How to Give Your Essay a Buzz Cut
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Linda is the Founder of Accepted.com. Click here to learn more about Accepted.com's products and services. |
You’ve spent weeks brainstorming, writing drafts, and critiquing your MBA application essay. You run a final spell check and a final word count and…the number you see nearly gives you a heart attack! How could your numbers have crept up without you realizing? Didn’t you just run the word count yesterday…or was it last week…?
The good news is that trimming down your essay is easier than you think and will likely improve the essay’s flow.
Here are a few Do’s and Don’ts:
DON’T use unnecessary helping verbs
Wordy: He is going to be attending a top MBA program. (10 words)
Trim: He will attend a top MBA program. (7 words)
DON’T “take advantage of the opportunity to do something”
Wordy: I took advantage of the opportunity to go traveling. (9 words)
Trim: I traveled. (2 words)
DON’T overuse the passive voice
Wordy: Experience A has been overshadowed by experience B. (8 words)
Trim: Experience B overshadowed experience A. (5 words)
DON’T overuse the verb “to be”
Wordy: She is a brilliant speaker. (5 words)
Trim: She speaks brilliantly. (3 words)
DON’T ever “be the one who” does something
Wordy: I was the one who came to that conclusion. (9 words)
Trim: I came to that conclusion. (5 words)
Trimmer: I concluded. (2 words) (See the next tip.)
DO turn nouns into verbs when possible
Wordy: I came to the realization. (5 words)
Trim: I realized. (2 words)
DO try and eliminate verbs that precede infinitives
Wordy: He was able to negotiate. (5 words)
Trim: He negotiated. (2 words)
These editing techniques will help you shave words off your word count as well as clean up your essay, making the language tighter, clearer, and more direct.
For more MBA essay writing and editing techniques, check out these Accepted.com resources:
- Submit a Stellar Application: 42 Terrific Tips to Help You Get Accepted, an instantly downloadable ebook.
- 5 Fatal Flaws in Your Application Essay, a free email course.
- The Roadmap to Bold and Brilliant Essays, a free webinar.
- Application Essays Do’s & Don’ts
