1. Don’t overthink your essay topic. Students are often warned to avoid overused topics like soccer teams and Guatemalan community service. I’ve given such warnings myself. But execution is at least as important as topic. A tedious essay about climbing Mount Rainier could be less compelling for the admissions reader than a vivid one about running around the block. So don’t fret about choosing the perfect topic. Just be sure to write about something you genuinely care about, show rather than tell, and use a narrative style.

2. Start with a bang and don’t give away the ending. The college essay is not a novel, so get to the heart of the piece right away. It’s also not an academic essay, with a thesis statement, five paragraphs, and a conclusion that restates the theme. Grab the reader’s attention with a brief opening sentence, an “in the middle of the action” beginning, or a bit of dialogue that adds intrigue. But don’t telegraph the outcome at the outset. Does your essay seem too long and boring? Try removing the introductory and concluding paragraphs, and see if it’s stronger.

3. Cull repetitive words and phrases. Habituation is the neurological process in which behavioral response to a stimulus decreases after repeated exposure over time. In this way, readers encountering repeated words and phrases become less interested your essay, even if they don’t know why. This problem is easy to fix. Read your piece aloud; the repetitions will become obvious. (Note: You CAN use intentional repetition to bring home a point, as in the famous “I Have a Dream” speech.) Vary sentence length too. Intersperse short declarative sentences with longer complex and compound sentences. Notice and revise repetitive sentence structures such as subject-verb-object. (For example, don’t use “I” over and over again as the first word of sentences.) Variety is the spice of life – and of writing too!

4. Eliminate unnecessary words. You can ALWAYS tighten prose. For example, my original draft of this tip sheet was chatty and flabby. Brandishing my word scalpel (or maybe hatchet), I cut it in half. You don’t want to trim the life out of the piece. But you can examine each paragraph, sentence by sentence, and ask, “Can I say this more succinctly without losing the flavor?”

5. Avoid big words you wouldn’t normally use. Yes, I’m talking about you, “plethora” and “myriad.” Trying to impress with SAT-level vocabulary usually falls flat, because it doesn’t sound authentic. “However” also clunks, especially at the beginning of a sentence. In a college essay, if it helps the flow, you may start sentences with “but” or “and.”

6. Choose active rather than passive constructions. Passive-voice expressions include a form of be, such as am, is, was, were, are, or been. Active sentences pack more punch!

• Passive: There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground.
• Active: Dead leaves covered the ground.
• Passive: The reason that he left college was that his health became impaired.
• Active: Failing health compelled him to leave college.
• Passive: It was not long before he was very sorry that he had said what he had.
• Active: He soon repented his words.

7. Throw out bland or vague language. 

Replace bland words with specific ones. For example, trade “shoes” for “lime- green Nikes” or “lunch” with “half-smushed peanut butter and jelly sandwich”. Never use “things” and “stuff” when you could be more specific. Find more descriptive substitutes for “went,” “walked,” “got,” and other generic verbs.

Beware of ambiguous pronouns. Every pronoun you use should have a clear referent. Be especially aware of “it,” “this,” and “that.”

Cut out every "very" and every "many." Words like these (along with really, seriously, okay, fairly, rather, seems, feels) are vague, and your writing will be stronger without them.

8. There is no “I” in “essay.” Limit the use of I, me, my, mine, myself.

9. Dialogue slows down the action and takes up space. Use sparingly.

10. Watch out for these grammar and usage pitfalls.

Know the difference between “it’s” and “its.”“

• It's is a contraction, short for it is or it has.
• Its is a possessive pronoun.

Example: It’s time for the cat to eat its food.

Limit the number of times “that” appears in your essay.

Never use “the fact that.” Ever.

Correct faulty parallelism.

Wrong: We exercise for fun, relaxation, and for the purpose of losing weight.
Right: We exercise to have fun, to relax, and to lose weight.

Relocate misplaced modifiers (words, phrases, or clauses that seem to refer to the wrong word in the sentence).

“I almost failed every class I took” = It was close, but I passed them all.
“I failed almost every class I took” = I passed only a few classes.

Retrieve dangling participles.

Example: “Hiking the trail, the birds chirped loudly” makes it sound as though birds are hiking.
Rewrite: “Hiking the trail, I heard the birds chirping loudly.”

 

Printable Forms

Information Request Tracker

Application Checklist

Individual College Application Tracker

Essay Checklist

Interview Checklist

Recommendation Checklist

Junior Checklist

Senior Checklist