<p>What are all of your thoughts on using the word "you" in a college application essay. I know in essays for high school they always stress to avoid the second person. However, I feel that the college application essay is a different kind of essay were "you" may be appropriate at certain points. What do you all think?</p>
<p>HS teachers get very confused on this. When writing formally, the writer should not use “you” to refer to a hypothetical person. I could rewrite the previous sentence like this: “You shouldn’t use ‘you’ . . . etc.” The word “you” should be reserved for occasions when the writer genuinely refers to the reader: “You will recall that in the previous chapter, excellence was defined . . . blah.” This is the one HS teachers usually forget about, because only the better writers ever think about it. Anyway, if you’re writing formally, there are times when you should and times when you shouldn’t.</p>
<p>Deciding whether to use “you” as that indefinite sort of person should hinge on the level of formality that your essay assumes. Above all else, it should be consistent with the tone of the entire piece. I don’t think that “application essay” as a genre comes with a predefined level of formality. You’ll have to choose that yourself. THEN you can decide if certain uses of “you” are appropriate.</p>
<p>Using “You” isn’t a good idea in formal essay writing. If you are referring to a hypothetical person, use it in the sense like “One should not, People should not,”, etc. I wish it were more like French in this aspect, french have their own little pronoun to not have to say “you” but refer to people in general.</p>
<p>I think it’s kind of circumstantial. If you’re referring to using it in the hypothetical as in “you should always get 8 hours of sleep per night” I would avoid it. “One should always get 8 hours of sleep per night” is the more academically correct way of phrasing it. </p>
<p>It can be used in a direct way. If I say “as one would see upon looking at my transcripts…” it’s going to come across rather oddly. I’m referring directly to the admissions people who are reading this essay. “As you will see, my transcript reflects my…” comes across more naturally and directly. I’m telling THEM that THEY will see what I’m referring to. </p>