<p>I’ve been looking for a list of tips for making and refining those all-important essays, but we seem to be missing a thread on this, so I thought we might create one. To start off, here’s what I can think of off the top of my head:</p>
<li><p>Show, don’t tell. Instead of “I’ve always been a hard worker,” write something like “I spent countless hours studying in the evenings, only pausing to relight the candle by whose flickering light I worked…” OK, maybe don’t be so dramatic, but you get the idea.</p></li>
<li><p>After you write the essay, get an English teacher or someone like that to double-check the grammar for you. (Microsoft Word and similiar spell-checkers don’t always catch errors).</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t use big words like “parlance”, “ambivalent” and “obsequious” just for the sake of it.</p></li>
<li><p>The essay should not reiterate things that can be found elsewhere. Stuff like “I have 2400 SATs, a 4.0 GPA and found a new species of toad” or “Harvard was originally built in 1600 by a wealthy but eccentric oil baron named Christopher Harvard” is unnecessary, so leave it out (I made that last one up, btw :)).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If all you brainboxes out there can come up with anything else, please do so ^^.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>