common mistakes in application essay

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The Biggest Mistakes We’ve Seen on College Admissions Essays

Your admissions essay is an important part of the college process. Don’t disregard it as unnecessary. While it’s weight may vary based on the candidate, school, program, and other factors, your college essay always plays an important role in the admissions process.

Your essay should demonstrate your personality and voice. Yet time and time again, students make the same mistakes. We come across these repeat errors in CollegeVine’s essay coaching often. Here are six mistakes you should avoid when crafting your essay.

1. Repeating the prompt in your essay

Some teachers may have told you to repeat the essay prompt in essays for middle or high school. However, this is not a good approach for college essays, because they should stand alone as pieces of writing.

Instead of repeating a prompt from the Common App or the college in question, try developing a “hook”—a statement that draws the reader in—to capture your audience. For advice on crafting one, read How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay .

2. Coming across as phony or manufactured

When it comes to your college essay, stay away from a thesaurus. You shouldn’t use language you wouldn’t typically use because you’ll come across as phony. (Of course, don’t be overly informal!) For example, try to avoid using overly formal or complex language. (Why say “My behavior seemed incongruous to my family” when you could say “My behavior seemed out of character to my family”?)

Find a way to demonstrate your experiences in a unique way. For ideas, check out How to Develop a Personalized Metaphor for Your Applications and Where to Begin: 3 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises .

3. Not proofreading

Grammar mistakes are easy to catch if you do the work, so not double checking will come off as lazy. Read your essay several times. Try reading it aloud to catch errors. Here are some editing tips to help you through the process.

It’s also a good idea to get another set of eyes on your essay. Read Whom Should I Ask for Help with My College Essays? for advice the best people to consult.

4. Using cliches

Cliches are a no-no both in terms of choosing your topic and writing the essay itself. Common writing cliches include phrases such as “the next thing I knew,” “all that glitters is not gold,” “just a matter of time,” “every cloud has a silver lining,” “time heals all wounds,” and many, many others.

Your topic should represent you and your uniqueness —not something adcoms have seen a thousand times.

For example, sports metaphors—relating your life to an experience on the field or sports in general—often comes across as trite. Pet death is another all-too-common subject that can make adcoms wonder if you’re fishing for tragedies—or just haven’t had many meaningful experiences. If you do choose a topic along these lines, make sure you have a unique spin on it.

Volunteer or mission trips can also be an overused topic. These essays tend to be more about the experience than you and may convey that money buys opportunities. You don’t want to come across as too privileged or spoiled, so again, unless you have a unique angle, it’s best to stay away from this topic.

5. Plagiarizing

Never, never, never copy someone else’s work. Don’t ask or pay someone else to write your essay or parts of it for you. Colleges will likely find out—some even run plagiarism checks—and will reject you or revoke your admission if you’ve already been accepted. And, of course, it’s ethically wrong to plagiarize.

6. Rehashing your resume

You’ll have plenty of other room on your college app to list your extracurriculars, accomplishments, and awards. While it’s okay to mention an accomplishment that’s related to the subject of your essay—for instance, if you’re writing about a particular belief, you might describe an activity that allows you to express it—it shouldn’t be the whole subject of your essay.

Instead, use this as a space to demonstrate your personality and what makes you you. Check out 8 Dos and Don’ts for Crafting Your College Essay for tips.

Writing Your College Essay: The Bottom Line

When it comes down to it, your college essay is about you and your experiences. Your uniqueness should come across. Avoid these six mistakes, and you should be golden!

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

19 Common Application Essay Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Many students trip over common obstacles in their college application essays. For example, many students can’t see beyond the superficial prompt to construct an essay that positively communicates their personality and passion. Some students rehash their activities and achievements without adding the personal flavor, perspective and substance that admissions officers look for. Learn how to avoid these and other damaging traps.

As an independent college admissions consultant, I read many application essays and see many common application essay mistakes. Here’s some helpful advice:

• Select the Best Topic and Subject. The Common Application, as well as many individual college applications and supplements, give students a choice of essay topics. Resist the temptation to quickly make a selection. Instead make an inventory of your key experiences and achievements, adjectives that describe you, anything significant in your background, as well as what you can potentially “offer” (e.g. athletics, music, dance) a college. Then read the options carefully and decide which topic(s) provides the best opportunity to portray your self in a desirable manner. If the application requires more than one essay, select distinct topics and subject areas so the admissions people get a broader, and more complete, picture of you. If you are an athlete, for example, try not to write more than one essay about sports.
• Answer the Question. Read the prompt carefully and pay particular attention to two part questions. For example, if you choose to “evaluate a significant experience, achievement or risk you have taken and its impact on you”, make sure you thoughtfully and critically analyze both the situation and its impact. If you choose to “discuss an issue and its importance to you” make sure you focus on its importance to you. The admissions people are looking for a window into your character, passion and reasoning.
• Be Personable and Specific. Colleges don’t learn much from a generic essay. If you are asked to describe your reasons for your interest in a particular school that you are applying to, make sure your essay addresses the particular features of that school that appeal to you and explain why. Brainstorm with others. Don’t be afraid to think creatively. Don’t be afraid to reject ideas! Most strong essays have more “show” than “tell”.
• Make Your Essay The Right Length. Many prompts specify a desired number of words or a range. If it’s 200 to 250 words, don’t insert your 500 word essay. In fact, many on-line applications will not even accept more than the stated limit. If there is only an upper limit, don’t stress if your essay appears too short. Lincoln got his points across succinctly in the Gettysburg address — in less than 275 words. Be concise. Omit irrelevant details, clichés, and poorly developed ideas. Do not distract the reader with unnecessary words and repetition.
• Watch Your Tone. If you come across as a spoiled child, a stuck-up rich kid, lazy, sarcastic or a cynic, the admissions team might decide that you are not the right fit for their school. A bit of well placed humor is fine, but don’t try to be a comedian.
• Don’t Appear Self-Interested or Materialistic. While few applicants are genuinely altruistic, most colleges are turned off by students who appear more focused on what the school can do for them, rather than how they can benefit from the education and at the same time be a contributing member of the campus community. If you are applying to a business program, the average starting salary of recent graduates should not be your stated motivation for seeking admission!
• Don’t Rely on Your Computer’s Spell Checker. Applicants who rely solely on their computer’s spell check program may find themselves submitting applications with poor grammar and word choice. Just because everything is spelled properly doesn’t mean it is correct. A good way to catch mistakes is to read your essay very slowly and out loud.
• Don’t Overlook the Mundane. Some of the best and most memorable essays are based on a simple conversation between people. The impressions and takeaways from such a conversation can be extremely engaging and provide a valuable window into the personality and values of the writer. Some essays of this type center on a moment of enlightenment or illumination when the writer views life from a new perspective and/or gains new confidence.
• Skip the Volunteer Trip. Dedicated community service over a period of time can be a strong topic for an application essay. Volunteer day at the local park, or two weeks of school building in Africa, will probably not impress the admissions committee. They see many essays of this type. Not only is it difficult to stand out from the pack, but these experiences are often more about the experience than about you, or convey that money buys opportunity.
• Don’t Rehash the Resume. The admissions committee relies on essays to learn additional things about you such as your initiative, curiosity about the world, personal growth, willingness to take risks, ability to be self directed, motivation and ability to make the most of a situation. They are interested in your personal qualities such as leadership, confidence, ability to work in a team, strength of character, resilience, sense of humor, ability to get along with others and what you might add to the campus community. In short, use your essays to showcase a side of you not visible from other parts of the application.
• Peruse the Entire Application. Many applications, especially for some of the more competitive schools, are complex and require multiple essays and short answers. Don’t look at each question in a vacuum, but rather view the application holistically when deciding how to best portray yourself through responding to the various prompts. For example, if you have five key areas you wish to cover, and there are five essays, try to strategically focus on one area in each essay.
• Don’t Fall in Love with the Thesaurus. Resist the temptation to be a sesquipedalian or come across as a pedantic fop! There’s no need to use a big word in every sentence. Use caution when showing off your extensive vocabulary. You risk using language improperly and may appear insecure or overly eager to impress. Admissions people aren’t keen about picking up a dictionary to understand your essay. Worse yet, if your essay vocabulary is at a much higher level than what would be expected from your English grades and SAT/ACT scores, it may appear that your essay is not your own work. Most teenagers don’t use myriad and plethora in their daily vernacular.
• Check Your Ego at the Door. Even if you are impressed with yourself, most admissions officers don’t respond favorably to students who brag, put down classmates, or wax eloquent about their amazing achievements. While self doubt is generally undesirable, a bit of humility can be well received, especially in an essay about overcoming adversity.
• Accentuate the Positive. Few students have a perfect resume, which is apparent in the application. Drawing attention to weakness in an essay is generally not a good idea, unless you were able to overcome a weakness, and make it a strong suit.
• Proofread Carefully. Don’t let your eagerness to submit an application cause you to overlook careless mistakes. Errors can doom your otherwise excellent application. Make sure you schedule sufficient time for a thorough review. When possible, have at least one other person proofread your essay. They may catch something important that you missed. For example, you don’t want to tell Ohio State that you really want to be a Wolverine!  Again, read your essay out loud.
• Organize Your Essay. An impressive essay generally contains a strong opening, well organized content, and a powerful closing. If your essay lacks structure and seems to ramble, chances are it won’t impress the reader. Start with an outline and design your essay paragraph by paragraph. Make sure you include enough background information about whatever topic you are writing about so that the reader can put it into context. For example, one student wrote an excellent essay about a horrible first day of school, but forgot to include that he had just moved to town, from halfway around the world, and was struggling with English. Resist the temptation to run off and start writing. Experts will tell you that up-front planning of your essays is well worth the time invested. Not only will the quality of your essays be much higher, you’ll probably end up saving time in the long run!
• Research the College Before Writing the Essay. Almost every school has its own identity and mission. Some universities even have a slogan. Others have niche areas of study that they like to promote. Pay attention to what is important to the particular school and, when appropriate, consider including it in some manner in your essay.
• Invest in a Strong Introduction. Admissions people read a lot of essays and may not be energetic and fresh when yours reaches the top of their pile. That’s why it’s essential to attract their attention up front. It is critical that the first few sentences capture their interest. A boring opening may cause the reader to not pay close attention to the remainder of the essay. Design the introduction to draw them into your essay. A well-planned essay may omit some key details in the opening forcing the reader to pay close attention to the rest of the story.
• Start Early and Take Your Time. Don’t wait until the last minute. Application essays almost always take longer than you anticipate. Invest the time necessary to do it right. It should be your best work. Ask others to review your drafts and offer comments and suggestions. Take comments and suggestions seriously – behind every good writer is usually at least one good editor!

Author: Lynn Radlauer Lubell is the Publisher of InLikeMe.com, and the Founder of Admission By Design , a College Consultancy, based in Boca Raton, Florida.

Lynn Radlauer Lubell, Publisher of InLikeMe.com and Founder of Admission By Design, an Educational Consultancy based in Boca Raton, Florida.

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Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College Essay

Tips for writing an effective college essay.

College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay.

Want free help with your college essay?

UPchieve connects you with knowledgeable and friendly college advisors—online, 24/7, and completely free. Get 1:1 help brainstorming topics, outlining your essay, revising a draft, or editing grammar.

Writing a strong college admissions essay

Learn about the elements of a solid admissions essay.

Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes

Learn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays

Brainstorming tips for your college essay

Stuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started.

How formal should the tone of your college essay be?

Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice.

Taking your college essay to the next level

Hear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay.

Student Stories

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Get the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay.

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Student story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback.

This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

Top Mistakes To Avoid On Common App Essay & How To Fix them

Table of contents

• Writing Metier

To get a better understanding and figure out what are the most common mistakes in common application essays, we should start with the basics. So, welcome to the journey through the world of common app essays, friends 🙂

“Why do you want to go to our college?” is the most common question for the college application essay.

College admission essays can take all sorts of forms, and many of the nation’s top schools require students to write one or several additional essays. However, most schools ask one of the most common questions: “Why do you want to go to our college?”

Admissions committees are simply “overwhelmed” with applicants’ documents with honors, gold medals, victories in Olympiads and other achievements. But what should be the correct algorithm for college admissions process for selecting the best students from the list of applicants? And how to choose the best candidates from the millions of profiles? How to truly determine who is worthy of enrollment out of all?

In this article, together, we will try to look at the entire process of admission and enrollment of students to the university through the eyes of the admission committee members. Furthermore, we will try to take into account other people’s mistakes and prevent our own.

And you will learn how to write a motivation letter that won’t get lost among others, how to avoid the most common app essay mistakes, what are those “biggest”  mistakes people make on their college application essays  and how to prevent them.

I will also share with you my personal experience and research on this topic.

Btw..you can order an essay for your admission on our website, just so you know that we have knowledgeable experts in this niche, in case you are out of time or facing any other troubles writing this paper yourself.

“ With a motivation letter, you can rehabilitate yourself (if there are any shortcomings) or destroy all chances of admission ” – Ruth Miller, head of the admissions office of the School of Public and International Relations. Woodrow Wilson.

Is it really that much important❓ This phrase may fly through your head 100 times fleetingly.

A motivation letter is one of the most critical documents in a prospective college student’s application. The rest of the articles will not be able to tell about your personality so extensively and in detail. You need to fit a heartfelt story about your talents, interests, success, dreams of a future profession and work, self-realization, and why it is so important to you in two or three hundred words.

It is crucial to show your uniqueness. Even a low level of language or, let’s say, insignificant achievements will not interfere with this demonstration.

Can you become an extrasensory person to understand what the commission wants from you❓

What does the selection committee expect? And what to avoid in common app essays?

The admissions office wants to get an idea of ​​the personality. What characterizes your personality?

Talents? Plans for the future? Ambitions? Maybe a sense of humor? Imagination? Communicability? This is exactly what you need to look out for during the preparation of your motivation letter.

In support of this, lets read the words of representatives of leading American universities:

• “ For me, the most important thing is to find out what we do not expect. There is no magic formula for admission, there are no right answers .” – Bob Alig, MBA Admissions Director, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
• “ Candidates make the mistake of trying to write something that they think the admissions committee will enjoy. In trying to predict, they risk going astray. ” – Albert Turnbull, University of Virginia Law School Admissions Officer.
• “ We need honesty (as far as we can recognize it), simplicity, straightforwardness .” – Dr. Andrew Franz, Head of Admissions at Columbia University School of Medicine.
• “ The pages should breathe life, it should be a story that only you could write. ” – Linda Megan, Columbia University Business School Admissions Member.

The main requirement that specialists want to see realized is an interesting life story, written naturally, in living language. Then, with the help of a motivation letter, professors want to know about you what interests them most, namely. What goals do you pursue, what do you want to achieve in life, how can you be helpful to your university and society as a whole if you become a student of this college.

No need to cheat and confuse the reader with florid wording, be yourself. It’s one of the most common application essay mistakes to be afraid to be yourself. At the same time, you need to try to express thoughts as vividly as possible since only words will talk about you – gestures and facial expressions cannot be connected.

Well, do you still think that the commission consists of cartoon monsters❓ Really❓

No, they are smart, well-educated adults doing their job, and mostly they do it excellently. You just need to prepare and take into account the experience of your predecessors as much as possible.

It’s actually quite simple: you are looking for the best college, and the commission’s chairmen are looking for the best students. So what conclusion can be drawn – try to become the best!

What does the acceptance committee pay attention to? What to do to avoid the most  common  mistakes on a college application essay?

Having analyzed the requirements of many top universities, I can answer with confidence. Now copy and save) Hmmmm…but be careful with  copyright issues , hah, joking 😉

Catch the attention of admissions officers❗ Literally, draw attention to yourself ❗

To write a successful motivational essay, you have to grab all the attention, hook the selection committee. For example, a graduate student in library arts once did such a great trick in attracting attention. Let’s see the example together:

“ When I was a young 12 years old, my grandmother Molly passed away and left me one important thing that changed my life – a library of more than three thousand volumes. One of my best days was spent sitting on the porch, reading the books and organizing those books on shells. From that very moment, I decided to become a librarian .”…

All clear, concise and straightforward. In 60 words, the commission learns about what constitutes the main part of a girl’s life – a passion not only for reading books but also for caring for them. When the members of the commission begin to discuss the best examples, they will definitely remember the “applicant with her grandma’s library”, because to receive such a gift at the age of twelve would be the cherished dream of each of them!

You are not Oscar Wilde or Francis Fitzgerald❓

You’ll have to become! So, at least for the time of writing an essay, plunge into this magical world, come up with, embellish your story! Just, don’t overdo it; still consider your direction.

Try to make the character live on paper to avoid the most common application essay mistakes. You shouldn’t just write: “ I worked on the assembly line of a TV factory and one day I decided to go to college so as not to live my life in vain and completely disappear “. Why not rephrase the same thought as follows: “ One Tuesday, I soldered the 112th green wire on the 112th TV remote and realized that this repetitive work did not allow me to develop and realize my potential. I decided that college would be my salvage”.  Both examples have about 20-25 words, but the second will clearly force the committee member to read the letter to the end.

Have you already achieved something❓ Go, tell about it❗

Feel free to declare it without hesitation. But it would be best if you didn’t turn your nose up too high. Because in front of you are people who have also achieved a lot. Members of the selection committee would like to know about talents, hobbies, knowledge, skills, social, sports and intellectual competitions.

It doesn’t matter at all the achievements to be cosmically important and significant accomplishments. You can simply tell with joy, pride and warmth in this soul what you managed to achieve, how you came to this and what you faced on your way, how you gained your experience, how you overcame difficulties and what did it teach you: successfully passed exams at a dance school, took part in a competition of the best dancers in the country, attended a theater group, where she met the outstanding actors of our time, was inspired by their motivation and charged with energy for the whole year, took part in a charity event to save homeless animals, where we for half a year, more than 200 animals were saved, of which 130 are already happily living with new owners.

At the same time, the selection committee members are somewhat interested not in a dry list of your skills, abilities, knowledge, and achievements. After all, this information about you is also available in your resume, but your  ability to think critically , position yourself in a structured and at the same time naturally express information about yourself, and draw conclusions from the experience gained.

Should you have any job or internship experience, do not hesitate to report it in your motivation letter. It is also worth providing specific details of employment that are closely related to your future profession and various courses and additional activities in your field.

The members of the commission will not leave these facts unnoticed. Therefore, it is worth carefully considering how to correctly submit information, connecting it with the details and nuances of admission to the college.

I think that I already managed to introduce you to the course of the matter and your knees stopped shaking from the mere mention of the word essay. So now, let’s move on to the cherry on the cake.

Before I started sharing my personal TOP mistakes in common app essay writing, you can check this video by Kevin Zhensei where he had shared brilliant tips on the same topic. It can be a great addition to my article.

How did you like it? Okay, now, let’s drive directly to my personal top ten mistakes that you should definitely avoid in your common application essay (if you are willing to succeed for sure). Enjoy reading 😉

10 Biggest College Essay Mistakes 👇

In this block I’ll provide you with the most common college essay mistakes. Avoid this mistakes in your college application essays and impress admissions officers.

Do not lose sight of the details! The essay is general in nature and does not contain details

If you are asked in college admissions essay about why you want to study, be specific. Whichever school you go to, be convinced that your essay is about the specifics of the school you like.

Try this test: if you can replace the name of one school with the name of another school and your essay still makes sense, your essay is too general. You need to do your research and provide clear and specific reasons you are attracted to the college that asks you a question.

Another benefit of school-specific essay writing is that you can help demonstrate your interest in that school. In many colleges and universities, the interest shown is one of the factors used by admissions boards to make admission or rejection decisions.

No need to overdo! Your essay is not a novel in 3 volumes. The essay is too long

A lot of additional essay writing tips ask you to write a couple of paragraphs. But don’t go beyond the specified limit. Exactly, look how many words should be in the essay, exceed the number to a large extent – it is unacceptable, this may not play into your hands, since the members of the reception committee are also real people. They simply cannot read novels instead of an essay.

Furthermore, remember that a single, well-written and structured paragraph is better than two mediocre ones. Admissions officers have thousands of reading apps, and they really appreciate brevity. Try to show respect and adhere to all norms.

However, if a  college gives you 700 words  for an additional essay, do not submit one that contains only 150 words. Instead, follow the rules to avoid most common app essay mistakes.

Avoid being a talker. The essay should answer the question!

Suppose the essay requirements ask you to tell in detail why college suits your professional interests. For example, do not write an essay that your neighbors go to the school, or that it is very easy to get to in 30 minutes by car, or that this is your parent’s advice, who are smart adults and know better.

When asked what growth and benefits you hope to get in college during your interview, it’s not worth mentioning how explicitly you want your master’s degree.

What you should pay attention to is attentiveness to all requirements and discipline in their implementation? Read the advice several times before starting to write essays, and read it carefully after you write your essay to see if your essay meets all the stated requirements.

Finally, and this again relates to #1 on this list, if a college asks you to  complete a custom why essay  answering the question – why you have chosen this school, do not write an essay about all liberal arts colleges or major schools.

Don’t be a braggart. Don’t behave like a big snob.

Be careful not to say, “ I want to go to Ivy University because my father and brother went to … ” The best reason to go to college is when the curriculum and the level of knowledge and training the college aligns with your future professional goals or when your schooling suits your interests and learning style well.

Essays on hereditary high social, marital status or connections with politicians, influential people, even if they are members of your family, often do not give a good result or response. Vice versa, they can make a negative impression on you; therefore, first of all, respect your uniqueness. Members of the commission deserve will appreciate your talents, intelligence, and desire to achieve heights on their own, relying on their knowledge.

You have the option to indicate your inherited status elsewhere in the app, so don’t use an additional essay to advertise your family ties.

Hold your horses. You sound not be too materialistic.

Admissions counselors see many thoroughly honest essays. Of course, most students go to college because they want to get a diploma and get a job with an excellent salary. There is no denying the fact, and you should avoid emphasizing this point in the essay. If you tell in your essay that you want to get into the best business program because their majors make more money than other college students, you do not impress anyone. You will appear self-serving and materialistic.

Likewise, if you say you want to go to the college because it has the highest starting graduate income in the country, you’re missed the mark. Instead, you will need to explain why you are passionate about the school’s specific academic programs.

That will be 100 times better!

Skip the dull beginning. Just do not pull the rubber, please!

I advise you to immediately talk about a significant situation or circumstance that influenced your desire to study at this particular college. Don’t pull the cat by the tail.

At the same time, try not to write phrases like “ As a child I was carried away “, “ Since I can remember myself, I liked … ” and other clichéd phrases. According to a  UCAS study , the number of such expressions is counting in the thousands every year.

Feel free to skip the dull beginning of your essay. Instead, every time you write a sentence, ask yourself a question whether it is really interesting or important to know about.

Are you sure that’s funny? It’s better to experiment with a sense of humor elsewhere.

Not funny jokes. Believe me, the members of the selection committee have already seen many funny guys in front of you, who really wanted to stand out from others, to be remembered for their incredible sense of humor and spontaneity, but, as practice shows, this is rarely appropriate.

You may find a joke cute and very harmless, but what will you do if suddenly one of the selection committee members finds it inappropriate or even offensive? In this case, you should think in advance and weigh all the risks. Furthermore, it should be clearly understood that everyone has a different sense of humor, and in the case of foreign universities, also a different mentality.

In another way, a simple joke may become a huge mistake on your application college essay!

Therefore, I advise you to exclude jokes if you are not an accomplished professional comedian to avoid one of  the most common app essay mistakes .

Measure 7 times, cut once. Lack of text checking and editing.

One of the most frequently made application mistakes is wrong spelling. Before submitting, ask your teacher or another competent person to review your essay to avoid making such typos mistakes. You can use such  grammar checker services as Grammarly  or other options available on the web.  Even the most exciting motivation letter can be put aside because of the annoying typos mistakes.

If it is not possible to contact the teacher, take good advice – use a translator, if necessary, download the application for checking grammar and spelling errors, now there are also applications for scanning and stylistic mistakes.

Rushing is not your best friend. Set aside enough time in advance.

Are you confident enough to leave the most important things for later? Exactly? and is it worth the risk? After all, we are talking about your future… So start preparing in advance or still write an essay a week before sending it? I can definitely answer that you need to devote enough time to write a cover letter. Even better, if you write several essay options, compare them and choose the best one. But it’s up to you to decide!

Plan your schedule well in advance to allow enough time for all the necessary preparation, information gathering, college essay writing process, editing, translation, and detailed review steps. Remember how important it is to exclude from your schedule so that you don’t accidentally make mistakes.

And where did the thief startup here? Copying some student’s essay.

One of the widespread mistakes of applicants here is the desire to get 100% results and the dumping of responsibility and ordinary laziness.

By far, the easiest way to write a successful college admission essay is when you have the opportunity to learn from real-life examples of essays that have worked. I will now present to you a few of my favorite essay examples covering a wide  variety of college admissions essay topics.

Find examples of successful and unsuccessful college essays, read them, analyze them and make the right choice.

But remember, a responsible approach to the question of your future and education must be embedded in your body and mind like a chip if you seriously want to secure yourself a great future and create a successful career. Therefore be careful with plagiarism 😉

Start your college essay writing process

And for those who like to approach important issues especially carefully and thoroughly study all the details, I can advise many modern services like here at Writing Metier.

There are numerous platforms for valuable communication available where a team of former college admissions officers, and expert advisers can answer most of your questions during your college application journey.

Moreover, you can always ask for assistance from our reliable application esay writers, who will  help you write a custom common app essay  for you. They will cover the application essay in your own words and writing style, making sure that your paper will be one of the top college essays.

Yes, and remember, everything is in your hands! If you need a helping hand, Writing Metier is here to provide you with a custom college admissions essay .

So, follow the rules, guys and everything will be all right! Fingers crossed!

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Vasy kafidoff.

Vasyl Kafidoff is a co-founder and CEO at WritingMetier. He is interested in education and how modern technology makes it more accessible. He wants to bring awareness about new learning possibilities as an educational specialist. When Vasy is not working, he’s found behind a drum kit.

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Now the real question here is that how do professors really check the work you have done, especially when it comes to checking the references. Peer-reviewed articles are the ones that are published in the journals. They are reviewed by academics who belong to the niche or the subject on which the paper has been written.

How to Make Your Essay Longer? Tricky Techniques!

Most of the times, essays come with specific requirements. There are different types of essays that are taught at schools and colleges, serving different purposes in the academic lives of students. Each and every essay comes with certain guidelines that need to be followed. One of the most important guidelines includes the word limit requirement.

Common App Essay Tips | How to Stand Out With Your Common App?

The common app essay is a document you submit to the college you want to apply to. It is your statement in which you tell the institute about yourself. So if you are looking to write one, you have to make an account on the Common App account. Once you make the account, you will have to click the writing tab to start your writing.

Paraphrasing Dos and Don'ts | Is it Legal to Paraphrase Copyright Material?

Are you willing to rephrase your content? No need to worry; we are writing this guide for making you known about the critical factors of paraphrasing.

How Turnitin's AI Content Detection Makes ChatGPT a Thing of the Past

How Turnitin's AI Content Detection Makes ChatGPT a Thing of the Past - Turnitin's AI content detection technology revolutionizes the way academic writing is evaluated. By distinguishing content created with the assistance of ChatGPT, Turnitin ensures that academic integrity is upheld.

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By submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., admissions officers reveal the worst college essay grammar mistakes.

We asked admissions officers at 18 colleges for their grammatical pet peeves. Make sure your college essay is free of these errors by sharing this list with your proofreader. We also offer proofreading help through our awesome online tutors!

• Confusing its & it's; your & you're; or there, their & they're
• Run on sentences & fragments
• Verb/noun agreement and verb tense
• Singular articles before plural nouns like “an alumni”
• Misusing “me” and “I”
• Split infinitives
• Ending a sentence with a preposition
• Missing apostrophes
• Incorrect use of semicolons (Tip: If you’re not sure about semicolons, avoid them all together.)
• Overuse of contractions
• Poor use of the word “got” or “get” (Tip: Don’t write “get” when you mean “understand”.)
• Too many exclamation points

Read More: 6 Handy Grammar Rules for Your College Application

Check out our video on how to perfect your college essay:

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Bad College Essay Examples: 5 Essay Mistakes To Avoid

Grades, GPA, and transcripts are important components when applying to college. But numbers only tell part of the story. The  college admissions essay  plays a much more powerful role in telling your personal story to college admissions officers. So while university admissions departments may set initial cut-offs based on numbers, they make their final decision based on your college personal statement essay.

At Wordvice, we know college admissions essays. Every year, we receive tens of millions of words to edit from students applying to college. Therefore, we know what good college essays, bad college essays, and great college essays look like–and what students should do in their essays to get the attention of admissions officers.

Here we will cover  how to write a good college personal statement  by looking at some  common college admission essay mistakes to avoid  and discuss ways to improve your college application essays.

What does a good college application essay look like?

Before looking at some essay mistakes to avoid (or “bad college essays” to be a bit more blunt), let’s discuss what a good admissions essay does. Effective college personal statements give broad, comprehensive insights into your personal and academic background, provide college admissions counselors with an overview of your goals, and answer the college prompt directly and clearly. 

One of the best ways to learn how to write a good college application essay is to look at what successful students wrote.  

Check out a few powerful  examples of successful personal statements  so you can recognize what a great college application essay looks like. Reading examples of college essays can help you to understand exactly what college admissions officers are looking for.

Useful Tips on How to Write a College Admissions Essay

Once you take a look at what some successful college essay examples look like, the second step should be looking at some useful tips and checklists. This will help organize your college essay writing process, so look at these tips  before  you start writing and check them off as you go. 

• Quick Tips to Conquer the College Application Essay
• Six Tips for Proofreading your College Admissions Essay

Why it’s Important to Avoid Mistakes in Your College Essay

Even if you include all of the above positive tips in your college application essay, you still need to be aware of and avoid common college application essay mistakes. The importance of this cannot be understated. 

Negativity bias  is the concept in psychology that people will remember, dwell on, and act upon unpleasant thoughts and emotions as compared to positive or correct ones. Therefore, applicants should focus on the positive and productive elements of their personal narrative in the essay, even if this story includes some negative events or circumstances.

What does this mean for your college application essay?

Your personal statement is not only scanned by AI-powered grammar and spell checker apps to weed out simple mistakes outright, they are also read, interpreted, and graded by real human college admissions officers. These are seasoned professionals who will reject your college essay for any reason they deem fit. 

Randi Heathman, an independent education consultant, gives a clear summary of  why application essays are rejected :

Weak essays get skimmed. If a student’s essay isn’t great OR good, the admission officer will probably just skim past the essay and move right on to your transcript and your test scores to evaluate your candidacy for admission. Bad essays don’t get read. Period. A bad essay will prompt an admission officer to assume one of two things: 1) either you don’t care enough about your future at their school to take the time to write a good essay or 2) you aren’t academically up to attending their college or university. Neither of those assumptions will help you get admitted.

Do you see a theme here? Your college admissions essay needs to not only engage in and answer the prompt but also not give admissions officers any reasons to discard it. 

For this reason, students must actively  avoid the following college admissions essay mistakes.

Common College Essay Mistakes To Avoid

Below is a list and analysis of the types of mistakes to avoid on your college personal statement and avoid writing a bad college essay that will likely NOT get you into your program of choice.

Your Application Essay Repeats the Essay Prompt

Many universities have strict word counts that are designed to make the admissions process more efficient but also force you to write concisely. 

For example,  Villanova University has two application essays . The free choice essay is limited to 250 words while its “Why Nova?” essay is limited to just 100 words! 

So if you really want to ruin your chances of admission, repeat the essay prompt. Veteran college admissions officers will instantly trash your essay. It shows laziness and is interpreted as you not respecting their time. You need every opportunity to show who you are, your goals, and how you align with your target university. The best students have plenty to write about, and so should you.

Your Application Essay Uses Cliches

One of the biggest mistakes to avoid in your college admissions essay would be including tired clichés that don’t add interesting points or content. Don’t try to sound profound, exclusive, or postmodern in your writing. This will be obvious to the reader, and you probably will also not be the best writer or candidate on paper they have seen. What’s actually important is to demonstrate your self-awareness, your self-confidence, and your priorities and goals. 

Trying desperately to sound special will make you end up sounding like every other applicant, and admissions officers are experts at spotting fakes. You have plenty of resources to work with. Make sure your ideas are your own.

Example of clichés in an essay

When explaining a personal setback or a difficult decision, instead of writing, “This event was a disparate result antithetical to my character,” show some personal ownership and be straightforward. Here is a better way to phrase this sentiment:  “This is a decision I am not proud of, but it helped me learn a valuable lesson and put me in a better place today. Without this formative experience, I wouldn’t be the kind of person who applies myself in every challenging circumstance.”  

Need extra help improving your essay writing? Check out these  14 tricks to make your writing clearer and more engaging :

Your Admissions Essay Shares Too Much Personal Information

You have probably read everywhere that your personal statement should be, well, personal. Colleges want to get to know not just your academic background but also your personal worldview and interactions with successful people. 

This doesn’t mean you should discuss deeply personal issues at length or in too great of detail. Even controversial topics such as religion and politics are often welcomed if your perspective is well reasoned and fair. However, you must be able to demonstrate you can respect, recognize, and maintain personal boundaries. That is a key life skill that college admissions committees are looking for. 

Examples of sharing too much personal information

• Don’t discuss your sexual experiences.  Your sexual orientation may be a key part of your overall identity. However, limit this by keeping out details of personal activities. Use common sense and understand that most admissions officers are members of the general public who might not respond favorably to explicit details of your personal life. 
• Don’t confess to strange, illegal, or immoral behaviors or beliefs.  If you have a strange obsession, keep it to yourself. Only include unique aspects about your character or preferences if are key parts of how you view the world or your success as a student.
• Don’t insult subgroups of people . You never know who your college admissions officer will be. You want to show you know how to interface with the world, and your college application is a big first step to showing your maturity and inclusive views.

Your Admissions Essay is a Sympathy Essay

This essay mistake is very similar to oversharing personal information. These types of essays are usually a long list of all the terrible things that have happened to you with the hope that the admissions committee will take pity because they feel bad for you. 

Newsflash: the “sympathy approach” likely is not going to work. A lot of prospective students have gone through the divorce of their parents, the death of a friend or family member, medical issues, disabilities, mental health issues, accidents, etc. 

If you do want to include these life-changing or identity-forming events, they must be used to explain how they shaped you as a person, what you learned, and how you handled adversity. Show how you grew as a person or how your worldview and character were altered to make you into the excellent college candidate you are today.

Examples of “sympathy essays”

• “Everyone around me kept me from succeeding.”  Like the lyrics of an early-2000’s rock song, some application essays foreground their experiences on a canvas of pain and oppression by all the people around them. This is just self-defeating. Even if something happened that changed your plans, upset you, or harmed you in some way, reframe your story to show how you were able to shift your priorities and succeed after you learned what you were unable to do.
• “Becoming injured my senior year ruined my plans.”  If you are an athlete and suffered a career or scholarship-ending injury, that is a big deal. But your potential doesn’t just disappear because of a setback. Whatever events and influences made you who you were before are still more important than a single unfortunate occurrence in your past. 

Your Application Essay Gives You All the Credit

While you may have top SAT scores, a high GPA, and lots of awards, don’t forget this one simple truth: there are always bigger fish in the sea. No matter how good of an applicant you are, there will be someone better based on whatever metric you are proud of. 

So what should you write about in your college application essay to stand out from the many overachievers?

Try humility and perspective. Don’t forget to give credit where credit is due. No person is an island, so in your essay you can give recognition to those who helped you along the way. Try not to belittle or minimize the contribution of your high school teachers or mentors. Admissions counselors, as educational professionals, will be looking to see if you are ready to interact with the next level of academic educators. So including friends, family members, and mentors who helped you grow and develop could be a good topic for your college personal statement.

Examples of “giving yourself all the credit” in an essay

• “I was valedictorian and did it all by myself.”  You should be proud of your academic achievements, as they are important for your college application among other goals. However, give credit to someone who helped you learn. You didn’t teach yourself!
• “In the end, I found the only person I could rely on was myself.”  Some students come from very tough backgrounds, and so it can be tempting for these students to stress this in their essay. But remember that college admissions offices want you to add value to the university community as a college student at their school. Even the smartest students cannot do this if they fail to acknowledge the contributions of others. 

Your Personal Statement Has Not Received Proofreading or Editing

A sure way to get your college essay thrown aside is to have it full of grammar and spelling mistakes. The college admissions process is very competitive, and you need every edge you can get. You should spend a substantial portion of your essay preparation editing and proofreading after writing your personal statement.

Start by reviewing and revising the essay yourself. Read it aloud. Run it through a couple of online spelling and grammar checkers. And start early on each college application–at least two weeks before the application deadline. You should also consider giving your admissions essay to a friend, parent, or teacher to review. This can help you improve your essay in many ways because other people can give quite different perspectives. 

Check out the  Benefits of Peer Review vs Self-Editing .

Finally, you should look into using an application essay proofreading and editing service to revise and improve your application essay. Just as peer review is superior to self-editing alone, professional proofreading services and application essay editing services are superior to peer review. The hard truth is that too many other students (your competition) are going above and beyond in preparing these important essays. Being short on time and expertise makes using an editing and proofreading service a good solution.

How Does Wordvice Improve Your College Application Essay?

Wordvice editors  are required to have graduate or postgraduate degrees. This means you are getting guaranteed expertise compared to other services, which typically only require editors to hold a bachelor’s degree. Wordvice is also among the top-rated  essay editing services  and personal statement editing services by Wired.com. We achieved this recognition by following the  Wordvice Customer Promise . That means providing value to every student and every personal statement we edit. 

Additional Admissions Essay Steps to Take

We hope you learned a lot from these examples of successful college personal statements. So what’s next?

I want to learn more about the college admissions process

Interested in learning more tips from experts about the college admissions process, personal statements, or letters of recommendation? Check out the  Wordvice Admissions Resource blog .

I am interested in professional editing for my personal statement

We also got you covered! Check out our  English editing services to get started on improving your college essays. Or jump straight in and use our  editing price calculator to get an editing price quote and start the ordering process.

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Eight Common College Essay Mistakes

How to avoid the common mistakes.

Staring at a blank screen wondering what the heck to say in your college essay? We feel you. Personal essays can be among the most challenging communications to craft. Sometimes it’s almost easier to start with what not to write, so we’ve put together some of the most common mistakes we see students make when drafting college essays. Use this list as a starting point (and head in the opposite direction!).

College Essay Don’ts:

• Don’t: Use overly formal language and structure.  College essays are more informal in tone and style than what you’d write for school, and voice is a critical component of the essay: this essay should sound like you! Not your mom, your English teacher, or your family friend who is a professional writer. (Trust us, admissions officers can tell.)
• Don’t: List everything you’ve ever done. There’s no need to cram your life into one 650-word essay. Save all those extracurriculars for the application’s Activities section.
• Don’t: Be vague. Specific details help your essay pop and take it from good to great.
• Don’t: Tell instead of show. If you find yourself listing your positive attributes instead of sharing a story that illustrates those qualities, it’s time to reevaluate.
• Don’t: Write about overcoming an obstacle if you haven’t overcome one. Some students think they have to write about failures, challenges, or difficulties they’ve faced.  Not everyone has experienced life-altering obstacles yet – and that’s okay! You have other stories to tell.
• Don’t: Focus on someone else. There may be a really influential person in your life, and you may be able to write a great essay about that relationship, but don’t spend 650 words talking about how awesome that person is. You’re the one applying to college!
• Don’t: Share your essay with too many people. If you ask for feedback from 47 people, you will get 47 different responses, which can get confusing. Pick just a couple people you really trust to read your essay when you’re ready for feedback.
• Don’t: Wait until the last minute. The essay process can be exciting, empowering, and, dare we say it, fun – but not if you’re rushed. Get started early and you’ll stress less while giving that essay room to grow and breathe! After all, writing is a process, and it requires time and attention.

For more college essay guidance, check out these recordings of our recent college essay webinars. If you need more tips or support on structuring your college essay, contact us today.

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Common Mistakes in College Application Essays

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• Common Mistakes in College Application…

19 Common Mistakes in College Application Essays

(A resource from InLikeMe: The College Admission & Student Aid Resource Hub )

Many students trip over common obstacles in their college application essays. For example, many students can’t see beyond the superficial prompt to construct an essay that positively communicates their personality and passion. Some students rehash their activities and achievements without adding the personal flavor, perspective and substance that admissions officers look for. Learn how to avoid these and other damaging traps.

As an independent college admissions consultant, I read many application essays and see a lot of blunders. Here’s some helpful advice:

• Select the Best Topic and Subject. The Common Application, as well as many individual college applications and supplements, give students the choice of essay topics. Resist the temptation to quickly make a selection. Instead make an inventory of your key experiences and achievements, adjectives that describe you, anything significant in your background, as well as what you can potentially “offer” (e.g. athletics, music, dance) a college. Then read the options carefully and decide which topic(s) provides the best opportunity to portray yourself in a desirable manner. If the application requires more than one essay, select distinct topics and subject areas so the admissions people get a broader, and more complete, picture of you. If you are an athlete, for example, try not to write more than one essay about sports.
• Answer the Question. Read the prompt carefully and pay particular attention to two part questions. For example, if you choose to “evaluate a significant experience, achievement or risk you have taken and its impact on you”, make sure you thoughtfully and critically analyze both the situation and its impact. If you choose to “discuss an issue and its importance to you” make sure you focus on its importance to you. The admissions people are looking for a window into your character, passion and reasoning.
• Be Personable and Specific. Colleges don’t learn much from a generic essay. If you are asked to describe your reasons for your interest in a particular school that you are applying to, make sure your essay addresses the particular features of that school that appeal to you and explain why. Brainstorm with others. Don’t be afraid to think creatively. Don’t be afraid to reject ideas! Most strong essays have more “show” than “tell”.
• Make Your Essay The Right Length. Many prompts specify a desired number of words or a range. If it’s 200 to 250 words, don’t insert your 500 word essay. In fact, many on-line applications will not even accept more than the stated limit. If there is only an upper limit, don’t stress if your essay appears too short. Lincoln got his points across succinctly in the Gettysburg address — in less than 275 words. Be concise. Omit irrelevant details, clichés, and poorly developed ideas. Do not distract the reader with unnecessary words and repetition.
• Watch Your Tone. If you come across as a spoiled child, a stuck-up rich kid, lazy, sarcastic or a cynic, the admissions team might decide that you are not the right fit for their school. A bit of well placed humor is fine, but don’t try to be a comedian.
• Don’t Appear Self-Interested or Materialistic. While few applicants are genuinely altruistic, most colleges are turned off by students who appear more focused on what the school can do for them, rather than how they can benefit from the education and at the same time be a contributing member of the campus community. If you are applying to a business program, the average starting salary of recent graduates should not be your stated motivation for seeking admission!
• Don’t Rely on Your Computer’s Spell Checker. Applicants who rely solely on their computer’s spell check program may find themselves submitting applications with poor grammar and word choice. Just because everything is spelled properly doesn’t mean it is correct. A good way to catch mistakes is to read your essay very slowly and out loud.
• Don’t Overlook the Mundane. Some of the best and most memorable essays are based on a simple conversation between people. The impressions and takeaways from such a conversation can be extremely engaging and provide a valuable window into the personality and values of the writer. Some essays of this type center on a moment of enlightenment or illumination when the writer views life from a new perspective and/or gains new confidence.
• Skip the Volunteer Trip. Dedicated community service over a period of time can be a strong topic for an application essay. Volunteer day at the local park, or two weeks of school building in Africa, will probably not impress the admissions committee. They see many essays of this type. Not only is it difficult to stand out from the pack, but these experiences are often more about the experience than about you, or convey that money buys opportunity.
• Don’t Rehash the Resume. The admissions committee relies on essays to learn additional things about you such as your initiative, curiosity about the world, personal growth, willingness to take risks, ability to be self directed, motivation and ability to make the most of a situation. They are interested in your personal qualities such as leadership, confidence, ability to work in a team, strength of character, resilience, sense of humor, ability to get along with others and what you might add to the campus community. In short, use your essays to showcase a side of you not visible from other parts of the application.
• Peruse the Entire Application. Many applications, especially for some of the more competitive schools, are complex and require multiple essays and short answers. Don’t look at each question in a vacuum, but rather view the application holistically when deciding how to best portray yourself through responding to the various prompts. For example, if you have five key areas you wish to cover, and there are five essays, try to strategically focus on one area in each essay.
• Don’t Fall in Love with the Thesaurus. Resist the temptation to be a sesquipedalian or come across as a pedantic fop! There’s no need to use a big word in every sentence. Use caution when showing off your extensive vocabulary. You risk using language improperly and may appear insecure or overly eager to impress. Admissions people aren’t keen about picking up a dictionary to understand your essay. Worse yet, if your essay vocabulary is at a much higher level than what would be expected from your English grades and SAT/ACT scores, it may appear that your essay is not your own work. Most teenagers don’t use myriad and plethora in their daily vernacular.
• Check Your Ego at the Door. Even if you are impressed with yourself, most admissions officers don’t respond favorably to students who brag, put down classmates, or wax eloquent about their amazing achievements. While self doubt is generally undesirable, a bit of humility can be well received, especially in an essay about overcoming adversity.
• Accentuate the Positive. Few students have a perfect resume, which is apparent in the application. Drawing attention to weakness in an essay is generally not a good idea, unless you were able to overcome a weakness, and make it a strong suit.
• Proofread Carefully. Don’t let your eagerness to submit an application cause you to overlook careless mistakes. Errors can doom your otherwise excellent application. Make sure you schedule sufficient time for a thorough review. When possible, have at least one other person proofread your essay. They may catch something important that you missed. For example, you don’t want to tell Ohio State that you really want to be a Wolverine!  Again, read your essay out loud.
• Organize Your Essay. An impressive essay generally contains a strong opening, well organized content, and a powerful closing. If your essay lacks structure and seems to ramble, chances are it won’t impress the reader. Start with an outline and design your essay paragraph by paragraph. Make sure you include enough background information about whatever topic you are writing about so that the reader can put it into context. For example, one student wrote an excellent essay about a horrible first day of school, but forgot to include that he had just moved to town, from halfway around the world, and was struggling with English. Resist the temptation to run off and start writing. Experts will tell you that up-front planning of your essays is well worth the time invested. Not only will the quality of your essays be much higher, you’ll probably end up saving time in the long run!
• Research the College Before Writing the Essay. Almost every school has its own identity and mission. Some universities even have a slogan. Others have niche areas of study that they like to promote. Pay attention to what is important to the particular school and, when appropriate, consider including it in some manner in your essay.
• Invest in a Strong Introduction. Admissions people read a lot of essays and may not be energetic and fresh when yours reaches the top of their pile. That’s why it’s essential to attract their attention up front. It is critical that the first few sentences capture their interest. A boring opening may cause the reader to not pay close attention to the remainder of the essay. Design the introduction to draw them into your essay. A well-planned essay may omit some key details in the opening forcing the reader to pay close attention to the rest of the story.
• Start Early and Take Your Time. Don’t wait until the last minute. Application essays almost always take longer than you anticipate. Invest the time necessary to do it right. It should be your best work. Ask others to review your drafts and offer comments and suggestions. Take comments and suggestions seriously – behind every good writer is usually at least one good editor!

Lynn Radlauer Lubell ( [email protected] ) is an Independent Educational Consultant, based in Boca Raton, and the Publisher of InlikeMe.com. She provides assistance with the college process and application essays. Copyright 2009-2010 InLikeMe. All rights reserved.

Common App announces 2024–2025 Common App essay prompts

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We are happy to announce that the Common App essay prompts will remain the same for 2024–2025.

Our decision to keep these prompts unchanged is supported by past research showing that overall satisfaction with the prompts exceeded 95% across our constituent groups - students, counselors, advisors, teachers, and member colleges. Moving forward, we want to learn more about who is choosing certain prompts to see if there are any noteworthy differences among student populations and incorporate feedback into future decisions.

While some schools are beginning discussions with juniors and transfer students about college options, it's important to clarify that this doesn't mean students need to start writing their essays right away. By releasing the prompts early, we hope to give students ample time for reflection and brainstorming. As you guide students with their planning, feel free to use our Common App Ready essay writing resource, available in both English and Spanish .

For students who wish to start exploring the application process, creating a Common App account before August 1 ensures that all their responses, including their personal essays, will be retained through account rollover .

Below is the full set of essay prompts for 2024–2025.

• Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
• The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
• Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
• Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
• Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
• Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
• Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

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Supplemental Essay Mistakes: Common Errors to Avoid

Padya Paramita

October 5, 2021

As you work on your personal statement and activities list, you hopefully have supplemental essays as an upcoming task on the back of your mind. College applicants often underestimate the importance of supplemental essays and mistakenly put them off until the last minute. They make up a crucial component of your application, and there are several common supplemental essay mistakes that are easy to make.

From misunderstanding the prompt to repeating information that you’ve already provided in your application, supplemental essay mistakes might seem obvious, but even if you accidentally make them, your admissions decision could be on the line. So read on and make sure you’ve avoided these common errors.

Not Conducting Enough School-Specific Research

While your personal statement goes to every school, supplemental essays are school-specific. As a result, it’s extremely important that you read up on the school as much as possible. Colleges use supplemental essays to determine fit. If the college sees that you’ve written an essay that can be applied to any school, they’ll know that you have no idea what the school stands for—and therefore, you’re not a good fit. This is one of the easiest supplemental essay mistakes to avoid. Be as specific to the school as possible.

Schools can really tell if the things you’ve provided in the “why school” essay are generic. If it’s relevant to every single school, you’re doing it wrong. If there’s information that’s easily found on the first page of the school’s website you’re doing it wrong. The “why school” essay really needs to include information that’s unique to that school. So include names of classes, names of professors, names of programs, extracurricular activities, specific things that only exist in that school that you’d take advantage of and why. 

Don’t Forget to Write About You

Speaking of fit, remember that you must not just list a few appealing resources in a row and think that schools will know you’re perfect for them. If you leave yourself out, they’ll have no idea what makes you good for their institution. As they read your application, they’ll ask the question, “Are you the right kind of student for them or could they picture you more at a different university?” So, you must think about how you’d contribute to campus and convince them that you’ll take advantage of their resources and that you’re the kind of student they want. College admission is increasingly competitive, and it’s not just about being perfect. Fit can outweigh your test scores and grades—of course, those are important too—but it’s also important that you address how much you fit the school and why their unique facilities are perfect for you specifically. 

Repeating Your Personal Statement or Activities List

One of the most common supplemental essay mistakes that students make is repeating themselves. You need a balance. Supplemental essays should contain new information and provide a broader picture of you. Ideally, you’ll paint the kind of picture that the school you’re applying to wants, because every set of supplemental essay questions is unique to that specific school. Since admissions officers read hundreds of applications, they do not want to read about the same things over and over!

That being said, the idea of having a central theme to your application is incredibly important. You want to come off as someone who knows what you like and why you like it. If you are completely all over the place—for example, if in your personal statement you talk about chemistry, and in one of your supplemental essays you talk about business, and in another supplement you talk about your theater arts group, and your activities list has entries related to engineering, admissions officers will be confused!

So while you shouldn’t repeat information word for word, your application should maintain a common theme.

Not Answering What the Question Has Asked For—And Wasting Words in the Process

Supplemental essays require you to be specific because they ask you for very specific things. They also tend to have very tight word limits. As a result, one of the supplemental essay mistakes you must avoid is misunderstanding the prompt and adding unnecessary information. Read the question very carefully, prioritize the content necessary to get your narrative across, and cut anything that isn’t adding anything important. Each sentence should provide new information that makes you memorable in the reader’s mind. If you go over the limit—or start repeating your personal statement—it’s time to make cuts and keep what’s new and relevant.

Not Leaving Enough Time to Work on Them

Let’s face it. You have a lot of work to do and many components to get through as part of the college application process. While this isn’t technically among the content-related supplemental essay mistakes that students make, remember that you’ll have a lot of essays to write. Colleges can ask any number from one long essay to about 6-7 supplemental essay questions. If you don’t leave yourself plenty of time to plan, write, and edit your essays, you won’t be able to properly convey why you’re a strong fit for these schools. Don’t leave them for the last minute!

Supplemental essays are designed to help colleges understand why you’re a perfect fit for their institution. Avoid the most common supplemental essay mistakes and make sure that understand what schools look for from the different prompts, then convey how you would uniquely contribute to campus. If you convince admissions officers that you will make the most of the school’s resources, and you’re a strong fit, you’ll give yourself a fighting chance in the admissions process. You got this!

Tags : college essays , how to write supplemental essays , college supplemental essays , supplemental essay mistakes , supplemental essays for college

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The Four Worst College Application Essay Mistakes

Applying to college is stressful. And without a doubt, writing the application essay is the most stressful part of applying to college.

I suppose I didn’t need to write that.

Don’t let common mistakes hurt your admissions chances

Most of the students with whom I work tell me they’d rather retake the SAT or add on an extra AP course in senior year than write their college application essays. After all, there’s no road map, no GPS that is sure to guide you to essay success.

Common errors

Don't fall for the same errors that past applicants have made.

In this section

Below are examples of the most common errors that Chevening applicants have made in their application form. As a result of these errors, applications are deemed ineligible and applicants are not taken through to the next stage of the competition.

If your application has been deemed ineligible, please refer to the below to understand what error you may have made. If you’re yet to submit an application, read this to avoid making the same mistakes others have.

Applicants must correctly answer all parts of the eligibility pre-screen in order to access the application form. An incorrect answer to one of these questions would result in the applicant failing the pre-screen stage of the application.

Application form

Applicants must correctly complete all parts of the application form to be considered eligible. Only eligible applications will be processed. Below are the sections of the application form where applicants have made the most common errors.

Personal details

Applicants who indicate they have dual citizenship from the United Kingdom cannot be considered for an award.

Work experience

Applicants are required to have worked a minimum of 2,800 hours. Those who cannot demonstrate that they have worked the minimum number of hours cannot be considered for a scholarship.

Your work experience will be calculated automatically by multiplying the number of weeks worked by the number of hours worked per week. For this calculation, a working week comprises 35-60 hours and a working year comprises 40-50 weeks.

Some common errors applicants made are:

• Not meeting the minimum number of hours worked prior to submitting their application.
• Not entering the correct total number of weeks worked for each year of employment.
• Entering an unrealistic number of hours or weeks worked (e.g. 2,000 hours rather than 20 hours per week).
• Entering the same work experience entry more than once.

UK university

Applicants who enter duplicate courses at the same universities cannot be considered for a scholarship. Applicants must select three different courses .

Declaration

This section of the application form requires the applicant to correctly answer a number of statements to be considered eligible. If an applicant is not able to confirm that these statements apply to them, they will be deemed ineligible.

Applicants are asked to think carefully and select one of the two options available against each statement (e.g. ‘Yes’ or ‘No’).

This is an example of a statement that the applicant will be asked to answer: ‘I confirm that I am not employed (and have not been employed since 1 July 2018) in a permanent or temporary role in the following organisations; His Majesty’s Government, or the Association of Commonwealth Universities. If an applicant answers ‘No’ then this indicates the applicant is employed by one of these institutions and therefore cannot be considered for an award.

Application questions word count

Applicants must meet the minimum word count in the essay questions. If the minimum word count is not met, your application will be deemed ineligible.

Applicants should not repeat answers to any of the essay questions, and should enter new and original answers for each of the four questions. Please do not copy and paste the same answers into more than one box as this will make an application invalid.

All applications are run through plagiarism software, which compares the content of the application against online sources. If an applicant commits plagiarism, they will be disqualified. Applicants are allowed to insert quotations but must acknowledge the source as they would in an academic essay.

Use of English language

Applicants must complete the application form in English. If the application form is not completed in English, it will be deemed ineligible.

Further guidance

More helpful information for your application

Guidance on: Application system

All Chevening applications must be submitted through our online application system. Here's some tips on how to use it.

Guidance on: References

References are an integral part of Chevening’s selection process. Who should you approach to provide a reference?

Guidance on: Interviews

If you are shortlisted to interview for a Chevening Award, you will be invited to attend an interview. What can you do to prepare?

Apply for an award

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