Essay Topics

College Essays
1

<p>Hey. I'm a high school junior, and I kind of want to get started on my personal statement essay early because I know I won't have a lot of time to work on it next year/over the summer. I've got a couple of potential essay topics, and I'd really appreciate it if anyone could give me some feedback. Here's what I've got so far:</p>

<p>1) Jake-- Jake's this mentally disabled kid that I've been coaching at figure skating for the past two years. This is really my only "touching" essay, and I think it might be a bit too cliche, but just in case...</p>

<p>2) Atheism — My least favorite, because I think it's boring. But I am a pretty hardcore Atheist, so it's a big part of who I am.</p>

<p>3) Koumpounophobia — Not sure if I spelled that right, but all it means is that I'm afraid of buttons. Somebody told me I should aim for quirky, and I'm pretty sure that's my quirkiest trait. I'm not sure if I want to present myself as psychologically damaged/insane, though.</p>

<p>4) Zines — For anyone who doesn't know, a zine is an independantly produced publication- kind of a mini-magazine. I could write about my experiences within the zine community, and the frustration that accompanied the production of my own zine, appropriately titled Entropy.</p>

<p>5) Sci-fi geek — My experiences in the world of interspecies sex and poorly written fanfiction.</p>

<p>6) Hiking to the river — Not much of a topic, I think. Every summer when I was younger we (my family) would go to grandma’s house and I would insist on hiking down the mountain to the river. Inevitably I would get lost, stuck in a thicket of brambles with a full bladder, stung by bees, and covered in poison ivy every single time. But I persevered.</p>

<p>7) Secret Identity — I’m a superhero. No. I'm not sure what to call this: About the time I saved a girl’s flip flop from near destruction during my third run-through a fun house at a Swedish amusement park, in the process ripping my pants all the way up the inseam on both legs. I then proceeded to take advantage of the lax security in Swedish amusement parks by using a smuggled Swiss army knife (which was full of sand due to having been used in cutting cheese on the beach the previous day) to transform my ripped pants into a fashion statement. Shows I'm resourceful and care about little girl's flip flops? I'm also a big fan of amusing anecdotes, and this is one of my best (my other amusing anecdotes aren't really appropriate-- for example the time my iPod was stolen, my friend was almost arrested, and a turtle peed on me, all in one day).</p>

<p>If none of these are any good, tell me. I can keep brainstorming.</p>

<p>By the way, I'm pretty set on my college list, and since I guess I'm also kind of demonstrating that I'm a good match for the colleges, here they are:</p>

<p>Oberlin
Reed
Brown
Wesleyan
Sarah Lawrence
Hampshire
Columbia
Bard
MAYBE Skidmore</p>

<p>Dunno if that helps.</p>

2

<p>At a first glance, I'd say don't go with the "experiences in the world of interspecies sex" topic. Other than that, it really doesn't depend so much what the topic is as it does what you do with that topic. Any of these could be really interesting if done right. At the same time, the most interesting topic can be turned into a terrible essay. So i would advise pick one or two (or all) of these (or others you may come up with) and write a rough draft and see where that takes you. If you infuse it with your personality, it will be a good essay.</p>

3

<p>It is not the topic, it is what you do with the topic.</p>

<p>The best topic for you is the one that allows you to be the most personal, detailed, honest and revealing.</p>

<p>Some good essay advice:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

4

<p>"So i would advise pick one or two (or all) of these (or others you may come up with) and write a rough draft and see where that takes you."</p>

<p>Yeah. That's what I was planning on. I like writing essays, especially about myself, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Thanks for the advice!</p>

<p>As to the interspecies sex bit-- that part was mostly a joke. Obviously I wouldn't actually mention interspecies sex, but I am a huge sci-fi geek, and, odd as it might sound, that has actually had a pretty big affect on how I think.</p>

<p>ADad-- thanks for the link! I've been trying to avoid generalizations and focus on specific incidents and experiences, and it's good to know that I'm heading in the right direction.</p>

5

<p>Don't really like the secret identity one, but I think the rest could be good, depending on what you do with them. Oh, and one other word of advice, find a good safety that you'll be happy with.</p>

6

<p>I think the one about the button fear would be both interesting and fantasic if you could make it meaningful and amusing. If not the whole zine thing sounds pretty safe to fall back on. Though I'm thinking that uf you can do it the superhero essay would own. My suggestion: try writing one to two paragraphs on each topic then see which is the best. :)</p>

7

<p>i think the zine one is a happy medium..it's still unique and can be interesting if written well, but it won't make you seem TOO odd lol</p>

8

<p>the one with the button phobia seems more interesting to me-- never heard of this before, and if you write it well i think it could be both attention-grabbing as well as fun to read instead of the common cliche essays.. btw i believe you should really write about the first thing that comes in your mind-- if you think about it or brainstorm too much you might lose the essence of what you really want to write about!.. anyway--that's what worked for me..!</p>

9

<p>I think those are all great topics but I second what the person above me said about writing the first thing that comes to mind because you could lose the essence of what you really want to write about.</p>

<p>That's what worked for me. I started thinking about college essays the very end of my junior year and once in awhile when any idea just really hit me, I would open up a word document on the computer and just start typing. It didn't have to be perfect or anything and I would just let the words flow so by the time applications rolled around for the fall I had two barely-started essays (like no more than five sentences) and five fully-written out essays. Only two ended up being decent so I revised/edited them to make them better and narrowed it down to the one my best friend thought was the best and ironically..it just so happened that the one I submitted was the first one I wrote back in May on a whim after a conversation with (the same best friend) in which she told me "Ask me a question."</p>

<p>Basically, sometimes it comes to you best when you're not even really trying but anyhoo, I agree that you should choose a couple of your favorite topics and just start writing.</p>

<p>Also, agreeing with another person above me. It is not so much about the topic as it is about how you write it. I think the best essays are ones that clearly SHOW your voice and thus capture exactly WHO you are. It can be serious or funny so long as it is oh-so-definitely you.</p>