. Listing that stuff again in the essay makes it painfully boring. The Admissions Officers have a lot of applications to read; don’t waste their time.
Attempting a lot of humor…and failing: Humor in moderation can work, if it’s discreet and tasteful. But when in doubt, hit the “delete” button.
Injecting controversial opinions and writing editorial-style: The school is looking for members of the next incoming freshman class, not op-ed columnists. Unless the question specifically calls for taking a position on an issue, it’s better to stay away from writing anything that might offend someone.
Deviating from the subject matter: In other words, keep the tangents to a minimum.
Not putting enough of YOU into the essay: The point of the college application essay is for the admissions committee to learn something about you that they won't find on a high school transcript or a list of accomplishments. Make it personal.
To brainstorm about what to write, start by asking yourself: “What do I like about myself?” “What are my ambitions?” “Why am I proud of some of the things I’ve done?” After you have some answers to those questions, you’re off to a promising start, and the essay may end up being easier to write than you think.
