{"id":2170,"date":"2014-07-10t09:00:20","date_gmt":"2014-07-10t16:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=2170"},"modified":"2021-01-06t14:25:52","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06t22:25:52","slug":"common-mistakes-that-will-kill-your-college-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/common-mistakes-that-will-kill-your-college-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"common mistakes that will kill your college essay"},"content":{"rendered":"

it\u2019s summer! you\u2019re off to the beach to go and sunbathe and worry about nothing for three mon\u2014<\/p>\n

ha. oh, wait. you\u2019re technically a senior now, which means that, for the next six months, you\u2019re saddled to that lovely bundle of joy known as…college apps! i\u2019m sure you\u2019re positively enthused.<\/p>\n

\"amy\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

summer is the prime time to start out on your essays, especially since you won\u2019t have much time during the first semester of your senior year. every year, thousands of innocent college essays die due to common mistakes that could have easily been cured.<\/p>\n

\"sarah\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

don\u2019t kill your chances at that dream school by falling into one of these writing traps!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1) bad grammar<\/h2>\n

ah, grammar. it sounds like a petty reason to dump your essay, but bad punctuation and incorrect spelling are one of the easiest ways to lose the interest of readers. it tells your audience that you either didn\u2019t care enough to proofread your writing or lack the basic writing skills essential to a successful college career. in one mit admissions blog post<\/a>, for example, the associate director of admissions claims that, \u201cwhen there get to be a lot of errors, we start to question how much time and effort the student has put into the application.\u201d<\/p>\n

make spell-check your slave.<\/p>\n

\"jafar\"<\/a><\/center>
\n <\/p>\n

2) lying<\/h2>\n

it\u2019s tempting to concoct a dramatic story about your heartwrenching childhood or your three-month trek to salvation in the deserts of nigeria or that time you got kidnapped at the north korean border…but please. don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

lying\u2014even to a small degree\u2014will bite you back, more often than not. it only affords more chances for contradiction and major errors later in your application.<\/p>\n

also, as cheesy as it sounds, sincerity does matter. if you\u2019re telling the truth and really communicate thoughts and emotions that you <\/em>believe in, it will come across as a lot more powerful than a false story. it\u2019s difficult to describe an experience in a real, sincere, and moving manner if it never happened in the first place.
\n <\/p>\n

3) using the wrong college name<\/h2>\n

nothing says \u201ci re-used this essay\u201d more clearly than using the wrong college name in your college app! if you\u2019re going to use the same essay to apply to multiple colleges, make sure to double-check and write the correct college name in each essay. berkeley won’t want to know that you\u2019ve always longed to be a bulldog!
\n <\/p>\n

4) not answering the question<\/h2>\n

it\u2019s awesome if you have lots of ideas and lots to say, but make sure to actually answer the question on the way! (unintentional rhyme.)<\/p>\n

colleges pick the essay topics that they do for a reason. if you miss the entire point of the question, it certainly won\u2019t help them, nor will it say great things about your ability to follow basic instructions.
\n <\/p>\n

5) using clich\u00e9\u2019s<\/h2>\n

sticking dramatic, inspirational quotes at the beginning of your essays sounded great in middle school, but for college essays…not so much. neither do clich\u00e9 phrases like \u201cthere\u2019s no \u2018i\u2019 in team!\u201d or \u201ceverything happens for a reason!\u201d<\/p>\n

these platitudes look fine as desktop wallpapers, but in college essays (or any essay, for that matter), they come off as trite and uninspired.
\n <\/p>\n

6) don\u2019t scare off admissions officers<\/h2>\n

there\u2019s a fine line between creativity and…weirdness. and creepiness. colleges receive some pretty strange essays from people who’ve pushed the envelope a little too far. take one yale applicant<\/a>, for example, who wrote about how she urinated on herself rather than remove herself from an intellectual conversation…thus demonstrating how she prioritized mental over physical needs.<\/p>\n

\"gaga\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

you know you’ve crossed the line when lady gaga doesn’t approve. go ahead and be unique, but don’t cross into absurdity.
\n <\/p>\n

7) restate your resume<\/h2>\n

\u201cwhat matters to me? being the student council president, varsity basketball captain, and senior newspaper editor, i have a lot on my plate to handle. that didn\u2019t stop me from flying to uganda to build an orphanage last summer, however\u2014a trip inspired by my gig as a white house intern and, consequently, the many long, meaningful conversations i had with barack obama. on an unrelated note, i have a 4.8 gpa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"olive\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

oh, my. do not reiterate all of your extracurriculars into your essays because that completely defeats the purpose of the essay. <\/strong>not to mention, you\u2019ll come across as a kiss-up who\u2019s trying too hard.<\/p>\n

you already listed your extracurriculars in a different section. the essay section is for admissions officers to know your character more\u2014to really know who you are and what you stand for. rather than spewing out all your extracurriculars, why not focus on one? or something that the admissions officer isn’t already familiar with?
\n <\/p>\n

8) sounding like an entitled brat<\/h2>\n

despite the evil, terrifying image of admissions officers that many of us have conjured up in our heads…<\/p>\n

\"burns\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

\u2026they\u2019re actually real human beings! it\u2019s difficult to swallow, i know. when you\u2019re writing your essays, then, it\u2019s a good idea to sound like, you know, a reasonably decent person. (even though you\u2019re secretly evil, of course.)<\/p>\n

so, don\u2019t talk endlessly about your countless lavish vacations to foreign countries or talk about how \u201ci want to go to stanford because i am a triple stanford legacy, and my family is a huge donor.\u201d<\/p>\n

hard-earned accomplishments speak louder than privileged opportunities…show them what you\u2019ve done on your own\u2014not the favorable circumstances you\u2019ve been born into.
\n <\/p>\n

takeaway<\/h2>\n

and that\u2019s it! these mistakes are harder to avoid when you’re pressed for time, so try to get a head start and write a couple now. <\/p>\n

…have fun writing those essays!<\/p>\n

\"why\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

photo credit: 1<\/a> \/ 2<\/a> \/ 3 \/ 4<\/a> \/ 5<\/a> \/ 6<\/a> \/ 7<\/a> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

it\u2019s summer! you\u2019re off to the beach to go and sunbathe and worry about nothing for three mon\u2014 ha. oh, wait. you\u2019re technically a senior now, which means that, for the next six months, you\u2019re saddled to that lovely bundle of joy known as…college apps! i\u2019m sure you\u2019re positively enthused. summer is the prime time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24894],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\ncommon mistakes that will kill your college essay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"don't kill your college chances by making a common mistake on your college admissions essay. don't be a clich\u00e9!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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