We continue the countdown to the final ten tips for college essays. This second set of tips will focus a bit more on the actual writing stages (and beyond), for our applicants now ready to put pen to paper for the first time.

#10: Be Genuine and Sincere:

As you begin writing, you may start to wonder–if not worry–if the admissions folks will like you as a person and/or judge you worthy of admittance. That is a natural thing to wonder, to be sure. But one way of guarding against that anxiety or fear is to just be yourself. That is a theme I want to echo throughout: Institutions appreciate authenticity and genuineness, so let that shine through. What are some words that friends and family use to describe you—or words that you use to describe yourself? Think about those things as you are contemplating how to represent yourself to the colleges that will be making a decision on your application. Don’t feel pressure to be—or represent—something that you are not. If you are a reliable and trustworthy friend, say that. If you responsible or resilient, mention that. If you are enthusiastic about learning, or if you are goal-oriented, find a way to communicate that. But, again, above all: Be your genuine, sincere, and awesome self.

#9: Share Something Different:

Application evaluators do not have any easy job. Choosing to admit or not to admit (or waitlist) a student can carry a certain level of weight to it. Reading through hundreds and hundreds of applications in an individual admissions cycle is grueling, tedious, and, often, un-glamorous work. So, perhaps, without much surprise, these evaluators sometimes do read a number of quite similar-sounding and marginally-inspiring essays. This might be due, in part, to students rushing through the essay(s), or students failing to remember what makes them a uniquely-different individual. When colleges are crafting their incoming 1^st Year Class, they want diversity. Diversity, not just in the form of racial or ethnic; or regional; or income level—or any other form of what we typically think about when we hear the term diversity. Colleges are also looking for a diversity of thinking and a diversity of interests. A couple years ago, I had a really strong applicant, who, in her Student Profile packet she completed for our Junior year meeting, mentioned in just one sentence that she had earned her Black Belt. Wow–talk about unique! How many Black Belt-earning students does an average college receive every year? Probably not all that many. Even if it’s not a prominent part of a student’s identity—same as knowing another language—this is information that you absolutely should share with colleges. Going back again to the Black Belt example: something like that shows versatility; discipline; and commitment (among perhaps other things, as well). Something like that may just be the deciding factor that could be the difference of getting into your chosen school (or not). Of course, you will probably never know what was the deciding factor of admittance, but why not add in those things that—even if they are not a prominent feature of your identity—show your diversity of interests or excellence?

#8: Think Like an Admissions Officer:

In a similar vein, as you are piecing- together your applications (including essays) for college, every once in a while, it’s good to remember to think like an admissions officer. If the shoe were on the other foot, and you were evaluating your own application, what would you like to see? Or, what do you think you should be looking for? We lay a lot of it out here, in these tips, but one such thing might include something similar to this: The applicant really shows who they are and I learned important things about them in their essay(s). Or, secondarily, the essay writer demonstrated sound writing skills and showed a strong attention to detail; or, I could really see the personality of the applicant shine through their essay(s). Those are the types of things you might want to go for, as it’s valuable to remind yourself–from time to time–to think like an admissions rep. Would you admit yourself, and why?

#7: Avoid Questionable Humor and Be Thoughtful With Mental Health:

This particular tip is a bit nuanced, but you want to remember to always represent yourself accurately and positively In your essays. Questionable or immature humor or sarcasm should probably be avoided, if at all possible. Yes, some of these things could—and I’m stretching here—represent intelligence or personality, but you just don’t want to take the chance of them not being well-received by–or potentially offending–the application reader and evaluator. Perhaps, similarly, if you are struggling with mental health—and if that is something that you choose to mention in your essay(s)–you will want to try to communicate what you are doing to address it–or describe how you have improved in that area of your personhood. If your mental health has recently worsened, then maybe it’s time to pause and address that first—and directly— before doing a lot of other obligations, like completing potentially stressful things, like college essays and applications. Obviously, many of us have had mental health struggles before, but colleges want to know that you are actively doing things to fortify your mental health—both in the short-run and longer-term.

#6: Use Word Counts as Your Guide:

As you begin to put pen to paper, you may wonder a bit about essay prompt word counts or limits. Just remember this key point: Word counts or limits—more often than not—are more gentle guides than rigid rulers. What I mean is this: Colleges rarely would ever have the time to do an actual word count on your responses, but this is one of the times that you don’t want to go way-under–or way-over–on the suggested word limits. On one end, if you go way under, then you are potentially leaving out valuable information to share about yourself (that could help get you accepted to your desired college!)—while also, perhaps, subtly telling schools that you did not care to take the time to fully answer the essay prompt(s) in a sufficient manner. On the other end, you also don’t want to go way over, because the application evaluators could get mildly (or moderately) annoyed and put-off that they have to take valuable time to read through an unusually-lengthy essay (or, they might just stop reading after a certain point). But the general rule of thumb should be: Under/over a few words here and there won’t make a difference—just don’t be on one extreme or the other, or feel like you have to either add a filler-sentence or two just to make it up to the word limit or that you have to cut out a valuable sentence or two that you really don’t want to cut, just because you are a bit over the word count.

#5: Proofread, Proofread, Proofread:

One of the reasons to start writing essays earlier is to have more time to proofread. Students that hastily complete their essay(s) usually don’t give themselves enough time to truly polish-up their writings. Moreover, these students are less likely to have others proofread their essays(s) for/with them. Remember: You want to give your essay time to breathe; to have time to organically come together. An essay quickly thrown together will usually sound like an easy quickly thrown together. Good writing takes time. Good writing often goes through many drafts; revisions; edits; changes; and updates. Give yourself enough time to make corrections and to produce an essay that had the requisite time to grow into something that you can be proud to share with others.

#4: Be Cohesive—Pull Everything Together:

This point is one of the most valuable of all that I can offer, as we begin come to a conclusion. When it comes to completing your college applications—including, of course, your essay—you want everything to ‘fit’ together and solidify in a way that makes sense with who you are as a person and applicant. Your essays should echo and reflect the other parts of your application(s), and vice versa. In the essays—and in the totality of the application—you want to aim for consistency of character; personality; and insights. In other words, going back to Tip #10: Be genuine and sincere—be you!, as you review and reflect on your essay(s), you want to ask yourself if everything sounds like who you know yourself to be. This is congruence: the act of doing something that fits cohesively; is natural; and is not forced or in opposition to that of the greater whole. The essay should represent who you are and also compliment—not conflict with—the rest of your application. Think of the essay as a crown jewel of your application—at least in terms of the things you will be expected to write. Treat it with the TLC that it needs (and deserves).

#3: Don’t Overlook the Short Essay/Answer Prompts:

This tip has us branching-out some, but is also very valuable to keep in mind. If you will be completing any additional short essay/answer prompts, say, 50-200 words, for instance, please remember to treat these just as seriously as the regular, lengthier essay(s). Colleges and universities have often spent years crafting and fine-tuning these questions, and can glean a lot of useful information about an applicant—from them–in a very short period of time (hence, making them super valuable to schools). Many of these questions are more structured; specific; and require the applicant to get right to the point. But just because they have a smaller word count—or targeted focus—does not mean that you will want to treat them as lesser-than, or less important, though. Leverage these short essay/answer prompts to give your application that extra dynamism. Show the colleges that you are thoughtfully–and carefully–taking the time to answer these prompts to the very best of your ability. Attention to detail matters in applications—and it really matters on these shorter written responses.

#2: Dig Deep On the College-Specific Essays:

Similar to our last tip, you may also  be asked to write a college or university-specific essay (or two or three—depending on how many colleges you might be applying to). This is where you want to match your fit; your passions; your goals; your dreams—and what you have to offer and hope to gain—with the institution(s) that you are applying to. How does who you are–as an applicant–fit with (and compliment or add to) the larger mission/founding principles/ideals of a college? *However, this is not the time to copy-and-paste common knowledge or facts—found through a search engine–about a college and spit it back to them. They already know all of this stuff (and it comes across as completely uninspired–if not lazy). Rather, you want to personalize and connect things back to you. When you visited campus, what really stood-out to you or impressed you the most? (but don’t tell them that the campus was beautiful, because most college campuses are rather beautiful). As you were researching the school, what particular on-campus initiative or effort really excited—or appealed to—you? What do you hope/have to offer your chosen school that might want to make them say ‘yes’ to you? All of these questions dig deep–and far beyond the surface; they show that you spent the requisite time to really ponder and thoughtfully consider why you are applying to the schools(s) that are choosing to apply to, and, as we know, colleges love thoughtful, deep, and reflective thinkers. Leverage all of that in these school-specific essays.

#1: Find Your Peace At the End:

Finally, as we conclude with the final tip, this is a reminder that you, quite likely, have worked really hard on your essays and applications—and you deserve to take some time to take a deep breath and find your peace. College applications can be hard—and, often, the time in-between hitting the submit button and waiting for the (hopefully) thick envelope in the mail can be even harder. For many students, this is one of the very first times in their life where a decision related to academic success (or desired results) is completely out of their hands and control (once everything has been submitted)—and that can be hard for some students to manage, particularly, at first. I completely get it. That is why you want to take a deep breath and know that you gave it your very best. But you also want to remember this: A college decision of ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ is not—at all—a reflection of your worth or value as a student or human being. College admissions decisions can sometimes feel arbitrary—if not unfair—to a student. Quite a bit can go into saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each individual student (but that would probably have to be for another time). Remember, again, though to take a deep breath—and go out and celebrate or do something nice for yourself. College applications can require a lot of time; effort; and emotional bandwidth—and, in the end, you deserve to take a pause or a breath to find your peace (whatever that might look like to you).