My application question is to tell the college something about me and I wanted to start of with a bit humor. Is it okay if I use an ellipses in this way?
Sentence: My life story…mhm, I don’t know where to begin.
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Sure, why not? It’s fine.
These essays are not graded. They are about insight into your personality. If the essay was riddled with grammar and punctuation errors, that would be one thing, but your use of the ellipsis is clearly deliberate.
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Can you use ellipses? Yes. Is your example one you should use? No, not only because it eats into word count
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FYI, please don’t post anymore of your essay here. That’s rule #1 of this forum. I don’t think there is much to be plagiarized at the moment 
, but you don’t want to be in that situation.
Also, FWIW, I suggest you use “hmmm” instead of “mhm” if you stick with this sentence.
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it wasn’t a part of my essay it was another scenario
sorry if i made it seem that way
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Does the form of your ellipses (i.e., no bracketing spaces) comport with that in any style guide?
In any case, I hear different punctuation for your intended meaning: “My life story? Hmmm, I don’t know where to begin . . . .”
(But you do kind of have to know where to begin, otherwise your paragraph can go nowhere.)
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This isn’t specific to application essays, but when I review/edit writing, one of the first things I do is see if the first two to three sentences can be deleted. Often, people don’t actually start saying anything of substance until after those. And sometimes their best intro sentence is buried somewhere even farther down in a subsequent paragraph.
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You can use ellipses sparingly, but I always advise not using too many of these kinds of devices (ellipses, em-dashes, parenthetical statements, sentence fragments for emphasis, etc.). Using them sparsely is fine and builds rhythm and voice in your writing – relying on them too much becomes distracting and repetitive, taking attention away from your ideas.
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@YoLo2 I am finding the same is true for last sentences!
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I agree and IMO is at least partially due to inexperienced college essay writers/editors (including some English teachers) telling students they need introductory and/or concluding sentences/paragraphs. College essays should not be like a typical English class five paragraph essay.
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I think the effort to be clever, creative and “unique” accounts for part of the problem 
Some can pull it off, but many can’t.
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Maybe, but if that thinking gets the student off the idea of a five paragraph essay, it’s worth it.
To answer the OP, IME at the speed that AOs read the personal statement, punctuation matters very little…but do have punctuation please! And this is considering/in context that only a small subset of schools care about the personal statement.
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Writing doesn’t have to comply with a style guide. There is a basic expectation of correct punctuation and grammar usage so that the reader is able to comprehend the intent, but not much beyond that.
I see dozens of student essays every year and trust me, 99% of teens do not know or use perfect punctuation and grammar. And it doesn’t matter, at least for personal statements, as long as intent is clear.
Now, kids will run into trouble with incorrect punctuation if they use too many or too few commas, or never put a period where one should be, or punctuate or use grammar so badly that it distracts from the goal: understanding who this person is.
It’s very difficult to have understood my intent when I am saying I enjoy cooking my dog and my family. Its also hard, to understand when students: who want to convey of enjoyment of cooking their dog, and their family.
Of course, the student means: I enjoy cooking, my dog, and my family. But the other “versions” are so bad that, frankly, I don’t care what they enjoy. I’m probably not going to be impressed by a student who writes unintelligibly.
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Hi! I was wondering from your profile if you could help me with a supplemental I wrote for my college app essay and I would really appreciate some feedbacks. only if you want!
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Hi @poplockdance. I would love to help. Go to this thread to submit a request and you can ask for me. FOLLOW These Instructions to Get Essay Help! - College Essays / Essay Feedback - College Confidential Forums