The same opening lines recurred with depressing regularity.

Forbes reports.

How (Not) To Make Your College Application Stand Out

Every college applicant wants to stand out, but in your efforts to show what makes you distinctive you need to make sure you don’t end up blending in.

For an analysis of college applications show that many students lapse into the same old formulas when they try to identify what it is that makes them different from the herd.

The U.K.’s college admissions service Ucas analyzed the personal statements in more than 700,000 application forms to come up with a top 10 of the most popular opening lines.

The statements sit alongside the parts of the application that deal with academic achievements and give students the opportunity to stand out from the thousands of others whose grades are equally as impressive.