21 College Essay Topics & Ideas That Worked
Most are acceptable for if you can use them to or a lesson learned. However, there are a few difficult topics for college essays that should be avoided. Avoid topics that are:
Because of a pretty common (and potentially damaging) misconception, we wanted to write a post drilling down into college application essay topics, and especially the use (or maybe more like “misuse”) of the word “topic.”
But with a college application essay, your topic should be you—who you are, what you value, what insights, interests, qualities, and skills you’ll bring to a college campus and community.
Top 40 College Essay Ideas and Topics | Empowerly
So with that in mind (that your topic is you), here’s a way to think about “best” when it comes to common questions about the “best” college essay topics:
However, if you’re allowed to choose your topic or theme, there’s still a lot of room for creativity. Sometimes, you’ll be able to choose the entire subject of your essay. If that’s the case, how do you know what makes a successful essay different from a mundane one? What are college admissions officers looking for? There are a few other mistakes to look out for:
Similar to your “eureka” moment, this essay topic centers around an anecdote of a specific experience in your life. Try to think of a time you recognized that you have grown as a person and matured in some way. This can be a traditional rite of passage, or a more symbolic moment of transition from childhood to young adulthood within your family or community. Perhaps you compare the first and most recent times you engaged in an activity, to show the difference over time. What lessons have you learned from your years so far? What do you foresee in your future?
Instead, the “best” college essay topics are those that allow you to most effectively show colleges who you are through the values, insights, skills, qualities, and interests you bring with you. Which means those “best” topics are going to be different for everyone.
What are college essay topics that are over used/not original?
When drafting your college essay, you may be expected to answer a prompt or come up with a topic on your own. In this article, we've rounded up several ideas to get you thinkingâand writing.
College Essay Topics to Avoid or Rethink
If you're given the creative freedom to write about whatever you want, consider a college essay topic that allows you to be honest and original. We've compiled the following ideas to help you brainstorm:
college essay ideas : r/ApplyingToCollege - Reddit
5) Anything that you have nothing good to say about. It's absolutely valid to have parts of your life that are difficult to talk about, but don't talk about something you aren't ready to. Whatever your essay ends up being about, it should leave a positive impression on the admissions counselors. This is really hard to do if you're writing about a topic you feel overall negatively about. Side note: if you have something on your chest that you want to write about just to get it down on paper, I encourage you to do so! The personal essay process can be really good for reflection, I'd just suggest you do it for you and not for an essay you submit. However, during this process you may discover a part of your life that was related tangentially that you do feel positively about, in which case you might want to consider whether to write about that for a college essay!
College application essay topics: your “topic” isnt your topic
One note is that if you feel that any of the above topics is truly, deeply ingrained in who you are, you don't have to omit them entirely (particularly for #4). However, many people tend to choose a big topic (like the ones above) and write about it too broadly because there's a lot to explain about big events. You can still have such events underlying your essay as a whole, but write very specifically. Your essay should be something ONLY you could have written about. There's this quote by Richard Price that I think is applicable here: “The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance.” Big, impactful events are, by nature, impactful to a lot of people and often very common; that's why you don't want to write about moving to a new state. You could, however, write about how a quirky tradition at your new school introduced you to the nuance of balancing homesickness with excitement about the future or something reflective like that. The "big event" shouldn't be centered, but it can be part of your essay's context.
19 College Essay Topics and Prompts - Coursera
When you get to writing your applications, you’ll encounter the essay prompt, which is a specific question from the college you must answer. Be sure to answer the prompt and stick closely to any given instructions, like word count or formatting. This is your chance to make an excellent first impression as a student candidate.