<p style="font-weight: 400">So your <a href="https://www.collegeconfidential.com/articles/tone-college-essays" rel="noopener" target="_blank">college essay</a> should fall somewhere on the formality scale between a school research assignment and a story you're telling to a friend over pizza, but leaning<em><i> much </i></em>closer to the latter. Go easy on the slang, but — in some cases — even slang can be appropriate in a college essay. Prose without contractions is apt to read like an English term paper on <em><i>The Scarlet Letter </i></em>and is likely to sound stilted. Of course, you do need to distinguish between acceptable contractions and those that should stay confined to Snapchat. The examples you already cited (don't, won't, isn't) are fine, but steer clear of gonna, gotta, and finna!</p><p style="font-weight: 400">Here's a link to “<a href="https://www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/college-essay-tips" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The College Essay Guy's 35+ Best College Essay Tips from College Application Experts</a>," where “The Dean" was recently quoted. You'll find my own advice down near the end (no. 27). Read it and follow it! Other tips in this blog that address the issue of formality in college essays are numbers five, six, seven (this one confirms what I already said about contractions), nine, 12 and 26.</p><p style="font-weight: 400">You'll often hear the college application essay also called a “Personal Statement." And if you view it that way, too, it may help you to achieve the right level of formality, and it won't scare you off from including contractions.</p><h3>About the Ask the Dean Column</h3><p><em>Sally Rubenstone is a veteran of the college admissions process and is the co-author of three books covering admissions. She worked as a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years and has also served as an independent college counselor, in addition to working as a senior advisor at College Confidential since 2002. If you'd like to submit a question to The Dean</em><em> </em><em>please email us at editorial@collegeconfidential.com.</em></p>
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