Hey everybody,
I just noticed while looking back through my app, but in a couple of the Brown essays, I repeated the same phrase.
On the extracurricular one, I said “Computer science incorporates the skills I most admire—reasoning and creativity.”
On the why major one I said “Computer science and entrepreneurship are two areas-of-study that captivate me. Both incorporate the skills I most admire—reasoning and creativity.”
I was wondering whether this would be noticed, and if so, whether it would be seen in a negative light. I seriously don’t know how this happened. I’m not sure whether I copied and pasted the phrase or subconsciously thought of the exact same line!
Thanks in advance.
If you’ve already submitted, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. I seriously doubt that admissions would read these two lines and use them as the only reason to deny you admission. So don’t lose sleep over it.
You should try to avoid this simply because, given the limited word counts, it’s a waste to repeat yourself.
And for future reference - areas of study is not hyphenated, unless you are turning it into an adjective. (And I doubt that will get you rejected, either.)
Since we’re on the subject…you also should have used a colon, not a dash.
“Computer science incorporates the skills I most admire: reasoning and creativity.”
I bet most of the people reading your essays don’t even know how to properly use a colon anyway. This is why whenever I apply for anything I never look at it again once I click submit.
Thanks for the grammar tips, I’ll keep them in mind for the rest of my essays. 