Will em dashes doom my child's applications?

[Anonymous]

My kid insists on using lots of em dashes in her essays.

She doesn't use ai in her writing--or if she does, she does it stealthily and well enough that I can't tell--but she looooves em dashes.

I have two concerns:

The milder one is that em dashes--with no spaces, like this--are a nakedly obvious "trick" for getting around word count limits. She says, nobody will care or notice that her essay is 253 words with three em dashes. I say, respect the word counts.

My more significant concern is that some readers will see well-written essays with plenty of em dashes, immediately think "gpt," and not give her a chance. Why bother even raising an eyebrow when there are plenty of other applications to read? She says, em dashes make her essays better and enhance readability--and that's what matters most.

Anyone have good info on this? Heard from any readers or AO's directly, for example?

Alternatively, please feel free to offer uninformed but nonetheless entertaining hot takes

What say you, DCUM: Are em dashes dooming her applications??

[Anonymous]

ChatGPT doesn’t write good essays.

Don’t worry about this.

[Anonymous]

Professional writer with a grad degree in writing here, and I use a lot of em dashes as well.

I wouldn't worry about it. As a pp points out, Chat doesn't write good essays.

[Anonymous]

My DD loves em dashes for word count reason. And "A/B" in place of "A and B" whenever appropriate. And "I'll" instead of "I will." Not sure if this will doom her. Hope not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Professional writer with a grad degree in writing here, and I use a lot of em dashes as well.

I wouldn't worry about it. As a pp points out, Chat doesn't write good essays.

It writes good enough essays that the head AO of Stanford said it can produce top 1% essays if prompted correctly (and it goes without saying you use the paid version).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Professional writer with a grad degree in writing here, and I use a lot of em dashes as well.

I wouldn't worry about it. As a pp points out, Chat doesn't write good essays.

It writes good enough essays that the head AO of Stanford said it can produce top 1% essays if prompted correctly (and it goes without saying you use the paid version).

Obviously prompting correctly is a different skill from writing -- but I wonder if it's not sufficiently valuable in 2026 for AO's to not really care or be interested in putting tons of effort into sussing out what is ai and what's not?

Did the head AO of Stanford have anything else to say about this? Curious. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I am a professional writer and I like them, too.

[Anonymous]

My kid used em dashes (is prone to writing long sentences) abd got into an elite school. Seasoned AOs can usually tell the difference between a generic manufactured essay and an authentic, sincere one. Just like professors can tell, even if they can't always prove it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a professional writer and I like them, too.

Is the comma necessary?

[Anonymous]

Ha, I made the same comment to my kid writing med school essays, as I had same concerns. He assures me it’s fine, and they have been looked at by premed advising so I’m letting it go now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a professional writer and I like them, too.

Is the comma necessary?

DP, and I'm interested in this as well. I was taught to add a comma before a final "too", and it seems this has simply changed, or that people disregard it. I feel like I'm doing something wring when I leave that comma out, but I rarely see it used anymore.

Is this like the Oxford comma, and considered optional? Is it like ending sentences with prepositions, which used to be avoided but now appears in published work now?

I would love to hear an answer from the professional writer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD loves em dashes for word count reason. And "A/B" in place of "A and B" whenever appropriate. And "I'll" instead of "I will." Not sure if this will doom her. Hope not.

Em dashes are fine. The contractions are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Professional writer with a grad degree in writing here, and I use a lot of em dashes as well.

I wouldn't worry about it. As a pp points out, Chat doesn't write good essays.

It writes good enough essays that the head AO of Stanford said it can produce top 1% essays if prompted correctly (and it goes without saying you use the paid version).

Then none of this matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a professional writer and I like them, too.

Is the comma necessary?

Is it necessary? No. Does it work well there? Yes.

-- professional writer, but not the PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD loves em dashes for word count reason. And "A/B" in place of "A and B" whenever appropriate. And "I'll" instead of "I will." Not sure if this will doom her. Hope not.

Em dashes are fine. The contractions are not.

Contractions make an essay more casual - which is what AO want.

- Former T20 reader