<p>Should I use as many big words as possible in my application essays, or should I use them sparingly? Which do colleges prefer?</p>
<p>they don't look at every single word, unless it's one clearly out of place. what matters is the overall clarity.
you should use a style that fits you. writing the essay in your own words then using Word's synonyms to replace with the biggest word is a very bad idea.
Instead use a dictionary to make sure the word says exactly what you meant it to.</p>
<p>1q2w:</p>
<p>First off, the fact that you're asking this question would make it likely that you're from a vocabulary poor environment. I don't say that to be mean. It's just that people who think in terms of "big words" and "normal words" are generally not brought up in families that tend to use a great variety of words in order to capture fine shades of meaning.</p>
<p>I say all this because I think it's relevant to your situation. If you attempt to use "big words" in your essay, you are very, very likely to misuse them. The issue is not one of "big" of "little," but of context, precision in meaning, subtle nuance, and the like. If you were an avid reader and writer, you might have acquired a feel for this. Otherwise, an essay attempting to use words with which you are unfamiliar will end in disaster.</p>
<p>Write it in the words that pop up in your head.</p>
<p>Use words that convey a message instead of impressing the adcoms by using big words (which has its own risks as mentioned above).</p>
<p>Just make sure that your grammar and punctuation is as good as you can make it, rather than worry about word choice (i.e. big vs. normal). Your ability to convey a message is what the adcoms are concerned with.</p>
<p>the whole "vocabulary poor environment" is bs. What you need to do is follow negru's advice. Go to dictionary.com and find words that are "more fitting" to your essay. Just make sure it's not some obscure word that everyone who reads your essay has no idea what it means. Make sure you don't lose ur voice in the process but also don't settle for "small words."</p>
<p>it is hard to understand the true meaning of the word from its dictionary definition, in fact the only way to really understand a word is to see it in context over and over again</p>
<p>whenever a "big word" appears forced or out of place, it makes your essay seem pretentious</p>
<p>Tarhunt is a snob. most teenagers don't use advanced words when talking with one another, but do so in papers, etc. that could explain the big words vs. normal words.</p>
<p>good authors choose every word carefully. elated means happy, but means a different type of happy than jovial. You need a very strong vocabulary and to be very well read to choose the right words. You are too young to be that well read and i doubt you have the vocabulary (i am just like you btw). Do not use big words. If you are plain spoken, write in "normal words". Just make sure everything is in place and makes sense.</p>
<p>Dictionary.com?! Oh for the love of semantic, please don't. I've done some proofreading for highschool students applying to college, and they love using complicated adjectives and verbs. Why? Half of the time, they aren't even using them right. I shook my head when they told me their SAT verbal score.</p>
<p>"No, with a 590 verbal score, don't tell me you can use ephemeral to describe your 'short fingers,' ephemeral denotes temporal, not spatial dimension, you Professor Higgins-wanna-be. Stop using the thesaurus of Dictionary.com." Of course, all of this was only in my head while reading the essay.</p>
<p>Admissions readers aren't wordsmith; they want a precise, accurate, and articulate essay. Not, and I repeat, NOT a wordy essay. Hemingway didn't use complicated vocabularies, but that still got him a Nobel. What's important is your syntax and story. Descriptive words are helpful, but don't make them bear your whole essay on their back.</p>