<p>I need some words or phrase that packs more of a punch than “require hard work”</p>
<p>thanks in advance</p>
<p>demanding; challenging; require me to give my best shot; well that’s all I know. if thats helpful.</p>
<p>Require demanding and strenuous effort or input. </p>
<p>I think require is a fine word here. The only reason not to use it is if you had used it elsewhere in the immediately surrounding context.</p>
<p>To make a generalization, using such a phrase is a red flag for telling and not showing. Whether you say “hard work” or “strenuous effort” (the latter is more contrived and thus worse for a college essay) doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t have to tell an adcom that. If you’re using your essay to impress upon adcoms that one of your activities or something you’ve done is difficult… you should show them how and why. Don’t insult them by just telling them it’s difficult (they probably would be able to assume that anyway).</p>
<p>I agree. with notanengineer</p>