Advice on College Essays

Don’t feed college admissions officers what you think they want to read in your college essays. Because they don’t want to read it.

We’d like to give you a piece of advice on college essays – don’t play it safe. Does that mean that you should let college admissions officers know that you’re actually illiterate or that you want to go to a certain university because you hear they have good frat parties? No. Come on! But that also doesn’t mean that you should play it straight up the middle. Don’t write what you think college admissions officers want to hear because what you’re then going to write is something they definitely don’t want to read!

But consider stepping outside the box. Listen to Kelly Clarkson. Take a chance. Make a change. Breakaway. Instead of writing a chronological account of your summer, consider leading off with an exciting statement that ropes a college admissions officer in. Would you want to read an essay that reads, “Last summer, I participated in a summer enrichment program for two weeks. After the program ended, I volunteered working with Habitat for Humanity…” ZZZzzz. We’re sure that you wouldn’t want to read that. Hopefully you would also not want to read an essay that begins, “According to Webster’s Dictionary…?”  No one cares what’s written in the dictionary.

Dare to be different by stepping outside of your comfort zone. Dare to dazzle. Dare to share a window into your world. Dare to shed light on just who you are and what you’re all about. Don’t try to impress. Don’t feed college admissions officers what you think they want. Because they don’t want it!

Check out our post on College Essay Advice or this one on College Admission Essay Advice. Hey, when you write so many blog posts, you run out of titles!