6 Secrets to Proofreading Your College Admissions Essay

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6 Secrets to Proofreading Your College Admissions Essay

So, you’ve been revising until your eyes gloss over? Words are all starting to look the same and you’re reciting your admissions essay in your sleep? Professional authors spend a long time figuring out just what proofreading process works for them. Here’s the trick for the last step of this writing process: start off with plenty of material (don’t worry about word count until that whole story is there on the page) and then get ready to polish it using the following tips.

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4 Amazing College Prep Resources Every Student Needs

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4 Amazing College Prep Resources Every Student Needs

1) If you need help proofreading your admissions essay

I just discovered Grammarly recently, and love it! It’s a new (free) tool that can catch typos, which is so important when proofreading your Common App before submission. I already discussed the secrets to proofreading your admissions essay, but this is a great secondary tool to use in addition to reading the draft out loud and showing it to someone who’s never seen it. Of course, no online tool can compare to an experienced editor, but this a wonderful supplement if your eyes are losing focus. Just download the Chrome extension and boom! Good to go.

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How to Cut Down Your Admissions Essay for Word Count

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How to Cut Down Your Admissions Essay for Word Count

First, print out your essay and write in the margin next to every paragraph what each paragraph is about in 2-3 words (“tension with heritage,” for example). If you’re having trouble summarizing what each paragraph is about, go back and rewrite it. Once you’re done with this exercise, you’ll be able to see which paragraphs are superfluous and which are worth keeping.

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Your Last-Minute Admissions Essay Checklist

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Your Last-Minute Admissions Essay Checklist

Overusing adverbs (basically, essentially, actually) means that your verbs are not strong enough on their own. Wordy phrases and fragments slow down your narrative. Pedantic words like “myriad” and “plethora” should only be used if you know what they mean - otherwise you come across as someone disingenuous who used athesaurus to sound smarter (something admissions officers can easily see through.)

Inspired by Karyn, here are a few more things I would add to your admissions essay checklist for before you submit:

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The One Thing Most Students Forget Before Submitting Their Admissions Essay

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The One Thing Most Students Forget Before Submitting Their Admissions Essay

You spent months perfecting your essay, going through multiple revisions and edits. You've cut the cliches and got it down to word count. You've finessed the opening and closing lines to eye-catching perfection. Everyone from your counselor to your mom's cousin twice removed has proofread it and given it their seal of approval. Maybe you've even hired a guru or two to give it the professional once (or twice) over.

Now all you have to do is click submit, right? And then you'll breathe the sweet victory of completion.

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