College essays aren’t formal, academic pieces of writing like those you write in your English classes. Instead, they should sound like you so the reader can figuratively hear your voice and get a sense of your personality.
Here’s a good way to strike the right tone without being too informal.
1. For everything you write in your college essays, ask yourself, “Would I say this to someone else?”
No athlete in the history of high school athletics has ever said the words, “I personally feel very fortunate to have participated in varsity athletics because it has taught me the value of committing to my goals."
If you wouldn’t say it to someone else, don’t say it in your college essays.
2. Pretend you’re describing this story to a teacher you liked and felt comfortable with.
It’s possible to be too informal in a college essay. It shouldn’t sound like you’re talking to your best friend (and it shouldn’t be written like a text message).
So imagine you were describing your story to a teacher that you liked and felt comfortable with. You wouldn’t talk like you were speaking to your high school principal, but you wouldn’t be quite as relaxed as you’d be if you were just talking with your friends.
Too formal:
“I found chemistry to be a particularly challenging subject, as my natural academic strengths lie with writing.”
Too informal:
“Chemistry is stupid. I’d pretty much rather write 10 papers in my English class than do one problem set in chemistry.”
Just right:
“Chemistry and I just don’t get along. I don’t know what it is about my brain, but it works a lot better when I’m reading Shakespeare than it does when I’m trying to memorize the periodic table.”