4 Common Mistakes in Ivy League Admissions Essays
If you’re applying to Ivy League schools, you already know your grades and test scores are important – they have to be impressive to even pass the minimum bar for admissions.
When it comes to standing out in a sea of 4.0 GPAs (or higher) and near-perfect SATs, however, your admissions essay is one of your most powerful weapons. It’s the one thing that can make an admissions officer stop thinking about the numbers and start thinking about who you are as an actual person – and what you might bring to the school and your class.
Unfortunately, too many students waste this opportunity by making the same critical mistakes on their admissions essays. As a result, their voices get lost in the ocean of other, similar voices. Here’s what to avoid if you want to stand out from the crowd.
- Trying to Sound Like Someone Else
You’re not writing a research paper or trying to impress your English teacher. Admissions officers don’t want to read a dull, dry essay filled with stiff language or words that sound like they came from a thesaurus. They want to hear your authentic voice.
What to do instead: Be yourself. Use language that feels natural and tell your story the way you’d explain it to a mentor or friend. One trick that often works is reading your essay out loud to hear whether it sounds natural. If it doesn’t sound right, revise!
- Rehashing Your Resume
The school already has your transcripts and list of extracurriculars, so don’t spend your essay reminding them that you were captain of the debate team, took a bunch of AP classes and worked at a non-profit over the summer. Your essay might center around one of those experiences, but you need to add depth and meaning to what you’ve done – not just list your accomplishments.
What to do instead: Focus on one meaningful experience and what you learned from it or how it shaped your understanding of yourself or the world around you. Be specific about what changed in you as a result of that experience – and how.
- Sharing Trauma Without Reflection
There’s no denying the way that hardships can impact your life – but the trauma you experienced needs to be tied to meaning. A sad story without understanding and personal reflection is just a sad story – and not very compelling.
What to do instead: If you’re sharing a painful part of your life, make the focus on how that experience led to personal growth or influenced your worldview. You are not your trauma – but your response to that trauma shows who you became.
- Trying Too Hard to Impress
You don’t want to sound either arrogant or insecure – so don’t name drop, exaggerate or focus on how smart you are. Again, your records are already there, and they can speak for you when it comes to your academic and intellectual skills. Your essay should be less focused on what accolades you’ve won and more personal.
What to do instead: Be real. Humility, humor and honesty will show that you are confident without overcompensating – and help the admissions officer see you as a fully-developed human being. Don’t waste this opportunity trying to sound perfect.
What’s the Takeaway?
Think of your admissions essay to an Ivy League school as a conversation – not performance art. Through your essay, you have a chance to show the you who shines beside your impressive stats. If you dig deep and get personal, use natural language and focus on your emotional growth, you’ll be able to offer a compelling, magnetic story that elevates you to the top of the admissions pile!
