I am currently having trouble with finding a topic for my college essay. At first I wanted to write about my really bad hypochondriac experience in middle school - back when I was afraid of my brain.
After looking up a ton of diseases I now have a fascination for the human body and constantly watch murder/crime/serial killer doctors documentaries. I now find the human brain so fascinating (btw, I am over that stupid hypochondriac episode). BUT I feel like this is too risky for college apps and so did many others on my previous post. Admission officers WOULD NOT like to read about a past mental illness. It is too risky and I should place myself on a more positive light.
Now I am back to square one and I have nothing else to talk about.
MY CURRENT BRAINSTORMING LIST:
my love of rain and how much I love walking to school & refuse to get rides because I love walking in cloudy/cold weather (I seriously cannot understand why people love the sun so much and hate the rain)
my love for country music (i guess this is different sinch I am black?)
my love of daydreaming
the 80s
Anyone have any ideas of how I could develop these topics?
btw my favorite so far is the rain one. what essay prompt would it fit the best?
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
Google “Hacking the College Essay 2017” and read it.
Write the Essay No One Else Could Write
“It boils down to this: the essay that gets you in is the essay that no other applicant could write.
Is this a trick? The rest of this guide gives you the best strategies to accomplish this single
most important thing: write the essay no one else could write.
If someone reading your essay gets the feeling some other applicant could have written it,
then you’re in trouble.
Why is this so important? Because most essays sound like they could have been written by
anyone. Remember that most essays fail to do what they should: replace numbers (SAT/GPA) with the real you.
Put yourself in the shoes of an admissions officer. She’s got limited time and a stack of
applications. Each application is mostly numbers and other stuff that looks the same. Then she picks
up your essay. Sixty seconds later, what is her impression of you? Will she know something specifically
about you? Or will you still be indistinguishable from the hundreds of other applicants she has been
reading about?”
Hint: it’s for your college app, not just a free topic esay. Ask yourself what adcoms want to learn about you that makes them want to add you to the class. Is it that you love walking in the rain? Does that sell you for a college admit?
There are only so many topics. The point isn’t so much to be unique (and possibly off base.) Done right, your own voice IS unique.
The easiest choice is the challenge prompt. What did you face, overcome, learn from, and now you act on that, do some good around you? It doesn’t need to be a big, dramatic thing, just a tale of a turnaround. It can show awareness, openness and growth, now a positive effect around you.
That’s not the former hypochondria because the topic is hard to turn into an “asset” for them, too heavy.
From the title of this post, I get that you’re feeling frustrated not to have settled in a topic. You’re making good progress, though. You’re already showing resourcefulness, growth, and flexibility in leaving your previous topic behind. The process of thinking this through will serve you well as you write your final essay. In 650 words about loving the rain, I expect you can do a great job of showing who you are and still toss in a bit of your post-hypochondriacal country-music-loving black self. Good luck!
