September 3rd, 2010
Yesterday we touched on some basic tips for improving your writing and making a lasting impression on over-worked admissions officers. Today we’d like to flip the script a bit and show you what not to do in your application essays.
These errors are all too common, and they’re the kinds of things that can sink an application for good. Letting yourself be sloppy, cliched, repetitive, or negative won’t just make your essays forgettable, they can even actively work against you, ruining whatever goodwill the rest of your application has engendered with the person reading it.
So without further adieu, make sure you never make these common mistakes:
- Don’t litter your essay with quotes from others
- Don’t go thesaurus-happy
- Don’t generalize or stereotype
- Don’t use profanity or crass humor
- Don’t use stuffy language
Take a look at our more comprehensive list of writing styles to avoid and see what other kinds of common errors you can be sure to look out for.
Tags: Admissions, avoid, CEO, College, College Essay Organizer, Common App, Deadline, Essay, Guidance Counselor, Guide, Help, Humor, mistake, News, Organization, Overwhelming, personal, Plagiarism, procrastination, Recommendation, Tips, university
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April 19th, 2010
Our CEO and founder Daniel Stern is quoted in this New York Times article on plagiarism. One of the unexpected – but great – side effects of CEO’s service is that it cuts down on plagiarism. And maybe better yet for the more ethical time-strapped teens we help, it cuts down on that nagging urge to plagiarize.
I mean, it’s right there. Copy. Paste. Done. Why not? It’s a time saver. And the colleges aren’t doing you any favors there by making their applications so similar, yet not identical. Why not take just a little help from your friends?
It’s an ethical issue everyone wrestles with, especially when doing work you’re not necessarily pouring your heart and soul into. But where CEO comes to the rescue is in the focus and ethical re-application of the work you’ve already done for your other apps. It cuts down on the work you need to do, making the apps especially easy for those sure-bet and safety schools you have on your list. For sure, by the time you get to those apps, you’ve outlined your grand life plan in five hundred words or less enough times. No need to do it again, right? Right.
Now thank CEO instead of the command-v.
Tags: accomplishments, Admissions, avoid, CEO, College, College Essay Organizer, Common App, Deadline, early decision, Essay, Grades, Guide, Help, mistake, New York Times, News, Overwhelming, personal, Plagiarism, procrastination, Regular Decision, School, statement, Tips, Top Choice, university
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March 19th, 2010
There is no better opening. But you cannot have this opening. Sorry.
Tom Robinson at Today’s Campus Online recently addressed an issue that we’ve found CEO is well-designed to defeat, that of plagiarism in college essays.
Robinson discusses a recently published study that a jaw-dropping 36 percent of personal statements were found to include “significant matching text” when put through plagiarism-checking software, leading the researchers to believe that more than a third of all applicants were lifting parts or all of their college essays.
There are a whole lot of issues that come to mind when discussing this, not least of which are the problems of the naturally overloaded guidance counselors of America. Without meaningful one-on-one collaboration between students and faculty, it can be difficult for writers to be aware of the significant differences between the college essay and the standard five-paragraph essays they’ve been expected to churn out for years.
Another significant issue is the overwhelming amount of work that seniors are saddled with each fall. Most have their hearts set on an individual school, and if their early applications are denied, are often surprised to learn the actual amount of writing they have to do for their other applications. Panic sets in, and cheating begins to feel inevitable.
Our president and CEO, Daniel Stern, is quoted in Robinson’s article and talks about how CEO provides an ethical solution.
For juniors who are looking to avoid that time crunch in the first place, we’ve offered steep discounts, encouraging them to get started ahead of time and capitalize on the free time available in the summer.
For seniors, we provide an automatic, low-cost solution to the organizational challenge they’re bound to face, and we show them how to repurpose the work they’ve already done for many applications without resorting to taking others’ words.
Hey, if putting a dent in plagiarism is our good deed for the day then it’s been a good day. Shoot us an email and let us know what CEO’s doing right for you.
Tags: Admissions, avoid, CEO, College, College Essay Organizer, Common App, Deadline, early decision, Essay, Guide, Help, mistake, News, Organization, Overwhelming, personal, Plagiarism, procrastination, Regular Decision, School, statement, Tips, Today's Campus Online, Top Choice, university
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