Six Tips for Proofreading your College Admissions Essay
Proofreading your college application essay is a must. At Wordvice admissions, we will help you get over the hump, but we know that a quality admissions essay begins and ends with you.
That’s why we’re partners in your admissions essay journey. You create. We polish. So take a look at these tips that make it easy for you to clean up and organize your essay when applying to college.
The college application essay is more important than ever
If you’re reading this, you’re likely applying to college (or know someone who is). The good news is that you probably realize how important the personal statement or application essay is for applying to college. You’re on the right track!
The bad news is that you may not know just how important the admissions essay is. College admissions is undergoing a huge shift. Common App, the most popular college application service, recently announced it will include a separate essay prompt on COVID-19. And students are scrambling to figure out how to write about COVID-19 in their college admissions essays.
And shockingly, a court recently ruled that the University of California System can no longer consider SAT/ACT scores at all in the admissions process. Expect more states and universities to follow suit soon. The days of the standardized test may be numbered.
So do you expect to just waltz into UCLA or Stanford? Not so fast. Colleges and universities will still be looking for creative ways to differentiate between applicants. Reputation is important to many schools, and you can expect the emphasis to shift to the college personal statement or admissions essay.
This means that the application essay just got a lot more important. Besides grades and extracurriculars, the application essay will now be the final factor in determining admission. And that means you better up your game to match the competition!
Now, your application essay needs to be more focused, higher quality, more personal and powerful, and of course, have NO errors. That’s a lot to ask for a high school student with lofty goals.
That’s where proofreading your essay comes into play.
Why you shouldn’t ignore college essay proofreading
If the college admissions essay is getting dressed for your first impression, then proofreading the college admissions essay is like personal hygiene. It’s grooming to make sure you look the best with what you got.
You wouldn’t put your clothes in the drawer without folding them or go on a first date without washing up, so why would you ignore proofreading when the student next to you looks like a million bucks?
Proofreading can be as effective as you want it to be. From a self-haircut to a full salon treatment, there are lots of options. But let’s start with these five easy tips for proofreading your college essay.
Easy tips for college essay proofreading
1. Pay attention to each school’s requirements
One of the most confusing parts about being a young student and applying to multiple colleges is figuring out exactly what and what not to do. Common App essays typically range from 500–650 words. However, requirements can differ. The SUNY system has its own application system and a whole different set of standards.
More specific differences may include formatting and content restrictions. While it may seem silly to many applicants, these standards are set up because admissions officers must go through hundreds if not thousands of applications. And making sure applicants can follow simple formatting instructions is definitely a consideration.
2. Use free resources
Although 2020 is certainly a strange year regarding college applications, the good news is that technology continues to improve. We’re not talking about your old school Microsoft Word spell checker here.
These are AI-based machine learning tools that can change the way you write. Young students show remarkable resourcefulness in using these online tools, and applying to college is no different.
A couple of useful online tools:
Grammarly
This online writing assistant is an all-in-one tool that can take your writing to the next level. Or rather, down a level, if that’s what you want. You can target Grammarly to help you write at the 9th or 12th grade level, and even the academic level. It also checks spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and tone of voice. Make sure to check out its browser extensions.
Hemingway
Another writing assistant tool is Hemingway App. Hemingway is very similar to Grammarly in that it checks spelling, grammar, and tone of voice. I find it especially useful because it clearly highlights “easy” or “difficult” to read sentences. It also checks complex issues such as passive vs active voice.
3. Don’t be afraid to look up proofreading rules
Not everyone got an A in English, and not everyone has memorized the MLA style guide. For those students who don’t know grammar super well, taking the time to do a bit of research can really pay off.
Grammar and punctuation rules are definitely mundane, but that doesn’t mean they’re unimportant. This is especially true when it comes to your future and how those who control your future will look at your work. It shouldn’t be the main focus of your essay, but making sure you have a good handle on basic punctuation will pay off big time.
4. Get a fresh set of eyes to give you feedback
As you spend more time planning, writing, and revising your college application essay, you run the risk of tunnel-vision. You might miss something important. Or you might go too far in one direction.
This is where a friendly assessment by a trusted teacher, friend, mentor, or parent will go a long way. Besides getting a separate (and often educated) perspective, you’re going to get advice from someone close to you who cares. Personal statements should be personal!
So getting someone you have a personal relationship with to help you is a huge plus in the long-run. Remember, allowing yourself to be exposed to criticism will go a long way to improving your writing and self-awareness in the future.
5. Take a break to reset
Handing your college application essay off to a friend also gives you a much needed break to reset and revise. It’s hard enough to summarize your entire life experience into just 650 words. So doing it in just one writing session or evening doesn’t make sense.
Spend 1–2 hours over a week on the essay. Once you get to the point where proofreading is appropriate, print out the draft and read it aloud. Go to sleep and when you wake up, read it immediately and see what jumps or doesn’t jump out at you.
6. Consider professional admissions essay editing
Most of the tips so far can be categorized as either time or effort. College is the most important part of many applicants’ lives, so taking the time and effort to tackle every angle shouldn’t come as a surprise.
But what about going to the next level? That’s where desire and self-awareness come into play.
High-achieving students have the desire to take their work to the next level, and they are self-aware enough to know they could use a little help. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Articles about college application essay editing and proofreading services are everywhere on the Internet.
These admissions essay proofreading services take that self-haircut you gave yourself in the mirror and spiff it up into a salon-quality hairdo. It’s still you! But it’s the best version of you made possible by someone with lots of experience. If a haircut got you a job, wouldn’t you do it? That’s the mindset of more and more students applying to top-level colleges these days.
In the end, it’s all about the time, effort, and desire you bring to the table. That’s what the college admissions essay is actually about and how it can set you above (or below) your competition. Hopefully, you can consider one or all of these helpful hints!
Note: All images courtesy of Icons8.com
