Ax these 4 lines from your college essay

June 12, 2026

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2 minutes

to read

#writewithpurpose #editing

Fluff – a word that brings to mind cuddly teddy bears, nap-enticing pillows, and writing that uses a whole bunch of words to say a whole lot of nothing.

If you’re looking for a way to trim down your college essay while simultaneously giving it more of a punch, then stay tuned for 4 sentences that ought to be axed:

1 — ❌ “This experience shaped me into the person I am today.”

Yyyyup. That’s kinda how life works – by default, things that happen in the past influence who we are now. It’s stating the obvious.

Instead, show us specifically how that experience shaped you. Perhaps it left you with a question to be explored, a habit to be cultivated, or a mission to be pursued?

2 — ❌ “I learned the value of hard work and perseverance.”

I’ll be honest, this one gives me children’s book vibes. You know like how in The Little Engine That Could, that cheerful blue little train kept repeating “I think I can, I think I can” as it struggled to haul a stranded cargo of toys and food over a steep mountain, eventually delivering them successfully to the good boys and girls of the town?

That all-American folktale has a beautiful moral, of course – but it’s one that’s already well established in our culture. Parroting it in your college essay won’t sound impressive. Instead, really think about something deep that life has taught you as a young adult and set up your story so that admissions readers can infer what you learned.

3 — ❌ “I stepped out of my comfort zone.”

Boy oh boy, has this once-trendy turn of phrase become majorly overused in college essays! Kind of like a joke you’ve heard so many times that you start rolling your eyes before the punchline.

One strategy here is to simply explain what you did that was uncomfortable or unpredictable yet (hopefully) rewarding. The other thing you could do is spin and play with the cliché itself, like so: “I didn’t exactly go outside my comfort zone – I negotiated with it, one awkward conversation at a time.”

4 — ❌ “I will never forget that day.”

“Well, I certainly hope not – you just wrote 650 words on it!” a hypothetical admissions officer exclaims, throwing up their hands at this melodramatic sentence in your conclusion.

Pro tip: Make your story original, profound, and emotionally resonant enough to stick in the mind of your reader long after they’ve finished reading it. Also, note your entire college application will probably be evaluated in as little as 8 minutes, if not less – so make every part of it memorable!