What do you do when you suck at writing?

College Essays
1

This is probably giving me the most stress out of the whole application process. I can’t write for crap and it doesn’t look like it’s improving anytime soon. All my essays lack clear articulation and it sounds so choppy and rigid, and gives me tremendous amount of anxiety every time I start any essay. It is especially hard since all the schools i’m applying to (Bowdoin, Brown, Northwestern, Vassar, etc) are all academically rigorous and expect proficiency in writing. sigh Maybe i’m just reading too many essay examples from kids who posted them online, and i’m constantly comparing myself to them.

Any advice to overcome this hurdle?

EDIT: Just some more details if it’s too ambigious, but I lack the nuance that I see some writers have. I don’t have a strong diction; I don’t have pretty phrasing; I can’t tell a story without it coming out too ambiguously or too general; sometimes my writing comes out as really simple.

2

Can you talk? Better at speaking than writing?
Answer the questions through a voice recorder. Pretend you’re telling a friend your thoughts.
Write down your answers verbatim and edit.
Organize those thoughts again and rewrite,
Read it back over the voice recorder and see if it rings true.
Write it out and edit again.

3

Ideas:

  1. Use strong verbs.

Tell me which of these you think sounds better:

  • I had a cheeseburger for dinner.
  • I devoured a cheeseburger for dinner.
  1. Use good segues to cut down on the choppiness: In addition, Further(more), For example, Despite/In spite of, Due to the, etc.
  2. The oldest lesson in the book: Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, and tell 'em what you told 'em.
1 Like
4

Google Janine Robinson. She offers the best college essay advice online and you can also purchase her books from amazon.

5

Just googled her for you. My son used her guides and thought they were really helpful.

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