<p>How do you feel about including words such as "crap" or "damn" inside your essays? I mean, with the draft I have, I have a single uttered phrase that includes "damn" and I was wondering if I should excise it (and gain one word to use elsewhere haha)</p>
<p>i personally wouldn't include them.. i'd replace them with other, less heavy words.. i'm not sure how the admissions people would look at those words (they may not care, but i'm not sure)</p>
<p>I wouldn't suggest crap. I could see damn being alright though if the context is fitting.</p>
<p>what about "ass"? i have it in a short dialogue in a quote from a teammate, as in, "work your ass off." and that's the way we talk, so i feel the dialogue is most realistic that way. i mean, it's not like we're gonna say, "work your tuckus off."</p>
<p>^^ You could say "work your butts off." That's pretty close and the admissions people might see where you were going with it.</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing, though. They should have a policy for this or something.</p>
<p>They don't need to have a policy. Use common sense. If another word can be easily substituted (such as 'butt' above), then that's the sensible thing to do. If not, then think about whether the word is truly necessary to your essay. Swearing in writing, as in speech, is often a substitute for more profound thought. ;)</p>