{"id":521,"date":"2015-08-30T00:01:05","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T00:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev8.fyclabs.com\/web-upwardpath-wordpress\/?p=521"},"modified":"2023-02-10T00:01:24","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T00:01:24","slug":"be-yourself-in-your-college-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev8.fyclabs.com\/web-upwardpath-wordpress\/be-yourself-in-your-college-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Be Yourself in Your College Essays?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Be Yourself in Your College Essays<\/h2>\n
\n

Time and time again, you will hear college admissions representatives say to \u201cbe yourself\u201d in your college essays. I find that many of my students struggle with this because they RATHER be the student that the college wants to admit (versus being truly themselves). And, really, who can blame them? College admissions are high-stakes, and students innately want to put their best foot forward!<\/p>\n

Here are some of my tips on how to be authentically yourself in your college essays:<\/p>\n

If You\u2019re Going to Use the Thesaurus, Use It Wisely<\/h3>\n

Many students exchange their natural words for much larger\u00a0words they find in\u00a0the thesaurus. It is one thing to make yourself more polished, but it\u2019s entirely something else to use a word that you\u2019re not familiar with. A good rule of thumb \u2014 if you don\u2019t use this word at\u00a0least<\/em>\u00a0occasionally in your vocabulary, verbally or through writing, keep it out of your college essays. An incorrectly used SAT word will have the exact opposite consequence of your original intention.<\/p>\n

Limit the Number of People Who Review Your Essay<\/h3>\n

One student I knew had his essay edited by so many people (and made all of the changes that others suggested) that, in his desire to present himself in the best possible light, he completely lost his voice. I would suggest having four different types\u00a0of people read your essay:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Someone who knows you well. This person will let you know if your college essay sounds like you.<\/li>\n
  2. Someone who doesn\u2019t know you well at all. This person will give you a more objective look at how your essay will read to a complete stranger (because, after all, that\u2019s who is going to be reading it eventually!)<\/li>\n
  3. Someone who is great at the English language. This person will make sure your essay has good grammar, flows well, etc.<\/li>\n
  4. Someone who is familiar with college admissions (like a high school counselor). This person will make sure you steer clear of frequently used topics and has the insider-scoop of what colleges are really looking for.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I want to stress that I am saying \u201ctypes\u201d because you may not necessarily want four people to review your essay. It is very likely that you will be able to do a few of these\u00a0with the same person. \u00a0For example, your favorite English teacher could easily knock out\u00a0points 1 and 3.<\/p>\n

    Stick to Topics You Know and Love<\/h3>\n

    Going back to my earlier point about students trying to impress colleges (versus being themselves), a lot of kids will choose topics that are very intellectual sounding but have no knowledge or personal interest in. The same goes for essays that mention a book, quote, role model, character in literature, current event, world issue, etc. Stick to what you\u2019re passionate about and what you\u2019re interested in.<\/p>\n

    Don\u2019t say Albert Einstein is your role model when you really idolize Batman. Though you might have laughed at that last statement, I can tell you that college admissions readers will thoroughly enjoy reading your tribute to Batman because they\u2019ll be able to see your passion, learn more about you (indirectly from what you love about Batman) and enjoy the change of pace. In fact, it will probably give you an edge over a boring essay that someone else wrote about why they \u201clove\u201d Albert Einstein. I mean, who doesn\u2019t?<\/p>\n

    Also, if you haven\u2019t checked out UCEazy\u2019s software suite yet, now is the time. With college admissions deadlines approaching, our software help you finalize your list of colleges and keep your deadlines and college requirements on track.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    How to Be Yourself in Your College Essays Time and time again, you will hear college admissions representatives say to \u201cbe yourself\u201d in your college essays. I find that many of my students struggle with this because they RATHER be the student that the college wants to admit (versus being truly themselves). And, really, who […]<\/p>\n

    Read More… from How to Be Yourself in Your College Essays?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Be Yourself in Your College Essays? - Upward Path Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Be Yourself in Your College Essays? - Upward Path Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to Be Yourself in Your College Essays Time and time again, you will hear college admissions representatives say to \u201cbe yourself\u201d in your college essays. 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