By: Caroline Koppelman

In the second installment of “Phrases to Avoid,” we have compiled 39 more phrases sourced from real college essays that you should never use under any circumstances. They include unnecessary hyperbole, awkward word choice, and tired cliches among their many problems. In many cases phrases like these are a red flag to an admissions officer, and using any one of them can help land your essay in the rejection pile.

1. I was never satisfied

2. My intellectual curiosity

3. Work to explore limits

4. Diverse group of students

5. Emphasis on diversity

6. Not only did I grow, but I also learned how accept failures

7. It didn’t take me long

8. It is just facts

9. It’s my dream school

10. An impressive faculty authoring publications

11. Knowledge metamorphose into wisdom

12. Clearly a melting pot of brilliant, creative minds, a nerve center for students of diverse talents and interest

13. I have found my new home

14. Defied the odds

15. My dad is my hero, a model of what I want to become

16. Our nation’s best artists

17. I have found the wind that will lift my wings

18. To be open-minded and keep curiosity about new affairs

19. I hence decided

20. I am both interested in and worried about the situation

21. Additional research and analytical skills include

22. As the aforementioned paragraph suggests

23. I mourned the loss

24. I plunged head first into the challenge

25. I have always dreamed of becoming

26. We got the job done

27. Further, in that frantic final feeling

28. My most prized possession

29. The main benefit of being humble

30. I learned so much from the process

31. Unspoken and unyielding influence

32. Free to make my own mistakes

33. Reaching that benchmark

34. I envision my own future

35. We needed a miracle

36. I was incredibly stressed out

37. Breaking the rules

38. I have transformed

39. Life-long ambition