How to Use Pronouns for Personal College Essays
by Kathleen M.
As you write, you may find yourself googling questions that are stressing you out. You know that your English teacher told you not to use personal pronouns in formal writing and here you are trying to write a personal narrative for your college application. How are you supposed to write about your authentic self without using I?
You aren’t.
Use “I” – you have to use “I” in order to talk about yourself. And the whole point of the personal narrative is to talk about yourself.
Example: One would like to believe that Friday Night Lights are about more than football, one would be correct: it’s the band!
Revised: Friday Night Lights are about more than football, I think the most important part is the band because every Friday in the fall, I suit up and play trombone in the marching band.
But when I was googling the question – I found a page that said yes use “I” but not too much. The rationale was that you shouldn’t overuse “I” and therefore sound too self-centered. Good writing is about variety – so you would never want to start every sentence with the same word. That idea also applies to the use of “I”.
Example: I am a student who has worked hard on science fair projects. I created a robot. I entered the robot into a contest. I won the contest.
Revised: As a science fair participant, I created a robot as my project. The work I did on the robot project was awarded best in show.
Not we – you may have been a part of a team or worked with a partner on a project. You will likely have been one of many officers of clubs or members of the band. And it is true that you should acknowledge what your team/friends/group has done for you – but the personal narrative is not the place to give credit to others. So even if you were one of five people who collaborated for an award – claim it as yours in your personal narrative and use “I”.
Example: We won the state championship for soccer. My team beat everyone in the state and performed well throughout the championship tournament.
Revised: I played center back on the state championship winning soccer team for my high school. Not only did we win all of the games, but I was awarded best defensive player of the tournament.
Talking about yourself is difficult enough without trying not to use personal pronouns. Take a moment to celebrate you by learning how to use the pronoun ‘I’ in your essay, and write about yourself in clear, direct prose.
