<p>Writing 'University of Michigan' in every paragraph can be really awkward and a wastage of word count.</p>
<p>Is it appropriate abbreviations like UMich (for University of Michigan at Ann Arbor) or UC (University of California)? Does writing the full name seem more formal? </p>
<p>BTW, I did not make up these abbreviations. They have been used by the websites of the universities themselves. </p>
<p>They don’t care</p>
<p>Depends on the tone of the rest of your essay - if it’s not a very formal essay, then there’s no problem with it. The first time you mention the school, you should write out the full name, then refer to it by the abbreviation all instances afterward (if you decide you are going for a less formal essay).</p>
<p>Aren’t university application essays best formal?</p>
<p>@determined2300 thy are best reflecting the type of person you are - if you’re a relaxed person, then you are fine to go for a less casual essay. If you speak very formally, then write formally. Obviously, don’t swear or use slang, but if you’re funny, write a funny essay, etc. </p>
<p>If your writing is too formal, you start to sound pretentious and your essay loses credibility.</p>
<p>it does depend on the kind of essay you are writing, but usually not using abbreviations or contractions is the way to go. just in case. tone can be set through sentence structure and the words you use. think of it as if you were talking. Some people get really bummed when you use words like asap or thurs. instead of Thursday. in that case it would also depend what you are abbreviating. i went with no abbreviations and no contractions on any of my essays.</p>
<p>@silvermightedm OP mentions exactly what they were going to abbreviate in their post - the names of the schools - these acronyms and abbreviations are probably just as commonly used as the full name of the school itself. Of course, no one would write “Thurs.” or “ASAP”, haha.</p>
<p>sorry, i skimmed. mhehe. but i made my point.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters, especially a school like University of Chicago - UChicago is a pretty ubiquitous term, they use it themselves on their website everywhere.</p>
<p>I imagine it wouldn’t really matter elsewhere too.</p>
<p>From UMich Admissions tumblr. (<a href=“http://umichadmissions.■■■■■■■■■■/post/98720955107/can-i-abbreviate-university-of-michigan-to-um-or”>http://umichadmissions.■■■■■■■■■■/post/98720955107/can-i-abbreviate-university-of-michigan-to-um-or</a>)</p>
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<p>Thanks @LAMuniv @silvermightedm @Ctesiphon @nicholaskeller </p>
<p>I appreciate the response :)</p>