By: Caroline Koppelman
In the second installment of “Phrases to Avoid,” we have compiled 39 more phrases sourced from real college essays that you should never use under any circumstances. They include unnecessary hyperbole, awkward word choice, and tired cliches among their many problems. In many cases phrases like these are a red flag to an admissions officer, and using any one of them can help land your essay in the rejection pile.
1. I was never satisfied
2. My intellectual curiosity
3. Work to explore limits
4. Diverse group of students
5. Emphasis on diversity
6. Not only did I grow, but I also learned how accept failures
7. It didn’t take me long
8. It is just facts
9. It’s my dream school
10. An impressive faculty authoring publications
11. Knowledge metamorphose into wisdom
12. Clearly a melting pot of brilliant, creative minds, a nerve center for students of diverse talents and interest
13. I have found my new home
14. Defied the odds
15. My dad is my hero, a model of what I want to become
16. Our nation’s best artists
17. I have found the wind that will lift my wings
18. To be open-minded and keep curiosity about new affairs
19. I hence decided
20. I am both interested in and worried about the situation
21. Additional research and analytical skills include
22. As the aforementioned paragraph suggests
23. I mourned the loss
24. I plunged head first into the challenge
25. I have always dreamed of becoming
26. We got the job done
27. Further, in that frantic final feeling
28. My most prized possession
29. The main benefit of being humble
30. I learned so much from the process
31. Unspoken and unyielding influence
32. Free to make my own mistakes
33. Reaching that benchmark
34. I envision my own future
35. We needed a miracle
36. I was incredibly stressed out
37. Breaking the rules
38. I have transformed
39. Life-long ambition