I’m revising my personal statement and keep looking up common app essay mistakes to avoid, but a lot of the advice feels super vague. I know the obvious stuff like bad grammar and being too generic, but I’m more worried about the less obvious mistakes that make an essay feel weak.
Like, is spending too much time on the backstory a problem? Can an essay sound too polished or formal? And how do you tell if you’re explaining your lesson instead of actually showing it?
If anyone already got good feedback on theirs, what were the biggest fixes that improved your essay?