Do’s & Don’ts: Choosing an Essay Topic

College essay editing season is in full swing at Educational Advocates. We are meeting with students to brainstorm topics and guide them as they begin to free-write. While almost any topic written effectively can work, some topics are better than others and a few should be avoided. The key to a successful essay is to convey a quality or characteristic about yourself that will not be obvious to the admissions officers as they read the rest of your application. Then tell a story that brings that quality to life, and conveys why it is meaningful

Here are tips to keep in mind as you begin your essay:

1. What do you want the college to know about you? Each year students tell us they want a clever angle for their college essay. They mention the cousin who wrote about his favorite ice cream flavor and what it revealed about him or how a neighbor compared her life journey to playing a game of Risk. They focus on finding a gimmick instead of a genuine message about themselves. “Tell me a story about you,” is what Jennifer England, senior associate director of admission at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, tells students. “Don’t write something you think we want to read.” College admissions counselors are not looking for some particular style of writing or topic. They want to see students choose a topic that only they could write—one that is representative and unique to their own experiences.

2. Oversharing. There is a fine line between revealing who you are and what you believe in — and sharing information that crosses a line and is inappropriate for a college essay. While there may be exceptions, certain topics should be off limits such as referring to bodily functions or discussing serious abuse or mental health issues in such detail that admissions officers will wonder about the student’s current well-being. According to Ms. England, there are times when a traumatic story is important for students to share because it impacts how they think about themselves or has impacted school performance. “Talk about the personal growth since the experience rather than the incident itself,” said Ms. England. This article in The New York Times provides examples of students who hurt their chances for admission due to their poor judgment.

3. Appearing One Dimensional. If you focus your extracurricular activities on one area, such as athletics or theater, your essay should present a different facet of who you are. Some three-sport athletes tell us that finding a topic outside of athletics is challenging for them. However, all students have family members or friends who have influenced them, interesting perspectives on their lives or challenges they have overcome. Ms. England suggests that dedicated athletes and actors can focus on the effort it has taken to get to their level of accomplishment in their chosen activity or some other quality or characteristic. “How did you balance your activity with your school work, friends, family and other commitments?” is a question she might like to see a student address in the essay.

4. Topics That Are Overused. A good piece of writing will be successful regardless of the topic. However, it is important for students to know that there are certain topics that admissions officers see frequently and should be broached from a unique perspective. The “Big Win” essay where students discuss their game-changing moment, “The Torn ACL” or “The Concussion,” or “Why My Summer Camp Means So Much,” are subjects that require a unique approach.

5. The Overstated Service Essay. Ms. England cites community service essays as having the potential to be problematic. Many students volunteer abroad for two weeks in the summer and do not continue a commitment to service work once they return home — not necessarily due to lack of interest, but possibly lack of time. No one doubts that the experience is meaningful to the student. However, an activity that focuses on only two weeks of a student’s life may not be central enough to the student’s high school career to be the topic of the essay. “The volunteer work described in the essay is often beyond the scope of what the student actually accomplished,” said Ms. England. We have noticed the same problem when reviewing student’s activities pages where they say I “built a school” instead of I “collaborated with community members and leaders to construct a school room.” There is a big difference. Students and some parents think that colleges want to hear about service. Remember, colleges are not looking for anything in particular. Keep thinking and you will come up with an idea that is genuinely you.

For more information on the college essay, check out our article Five Tips for Generating College Essay Topics!