College Essay Writing Tips: Keeping it Real

When my middle son was a baby, I had the strangest dream. (Remarkable, considering I don’t remember sleeping at all during those years!) In this dream, I went into his room and he was sitting up in his crib, talking.

Mind you, he was maybe eight months old at the time, so in real life, the only “words” coming out of his mouth were these gleeful shrieks that sounded like a pterodactyl. But in my dream, my son greeted me as I walked into his room, using words like “indubitably” and “loquacious.”

It has been nearly two decades since I had that dream, but I vividly remember the sheer oddity of it. Not only was it strange (concerning?) that I was dreaming about words like “indubitably” and “loquacious,” but there was this bizarre juxtaposition between what would naturally be coming out of a baby’s mouth and those particular words.

Which brings me to college essays: as much as students want to impress the admissions officer, they should still sound like teens.

I’m not saying you should use slang or crude language, or eschew punctuation. (Please! For the love of all things holy, make friends with the comma!) But you shouldn’t sound like a walking thesaurus, either. There may be a better word than “nice,” but have you ever really said the word “winsome” out loud? I didn’t think so.

I’m all for encouraging my students to spice up their essay. But that flavor should come through in the specific details you share, or in the depth of your self-reflection. It’s in your honesty, your curiosity, maybe even your self-deprecation.

If you want to impress someone, be your authentic self. That’s my best advice. Indubitably.