<p>I just found this site today, I am having so much trouble writing an essay. I have spent 6 hours today trying to come up with a good essay for the common app but I'm stuck. I am putting so much thought into the essay! I'm getting no where! I know that this is crazy important, so I'm too scared to write it! I keep trying to think of the perfect topic and my mid iss coming up blank. It is so killer!!! Help! Do you have any ideas how I could find a goood topic!?!?!?</p>
<p>for the common app, you can do "topic of your choice".
then you could write about your intended major, or profession.</p>
<p>Like write some scratch notes on your life... What have you been through? What have you overcome? How have you changed? Then the topic will work from there. Good Luck!</p>
<p>We've been warned not to write something predictable, as others have mentioned. How about one of the times you volunteered to do something? </p>
<p>One admissions counselor recently suggested you write about a family gathering. She used the example, "My grandmother sat on the floor, wearing her purple polyester pantsuit with a cream-colored blouse."</p>
<p>I read your essay. It is a good essay, though I cannot say a great one. Honest, you failed in the verb tense and conciseness. Your choice of theme is insignificant if you plan to apply to top colleges. Remember, the colleges are looking for students with 'great' personality. To fit in that category, you have to have a more meaningful theme. In short, it is an OK piece of writing.</p>
<p>If you're truly stuck, you can always brainstorm off of the topics they give you.</p>
<p>If you choose your own topic, I think a good approach would be to find the one thing about yourself that distinguishes you from everyone else and elaborate on it.</p>
<p>Write about what you know.</p>
<p>I wrote about baseball...simple topic...creative essay.</p>
<p>From this website I found out about a book by Harry Bauld - On Writing the College Application Essay: The Key to Acceptance and the College of your Choice</p>
<p>Check your library, or local bookstore.
It's a quick easy read, and is very helpful.</p>
<p>My dd writes well and easily. She had written 5 essays, all of which were fine; the teachers loved them. I thought they were pedestrian and told her so. She didn't want to read the book, and I didn't insist. Last Friday she read it, and finished it Saturday afternoon. Sat down at her computer, and in 40 minutes had the first draft of a superb essay.</p>
<p>HTH</p>