3 Common Mistakes Students Make on Their College Application Essays
Identifying the elements of application essays that tend to be overlooked and strategies to fix them.
Each year, millions of students apply to college for the first time. Despite the varied life experiences they might have across the country, it’s not hard to imagine that admissions officers read personal statements that are similar. As a result, students looking to write the best college essay might struggle to write something unique and compelling. In addition, applicants might not feel prepared to write a well-crafted admissions essay.
At Nimble College Consulting, we strongly believe that every student is capable of creating an entirely unique, admissions-ready application profile. Each student can tell an incredible story of their academic journey so far; it’s all just a matter of framing.
Regardless of your current profile status, standardized test scores, GPA, and current college shortlist, there are foundational strategies to give yourself a leg up on your college essays. By avoiding the common pitfalls, you can set yourself up for success before you even get your first draft out. Remember, the purpose of these written segments is to accurately reflect who you are as not only a student, but a potential member of each campus’s community.
Mistake #1: Choosing a Frequently Used Essay Topic
The fear of sounding too generic is one of the most common concerns of college applicants. One way to really understand the scope of how many applicant profiles an admissions counselor sees is to start with your peers. If you play a sport, consider the number of people that are on your team. Now, think about how many teams that you’ve competed against in a season. What about sports teams in other counties?
It’s clear how many applicants can make the mistake of choosing to respond to a supplemental essay prompt with a generic or cliché subject. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t write your essay about a significant part of your life, but it is essential to find a unique, personal angle for common essay topics.
How do I avoid writing a generic essay?
There are various methods to rework your responses to better stand out to an essay college grader. What really makes a difference is choosing specificity and authenticity. While it’s often (maybe rightfully) joked about that college counselors just tell you to write what you know, there is some truth in trying your best to write in your own voice.
What makes an authentic-feeling essay? It’s a combination of providing specific, compelling details of whatever personal anecdote or experience you choose to reflect on and choosing to communicate those thoughts effectively. Here are some things to ask yourself:
Could my friends and family identify this essay is about me?
Helps ensure that the subject you’ve picked is significant to who you are
Lets you know if your writing reflects your personal voice
What part of this anecdote/reflection shaped who I am?
Use to evaluate if this topic directly contributed to who you are today
Ensures you are focusing on details about your subject that actually connects with you
Would this college essay still work if I changed the subject?
Helps determine if there is a direct connection between your chosen subject and your conclusion
Also helps you avoid making generic/surface-level reflections on your chosen subject
Mistake #2: Using Amateur Story Structuring
Another mistake that college applicants make when drafting their personal statements is inefficiently structuring their essay. A strong application essay doesn’t just rely on a unique personal experience, but how that personal experience is told.
Often, unsuccessful essays feature a very straightforward “problem-to-solution” organization. While it’s a strong idea to talk about overcoming difficulty, just summarizing the events doesn’t suffice. For example, a common college essay features a student playing on a sports team, experiencing defeat, and then eventually achieving success or accepting the loss. On its own, it makes sense to write about handling disappointment. That’s exactly why so many people choose to write about it.
It is still possible to use these common essays as a framework for a more introspective statement. What changes an essay from generic to effective is the addition of personal details. Writing truthfully about your experience results in a stronger college essay over the perfectly manufactured one.
What’s the best way to structure a college application essay?
So, how can you write with honesty and authenticity? We at Nimble College Consulting recommend exploring as many subjects as you can and finding a unique path to demonstrate your value as a college student.
Maintaining a list of impactful moments in your academic or personal journey is a great way to pinpoint moments of strong development, changes of perspective, or other impactful moments. This way, your description of these moments won’t follow a common, simplified essay structure.
Another way to ensure strong essay structure is to edit often and critically. Cut out wordy paragraphs that just establish elements of a story, choose your words carefully, and make your points directly.
Take the time to learn from successful college essay examples. There are a number of example essays you can analyze to understand the underlying writing techniques and structures. Observe the amount of sentences used to communicate basic details about their subject versus the amount used to demonstrate their strengths as an applicant.
Mistake #3: Lack of Depth/Introspection in the Essay
The final gap that limits students from writing a good college essay is the lack of depth in their responses. When deep in the writing phase, it’s easy to lose sight of the purpose of answering the prompts in the first place: to give admissions officers a better understanding of who you are and whether you’d be a good fit at their specific campus.
The most important part of your writing is demonstrating not just your passions, values, and aspirations, but whether you are confident and assured in your sense of self. Are you someone who really thinks about important moments in their life, or is this essay the first time you’ve thought about it?
How can I tell if my personal statement is “deep” enough?
Of course, there isn’t one way to make sure that your personal statement shows your depth of character. One recommendation we make at Nimble is to get into practice with exploring aspects of your life thoroughly. Take the time to free-write about each piece of your life: the good, the bad, anything that sticks in your mind. Ask yourself “why” often as you think back to these moments and use these as key turning points in your essay.
A personal statement is “deep” enough when it feels personal to you. You should be the first person that comes to mind when someone reads your work. There’s not a requirement to have a good ending to your work. Rather, find a way to talk about your motivation or work towards change.
Set Yourself Up for Success During College Application Season
Are you looking for some guidance on your college application? For access to experienced counseling from professionals in the field, feel free to reach out to Nimble College Consulting today. We are here to meet you where you are and walk you through each step of the process.
Applying to college this season? Check out our summer essay workshops to go into App Season with confidence
