Pitfalls to Avoid in Admission Essays
In order to rise above all other applicants when vying for a slot in your dream University, you need to write an attention-grabbing and flawless essay. However, writing the perfect essay is not as easy as it seems to be. There are rules to follow and a balance to strike. To help you strike a balance in your essay, it is important that you are aware of the common mistakes committed by applicants when they write their admissions essay. B School Admissions Formula shares some of the most common mistakes committed when writing an MBA application essay.
Sounding boastful and arrogant
Many applicants overemphasize their achievements and skills when they write their personal statement. They are not even aware that they’re doing it. If you overemphasize your accomplishments, you will end up sounding arrogant and boastful.
be very careful about not sounding arrogant. As you answer different essay questions, it is incredibly tempting to brag about your accomplishments and all your great personal qualities. Your qualities and accomplishments can always be conveyed in more indirect and subtle ways (i.e. through interesting stories). Don’t use big fancy words, don’t use overly flowery language. Ask your friends to read your MBA application essays and make sure you don’t come off as sounding arrogant or entitled in any way.
The use of highfalutin words can also contribute to making you sound boastful and overconfident. The secret is to strike a balance. You have to keep in mind that although your essay is a promotional material, overdoing self-promotion can lead to failure.
Being overly creative in your admissions essays
Creativity can make your admissions essays notable. However, you have to ensure that you are not overdoing everything.
unlike college applications, business schools are not looking to read creative works of art. Admissions committees just aren’t the right crowd. Business school admissions committees are looking for people who demonstrate managerial potential, have strong personal qualities, and have big, yet focused career visions. It’s very difficult to write a pure creative essay while getting all of these ideas across at the same time.
You need to keep in mind that creativity is a helpful element if you use it wisely. Aside from this, you have to ensure that you really know how to handle creativity or else, you will fail miserably.
Being too generic
Being too broad on your admissions essay is a very common mistake. An admission essay is your opportunity to sell yourself to the admissions panel, and being too generic will not do the trick.
what’s dangerous about being too broad is that your MBA application essays can often end up sounding too generic and cliche. You also end up not painting a clear enough picture of yourself. Retelling accounts of specific instances at work using lots of detail can be a great way to indirectly communicate what type of person you are to the admissions committee, which is much more powerful than explicit communication.
Your point here is to paint yourself through your essay. And you can do this by being specific about everything. Including specific experiences in your essay is a good example.
Another important thing you should avoid is procrastination. You need to start your preparation as early as now. This blog discusses the following tip:
The best tip to write a successful essay is to start it without wasting the time. If you don’t start it early you will not be able to meet the demands of your teachers, which is very important in writing a college application essay.
Starting early on your essay will help you avoid cramming. Because your essay has a great impact on your application essay, it’s a must that you set aside enough time when writing it.
Again, when writing your personal statement, you have to avoid sounding boastful and overly creative. You also have to avoid procrastinating during your essay preparation.
April 12th, 2010 at 2:44 am
Writing a college application essay is a daunting task by itself, and is even made harder by the fact that you need to be unique and prove that you are a cut above the rest with what you write. But when students try hard to do these, they often fall short and disappoint the panel with their essays. As the article pointed out, there are quite a few pitfalls you need to avoid when writing your college application essay. One thing you should remember is to avoid sounding boastful and arrogant. Do not exaggerate your accomplishments and skills. When you say you know how to cook, do not tell too much. You know how to cook, and write what you know about cooking; do not tell them that you’re the best chef in the world or the best cook in your neighborhood. However, you should not also be afraid to write in a couple of important and prestigious achievements and awards that you have accomplished throughout your pre-college life. If you won a state championship in basketball during your Senior Year, then by all means, write it. What they are after are individuals who are realistic and honest about what they are, and they are also after students who fully know their capabilities and are not afraid to tell people about they have accomplished. Do not brag too much, if you must, brag in a subtle way. Remember the essays are like your high school thesis; you’ll need a narrow topic so that you would not have a hard time writing it. Do not be too broad, as the article pointed out. The panel wants a simple and well-written essay, and by well-written, they do not want something that’s been overly written or filled with highfalutin words in which you probably don’t even know the meaning. If you’re smart, then do not brag about it by writing all the highfalutin words you can find in the dictionary. Remember, that they already know your smart enough to write this essay, just do not write like you had a dictionary in hand.
Remember, the panel wants you to write something that will grab their attention and spur them to accept you in the university.