How to Avoid Cliches in Your Common App Essay

Short answer: Just don’t use them. Or use them in early drafts and replace them in later drafts.

Longer answer: Your job is to positively differentiate yourself from the crowd. That is diametrically opposed to cliché. Come up with your own metaphor or expression — one that could become a cliché for others.

If something you write could be written by many others, you know you need to delete it before the final draft.

Fun fact: The grass isn’t any greener, and there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.