Your college essay is your chance to stand out from thousands of other applicants. It’s a reflection of your personality, voice, and unique perspective.
Unfortunately, many students fall into predictable traps that make their essays forgettable or even counterproductive.
In this post, we have shared common essay mistakes, complete with examples and actionable advice on how to fix them.
Not only will this help you write good college essays but also improve your chances of making it to your desired college.
Take a look.
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1. The Generic Sports Essay
Bad Example: “Playing basketball taught me teamwork, leadership, and perseverance. When we lost the championship game, I learned that failure is just a stepping stone to success. This experience will help me succeed in college and beyond.”
Why It’s Bad: This essay could be written by thousands of student-athletes. It relies on clichés and doesn’t reveal anything specific about the writer’s personality or unique perspective.
How to Fix It: Focus on a specific, unexpected moment rather than general lessons. Maybe write about the time you accidentally fouled out in the first quarter and had to find a new way to contribute to the team, or how you discovered your love for statistics while tracking team performance.
2. The Volunteer Tourism Essay
Bad Example: “My mission trip to Guatemala opened my eyes to how privileged I am. Seeing the poverty there made me want to help others and pursue a career in medicine. The children’s smiles despite their hardships taught me what really matters in life.”
Why It’s Bad: This essay centers the writer’s “awakening” rather than the people they supposedly want to help. It’s also a common topic that often comes across as performative or superficial.
How to Fix It: If you must write about service, focus on sustained local work rather than short-term trips. Write about what you learned about yourself through consistent action, not what you learned about “other people’s problems.”
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3. The Thesaurus Disaster
Bad Example: “My peregrination through the labyrinthine corridors of intellectual curiosity has been nothing short of transcendent. This odyssey of cerebral development has cultivated my perspicacious nature and augmented my capacity for erudite discourse.”
Why It’s Bad: Using unnecessarily complex vocabulary makes you sound pretentious and disconnected from your authentic voice. Admissions officers can spot thesaurus abuse from miles away.
How to Fix It: Write like you talk (but slightly more polished). Use words you would actually use in conversation. Your goal is clear communication, not impressing people with your vocabulary.
4. The Tragedy Olympics
Bad Example: “My life has been defined by struggle. First, my parents divorced when I was seven. Then my grandmother died when I was twelve. In high school, I battled depression and anxiety. Despite all this trauma, I’ve learned to overcome adversity.”
Why It’s Bad: While overcoming challenges can be compelling, listing hardships without showing growth or resilience can come across as seeking sympathy rather than demonstrating strength.
How to Fix It: If you write about challenges, focus on your agency and growth. Show how you actively worked to overcome difficulties and what specific skills or insights you gained. The emphasis should be on your response, not the trauma itself.
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5. The Résumé Rehash
Bad Example: “I’ve been involved in many activities that show my leadership and academic excellence. I was president of National Honor Society, captain of the debate team, and maintained a 4.0 GPA while taking 12 AP classes. I also volunteer at the hospital and play violin in the orchestra.”
Why It’s Bad: Admissions officers already have your résumé and transcript. Simply listing achievements wastes precious essay space and tells them nothing new about who you are.
How to Fix It: Pick one specific experience and dive deep. Show your thought process, your growth, and what this experience reveals about your character. Quality over quantity, always.
6. The Famous Quote Opening
Bad Example: “As Albert Einstein once said, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ This quote perfectly describes my approach to learning and life. Throughout my academic career, I have always valued creativity over memorization.”
Why It’s Bad: Quote openings are overused and often feel disconnected from the rest of the essay. They rarely add meaningful insight and take up valuable space.
How to Fix It: Start with a specific scene, moment, or observation from your own life. Your unique experience is more interesting than a recycled quote that thousands of other students have used.
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7. The “Why I Want to Attend Your School” Mix-Up
Bad Example: “I’ve always dreamed of attending Harvard because of its prestigious reputation and excellent academics. The beautiful campus and strong alumni network make it the perfect place for me to achieve my goals.”
Why It’s Bad: This response could apply to dozens of top schools. It shows no genuine research or understanding of what makes this particular institution unique.
How to Fix It: Research specific programs, professors, opportunities, or aspects of campus culture that genuinely excite you. Connect these to your interests and goals in concrete ways.
8. The Grandiose Mission Statement
Bad Example: “I want to change the world. Ever since I was young, I’ve known that my purpose is to solve global poverty and bring peace to all nations. My education will give me the tools to make this vision a reality.”
Why It’s Bad: While ambition is admirable, vague promises to “change the world” without specific plans or demonstrated commitment come across as naive or insincere.
How to Fix It: Focus on specific, achievable goals that build toward larger aspirations. Show how your past experiences have prepared you for this path and what concrete steps you plan to take.
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9. The Perfectionist Persona
Bad Example: “I have never faced a challenge I couldn’t overcome. My perfectionist nature has driven me to excel in everything I do. I have never received a grade below an A, and I pride myself on never making mistakes.”
Why It’s Bad: Nobody’s perfect, and claiming to be so makes you seem either dishonest or lacking in self-awareness. It also suggests you might struggle with failure in college.
How to Fix It: Show vulnerability and growth. Write about a time you failed, made a mistake, or struggled with something. Focus on what you learned and how you grew from the experience.
10. The Identity Checkbox Essay
Bad Example: “As a Hispanic woman, I face unique challenges in pursuing STEM. My ethnicity has shaped my perspective and made me more determined to succeed. I want to be a role model for other Hispanic women in science.”
Why It’s Bad: While identity can be an important part of your story, reducing yourself to demographic categories without showing your individual personality and experiences creates a flat, predictable essay.
How to Fix It: If you write about your identity, focus on specific moments that shaped you, not general statements about your demographic group. Show how your unique experiences within your identity have influenced your perspective and goals.
Key Principles for a Strong College Essay
Here are some factors to keep in mind when writing a college essay.
Be Specific
Replace general statements with concrete details, specific examples, and personal anecdotes. Instead of “I learned leadership,” describe the exact moment you realized you needed to step up and how you did it.
Show, Don’t Tell
Rather than stating “I am resilient,” show a moment when you demonstrated resilience. Let the reader draw their own conclusions about your character from your actions and choices.
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Find Your Unique Angle
Ask yourself: What story can only I tell? What perspective do I bring that no one else can? This might be an unusual hobby, a family tradition, or a specific way you see the world.
Be Authentic
Write in your own voice, not the voice you think admissions officers want to hear. Authenticity is more compelling than perfection.
Focus on Growth
The best essays show change over time. How did you think differently at the end of your story than at the beginning? What did you learn about yourself?
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Final Thoughts
Your college essay is not about proving you’re perfect or listing all your achievements. It’s about giving admissions officers a glimpse into who you are as a person.
The best essays are often about small moments that reveal big truths about the writer’s character, values, and perspective.
What makes you different isn’t what you’ve done, but how you think, what you notice, and how you’ve grown.
Focus on telling a story that only you can tell.
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