college essay buzz words

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Best Words to Use in Good College Essays

Why is using good vocabulary so important in an essay?

Using strong vocabulary in college admissions essays is crucial to articulating your skills and competencies, but also central in showing admissions officers that you can express yourself clearly in written English. Although vocabulary may not be the main aspect of your essay that the admissions committee pays attention to, using appropriate and sophisticated vocabulary will nearly always make your essay more compelling. 

Choosing which vocabulary or words to use can be difficult for anyone but it can be even more challenging if English is not your first language. This article suggests some useful words to effectively describe yourself and your experiences when writing college admissions essays.

Table of Contents 

• How to Choose Vocabulary for College Admissions Essays

How to Choose Vocabulary Terms for College Applications Essays

Writing a college essay is all about describing who you are and how you fit into the school you are applying for. Therefore, an important question to ask yourself here would be “Who are you?” rather than trying to boast with elevated and “sophisticated” words that do not quite fit in your essay. It is recommended to first brainstorm and outline the aspects you would like to highlight about yourself in order to choose the right words to use.

Best Words to Use in College Admissions Essays

The following list of adjectives , verbs and nouns are the words commonly used in college admissions essays. Using these words will help you to effectively express yourself in a short essay of about 650 words. Let’s find out why they are effective terms using some specific examples within admissions essays. 

Adjectives to Use in Essays

Adjectives are words that provide information about a noun. When it comes to formatting college admissions essays , using strong adjectives will not only make your essay more visual and distinctive but also help you demonstrate that you can communicate well in English. The following adjectives signal to admissions officers that you are both a good college candidate and a capable writer.

Definition : Able to express ideas and feelings clearly in words

Example : I am an articulate writer and I always aim to intrigue audiences with my message using precise words.

Definition: Able to do things well

Example : Having part-time jobs during the semester helped me become capable at handling multiple things at once. 

Detail-oriented

Definition : Interested in and paying great attention to detail

Example : When working on a scientific report, taking a detail-oriented approach is crucial.

Definition : Giving a lot of attention to one particular thing

Example : My mentor encouraged me, saying that I would do well in college because I am very focused on my studies.

Goal-oriented

Definition : Laser-focused on achieving good results on given tasks

Example Today’s society is goal-oriented , requiring problems to be resolved quickly.

Inspirational

Definition : Making people feel full of hope or encouraged

Example : Students who share their stories of how they successfully completed degrees in foreign country are often inspirational to those who are planning to study abroad.

Definition : Very enthusiastic or determined out of a strong desire to do something

Example : Colleges often seek highly motivated people who will not readily drop out of courses.

Definition : Arranged according to a particular system

Example : My father is one of the most organized people I know, and there is no doubt that I inherited this attitude from him.

Definition : Based on or acting on good judgment and practical ideas or understanding

Example : My colleagues strongly agreed to adopt the sensible suggestions I made. 

Definition : Giving encouragement and/or providing support in the form of action

Example : Knowing that I am a supportive member of the student council, the teachers used to ask me to advocate on behalf of other students.

Verbs to Use in Essays

Verbs are used to describe an action, state, or occurrence. In college admissions essays, it is essential to choose verbs that would most appropriately describe your past experiences. Similar to verbs in resume and CVs , using appropriate verbs in your admissions essay can add to the detail and action, enthralling your reader and improving your chances of acceptance.

Definition : To succeed in finishing something or reaching an aim, especially following a significant amount of work or effort

Example : I aim to achieve my goals through continual academic and extracurricular efforts. 

Definition : To express a thought, feeling, or idea so that it is understood by other people

Example : I carefully chose my words to convey the proper amount of urgency about the matter.

Definition : To effectively organize so that all the parts work well together

Example : My role was to coordinate the reports from each department in school and send them to the principal.

Demonstrate

Definition : To clarify something by way of doing it in front of others

Example : As the leader of the after-school cooking club, I demonstrated each step of the recipe to introduce new menus. 

Definition : To improve or increase (especially a skill, feeling, or metric)

Example : Studying abroad was a great opportunity for me to enhance my communication skills.

Investigate

Definition : To examine a crime, problem, statement, etc. carefully, especially in order to discover the truth

Example : It is always important to investigate the terms and conditions before signing any contract.

Definition : To succeed in doing or dealing with something, especially something difficult

Example : After engaging in numerous debates, I managed to learn how to effectively communicate.

Definition : To (cause to) work, be in action or have an effect

Example : Having the ability to operate machines and systems is crucial for systems engineers.

Participate

Definition : To take part in an event or become involved in an activity or group

Example : Students are encouraged to actively participate in discussions and decision-making during the student council meeting.

Definition : To watch a person or activity to ensure that everything is done correctly, safely, and/or according to the rules or guidelines.

Example : I was responsible for supervising students during the event to prevent any possible accidents.

Nouns to Use in Essays

Many strong nouns exist that can be introduced in college admissions essays to help students better express their abilities, talents, achievements, etc. The following nouns will help you articulate the valuable experiences you had in the past and the abilities you gained accordingly. Be careful not to use nouns that you do not understand or that might not sound natural in your essay.

Definition : Something that needs great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and therefore tests a person’s ability

Example: My challenge was to motivate the survey participants to provide honest responses.

Definition : Understanding of or information about a subject that you get by experience or study, either known by one person or by people generally

Example: Having relevant knowledge in a given field is a power that can only be unlocked through extended hands-on experiences. 

Opportunity

Definition : An occasion or situation that makes it possible to do something that you want to do or have to do, or the possibility of doing something

Example: I am honored to be given the opportunity to apply for this faculty position.

Definition : An ability to do an activity or job well, especially because you have practiced it

Example: Through various projects, I learned that communication skills are key when working with others. 

Definition : The action of working together in a group with other people; especially used when the action is successful

Example: Seamless teamwork can drive the most satisfactory outcomes.

If you are currently writing a college admissions essay, see our Admissions Resources page for articles on writing application essays to get into any school, including How to Answer the Common App Essay Prompts. And don’t forget to receive professional English proofreading services , including essay editing services for any of your application documents.

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Top Buzzwords In College Admissions: What Do They Mean?

Sophia Minhas

College admissions creative designer and lead admissions expert, table of contents.

Stay up-to-date on the latest research and college admissions trends with our blog team.

Legacy. Demonstrated interest. Grit. In the process of applying to colleges, you will almost certainly come across one or more of these terms. You might have a sense of the definitions of these words ; but, to colleges, they often hold a different or more specific meaning. Keep reading to find out what these buzzwords (and others) mean in college admissions!

Buzzword 1: Legacy

“Legacy status” means that the applicant has had a relative, particularly a parent (though it can also apply to varying degrees to siblings and other relatives) attend the school to which they are applying. Legacy status, for some schools, has some bearing on whether or not a given applicant is admitted. Most schools will describe their use of legacy as marginal, a way of arbitrating decisions between otherwise equal applicants.

That being said, while none of the top 50 universities rank legacy as “very important,” the impact of legacy status seems far greater than marginal 3 . In fact, a 2011 study that looked at 30 “highly selective colleges” found that legacy students have, on average, a 23.3% higher chance of getting in than other otherwise equal applicants. When the legacy status stems from a parent who attended, that number jumps to a 45.1% increase. Among schools with acceptance rates under 10%, that is, very elite universities, the primary legacy (that is, parental attendance) advantage is a 51.6% increase in odds of being accepted. 1

Here is a table with some data on self-reported legacy admission rates.

Buzzword 2: Demonstrated Interest

Broadly speaking, demonstrated interest is showing a college that you truly intend to, or are very strongly inclined to, attend their institution. When colleges decide on applicants, they consider more than just who is the most qualified. They try to discern, based on the application, which students will actually attend, because they need a high enough yield to fill their freshman class.

In light of this, many schools give students opportunities to “demonstrate” their interest in attending. For students, this could hypothetically tip the scales of acceptance in their favor. For universities, it helps to have a fair degree of certainty that the given student will attend. This leaves us with two questions. What exactly does demonstrated interest look like? Moreover, how much does it help?

Your Next Steps:

As for the first question,.

Most schools offer campus tours. Some schools track attendance of these campus tours, allowing you to put your name on a list so that admissions officers know you attended. Making the trip to visit a school tends to show that an applicant is strongly considering attending. Similarly, attending a “college fair or admissions presentation” at your high school is a strong alternative to an official visit. At both of these events, there may very well be somewhere for you to sign up or mark your name so admissions officers know that you attended.

Early Decision (ED) and Early Action (EA) applications are another way to demonstrate interest to a school, but ED should only be pursued if the applicant is absolutely certain about attending, since a financial commitment is entailed.   

If colleges offer optional interviews, the applicant looking to demonstrate their interest will almost certainly accept this offer. Taking the interview is a sign of interest, and using the interview as an opportunity to highlight knowledge of and passion for the school can help admissions chances at some schools.

The final method of demonstrating interest is a bit trickier. For some schools, you can find an email or phone number for your regional admissions officer online. Sending this officer updating them on any changes to your application (e.g., new clubs or awards) while reiterating your interest can be helpful in gaining admittance to some schools, but some schools discourage or explicitly forbid this sort of activity. Be sure to look into the policies of the school before reaching out to an admissions officer.

The second question is interesting as well. It seems that “off-site contacts,” which include emails to an admissions officer or requests for more information, can help admission chances by 10-13%. “On-site contacts,” referring to campus visits, combined with off-site contacts can improve admission chances by 21-24%. 4

Buzzword 3: Grit

The technical definition of grit is “passion and perseverance for long-term and meaningful goals.” 5 Over the past few years, it has become a buzzword within businesses during their hiring process and colleges during their admissions process. Students who possess this quality are, by and large, extremely desirable to colleges. This probably stems from several factors. For one, there is a widespread perception of the younger generation as being fickle and noncommittal. Moreover, if colleges solely admitted applicants based on academic qualification, they may end up with a non-diverse class of students who’d never needed to persevere in the face of obstacles. Showcasing this quality in essays, interviews, or through an extracurricular story (visit Empowerly for help building this “story”) is a great way to strengthen an application.   

Buzzword 4: Resilience

A related, but different quality is that of resilience. This refers, most minimally, to the way you respond when you hit a snag in the road. More generally, it refers to a strengthening of character after adversity, hardship, suffering, or loss. One way in which resilience might manifest is in your response to a poor grade. Those who exhibit resilience will likely respond to this failure with a “growth mindset,” that is, the belief that one’s competence (if not intelligence) can improve over time given hard work. Resilience can be shown in how someone responds to everything from death to social isolation to academic failure and much more. Being willing to showcase your mistakes in your application , something most people avoid, in order to discuss how you grew from them, can be a huge benefit to your overall application.

Buzzword 5: Intellectual vitality

This exact phrasing may be Stanford-specific (it has been used in a supplemental question on their application), but its sentiment is broadly applicable across schools. Intellectual vitality refers to what you do with what you have. It is meant to get at exactly what motivates you to learn. There are many students who will cheat their way through high school (or perhaps get undue help) and achieve the academic level necessary to be considered at a top school. Demonstrating an intrinsic love of learning, that is, showing that you find some good inherent to the practice of learning, is something any strong applicant should seek to highlight. This is ultimately a question of what drives the applicant forward. What makes the applicant excited to learn? What is the applicant truly interested in or passionate about?

In Conclusion

Overall, though these represent just a small fraction of the words you might have heard (or will hear) in the application process, they do provide some indication of considerations universities might weigh when considering applicants. Though no two universities compare applicants in exactly the same way, bearing in mind these factors can be extremely helpful in crafting your strongest possible application.

For more application information and help, visit Empowerly .  

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Accuracy In Academia

Top 20 Academic Buzzwords

June 22, 2011 , Kaitlyn Cole, 4 Comments

College frequently proves to be the most intellectually stimulating years of one’s life. Unfortunately, it also means navigating an exhausting gauntlet of pretense and jargon. Of course, using such terminology doesn’t inherently render the speaker an academic blowhard. But that doesn’t diminish the fact that some of these words just need a bit of a rest before they lose their punch entirely.

By no means should anyone take this article even remotely seriously. The author has used plenty of these words unironically and speaks from experience and a willingness to draw personal laughs. Academia can be hilarious and absurd — it shouldn’t always have to be treated with stiff formality at all times.

• Capitalist: Whether sitting in economics class or dissecting the latest modern art display, capitalism inevitably crawls into the conversation. Even those agreeing with its tenets probably grow weary of hearing constant academic commentary.
• Comparative: Almost anyone with a liberal arts degree cringes whenever they hear this word outside the confines of a classroom. After all, they spent at least 4 years of their lives comparing literature, religion, politics, philosophy and pretty much every other everything ever.
• Comprehensive: When used in reference to finals, watch and be amazed as college students cross their eyes, begin foaming at the mouth and start flailing across the quad. “Comprehensive” is not only an overused word, it’s also incredibly evil…depending on the context, of course.
• Cultural: Sure, “cultural” is already a relatively common word, but academics tend to let it flow as freely as cocaine at Studio 54. Presumably, this is because they want their oft-captive audiences to think them ever so worldly and knowledgeable.
• Dichotomy: The ubiquity of “dichotomy” understandably happens due to its near-universal relevance — pretty much every degree plan will involve studying at least one. Just grit those teeth and soldier on, as there’s not exactly any real way to avoid crashing into the word.
• Diaspora: As a word, a right fair amount of majors sigh the seven hundred millionth time they have to hear about “diaspora.” But as a concept, it is entirely necessary for them to understand the social, political, anthropological, sociological, psychological and economic elements.
• Empirical: No matter one’s major, he or she will likely encounter “empirical” over and over and over and over and over and over and probably over again. It’s an essential component of debate and rhetoric, but would it kill professors to use a few synonyms for variety’s sake?
• Experience: Experience and education take long walks on the beach at sunset every night — they’re pretty much inseparable. Despite this, though, students get sick of hearing about it from professors, parents, administrators and each other.
• Feminist: Feminism is a great thing — it grants women an equal place in society and smashes vestiges of inequality and abuse worldwide. But that doesn’t mean the word itself doesn’t experience a hefty amount of overuse, particularly when it comes to describing females’ creative pursuits.
• Hegemony: There exists no aesthetically (not so much denotatively, unfortunately) sexier term than “hegemony.” But college students know all too well that even hotness gets tiresome after repeated exposure, especially if it keeps repeating the exact same points.
• Imperialist: Very little good comes of imperialism, and if humanity hopes to move forward and promote piece, it’ll have to slough off the ravages. Academics bring it up  ad nauseum since the mindset continues to cause problems and fully deserves quelling, but that doesn’t mean their students genuinely enjoy constantly hearing about all things colonialist.
• Influence: English majors know about “The Anxiety of Influence” all too well, but the fatigue plagues plenty of collegiates outside that particular degree plan. Scientists estimate that between 83% and 95% of university essays deal with how someone or something influenced someone or something else.
• Inquiry: Professors use “inquiry” because “research” and “questions” don’t sound lofty and/or formal enough. There is currently no known cure for this word’s rampant (and contagious) abuse, although eye-rolling and sighing can help alleviate some of the listener’s associated symptoms.
• Jungian: Carl Jung may be lucky enough to have an entire school of thought named after him, but even he might grow exhausted with hearing about himself constantly. “Jungian” is the “Kafkaesque” of the social sciences, but it certainly creeps its way into the literary, visual and performing arts on a regular basis.
• Marginalized: Like plenty of other terms mentioned here, few will deny that the concepts themselves absolutely deserve attention — and “marginalized” enjoys no exception. Students  should listen to voices stuck on the fringes of society; they also have the right to hear the idea relayed with different words.
• Marxist: When rampant discussion of capitalism grows too repetitive, college kids can turn their attention towards courses overanalyzing its polar opposite! Marxism apparently permeates everything, not just politics and economics, and even detractors will dedicate hefty amounts of time to it.
• Myth: Joseph Campbell may be amazing and important, but even his excellent points can’t entirely override myth fatigue. Dispelling them certainly bolsters education, of course, though pretty much every discipline will overwhelm students with this component at some point.
• Pedagogy: Good luck getting those freshmen to listen to anything with the prefix “peda-” or “pedo-” these days — all they’ll think about are anime bears and Chris Hansen. Besides sounding kinda sketchy without actually  being as such, it actually sports a simple, straightforward definition; one more easily conveyed using layman’s terms.
• Postmodern: Ask any supposed scholar constantly tossing around “postmodern” (and its myriad grammatical forms) about inverting binaries and poststructuralism. Should the subject stumble or fail to mention any of the associated philosophers, it pretty much means he or she is really just using the word to sound all learned and sophisticated — a rather common, wholly tragic condition amongst the university crowd.
• Society: The entirety of college life and learning can be summed up in just one lesson — it’s all society’s fault. While everyone disagrees over the minute details, the one thing they all have in common involves yoking all the blame onto everyone else.

This article originally appeared on onlineuniversities.com

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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

Student Story: Admissions essay about a formative experience

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

Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identity

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

Student Story: Admissions essay about community impact

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.

How to Write Your College Essay: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

Getting ready to start your college essay? Your essay is very important to your application — especially if you’re applying to selective colleges.

Become a stronger writer by reviewing your peers’ essays and get your essay reviewed as well for free.

We have regular livestreams during which we walk you through how to write your college essay and review essays live.

College Essay Basics

Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.

• Why do essays matter in the college application process?
• What is a college application theme and how do you come up with one?
• How to format and structure your college essay

Before you move to the next section, make sure you understand:

How a college essay fits into your application

What a strong essay does for your chances

How to create an application theme

Learn the Types of College Essays

Next, let’s make sure you understand the different types of college essays. You’ll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay.

• How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
• Personal Statement Essay Examples
• How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity Essay
• Extracurricular Essay Examples
• Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay
• Diversity Essay Examples
• Tips for Writing a Standout Community Service Essay
• How to Write the “Why This Major” Essay
• How to Write a “Why This Major” Essay if You’re Undecided
• How to write the “Why This College” Essay
• How to Research a College to Write the “Why This College” Essay
• Why This College Essay Examples
• How to Write The Overcoming Challenges Essay
• Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples

Identify how each prompt fits into an essay type

What each type of essay is really asking of you

How to write each essay effectively

The Common App essay

Almost every student will write a Common App essay, which is why it’s important you get this right.

• How to Write the Common App Essay
• Successful Common App Essay Examples
• 5 Awesome College Essay Topics + Sample Essays
• 11 Cliché College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them

How to choose which Common App prompts to answer

How to write a successful Common App essay

What to avoid to stand out to admissions officers

Supplemental Essay Guides

Many schools, especially competitive ones, will ask you to write one or more supplemental essays. This allows a school to learn more about you and how you might fit into their culture.

These essays are extremely important in standing out. We’ve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last year’s essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. We’ll update these in August when schools release their prompts.

See last year’s supplemental essay guides to get a sense of the prompts for your schools.

Essay brainstorming and composition

Now that you’re starting to write your essay, let’s dive into the writing process. Below you’ll find our top articles on the craft of writing an amazing college essay.

• Where to Begin? 3 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises
• Creating the First Draft of Your College Application Essay
• How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
• What If I Don’t Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?
• 8 Do’s and Don’t for Crafting Your College Essay
• Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writer’s Block

Understand how to write a great hook for your essay

Complete the first drafts of your essay

Editing and polishing your essay

Have a first draft ready? See our top editing tips below. Also, you may want to submit your essay to our free Essay Peer Review to get quick feedback and join a community of other students working on their essays.

• 11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your College Essay
• Getting Help with Your College Essay
• 5 DIY Tips for Editing Your College Essay
• How Long Should Your College Essay Be?
• Essential Grammar Rules for Your College Apps
• College Essay Checklist: Are You Ready to Submit?

Proofread and edited your essay.

Had someone else look through your essay — we recommend submitting it for a peer review.

Make sure your essay meets all requirements — consider signing up for a free account to view our per-prompt checklists to help you understand when you’re really ready to submit.

Advanced College Essay Techniques

Let’s take it one step further and see how we can make your college essay really stand out! We recommend reading through these posts when you have a draft to work with.

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10 Tips to Inspire College Essays

Experts say one way to overcome writer's block is to reminisce about meaningful experiences.

(DragonImages | Getty Images)

Find Your Voice

High school seniors who are applying to college often struggle to decide what to write about in their college admissions essays .

Experts say this is a common problem that students can overcome.

"Sometimes writer's block comes from a place of anxiety," Timothy Jaconette, founder of Advanced Admit, an admissions consulting firm, said via email. "So don't worry about creating something perfect. You can make your essay perfect on the third draft."

Here are 10 brainstorming strategies experts recommend for college essays.

(Getty | Image Source)

1. Brainstorm First

Mary Grace Gardner, a college admissions and career coach and founder of the Young Professionista consulting company, says the best way to create a compelling college essay is to create a list of potential topics before you look at the prompts.

"Make a list of your major strengths, key accomplishments and dreams for your future," she suggests. "Next, jot down personal and educational experiences that are significant to you, your favorite memories, and people who have made a difference in your life. By the end of these exercises, you'll have several potential topics to choose from."

(Hero Images | Getty Images)

2. Give Yourself Options

Nina Berler, a private school college counselor and founder of the unCommon Apps admissions consulting company, says it's important for applicants to choose the prompt that suits them rather than forcing their story to fit into a particular prompt.

If you're stumped about what to cover in your college essay, experts say it might be helpful to try a few writing exercises and list as many potential essay topics as you can imagine. Choosing the wrong prompt can lead to writer's block, Berler says. So if you're stuck, she recommends trying a new prompt that gives you an abundance of material to talk about.

(Getty Images) |

3. Think Small

Experts say college applicants sometimes have the mistaken belief that they need to fit their entire life story into their college essay. A wiser approach, experts say, is to describe a single formative experience .

"I tell students it is not a movie they are making but a Nike ad," Parke Muth, an admissions consultant who previously served as the University of Virginia 's associate dean of admission and director of international admission, told U.S. News in 2010. "The time it takes me to read 500 words is about the time it takes me to watch a Nike ad."

4. Describe Your Goals

Experts say that college applicants who do not feel comfortable discussing their past can instead write about their personal motivation and their hopes for the future.

"I often tell students to think about one thing that drives you to do what you do," Olivia Williams, an educational consultant with Florida-based Kampus Insights, said via email.

"Why are you playing varsity sports? What does writing in the school newspaper do for you? Why do you love building things? This is one way to focus on relating your drive, and in essence what sets you apart from other potential applicants," she says.

(Bruce Laurance | Getty Images)

5. Target Your Audience

Experts say that your dream school's academic niche should inform what you write in your personal statement for that school.

"Go to the website for the university you want to attend, find the buzz words it uses on the admission site, then try to come up with an essay that focuses on showcasing your ability to offer the qualities the specific school says it is looking to see," says Jaconette, a former undergraduate admissions officer at Stanford University .

6. Avoid Bragging

College applicants sometimes assume their college essay needs to document a tremendous accomplishment, experts say, but bragging can backfire.

"The idea isn't to write an epic story," Seth Allen, the vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at Pomona College , told U.S. News in 2010 when he was an admissions dean at Grinnell College . "A behind-the-scenes glimpse into who you are, how you think, or what you stand for is far more compelling. Admission committees know you are a work in progress; otherwise, you wouldn't be applying to college."

(Bryan Hainer | Getty Images)

7. Tell a Story

Experts say that college essays with anecdotes tend to be the most engaging. They advise college applicants to reminisce about their most meaningful experiences and consider using one of those experiences as fodder for an essay.

"Even opening your essay with a brief anecdote gives a great, deep, personal glimpse into who you are as an individual," Nathan Kiehn told U.S. News in 2016 when he was a college senior at North Central College in Illinois. "It hooks the reader, pulls them in, keeps them reading."

8. Show Your Personality

Admissions officers say they understand that most teenagers have not had dramatic life experiences. Experts say the best college essays are great not because they describe an exciting event but because they convey an interesting way of looking at the world.

"It's not the topic that has to be unique; it's what you say that has to be unique," Ellen Kim, the dean of undergraduate admissions at Johns Hopkins University , told U.S. News in 2015.

(yulkapopkova | Getty Images)

9. Consult a Mentor

One first-generation college graduate says that when she was unsure what to write about in her admissions essay, she asked adults in her life for advice. She urges college applicants to do the same.

"Think of three personal statement topic ideas, even if you think they are not that great, and then share them with a teacher, counselor, or a mentor," Katherine L. Garcia, a 2013 graduate from the University of California—Santa Barbara , said via email. "This will start a conversation and get the ideas flowing."

10. Take Needed Breaks

Janet Ruth Heller, a published writer and former college professor of English and American literature, says college applicants often struggle with their college admissions essays due to a lack of confidence and excess stress.

"Applicants should take long walks, listen to calming music, or work out to relax," Heller said via email.

She also suggests that applicants in this predicament confide in supportive mentors as well as read personal essays by professional writers they can emulate.

(Hailshadow | Getty Images)

More College Application Strategies

Getting into college isn't easy. Learn the criteria college admissions officers use to make admissions decisions and get advice on how to make a strong impression .

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive guidance on how to craft a compelling college application, including a well-written essay. Stay informed about the pitfalls to avoid in the college admissions process by following U.S. News Education on Twitter and Facebook .

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Using these words in your admission essay may secure you a spot at Harvard

A study conducted by AdmitSee, an undergraduate and graduate application-sharing platform created by University of Pennsylvania students, found students who used certain words, wrote about certain topics or even just wrote with a certain tone in their application essays were more likely to get accepted to one Ivy League school over another.

Upon analyzing its application archives, AdmitSee found students who referred to their parents as “mom and dad” in their application essays were more likely to get accepted to Stanford, while students who called them “mother and father” were more likely to receive a Harvard admission offer.

These findings, which were published by Fast Company, are based on essays — 539 of which were from students who were accepted to Stanford and 393 of which were from students who were accepted to Harvard — uploaded to the site at the time the study was conducted.

RELATED: Temple University drops test requirement for admissions, offers specialized essays

So how does AdmitSee gain access to these application essays? The site invites college students, who are identified and verified by their official school IDs, to upload their application materials. Once uploaded, their application materials can then be accessed by high school students who are preparing for the college application process. Every time a high school student views a college student's application materials, that college student is paid a stipend by AdmitSee.

AdmitSee found students whose application essays had a sad tone were more likely to be accepted to Harvard than Stanford. Specifically, essays written by students who were later admitted to Harvard focused on overcoming challenging moments in life. These essays frequently included words such as “cancer,” “difficult,” “hard” and “tough.”

This finding proved to be almost the exact opposite of what admissions officers from Stanford were looking for. Essays featuring a creative personal story or an issue the student was passionate about were among those accepted to the California-based school as opposed to Harvard, according to AdmitSee. These acceptance-winning essays often featured words like “happy,” “passion,” “better,” and “improve.”

AdmitSee also found surprising differences in the way Harvard and Stanford handle legacy applicants.

AdmitSee cofounder Lydia Fayal said that these differences play out primarily in the SAT scores and grade point averages of legacy versus non-legacy candidates.

“Harvard gives more preferential treatment to legacy candidates than Stanford,” Fayal said in an email interview. “Based on our preliminary data, the average SAT score at Harvard is 2150 for legacy students and 2240 for non-legacy; meanwhile at Stanford it's 2260 for both legacy and non-legacy.”

RELATED: 9 essay writing tips to ‘wow’ college admissions officers

Fayal also said based on AdmitSee’s data, she found that the average GPA is three-tenths of a point lower for Harvard’s legacy students than it is for non-legacies. At Stanford, the average GPA of legacy students versus non-legacy students is just one-tenth of a point lower.

“If you take out diversity candidates and student athletes, the difference between legacy and non-legacy students gets really scary,” Fayal said.

Fayal was unable to provide exact numbers on this data – she said AdmitSee needs to wait to receive more applications containing this type of information.

Upon further quantitative analysis, AdmitSee found the most common words used in Harvard and Stanford essays have similar themes but are nonetheless different. For the Massachusetts-based Ivy, these words were “experience,” “society,” “world,” success” and opportunity.” For Stanford, they were “research,” “community,” “knowledge,” “future” and “skill.”

College admissions counselor Katherine Cohen didn’t find the differences between the application essays written by students admitted to Harvard and those admitted to Stanford surprising.

“Stanford and Harvard, while both extremely prestigious universities, actually don’t have that much in common when it comes to the feel on campus, their under-lying values, etc,” Cohen, who is also the founder and CEO of college admissions counseling company IvyWise, said in an email interview. “So it makes sense that they would be looking for different types of students, and therefore different kinds of essays.”

While the data collected from students admitted to Harvard and Stanford is the most specific, AdmitSee also collected interesting information on other Ivy League schools.

“There are 745 colleges with at least 1 application file on AdmitSee.com, and 286 colleges with 10+ application files on the site,” Fayal said.

For example, AdmitSee’s data indicates the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell favor essays about a student’s career goals. Like Harvard, Princeton tends to admit students who write about overcoming adversity. Essays that discuss a student’s experience with race, ethnicity or sexual orientation are well-received by Stanford, Yale and Brown.

Further, when looking specifically between Yale and Brown, AdmitSee found that Brown admitted more students who wrote about their volunteer experience, whereas there was no conclusive data that confirmed Yale favored essays of this type.

While AdmitSee's findings focused specifically on applications submitted by students who were accepted to Ivy League institutions, the site has application materials for a wide  variety of schools on its site.

AdmitSee co-founder Stephanie Shyu said, according to Fast Company, students who are gearing up to apply to college can learn two major lessons from the company’s data. One of these lessons: it is a good idea to craft unique essays for each school.

Fayal said that she wasn’t surprised that AdmitSee’s data reflected this tactic. It was a lesson she also learned during her time as a college consultant.

“I've worked with enough students to know that students should customize their application essay by university,” Fayal said. “I hope that, by releasing AdmitSee data, we're leveling the playing field for students who can't afford private college consultants.”

And Cohen agreed.

“Each school has slightly different values and focuses on different attributes, so the words, attitudes and themes expressed in a student’s application and college essays do matter when it comes to their chances of admission at one college vs. another,” Cohen said. “That’s why it is usually rare for a student to get accepted to every single Ivy League even if they have straight A’s, perfect SAT/ACT scores and 5’s across all their AP exams.”

The second lesson: students should aim to make their essays reflect the culture of the school they are applying to.

"The essays of admitted students are also a reflection of the community at these institutions," Shyu told Fast Company. "It can provide insight into whether or not the school is a good fit for that student."

Lea Giotto is a student at the University of Michigan and a summer 2015 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, getting college essay help: important do's and don’ts.

College Essays

If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing —of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service?

If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you've come to the right place! In this article, I'll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay . I'll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one.

Table of Contents

What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get?

What's Good Editing?

What should an editor do for you, what kind of editing should you avoid, proofreading, what's good proofreading, what kind of proofreading should you avoid.

What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay?

Who Can/Should Help You?

Advice for editors.

Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing?

The Bottom Line

What's next, what kind of help with your essay can you get.

Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing . There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of really polishing your final product.

Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you."

Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work . Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing is good editing . In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved.

Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader. For example, in this case, a good editor should make sure you understand the actual essay prompt you're supposed to be answering.

Open-endedness. Good editing is all about asking questions about your ideas and work, but without providing answers. It's about letting you stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view.

Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that the trip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do?

Help Brainstorm Topics

Sometimes it's easier to bounce thoughts off of someone else. This doesn't mean that your editor gets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic options you've come up with. This way, you're less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or to write about something that isn't actually important to you.

If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check out our guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay .

Help Revise Your Drafts

Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing is about asking questions, not giving answers .

Revision questions should point out:

• Places where more detail or more description would help the reader connect with your essay
• Places where structure and logic don't flow, losing the reader's attention
• Places where there aren't transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader
• Moments where your narrative or the arguments you're making are unclear

But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting—editors let authors fix the problems themselves.

Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision.

You may be dealing with a bad editor if they:

• Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn't come from you
• Use a thesaurus to make your college essay sound "more mature"
• Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn't come from you
• Tell you what to say and how to say it
• Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you
• Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager

Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something else you wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions.

Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethical side of the line.

• An editor should say that the opening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it.
• An editor should point out where your prose is unclear or vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay.
• An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go.

Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader.

Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only process where someone else can actually add to or take away things from your essay . This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters.

Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must.

Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreaders should correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to any formatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing).

Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make sure that you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that's your job and not the proofreader's.

A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job.

Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are:

• If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished.
• If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes.
• If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing.

What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay?

Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading are good—even required ! But they also want to make sure you're the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see work that reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important.

On the Importance of Editing

Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don't allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others' edits and opinions when they seem helpful. ( Bates College )

Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay's flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. ( Dickinson College )

On the Value of Proofreading

Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well—such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend—and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. ( Yale University )

Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. ( Oberlin College )

On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence

Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. ( Carleton College )

Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we're probably going to notice. ( Vanderbilt University )

Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self.

Parents or Close Relatives

Your family may be full of potentially excellent editors! Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you.

A parent or close family member is a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the following questions. Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader? Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won't create conflict? Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent?

One suggestion for defusing face-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parent a draft, have them write you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestions you want to use and which to discard.

Teachers or Tutors

A humanities teacher that you have a good relationship with is a great choice. I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, are all used to reviewing student work.

Moreover, any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure it "sounds like you."

If your teacher or tutor has some experience with what college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft.

Guidance or College Counselor at Your School

The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your work is that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay.

At the same time, school counselors tend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what works and which college is focused on what aspect of the application.

Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselor tends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1 college counselor, you're unlikely to get that person's undivided attention and focus. It is still useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version.

Friends, Siblings, or Classmates

Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you .

Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don't sound like you.

You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work.

If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation.

First, your editor should read our advice about how to write a college essay introduction , how to spot and fix a bad college essay , and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked .

Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will help them to guide you.

Introduction Questions

• Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not?
• Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea?
• Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through.

Essay Body Questions

• Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words?
• How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay?
• Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing?
• Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs? Between the narrative and moments of insight?

Reader Response Questions

• Does the writer's personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of "who he or she is"?
• Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well?
• Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough?
• Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay?
• What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement?

Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing?

One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service , like the many proliferating on the internet.

My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service.

When to Consider a Paid Editor

In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you.

If you can't ask your parents. For example, if your parents aren't good writers, or if English isn't their first language. Or if you think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!)

If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybe you don't have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance, your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won't know what admissions officers want to see.

If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students.

If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be that your essay is on a very personal topic that you're unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn't fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays .

If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so. If you have finite resources, I'd say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it's PrepScholar or someone else) is better way to spend your money . This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more.

Should You Hire an Essay Coach?

On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they have experience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it's more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you.

But, on the minus side, you'll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn't know that much about you . In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantage to paying someone to help you.

If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can't afford the coach's fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale —many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice—essay coaches don't have any special magic that can back up those promises.

Should You Send Your Essay to a Service?

On the plus side, essay editing services provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less . If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results.

On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them . If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's. In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay.

Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editing that writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn't write the essay, or the skill of the essay might not be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores.

Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else?

Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don't do this!

For one thing, you'll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this:

I certify that all information submitted in the admission process—including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials—is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application )

For another thing, if your academic record doesn't match the essay's quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies.

Admission officers have full access to your writing portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, but there are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays—you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn't also bought by 50 other students.

• You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading
• A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed
• A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you
• A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting
• All of them agree that getting light editing and proofreading is necessary
• Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings
• If you can't ask any of those, you can pay for college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches who over-edit you work
• Don't buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it'll make your whole application sound false.

Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then explore our step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay .

Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that's right for you . Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work through our roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges .

Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test . If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study.

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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100+ Useful Words and Phrases to Write a Great Essay

By: Author Sophia

Posted on Last updated: October 25, 2023

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How to Write a Great Essay in English! This lesson provides 100+ useful words, transition words and expressions used in writing an essay. Let’s take a look!

The secret to a successful essay doesn’t just lie in the clever things you talk about and the way you structure your points.

Useful Words and Phrases to Write a Great Essay

Overview of an essay.

Useful Phrases for Proficiency Essays

Developing the argument

• The first aspect to point out is that…
• Let us start by considering the facts.
• The novel portrays, deals with, revolves around…
• Central to the novel is…
• The character of xxx embodies/ epitomizes…

The other side of the argument

• It would also be interesting to see…
• One should, nevertheless, consider the problem from another angle.
• Equally relevant to the issue are the questions of…
• The arguments we have presented… suggest that…/ prove that…/ would indicate that…
• From these arguments one must…/ could…/ might… conclude that…
• All of this points to the conclusion that…
• To conclude…

Ordering elements

• Firstly,…/ Secondly,…/ Finally,… (note the comma after all these introductory words.)
• As a final point…
• On the one hand, …. on the other hand…
• If on the one hand it can be said that… the same is not true for…
• The first argument suggests that… whilst the second suggests that…
• There are at least xxx points to highlight.

Adding elements

• Furthermore, one should not forget that…
• In addition to…
• Moreover…
• It is important to add that…

Accepting other points of view

• Nevertheless, one should accept that…
• However, we also agree that…

Personal opinion

• We/I personally believe that…
• Our/My own point of view is that…
• It is my contention that…
• I am convinced that…
• My own opinion is…

Others’ opinions

• According to some critics… Critics:
• believe that
• suggest that
• are convinced that
• point out that
• emphasize that
• contend that
• go as far as to say that
• argue for this

Introducing examples

• For example…
• For instance…
• To illustrate this point…

Introducing facts

• It is… true that…/ clear that…/ noticeable that…
• One should note here that…

Saying what you think is true

• This leads us to believe that…
• It is very possible that…
• In view of these facts, it is quite likely that…
• Doubtless,…
• One cannot deny that…
• It is (very) clear from these observations that…
• All the same, it is possible that…
• It is difficult to believe that…

Accepting other points to a certain degree

• One can agree up to a certain point with…
• Certainly,… However,…
• It cannot be denied that…

Emphasizing particular points

• The last example highlights the fact that…
• Not only… but also…
• We would even go so far as to say that…

Moderating, agreeing, disagreeing

• By and large…
• Perhaps we should also point out the fact that…
• It would be unfair not to mention the fact that…
• One must admit that…
• We cannot ignore the fact that…
• One cannot possibly accept the fact that…

Consequences

• From these facts, one may conclude that…
• That is why, in our opinion, …
• Which seems to confirm the idea that…
• Thus,…/ Therefore,…
• Some critics suggest…, whereas others…
• Compared to…
• On the one hand, there is the firm belief that… On the other hand, many people are convinced that…

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How to Write a Great Essay | Image 2

Phrases For Balanced Arguments

Introduction

• It is often said that…
• It is undeniable that…
• It is a well-known fact that…
• One of the most striking features of this text is…
• The first thing that needs to be said is…
• First of all, let us try to analyze…
• One argument in support of…
• We must distinguish carefully between…
• The second reason for…
• An important aspect of the text is…
• It is worth stating at this point that…
• On the other hand, we can observe that…
• The other side of the coin is, however, that…
• Another way of looking at this question is to…
• What conclusions can be drawn from all this?
• The most satisfactory conclusion that we can come to is…
• To sum up… we are convinced that…/ …we believe that…/ …we have to accept that…

How to Write a Great Essay | Image 3

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150 Great Words and Phrases to Use During the College Admissions Process

Founder, Director, adMISSION POSSIBLE; author, speaker, adMISSION POSSIBLE: The Dare to Be Yourself Guide for Getting into the Best College for You

Who Are You? The Most Important Question in College Admissions!

At my first college admissions meetings with students, I ask parents to identify nouns, adjectives, phrases, and short stories that will help me know something about their son or daughter. Usually, one parent takes the lead, calling out a rapid-fire list of words: "Brilliant, tough as nails in sports, hard-working, a team player." Then the other parent chimes in with more adjectives: "Caring, respectful, great with children." I like to hear from both parents because moms and dads often have unique perspectives on their kids. To get a little deeper, I might also ask, "What was your son (or daughter) like when he (she) was a little boy (girl)?" Or, "How do you think your daughter's (son's) friends would describe her (him)?"

I take notes on what the parents say, and when they are finished with their verbal offerings, I ask students if they want to add anything. After the meeting, I email the list of the words to the student and parents, so they can keep adding words.

This exercise is the beginning of a process to come up with word messages students want colleges to "get" about them as they fill-out applications, write essays and have interviews. Figuring out how to communicate about what makes you "you" is one of the most important parts of applying to college.

Why do this? Well, last year's Stanford application asked, "What five words best describe you?" As they complete the application School Report and Teacher Evaluation forms, high school counselors and teachers appreciate word lists to help them write about what makes students stand out. Just so you know, research suggests that knowing who you are is a first step in becoming a confident, effective adult.

A Word List Starting Point

Since I always encourage students to develop word lists, many ask me to provide examples of words that other applicant families have come up with. To give you some idea, here is a list of descriptive words and phrases I have collected over the years:

A: Academic, adventurous, an advocate, analytical, animal-lover, animated, articulate, artistic, assertive, astute, athletic, autonomous

B: Balanced, brilliant, business-oriented

C: Can-do attitude, capable, caring, cerebral, good with children, class clown, community service oriented, compassionate, competent, concerned about others, confident, conscientious, considerate, courageous, creative, curious

D: Daring, dependable, detail-oriented, diligent, disciplined, down-to-earth, driven

E: Empathetic, enthusiastic, an entrepreneur, ethical, an explorer

F: Fearless, a finisher, fitness-oriented, flexible, focused, a foodie, friendly, doesn't suffer fools, fun, funny

G: Generous, gentle, genuine, never gives up, goal-oriented, goes beyond what is expected, good natured, good with the elderly, gracious, grounded

H: Happy, hard-working, health-oriented, honest, humble, GREAT sense of humor

I: Imaginative, fiercely independent, inspirational, an intellectual, intelligent, interpersonal, involved

J: Jovial, joyful

K: Kind, has real know-how, knowledge-seeking

L: Good with languages, a leader, a fast learner, logical, loyal

M: Mature, mechanically oriented, methodical, modest, motivated, multi-lingual, musical

N: Natural, nonconformist

O: An "old-soul," optimistic, organized, original, outdoorsy, outgoing, his or her own person

P: Passionate, patient, persistent, poised, polite, popular, positive, has stage presence, a problem solver

Q: Quick, quirky

R: A reader, reliable, a researcher, resilient, resourceful, respected, respectful, responsible, a risk-taker

S: Scholarly, scientific, a self-starter, science-oriented, sensitive to others, sincere, sparkling, spiritual, a sponge for ideas, a sports nut, stands out from the crowd, social, strong-willed, studious, supportive

T: Take-charge person, talented, a natural teacher, a team player, techy, tenacious, deep thinker, thirsty for knowledge, loves to travel, trustworthy

U: Unafraid, unique, unpretentious, upfront

V: Vivacious

W: Willing to step up, worldly, beautiful writer

X: A xenophile (love of foreigners)

I encourage you to take a look at the words above and circle any that apply to you. If other words or phrases pop into your mind, write them down! Keep the list in an accessible place so that you can refer back to them summer/fall of your senior year, when you begin working on college application materials.

By the way, if you want to share your own special words with others, put them in the Comments Section below, or send them to my Twitter (@admissposs) or Facebook pages. I'll then post a running list on my website, www.adMISSIONPOSSIBLE.com

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Learning the lingo: college buzzwords

Navigating the college application and admission process can be tricky, especially if you’re not familiar with the higher education jargon. Fortunately, learning the higher ed lingo isn’t nearly as arduous as learning a foreign language. In fact, it can be pretty easy to pick up. Consider this your handbook for some of the most-used college buzzwords and what they mean.

What is early decision and early action?

In early decision, your student is signaling to the college or university that if they are admitted, they will enroll. By choosing an early decision plan, your student is committing to attending that university. Early action, on the other hand, allows your student to be admitted early, but they don’t have to make their formal decision on that university until Decision Day (more on what that is later). Some schools don’t have early decision or early action, but instead offer rolling applications, meaning your student can apply and decide to attend the university at any point during the year.

What is a safety school?

When a student is talking with friends or family, they might say, “I’m applying to a couple safety schools”, which are schools they are confident they will get admitted to. It’s important to apply to schools where your student meets the minimum qualifications. Note that with some highly selective schools, your student may not be admitted even if they meet the minimum qualifications. With these schools, there’s often more student demand than the school can support. 

What is a reach school?

A reach school is the opposite of a safety school. It’s a school that traditionally has low acceptance rates and is generally perceived to be more prestigious. 

What is need-blind admission?

Need-blind admissions is when a university does not factor in any financial aspect of a student’s application. They won’t look at your student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid , and they won’t make any determinations about your student’s admissibility based on your family’s finances. They will look only at your student’s merits, including their grade point average, class rank and other academic factors, when reviewing their application.

What is an acceptance letter?

An acceptance letter represents an exciting time in your student’s journey to college. It’s the official notice that your student has been admitted to a university or college. Some schools send acceptance letters with a lot of pomp and circumstance, while some simply send students a letter saying that they’re admitted and congratulations. Others send large packets that include affinity-building items like stickers or other swag. Some schools even add confetti. Receiving an acceptance letter is usually a big celebratory moment in a student’s life.

What is Decision Day?

Decision Day is modeled after a tradition in college athletics, where a student-athlete publicly declares which university they will attend. It has since grown to include any student. May 1 is National  College Decision Day . There’s a lot of excitement around it as students declare on social media where they’re going to college. Keep in mind, not all schools follow the May 1 deadline. In fact, your student can apply to some universities after May 1 of their senior year of high school and still be admitted. So, symbolically May 1 is a day for celebrating where your student plans to attend college, but be aware that some schools do require a decision by May 1.

What is a gap year?

A gap year is when a student decides to take a year off between high school and college. Gap years are a family decision. They can be productive for some students and  non-productive for others. A popular example is Malia Obama, who took a gap year in 2017. As part of a well-connected family, she spent time in South America and the Embassy of Spain, and had a lot of hands-on learning opportunities. You might not have the connections of the Obama family, but if your student is interested in doing a gap year, I recommend that you work with them to make it a period of enrichment and growth.

What is considered a prestigious school?

A lot of emphasis is placed on the prestige of a university. This can mean so many things. Traditionally, we think of the Ivy League. They’re often thought of as the most prestigious because of their rigorous academic reputation and low acceptance rate. Be sure to talk with your student about finding a university that is aligned with how your student’s needs and offers an environment they’re comfortable in.

What are tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 schools?

Tier 1 schools are traditionally referred to as private research universities. Tier 2 schools are private liberal arts colleges that don’t offer master’s or PhD programs. Tier 3 schools are public research universities — schools in the University of California system or Arizona State University . Tier 4 schools are more regional or mid-sized universities that aren’t research universities. These markers are more an indication of resources access than anything else, and your student can get a high-quality academic experience at tier 1, 2, 3 or 4 schools.

What buzzwords are you hearing that you’d like us to explain. Send us a message at [email protected]   and your question may be answered here.

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Buzzwords College Essays Samples For Students

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Over the course of studying in college, you will definitely need to craft a lot of College Essays on Buzzwords. Lucky you if linking words together and turning them into meaningful text comes easy to you; if it's not the case, you can save the day by finding an already written Buzzwords College Essay example and using it as a template to follow.

This is when you will certainly find WowEssays' free samples database extremely helpful as it embodies numerous skillfully written works on most various Buzzwords College Essays topics. Ideally, you should be able to find a piece that meets your requirements and use it as a template to develop your own College Essay. Alternatively, our competent essay writers can deliver you a unique Buzzwords College Essay model written from scratch according to your individual instructions.

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