How to avoid cliche in the commonapp essay?

[Bradleycard]

<p>I keep brainstorming ideas only to discard them before writing because I feel they are bound to end up “cliche”. My question is, how do I avoid cliche in my commonapp essay?</p>

<p>If anyone can email or DM me
regarding my specific ideas and whether they’re cliche I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!</p>

[muhammad9211]

<p>Nothing is cliched if u write with a unique perspective. Said by i think the yale admission officer</p>

[gibby]

<p>Have you read: <a href=“Going Beyond Cliché: How to Write a Great College Essay - The New York Times”>Going Beyond Cliché: How to Write a Great College Essay - The New York Times;

<p>

the following 15 prompts to help generate more ideas:</p>

<p>A significant relationship I had or have:
A treasured object I possess:
A time I took a risk:
A time I felt humbled:
One thing very few people know about me is:
Something I regret:
A time when I was, or felt, rejected:
Something I am really proud of:
Something that changed the way I think or look at the world:
How I am different from most people I know:
My greatest fear:
A time I felt truly satisfied:
A person I admire:
An object I own that tells a lot about me:
Something funny that I did or that happened to me:

</p>

<p>[How</a> To Write A College Essay | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/how-to-write-a-college-essay]How”>How To Write A College Essay | MIT Admissions)</p>

<p>

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

</p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://victorysteponline.blogspot.com/2011/08/avoiding-cliches-in-your-personal-essay.html]The”>The official blog of Victory Step - SAT/ACT Prep in Dallas-Ft. Worth Metropolitan Area: Avoiding Clichés in Your Personal Essay]The</a> official blog of Victory Step - SAT/ACT Prep in Dallas-Ft. Worth Metropolitan Area: Avoiding Clich</p>

[Thebeatlestoday]

<p>Bradleycard: PM me with your essay. As someone who does a lot of creative writing, I’m constantly searching my work–and others’!–for overused phrases. I’d be happy to read over your essay and scour it for cliches! :)</p>