What should you not do in a college essay?

Do not lie

Not only do we mean not exaggerating stories about yourself. We mean don’t fudge the details. If you don’t have a black belt in Muay Thai kickboxing, don’t say you do in your essay.

As compelling as someone else’s life story may be, it’s not for you to use. You can quote someone in your writing, and if there are quotes that are meaningful to you, you should. But don’t go overboard.

Everything you write should be true, with evidence to back it up, and the vast majority of what you write should be your own words. Do you know how easy it is to find out the truth about other people from their social media profiles? A college admissions officer or the school's admission office can fact-check you just as easily.

Don't joke

You’d be right to think that after working their way through a big pile of essays, the people reading yours could use a good laugh. That said, humor is tough in this kind of essay.

You know next to nothing about who will read it, let alone their senses of humor. As the Princeton Review warns, “What you think is funny and what an adult working in a college thinks is funny are probably different.” Even if you are highly confident in your humor, joking too much in this situation may give the wrong impression.

You don’t want a college to think you are too focused on education and that you can’t have fun. But they also need to know you will be taking your education seriously. One simple joke at the start or end of your essay is more than enough. Beyond that, keep things clean and businesslike.

Focus on relevant activities

Remember that your reader will have your transcripts and the rest of your application to tell them what your grades are as well as the list of clubs, sports teams, musical groups and volunteer organizations you belong to. Try very hard not to dump your entire life story or all your finer points into the essay.

Focus on singular moments or activities—pick the ones that stand out. And be specific. According to College Board, “Don’t simply state a fact to get an idea across, such as ‘I like to surround myself with people with a variety of backgrounds and interests.’

Do include specific details, examples, reasons and so on to develop your ideas.” Pick what’s best and most important about you and leave the rest out of the essay.

At the same time, don’t go against what you’ve written on the rest of your application. Keep the details straight, and if there’s something you want to reveal in the essay, just be sure it’s about your thoughts and feelings, not an important fact you left out elsewhere.

How do I make my college essay stand out?

Give them a different perspective

Stand out from any common application essay. We mentioned above that college admissions officers or the admissions counselor appreciates anything that will break up the boring application process and reading hundreds of these essays. While an inappropriate joke isn’t the best way to do it, it’s still worth doing.

So once you’ve got the basics of what you want to say set in your mind, try delivering them from a different angle. Collegebasics.com suggests that, rather than answering an essay prompt directly, you answer it in the negative: tell the reader what you’re not going to do with the essay before telling them what you will do.

If the question asks what your ambitions for the future are, instead answer with what you don’t aspire to, and what that says about you.

Collegebasics.com goes on to suggest that you can make an admissions essay interesting by writing it like a piece of fiction or an autobiography.

“Try starting with a question. Challenge the reader by speaking directly to him/her. (Or) put the reader in media res, that is, in the middle of things. Place the reader in the middle of something happening or in the middle of a conversation.”

So, for example, if you want to tell the story of a piano recital, start with “So there I was, in front of a thousand people, and my hands were shaking so much I could barely touch the keys.”

Then fill in how you got to that point and what it says about you. If what you write is logical, easy to follow, and phrased correctly, you can afford to experiment with your delivery. Your reader will appreciate your mixing things up.

Proofread your essay

It should go without saying, but too many people make the mistake. So we’re saying it twice. Always read what you’ve written carefully, and multiple times.

It is very easy to miss simple mistakes while you’re during the writing process, so be sure to stop for a while so you can look at your essay with fresh eyes. But don’t just look for grammatical errors or misspellings.

Read your essay out loud so you can hear how it sounds. If sentences are too long, don’t make sense, or just don’t sound interesting enough, cut them, rephrase them or take them out.

Editing is just as important as writing, and it is the only proven way to get the best product. Along with reading your essay out loud, try reading it backwards, starting with the last section first.

As Lori Greene of Collegeexpress.com explains, “This may sound a bit silly, but when reading in sequential order, your brain tends to piece together missing information, or fill in the blanks, for you.

Reading each sentence on its own and backwards can help you realize not only typos and mistakes in grammar, but that you may have forgotten an article here and there, such as ‘a’ or ‘the.’”

Seek professional (or at least qualified) help

The problem with spending so much time on what can be a relatively short essay is that you look at it so much it starts to lose its meaning for you. So for the same reason you should read your work out loud or backwards, you have to get another pair of eyes and ears working on it, as well.

A fresh perspective can make all the difference and keep you from settling for something terrible. A good friend, parent, or better yet, a teacher can read what you’ve written and give you a reality check.

Encourage them to be constructive—it’s okay if they tell you what you’ve come up with is no good, as long as they can offer some feedback to help make it better. Ask them to judge whether the writing really sounds like you are talking.

And don’t let them get away with saying your essay is just “good,” either. Don’t leave them alone until they’ve told you at least one thing you can improve, or at least specific aspects they liked.

For more information on how to apply for college and make your application look as good as possible, visit northcentralcollege.edu/apply.

Jacob Imm is a communications specialist in the North Central College Office of Marketing and Communications. He has 10 years of collegiate communications experience and has worked with hundreds of college students. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University.