Essay: Where to Start?

College Essays
1

<p>I want to get started on my USC essay now. The prompts for fall 2010 applicants are</p>

<ol>
<li>USC’s speaker series "What Matters to Me and Why" asks faculty and staff to reflect on their values, beliefs, and motivations. Presenters talk about choices they have made, difficulties encountered, and commitments solidified. Write an essay about an event or experience that helped you learn what is important to you and why it is important.</li>
<li>Visions and Voices is a university-wide arts and humanities initiative that seeks to transform students’ perspectives through presentations and performances by top artists, writers, and scholars. Tell us about a creative project, performance or other work of yours and how it reflects your vision or voice.</li>
<li>Thomas Edison failed many times before successfully inventing the modern electric light bulb. He said, "If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward." Reflect on a challenge you overcame through persistence.</li>
</ol>

<p>I'm planning to write on prompt one because it looks the easiest to me and I might be able to use the same essay for the common app as well.
But I don't know where to start. Any hints on topics?</p>

2

<p>Well, why don’t you start by thinking about what values, beliefs, and motivations are important to you and why, and then see if you can come up with an event or experienced that helped you learn that. We don’t know your life story – we can’t really help you on this one.</p>