7 Common College Essay Mistakes: How to Avoid Them

Writing a compelling college essay is one of the most important steps for standing out in the admissions process. It’s an opportunity for students to showcase their personalities, experiences and unique perspectives. However, most students fall short in their essays due to not understanding the right writing approach. 

If you want your essay to perfectly align with admissions readers’ expectations and requirements, it’s a good idea to understand the common pitfalls and mistakes that students often make. Read on to learn how you can help your student with their essays.

7 Most Common College Essay Writing Mistakes Students Make 

Here are seven common writing mistakes that almost every student makes, which can sabotage their chances of success.

1. Trying to Impress Admissions Readers

Students often try their best to impress admissions readers, which sometimes causes them to lose their authentic voice and style.

Your child should skip the “humble brag,” or essays which focus on showcasing their mounting success. It can seem fake and forced and diminish the essay’s essence and your student’s lived experience. There’s a delicate balance between showcasing their success and bragging about it, and you have to toe that line.

Simple, realistic, personalized essays are generally more well-received than essays that look like they’re trying to beef up their involvement in Model UN. (Also, fudging or making the application look more impressive than it actually is: huge no-no. Admissions readers can almost always see through the exaggerations.)

2. Repeating the Activities Section

Your child should avoid rehashing the entire activities section of the essay or their transcript, because this makes the essays redundant. Remember, admission officers already know your grades, test scores and activities. Therefore, listing or discussing them again makes your child lose the opportunity to provide new insights. 

College administrators want you to write essays so they can gain a deeper understanding of your child as a person. They should take it as an opportunity to showcase other aspects of your child, such as their thoughts, growth or personality.

3. Choosing a Cliche Topic

If you want to stand out, you have to think out of the box. Admission readers get tired of reading essays on the same cliche topics like “winning the championship,” “moving schools” or “learning teamwork.” 

These lived experiences aren’t necessarily “bad,” but unless your child offers a completely unique perspective on the topic, they’ll be just another ho-hum essay. Ultimately, you want to steer clear of these topics: sports, mission trips and pandemic woes. Admission readers are tired of these topics. Also, avoid triggering topics (such as sexual assault) that could cause an admission reader to stop reading.

4. Telling Without Reflecting

Every story contains a moral, a lesson or a reflection, so ensure your child doesn’t overlook this point. They may present strong, captivating storylines but forget to explain what they learned or how it changed them. Furthermore, if your child can make an admissions reader feel during the essay, those are gold.

The college essay should help readers assess how you think and reflect on your experiences. An essay without deep self-reflection remains a “surface level reflection” and can never fully engage the reader. For admission officers, the key is not just the event itself but how your child thinks and feels about it. 

5. Using Fancy Words Unnaturally

Adding complex, fancy words never makes your essay appear professional and appealing. Many students make this mistake and add vague, pretentious terms in their writing just to sound smart. 

In reality, this approach makes your essay feel stiff or confusing. Admission readers don’t want a vocabulary lesson — they want clear, honest communication. Use a tone, structure and language you and your child can easily read. If your child speaks like they write, you’re likely on the right track.

6. Ignoring the Prompt

It might sound too obvious, but many students don’t answer the essay prompt. This is one of students’ most common mistakes when writing college essays. 

They either misunderstand the prompt entirely or add irrelevant, unnecessary and vague points to it that make their content appear confusing. If you’re looking over your child’s essays, ensure they answer the prompt. 

For example, let’s say your child is attempting to answer the following Common App question: “The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?”

It’s a problem if they never mention an obstacle at all!

7. Not Proofreading Properly

A great essay loses its impact when it’s full of writing errors. Typos, grammar mistakes and awkward sentences make your child’s writing feel rushed or careless and can significantly undermine credibility. It also clouds the message and makes it hard to follow.

Tips To Improve College Essay Writing

Here are some simple and helpful writing and editing tips that you can follow to boost the effectiveness of your child’s college essays. Also, reach out to [email protected] for a free proofread!

• Proofread your writing: To ensure your student’s essays are error-free and polished, proofread them thoroughly before submission. Reading content aloud can help you hear and identify mistakes your eyes might have skipped. If you think some points sound “off,” you can fix them to ensure a seamless and coherent writing flow. Moreover, it also helps you enhance the clarity and readability of your child’s work.
• Check one type of error at a time: When organizing college applications, encourage your child not to burn out by focusing on one error at a time. It’s impossible to fix everything at once. Therefore, review in sessions: First focus on correcting grammar, then spelling, punctuations and then focus on flow. 
• Use a paraphrasing tool for clarity: If you and your child are tired of repeatedly rephrasing the same idea and a sentence still feels unclear or complicated to fix, use a reliable paraphraser to do the job for you. The paraphrasing tool helps students and writers to rewrite their content and enhance its clarity and readability while keeping the core message intact. 
• Ask a trusted proofreader to check it out: A fresh reader can spot unclear parts, grammar errors or awkward phrasing you missed. Ask someone who knows writing. Feedback helps improve structure, tone and flow. Choose someone who will give honest advice, not just praise. Good feedback makes a big difference.

Learn more: Differences Between Test Optional, Test Flexible, Test Blind

Avoid Simple Mistakes to Make a Big Impact

Writing a great college essay is important, and avoiding common mistakes can help you stand out. Many students try too hard to impress or repeat information from their applications. Instead, focus on being yourself and sharing personal experiences that show your growth.

A strong essay highlights your unique voice and perspective, helping admission officers connect with you. Make sure to be clear and reflect on your experiences as you write. Revising and asking for feedback can turn your essay into a powerful story. Use this chance to share who you are and make a lasting impression.

Learn more: How Long Do Admissions Officers Read Applications?

FAQs

Read on for more frequently asked questions about common college essay mistakes so you and your child avoid them!

What are common college essay mistakes?

Many students try too hard to impress admissions readers, repeat everything in the activities section (but admissions readers already know your students’ involvement because they’ve spelled it all out in that section), choosing a topic that an admission reader has read a million times, not adding important reflection (they want to read what your child has learned through an experience!), ignoring the prompt or forgetting to address it and not proofreading properly.

What are red flags in a college essay?

There are several red flags in a college essay, including poor writing, grammar and typos. Your child’s essay should be as perfect as they can make it. Also, consider what admissions officers are looking for in their applicant pool — curious, inquisitive students who want to work on a team. If your child appears to be close-minded, writes words that might offend someone or a group or appears to hate working with others, do you think they’d want to admit them? Probably not.

What should you not write about in college essays?

Skip writing about mission trips, sports and anything related to your adventures during the pandemic — these essays are overused and admission readers tire of reading about these topics. Also, encourage your student to skip triggering topics, like sexual assault, that could cause an admission reader to quit reading.