Former Admissions Officers Discuss Personal Statement Red Flags

When writing the Common Application personal statement, high school students often aren’t sure exactly what is off-limits. Of course, a lot of things depend on the reader but overall, there are some personal statement red flags that every student should be avoiding. At InGenius Prep, we work with the world’s largest team of Former Admissions Officers, who have read thousands of essays inside the admissions office. So, we asked team members from Duke, Georgetown, University of Chicago, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Bowdoin, and more on what counts among their biggest personal statement red flags.

Why Personal Statement Red Flags Matter

Your personal statement is one of the few places in your application where admissions officers hear directly from you. Grades, test scores, and activities show what you have done, while your essay shows how you think, what you value, and how you reflect on your experiences. Because the same essay usually goes to every school on your list, each choice you make in it carries across your entire application.

Red flags rarely come from a single sentence. More often, they come from patterns: an essay that sounds borrowed, a story that clashes with the rest of the file, or a draft that was clearly rushed. Admissions officers read quickly and in context, so anything that raises a question about your honesty, judgment, or effort can pull attention away from everything else you have worked hard to show.

The good news is that almost every red flag is preventable. If you give yourself time to draft, revise, and gather feedback, you can catch these issues long before you submit. It also helps to know which personal statement topics to reconsider before you start writing.

The Most Common Personal Statement Red Flags

Below, members of our team share the red flags they noticed most often when reading files, and what each one signaled about the applicant.

Plagiarism

“The most glaring among personal statement red flags is plagiarism. Almost every admissions office uses tools to guard against the scourge of plagiarism and if a student has used content without giving due credit to where or who it came from, that is a major issue and would definitely be catastrophic to their chances of admission.” – Former Assistant Director of Admissions, Georgetown University

Lack of Research

“Another pitfall is a lack of research to back up claims made or obvious errors in facts that are included. A student may think that they have stated things accurately but if a quick check reveals otherwise, that is one of the personal statement red flags [I notice] because it shows carelessness and complacency. It is generally quite easy to confirm information from multiple sources before using it, so not much leeway would be given to a student who did not bother to verify the accuracy of their facts.” – Former Admissions Officer, Top 30 School

Clear Lack of Proofreading

“Typos, punctuation, and grammar mistakes. While AOs are not grading these essays, they are evaluating your writing ability and how that will translate to the classroom. Everyone makes mistakes, but we also expect that these essays are edited thoroughly.” – Former Admissions Officer, Johns Hopkins University

Inauthentic Voice

“Fancy words used incorrectly immediately show me that the student isn’t writing in their authentic voice. Or when I see vastly different writing ability in the personal statement vs. the supplements, I get suspicious about how much inappropriate help they’re receiving.”, Former Admissions Reader, Ivy League University

“While maybe not quite a “red flag” one of the most common (and easily correctable!) issues I see in college essays is what I think of as students pushing too hard to impress. So be judicious in your use of semicolons, dashes, etc. I usually recommend going ahead and using a period instead of semicolons where you could have two sentences. But the biggie is in word choices that seem chosen to impress (the thesaurus is NOT always your friend).  And that can have the opposite of the intended effect, resulting in awkward phrases, lack of clarity, and the phrasing sounding unnatural. Read your essays aloud and be on the lookout for anything that doesn’t sound natural.”, Former Admissions Officer, Top 10 National University

Inconsistency

“Personal statement red flags can also occur if there is contradictory or inconsistent content in the personal statement when compared to other parts of the application. The person reviewing the file has access to everything: transcripts, activity lists, recommendations, essays, and more. Therefore, if a student were to write something that was clearly not consistent with what the reader sees elsewhere, they may begin to wonder about the veracity of what you are writing, and that is a really dangerous place to end up.

Students occasionally take the risk of writing about something that is totally disconnected to other parts of their application, academic or otherwise. Now sometimes that works and sometimes it does not. It is always better to have some connection, even if it is a tangential one, to other parts of the application. What that does for a reader is to show a common thread throughout the student’s application and gives them a better understanding of the alignment between the different parts of their application for admission.” – Former Assistant Director of Admissions, Top 25 National University

Generalizations

“You should also avoid sweeping generalizations, clichés, and generic statements that are obvious. Without context or examples, this type of content in a personal statement shows that either this was an essay done at the last minute or that not enough effort was put into it. It is one thing to have weak writing skills, but backing up assertions with examples or connecting them with other facts is very necessary. Otherwise, the perception of the reader may become that the student is not really interested in the college and has basically just done the minimum. 

Of course, given that most students use the Common Application and the same personal statement goes to multiple institutions, it is even more important to write well to the best of their ability. Students must try not to embellish things beyond reason and ensure that they are accurate with facts and support their assertions robustly.” – Former Assistant Director of Admissions, Georgetown University

Unstructured Essays

“The other biggie when reading an essay is that the points, structure, and how everything fits together isn’t clear. Often this turns out to be an issue where the connections seen in the writer’s head don’t make it onto the page. So connect the dots for the reader. Give transitions that show us how things fit together, which could be the logic, sequence of events, or just signaling a change in direction. You don’t want a reader asking ‘how does this fit together?’ or ’why is this person telling me this?’” – Former Admissions Officer, Top 10 National University

Now that you know what readers notice, focus on steering clear of issues such as plagiarism, inauthentic voice, lack of consistency, and all of the things mentioned above. Write an essay that conveys who you are so that admissions officers can gauge whether you’re a solid fit for their institution or not. [1]

How to Check Your Draft for Personal Statement Red Flags

Once you have a complete draft, set it aside for a few days so you can read it with fresh eyes. Then work through a focused review:

• Specificity: Could another applicant have written this essay? Replace general statements with concrete moments, details, and reflections that only you could share. [2]
• Consistency: Does your essay fit with your activities list, recommendations, and supplements? Your story should add depth to the rest of your file.
• Voice: Read your essay aloud. If a word or phrase sounds unnatural when you say it, simplify it.
• Structure: Can a reader follow how each paragraph connects to the next? Our guide to personal statement structure can help you organize your ideas.
• Accuracy: Double-check every fact, name, and date, and confirm that any school-specific details match the right college.
• Proofreading: Proofread more than once, then ask a teacher, counselor, or family member to read it too. Fresh readers often catch details you miss. [2]

Give yourself enough time for this process. Starting your personal statement early, ideally the summer before senior year, leaves room for several rounds of revision and feedback without the pressure of an approaching deadline. Each round of review brings your essay closer to a clear, confident draft that reflects your best thinking.

For more ways to refine your draft, these editing techniques for your personal statement walk through the revision process step by step. The same review applies to your shorter essays, so keep these supplemental essay tips in mind as you finish the rest of your application.

Above all, write an essay that sounds like you. Admissions officers want to understand who you are, how you think, and what you would bring to their campus. An honest, specific, and carefully revised personal statement gives them exactly that.

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