Can You Use Contractions in a College Essay? (Quick Answer)

A college application essay is one of the easiest to write. Sometimes it feels more like a personal statement because it’s the essay in which you tell an admissions board about yourself and why you believe you make a good fit in their leaning institution.

We’ve given you the complete guide to write an admissions essay here already. However, we’d like to address an issue that has to do with using contractions in this kind of an essay.

Put in another way, can you use contractions in a college essay or should you write all the words in full instead?

You can use contractions in a college application essay provided it makes sense to do so. Contractions are ideal in such an essay because it allows you to present a paper that sounds more personal. Contractions also reduce your word count, so it’s easy to keep your essay in just the right length.

The rule of thumb when it comes to writing a college application essay is to use your own authentic voice. Open it with a hook, tell a story and explain it if really have to, personalize the essay with personal pronouns, and use contractions if you wish.

As you write the essay, pay attention to the requested word count and make sure your work is on point. Your writing can be a little informal, only make sure that what you write doesn’t sound casual.

Can You Use Contractions in a College Essay?  (What You Should Know) 

Academics recommend avoiding contractions at all cost because they aren’t part of the formal academic language. While that’s often a rule that holds in academic writing, you may be able to use contractions in some instances.

To be clear, many types of essays, such as argumentative writing and the Theory of Knowledge Essay, require in-depth research, formulation of research questions, and formal writing. Therefore, the use of contractions doesn’t apply here and can as easily affect your overall scores.

It’s a different when it comes to creative writing, which is an aspect that we tend to see in personal as well as college application essays. Since contractions usually demonstrate a high level of personalization, it would be completely okay to use them in your college application essay.

What’s a Contraction in an Essay? 

A contraction is a combination of words, often a noun with a verb, linked with an apostrophe. Contractions shorten words, significantly lowering the number of word count in written as well as verbal communication.

Contractions, in both written and verbal communication stand out because they form part of the human vernacular. Not to mention that they’re simple in form and easy to pronounce.

As interesting as the use of contractions in verbal and written communication is, they tend to be less formal in nature, which means you shouldn’t use them in formal academic writing. They’re fine to include, at least sparingly, in personal and narrative essays, in which case it’s fine to use them in a college essay.

How to Use Contractions in a College Essay

As much as you can use contractions in a college essay since it’s a personalized kind of writing and usually less academic in form, it’s important to check if you really can shorten words in your writing.

• The brief provided by the admissions committee can be handy. The document has all the instructions you need to write the essay, including the kind of language to use (whether formal or informal).
• If the brief isn’t clear about the kind of language to use, consult the admissions board. It’s better to ask and get the essay done right than to assume and fail the test altogether.

Keeping the two points above into consideration will definitely help to point you in the right direction as you write your college essay.

Is the Use of Contractions Necessary in College Essays? 

Think of it from the point of view of a face-to-face conversation with a friend. Would you really use a forma language to talk to them in a standard setting that doesn’t require any kind of formality?

You wouldn’t.

From what we understand, an essay that’s about you is hard to write without some level of personalization. So while we appreciate the structure and value of formal writing in academic papers, it’s odd not to use contractions in a college application essay.

There’s an important caveat to using contractions in a college essay that you need not forget. Remember that while you have the flexibility to shorten words in the essay, you should avoid overusing this style of writing. Do it only when it’s absolutely necessary because a little surely does go a long way.

What We Think About Contractions in College Essays 

College application essays are usually less formal in nature than the likes of:

 Given that they’re casual and familiar, you shouldn’t hesitate to bend some of the rules. That means the admissions board won’t penalize you for writing something like “I’m” instead of “I am”.

The most important thing to do once you finish writing your college essay is to read it out-loud to determine whether it’s consistent in voice and tone.

Can I Get Help With College Essay?

There’s no one right way to write a college essay, but your work has to be good enough to grab the attention of an admission committee.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to write an admissions essay if you haven’t touched a pen and paper to write anything significant for a long time after graduating from high school.

Don’t worry, though, because we’re here to help. Through our college admission essay service, you can get a comprehensive and interesting college essay completed in less than half a day.

All you have to do is to get in touch with us and we’ll do the best we can to point you in the right direction and get the essay written, delivered, and submitted in good time.