Standing out in the application process at business schools requires a conveyance of your unique position in the universe, so using commonplace phrases or truisms are a waste of precious word count.
A platitude by definition is a remark or statement that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful. Most times, a platitude has some sort of moral message, and you’d be shocked how many we find in MBA application essays. Even though they are not technically platitudes, using colloquial phrases or glib sayings are just as bad. Before you pat yourself on the back for finishing your essay drafts, make sure you screen them for the kind of banality that will get an eye-roll from the admissions committees. Hint: the worst offender? “Thinking outside the box.”
You can scour the internet and find list after list of troublesome clichés, you know, the ones that really don’t mean something personal to you, but are over used to the point of queasiness. There’s also a line you can cross in MBA essays that make it too casual and not appropriate for a formal essay. In an effort to appear “real” or honest, applicants can sometimes fail by going colloquial-loco. Here is a list I recently came across to help guide you towards the path of originality and away from trite, unoriginal doom.
There’s no “I” in Team
Good things come to those who wait
It was meant to be
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results
Such is life
Everything happens for a reason
People are our most important asset
It is what it is
What the mind can conceive, it can achieve
Winners never quit
What doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger
Teamwork makes the Dream work
“C’est la vie”
Hard work always pays off
Great minds think alike
Money can’t buy happiness
Live each moment like it’s your last
If at first you don’t succeed, try try again
Reinvent the wheel
It’s not rocket science
It’s all good
What goes up, comes down
What goes around comes around
Don’t assume – it makes an ASS out of U and ME
Don’t be sad because it’s over, be glad that it happened
What’s done is done
Waste not want not
Go with the flow
Rome wasn’t built in a day
Work smarter, not harder
We’re all in this together
Time heals all wounds
We’ll all be laughing about this soon
It’s doesn’t matter if you win or lose, only that you try
Tomorrow is another day
It could be worse
If life gives you lemons, make lemonade
The best things in life are free
It wasn’t meant to be
Better to have loved and lost…than to never have loved at all
Better late than never
At any rate…
With all due respect…
Laugh and the world laughs with you
People mostly regret the things they didn’t do
You can’t judge a book by it’s cover
Work hard, play hard
Only the good die young
All’s fair in love and war
The more things change, the more they stay the same
It’s the darkest just before dawn
Perception is reality
You can be anything that you want to be
Patience is a virtue
The customer is always right
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm
Be careful what you wish for
With great power comes great responsibility
If you avoid these and similar phrases ( I think you get the idea), your writing will feel fresh and original. Now get out there, think outside the box, and write some damn good essays.
To find out more about your options and how we can guide your business school application process, email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com or contact us via http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/contact