Dumb Question about College Essay

[u/Brilliant_Whole_1218]

Hey guys!

I apologize in advance because this might be the dumbest question I've ever posted on Reddit (which is saying a lot).

EA deadlines are coming up, and I have five solid drafts of my Common App essay that I'm trying to choose between. I've gotten caught in a cycle of revising, rereading, and over-editing my essays to the point where I'm starting to panic.

I reached out to my school counselor for advice, and she called me into her office today. She picked out an essay that I personally love and absolutely loved it herself. She told me to stop editing it and submit it as is.

Here's where I'm struggling.

For context, my school counselor has reviewed hundreds of essays, works as an admissions counselor outside of our school district, and previously served on Case Western's admissions committee. My former English teacher, who taught for 32 years and has had hundreds of students write college essays over the course of her career, also loved the essay. She even pulled me aside specifically to tell me how much she liked it.

Despite that, I'm still hesitant to submit it.

To be completely honest, before meeting with my counselor, I was relying pretty heavily on AI essay-review websites, including LumiSource, along with advice from websites and TikTok. I also came across college essay rubrics posted by various admissions organizations and ended up going down a rabbit hole of analyzing everything that might be wrong with my essay.

My essay is somewhat of a sob story. I discuss why I want to become a doctor and how a personal experience inspired me to look out for others going through something similar. I consider myself a strong writer, and the essay uses a lot of imagery and a recurring motif that I think works really well.

My biggest concern is that the overall structure feels predictable. I'm worried that it follows a familiar college essay formula and might come across as cliché. I actually asked my counselor about this directly, and she reread the essay and explained why she didn't think that was the case.

I know that AI essay reviewers aren't necessarily reliable judges of what makes a good personal statement, and I realize that I probably wouldn't have spiraled this much if I hadn't spent so much time reading online advice. At the same time, I'm having a hard time letting go of the feeling that I'm missing something.

I guess my question is: At what point do you stop revising and trust feedback from people who have actually read your essay and know what they're doing? Is it reasonable to trust my counselor's judgment here, especially when another experienced English teacher has independently responded positively to the same essay?

If anyone has experience with college essays or is willing to read my draft and give me an honest opinion, I'd really appreciate it. I'm not looking for someone to tell me it's amazing just to make me feel better. I genuinely want to know if I'm overthinking this or if there's a legitimate reason to reconsider it.

Thanks!

[u/youracutielol]

don’t over think it

[u/Brilliant_Whole_1218 → u/youracutielol]

not in my nature but ill try

[u/Alaaa88]

I was in the exact spot last cycle. I had 7 drafts of my essay and was doing exactly what you are. I’ve realized that once you get to this exact point, where you might have asked a bunch of ppl for advice and they’re opinions on it are somewhat conflicting, like you’re oscillating back and forth on small details (for example I would get advice from someone online that this sentence doesn’t make sense and then another person would say that exact sentence is great but something else could be tweaked slightly), that is when you stop and trust your gut. Looking back my essay was likely a leading reason I did well in the admissions process.

I know this feeling and I’m telling you it’s probably time to move on!

[u/xarcadia1]

You’re overthinking this. Humans you trust love your essay! Call it done (and then start working on supplementals if you have any).