Application Essay Proofreaders Will Certainly Improve Your Paper

Students place a lot of importance on their application essays when applying to new programs, and rightly so. Aside from meeting the minimum grade and test score requirements, their application essays are the most important part of their packet. A great essay can significantly improve a student's chances of acceptance, even if their grades are mediocre. And even if their grades are fantastic, a poorly written essay can lead to rejection.

A common mistake

Even students that recognize this, however, often fall prey to a simple and all too common mistake: they don't edit or proofread their essays sufficiently. Sufficiently proofreading your essay includes not only checking it over personally for spelling and grammar errors, but submitting it to someone else to proofread it for you.

Why is having someone else proofread important?

It's a proven fact that writers of any skill level have a more difficult time identifying their own mistakes than they do identifying someone else's. It's speculated that the reason for this relies in the way our brains interpret our own writing. That is, we see what we intended to write, and not what we actually wrote. In the case of typos, it means that it's literally difficult to see or identify your own typos compared to being able to pick out someone else's. You've probably noticed this phenomenon in school as well; someone else's misspelling is glaringly obvious, yet when you receive a paper back from your instructor, they've caught numerous mistakes you missed, in your own writing.

Why is proofreading so important for application essays?

You're not being graded on your application essay, so it doesn't really seem logical that an obvious typo or a few spelling mistakes would cause much of a problem. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. The fact of the matter is, such mistakes create a terrible impression in the mind of the admissions counselor reading your essay. One of the more important things you want to convey is how important their program is to you. Failing to properly proofread your paper illustrates the exact opposite. It may not be true, but you have no way of communicating that. Your essay must communicate to the counselor that you truly value an opportunity to attend their school. Sloppy writing and proofreading can create the impression that you don't care all that much. Get a proofreader to help you put your best foot forward.