Trying to brainstorm ideas for my college essay and I’m stumped.
Why would you get a list of OTHER people’s topics??
Aside from the fact that they’re unlikely to offer it to you, it already makes your topic one that’s not original.
No, this isn’t the way to do it. Instead, brainstorm each of the prompts and come up with a response to each that’s uniquely YOU, not someone on a forum.
^as bjkmom said, come up with your own topic that relates to you, and write it with your voice and your experience, not someone else’s!
That being said, if you’re still stumped and you think your life is too boring to write about, think of something mundane that means a lot to you, and write about that. Or, just google “college essay ideas”, and you can find hundreds of past essays that may give you a little inspiration.
It’s a personal statement. Write about what defines you, what makes you special. Nobody here can tell you what that is
Thank you @juicygirl I’m in no way trying to steal anyone’s topics or life experience for that matter, just trying to see what may have inspired someone to write their essay. In no means am I trying to plagiarize! Thanks again for the advice!
I actually think that this is a good question. It’s not as though there are so many drastic differences among the lives of most college applicants that essays will naturally be unique if they’re composed in isolation. Moreover, it’s not a serious problem for essays to broadly share topics; uniqueness will still manifest in the details and individual approach, and through sharing the applicant might be drawn to useful ideas they* would otherwise not have considered.
My essay discussed my favorite quote, which was David Hilbert’s “Wir müssen wissen, wir werden wissen” (We must know; we shall know). I discussed the quote as a rejection of the philosophical implications of Kurt Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, setting forth a rather romantic “knowledge at all costs! against all odds! no matter what stands in the way!” sort of personal outlook. (I think I made rather a lot of mistakes, honestly, but as an application essay it was quite successful.) I’m a bit murky on more specific details as this was quite a long time ago now (I’m now doing a master’s degree).
*Used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun although I DO know the common objections to this usage; I persist out of a mild form of activism.
@Coriander thank you! That was exactly what I meant by the question.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you would plagiarize.
My point was that someone else’s topic isn’t yours. It’s not your experience, it’s not your life-- it’s them, not you.
Here’s advice I’ve offered here before:
Today, find a quiet part of the house, and set a timer for 5 minutes. Look at the first prompt, and write down anything that comes to mind, no matter how ridiculous or unlikely a topic it seems. Total freedom–write down anything that comes to mind with no editing.
When the timer goes off, get a drink, check your messages, and start over for prompt 2.
Once you have them all done, walk away. You’re done for today.
Tomorrow, take those lists out and write a sentence or two outlining what you would do with that essay for each. Then put it away.
Monday, take a look at what you have, and decide on your 2 or 3 favorites. Outline them.
Tuesday, start to write.