Don't Make This Common Essay Mistake! (Sweet and Sour Balance)

The Problem

One of the most common issues we see in essay drafts is too much focus on exposition. And we don’t blame you at all — when we have a topic that really excites us, we also tend to explain it in too much detail.

However, as you only have 650 words for your Common App essay and fewer for your supplementals, you need to maximize your impact per word, showing off as much of your thinking, personality, and growth in the limited space you have.

The Perfect Recipe

Imagine your essay as a drink. You wouldn't want it to be too sour or too sweet, right? The ideal balance is around 20% “sour” (setting up a problem or challenge) and around 80% “sweet” (showing how you overcame it and what you learned). Of course, this depends on the type of essay you’re writing and the complexity of your topic, but this is the balance that works for the vast majority of essays.

Most essays we read are too sour. This is a problem because:

• If you only talk about things that happened, and not things you did, you’re taking a passive role in your own story. You need to take an active role, as admissions officers are looking for what you can do in the future.
• Admissions officers often skim essays, as they have a LOT to get through. If your exposition is too long, they might not be able to catch the key details and examples.
• If your essay is a Dark Roast Espresso (talks about a life-changing event or challenge), spending too much time on your challenges can make your essay feel like a “trauma dump”. You need to show how you've grown, not just what you've struggled with.

On the flip side, an essay that's not sour enough has these issues:

• Without enough sour setup, your reader cannot get invested in the stakes of your story. If you don’t present a meaningful challenge in your essay, admissions officers can’t appreciate your victory and growth.
• Your essay can come across as boastful or lacking depth. It might feel more like a resumé than a personal statement to the admissions officer. You need to humanize yourself through your personal statement, as colleges are admitting you as a person, not just a list of achievements.

The 20/80 proportion is strategic because it gives admissions officers just enough context to understand your topic, before dedicating the rest of the essay to showcasing your personal growth, resilience, and problem-solving skills.

At Essay Cafe, we have an amazing team of editors from Stanford, UPenn, Columbia, and other top schools. To make sure you're on the right track and striking the perfect sweet and sour balance, request a professional review from us here.