A college essay is a form of academic writing that students are often required to complete to apply to college. It is a document that allows prospective students to tell the admissions office or the university why they are the person to accept into the school.
Most college essays, or admissions essays, are required for students applying to competitive or elite schools.
These schools want to know more about students’ interests, goals, and values. The college essay can help a student convey these things.
When writing a college essay, you are giving yourself a chance to sell yourself to the admission board or university. You are selling yourself on paper, and the college is buying, but they won’t buy a bad product.
You have to prove that you deserve to be let into their school. A college essay is not only about telling the admissions board what you have done in your life, it is also about telling them why you deserve to be let into their school.
Features of the Worst College Essay Ever
There is nothing more important in college than the essays you will be asked to write; you will not pass without them.
With the help of different sources like movies, books, and articles, we can find several bad examples of college essays. So, it is quite natural to ask the question: what are the features of the worst college essay ever?
1. Badly Chosen Topic
As you know, you don’t need to write your college essay from scratch. There are many topics you can use. But you need to be careful when choosing one. Some topics are not that good. The topic of “the worst college essay ever” is one of them.
The topic is vague and doesn’t give you a lot to work with. You need to be able to write this essay in a very short time frame. This is why you have to choose a topic that will work for you.
Some bad topics suggest that you don’t have a good sense of judgment or maturity, which can be problematic since colleges want to bring in students who will be able to handle independent life on campus.
2. Wrongly Executed Essay
Students must learn how to read carefully and make sure that they have done their part by following a specific set of instructions exactly.
One way to mess this up is to ignore prompt instructions. The admissions officers will see that you don’t have any experience at adhering to instruction
Another way to get this part wrong is by being unclear in your essay and wrong usage of punctuation marks. While this might be a mistake, it shows that you do not know how to write ( which you were supposed to learn in high school).
3. Too Off-Topic
Unlike the academic essays you’ve probably been used to writing up to this point, college essay questions will very rarely call for you to describe or generalize about things outside of yourself.
For example, in a bad college essay, you fin applicants talking about their grandmother too much and forget about themselves.
While other topics might make interesting subjects for an analytical essay, the context of your admissions essay is going to require that it be largely focused on describing who you are, and what makes you such a good fit for a particular college.
To make your application stand out from among the many others that were submitted, you will need to refrain from getting off-topic.
4. Too Personal and Overconfident
The problem with talking about writing an overly personal essay is that it may give the impression that you’re not mature and that you do not understand boundaries.
You need to demonstrate that once you get into college or university, you are going to be able to respect a lot of boundaries.
Too personal essays do not help. Such essays include too many details about your life, overpraising yourself, and revealing immoral actions that you engaged did.
How to Write a Good College Essay
1. Read and Follow Instructions to the Latter
Application essay instructions and guidelines are there for a reason.
If you do not follow them, the admissions officer may assume that you disregard the rules of the school or university, which would make them uncomfortable choosing you over another student.
For example, there are page and word limits are mentioned, and if you’re unable to stick to these rules, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.
2. Write a Great Introduction
Everyone knows that college applications are extremely competitive these days, so applicants have to write strong essays to get noticed.
Be sure not to begin your essay with a dull, uninteresting opening that will put off the admissions board immediately.
Beware the temptation of starting with apologies or too much unnecessary background information.
Admissions officers want to know what you’re going to reveal, so make sure you whet their appetite by giving them a great introduction which will leave them wanting more!
3. Uses a Clear Outline
Although this is a creative essay, it needs a proper outline to ensure adherence to the word count. An outline also helps you avoid writing a bunch of words that have no meaning. The general outline includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
In the body section, decide on the main ideas that you want to express to be clear and concise without exceeding the word limit.
4. Base the Essay on Your Genuine Belief
Most students do the mistake of basing their admission essays on other essays they have read. While it’s good to check some examples, do not allow yourself to be influenced by them.
Remember this is your chance to impress the admission officer with your knowledge. Therefore, make sure the essay reflects the real you and what you learned from the experiences.
5. Get Someone to Proofread your Essay
Considering the admission offices have many essays to read, bad grammar, incorrect spelling, and the wrong usage of punctuation put them off.
To make sure you catch these mistakes, it is vital to thoroughly proofread your essay severally. Check some of our college admission tips to know what you should do to pass it.
However, proofreading on your own severally can be your undoing since you might not see some of your mistakes. Therefore, ask your parents, or teacher to proofread for you.
What to Do if you Write your Worst College Essay Ever
1. Learn How to Write
Sometimes, you may write a bad essay just because you can’t write essays well or you do not know.
However, be encouraged to know that writing the worst college essay is not the end of the road for you.
You can always learn how to write.
There are several resources on the internet that can help you learn how to write.
Read another essay and get an idea of what the admission officer expects.
2. Contact Your Teacher
One other thing to do if you write your worst essay is to contact your teacher for help. Do not ignore these guys. Most of them have been there before you and they can give invaluable insight into college essays.
3. Seek Academic Tutors
One thing about academic tutors is that they can help you write anything. Academic essays, admission essays, dissertations, and so much more.
If you are stuck with your admission essay, it’s only wise to seek an academic tutor who can help you.
3. Hire an Expert Essay Writer
College essay writing is not an easy task. It requires a lot of time, experience, and knowledge.
If you are not capable of writing an admission essay or any other type of academic paper, seek essay help.
It is better to hire a professional writer, who can do the job most efficiently.
There are a lot of companies, which offer academic services.
You must pick the right one; an expert in the field of your paper.
4. Try Writing More
A lot of people are afraid to try writing more because they think they have to have some sort of expertise or talent to write a lot. The reality is that the people who are considered to be the greatest writers in the world don’t even think about that stuff.
They just try to write. You’re not going to be Shakespeare tomorrow. But if you just try to write every day and you try to come up with new ideas, you’ll eventually write a better college essay.
5 Examples of Worst College Essay Topics/Prompts
- Tragedy – death, divorce, abuse
- Moving to a different part of the country
- Your religious institution or faith
- Romantic relationships and breakups
- Working hard in a challenging class
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Joseph is a freelance journalist and a part-time writer with a particular interest in the gig economy. He writes about schooling, college life, and changing trends in education. When not writing, Joseph is hiking or playing chess.