Here’s some surefire ways to make your essays appear unpolished and your writing unprofessional.
Whenever we see these, we wince. If we get these just once, OK. Not some egregious sin. But when they’re repeated over and over and over again in flagrant disregard for the fact that this is supposed to be a formal essay you’re writing to a complete stranger whom you want to impress…. well.
Writing Tics and Other Sloppy Habits
Obviously this is stuff you want to NOT DO.
- Writing values as: $3 million dollars
(Gosh this one bugs us!) Or wait, do you work in the Department of Redundancy Department? - While we’re on the subject: Using different notations for the same value, e.g., “a $30M project” and later on the same page, you write “$100 million in revenue.” Pick one convention and stick to it throughout.
- Using ampersands anywhere.
There’s very few exceptions where ampersands are acceptable; one is an abbreviation like “P&L” (generally abbreviations should be avoided); another is in a company name like “Johnson & Johnson”. Anywhere else? Nope it don’t fly. This includes stuff like “sales & marketing” – using an ampersand there is lazy. You really can’t afford the effort to peck out two more keys on your keyboard for the full a-n-d word? Also this rule applies on both resumes and essays but it’s way worse on essays.
These are just a few of the small things that conspire to annoy us as readers of your essays. We’re certain that they annoy adcom readers, too. We’d like to say that you’re not going to be rejected for these issues, but we also know that too many occurrences of such roughshod writing will create a perception and appearance that you Just. Don’t. Care.
You may also be interested in:
- 10 Really Bad Ideas that Won’t Go Away (December 2011)
feniris says
One thing on abbreviations – it’s not so much as I’m lazy as I’m trying to save word count. For example, Global Management Immersion Experience is 4 words and GMIX is just one. I would surely use the full name if word count is not a factor.. but it feels a little wasteful to waste 3 words multiplied by the 3 times I use GMIX in the essay for a program they know very well. Even at the information sessions, the ad coms themselves call it GMIX.
I agree that over abbreviating looks sloppy but if I’m planning to use write about a club experience throughout the essay, can’t I just call it University of Monte Carlo Engineering Consulting Club (UMCECC) the first time and refer back to it as UMCECC throughout the essay? Otherwise that’s 6 extra words every time I reference the club.
essaysnark says
This is different, and we’re glad you brought it up. It’s acceptable (mostly) to use the school-standard acronyms for its specific programs, like GMIX; the GSB adcom will obviously know what that is. Just don’t treat acronyms with too much familiarity; sometimes people toss them around like they’re insiders already and it’s a little obnoxious. The main reason for our “no acronyms” stance is because of that, and because people assume that everyone knows what TCO and DCF and JSON are – and writing that way gets in the way of comprehension for the reader. However, for the school’s own programs, then yes, the usage you described in the second paragraph is perfect – write out entire name and include the acronym in parenthesis, and then you can use the acronym from there. We don’t often see people able to devote so much essay real estate to a discussion of single club though and often the acronym never gets used again, in which case, ditch the parenthetical.
Thanks for the comment, valid point.
Intrader says
Similar question – Is it ok to abbreviate names of programs? (Harvard Business School = HBS, Stanford Graduate School of Business = GSB)
Again, this is for word count issues…
essaysnark says
Not crazy about that as it sounds overly familiar, like you’re an insider already. Essays should have a more professional, formal tone.
Matt says
Is it okay to say KGS instead of King George Square in an essay?
essaysnark says
Given that we’ve never heard of either KGS or King George Square, we’d have to say no. Perhaps if you’re applying to a school that’s in a 10-block radius of it, you could say “KGS” – but we wouldn’t.
Yee says
,e,,e,e,e,e,e,e,,e,e
essaysnark says
???