Unique Topics for College Essay - Help!

College Essays
1

<p>I've been asking my friends and family for advice on common app essays, but they're just giving me the generic "I went to India and was influenced by it," or "This is my extracurricular and this is why it influenced me," type of essay. I do have a few unique essay ideas that I thought of, and I just want to run them by people because I know that they are out there. So please, if you have the time, look over my essay ideas and tell me if any of them sound good! Also, if you have any other ideas for me, please let me know.</p>

<p>-How my laughter represents me: I laugh all the time and people tell me that they can find me in a large crowd because of my unique laughter. Even now, I get teased because of my laugh, and when I was young, I used to feel incredibly ashamed and would try to stop laughing. However, now I love my laughter and I love that my laughter is a defining quality of myself.</p>

<p>-I love fashion and shopping, but I also love learning about the Cold War and reading Russian novels. For this essay, I would talk about how fashion is perceived as something only for the shallow, when this could not be farther from the truth. I would also talk about how my clothes represent me, and that fashion is another form of art.</p>

<p>-How I used to think that I was at odds with my astrological sign (scorpio), because I thought it meant that scorpios were mean and menacing, but now I have come to terms with it when I realized that being a scorpio means that I am determined, enthusiastic and loyal. I don't believe in astrology, but I think that this would be an interesting topic.</p>

<p>-(This is the weirdest one I've thought of yet) How my hands represent me: I am not double-jointed, and I can't bend my thumb backwards like all of my friends could in elementary school. Despite this, my hands are unique and they do represent me. Since I was 8, I have had two calluses on my right hand's pinky finger from writing so much, and I have neon blue nail polish that has been half chipped away, which shows my playful side [I'll expand on this]. Also, my thumb nails now slant because of my habit of running pages of books through the sides of my thumb nails while reading, a habit which disgusts my mother and thrills my brother. -I know this is reallyyy weird, but I'm pretty sure it is completely original and would grab the reader's interest.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>All of these would be pretty interesting topics. I actually had an idea for my essay similar to your second one, dealing with how I’ve balanced the impracticality of makeup and nice clothes with my work in robotics, which is very hands-on, dirty, and greasy. I don’t think any topic suggestions from here would be very helpful, though. Only you know yourself well enough to happen upon unique ideas. But keeping a journal and writing down anything interesting you observe or think could turn out some useful ones.</p>

<p>Also, remember that the topic is only part of a good essay. Execution’s another. A unique essay is nothing if it’s obvious that you’re writing it solely to be unique.</p>

3

<p>Thanks Clepsydra! You’re definitely right about the execution of an essay, and that I shouldn’t write a unique essay solely for the purpose of writing a unique essay.</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

4

<p>I think the first topic is the best. If you could include a story that would make the adcoms laugh in that essay, it would be priceless.</p>