My College Essay

You are neither a grandiose giant nor a silly baby, so don't portray yourself as one!DON'T tell the reader what they already know about you.

You are neither a grandiose giant nor a silly baby, so don't portray yourself as one!DON'T tell the reader what they already know about you.

When you read it yourself and actually hear your words, you are more inclined to identify areas where your writing doesn’t flow well or where you start to stray from your message. Don't rely on cliches, but don't use a thesaurus in an effort to sound too sophisticated.

Do: write your essay Don't: have someone else write it for you. And once you write your draft, don't fall in love with it!

Instead, tell them what they should know about you.

Respond to the question at hand and let them know why you matter, what kind of a difference you will make, that you can reflect on your life and who you are as a person and that you know how to use that understanding to make progress towards your goals and dreams.

AVOID vague, overly ambitious and naive descriptions of your goals or your accomplishments.

For example, don’t create a persona wherein you are trying to save the world (e.g.

“I want to cure cancer and find a solution to our energy crisis”) or wherein your minor extracurriculars are overly-inflated (“my one semester as vice secretary for the Student World Affairs Club changed my life” or “the two hours I volunteered at the soup kitchen really changed lives”).

Be specific and be realistic: don’t say “I want to work with children,” if you can say “I hope to increase my volunteer efforts with after school programs and lobby for more funding for Teach for America.” Qualify your accomplishments into realizable chunks: “I am new to the Student World Affairs Club, but I hope to make its newsletters more effective.” Rather than make these two common application mistakes, instead prefer specificity to vagueness, and a realistic portrayal of your current place in life: as a capable but eager-to-learn young adult getting ready to move into the world.

Don't tell the reader information that can be read on the transcript or on another part of the application.

Try to allow your personality to shine through your essay.