Every student is worried about writing the perfect college essay. It gives the student a chance to let the admission officers have an idea about them. With the help of their essay, they can convince the admission offers to let them be a part of their college. But it would help if you kept in mind that you are not the only student who is applying at the college. It would be best if you wrote your essay in such a way that it stands out, and the admission officers get an idea about your personality. There are a few topics or points discussed below that you should try to avoid while writing your college essay.
It should be kept in mind that the college essay is something that should be filled with creativity. It would be best if you tried to think about the experience that you have had that you think most of the other students never got a chance to experience. Or think the other way around: what are those qualities or abilities that make you different or unique. Try to be more specific about your dreams and desires. Talk about your interests and the programs that you are thinking about taking. Due to these things, the admission officer will realize that you can offer something meaningful to their college or university.
Your essay should not sound vague. It should be more personal. Simply stating that you would like to help people would not convince the admission officers. For instance, if you have interest in international studies, while your major is pre-law, try to convince the admission officers by telling them that you would like to help the people of the developing countries by working for them as an immigration lawyer.
The admission officers are not interested in finding out about the life-changing ‘voluntourism’ experience that you have had in other countries. They are interested in finding out the ways that it changed you. Every other student would say that through their extracurricular activities, they were able to learn time management and organization skills. If due to these extracurricular activities, you were able to learn about a specific community, communicate with them, enhance your leadership qualities, and all these changed your personality, talk about that. These things would impress the admission officer.
Most of the students would talk about the hardships that they went through in high school but would not talk about the methods they used to resolve them. It would help if you wrote your college essay like a story, that would show the admission officers the transformational journey of your personality. Therefore, talking about only the negative aspects of your high school life would not interest the admission officers unless you also discuss the techniques you used to overcome those problems.
It would be best if you tried to avoid the four mistakes that we have discussed in this article, as these mistakes are quite common. You should avoid giving stale answers, do not only state the problems that you have faced but also provide solutions, interestingly define your extracurricular activities and while doing that, try not to be too generic or vague.