<p>Does it look bad to use topic of your choice? I just don't see how to show what I will bring to a college in any of the topics already given by the Common App. Any input would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Well I did topic of my choice last year, and it worked out fine for me, I felt that the choices limited my range, so I just made up my own essay, and it apparently worked,</p>
<p>It's there for a reason. Pick your own topic if you want to. Tonyt's right.</p>
<p>I've heard that in general, colleges don't care what you write (just don't talk about murdering people or something). The CommonApp topics are just suggestions (and I've heard that they are bad suggestions, at that).</p>