Soon I’ll be senior and I haven’t decided it yet. What are you guys writing about??
Stop and think.
Let’s pretend I’m a high school senior. (I’m not, I’m a mom and a teacher.)
Why on earth would I give you my topic?
For starters, we could be applying to the same schools. That would be unfortunate.
Besides, the things that would make my essay about ME would not work for YOU.
You need to find an essay topic that gives the reader a sense of who you are, not who I am.
I think the first question— about what certain aspect your application would be incomplete without– is a great opportunity to show your diversity. I’m planning to write about how much growing up in the “cool” state that I did affected me, which I think would be an excellent idea for others.
@byzantinedog, Why would you give others your essay topic? Sharing your essay ideas isn’t a great strategy. Please read post #1…
@austinmshauri, I gave a half-sentence description of my hypothetical essay topic? A quick google search would give most people a ton of ideas anyways. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to be more confidential, though.
OP, here’s the strategy that worked with my 2 older kids:
Today, now, copy the list of Common App prompts. Paste them onto a Word document.
- Set a timer for 4 minutes per prompt.
- Use those 4 minutes to brainstorm ANYTHING at all that might apply. Stories from your childhood, things you and your friends laugh about.. anything goes.
- Tomorrow come back to that document. Next to each topic, write a sentence on what you would write. Eliminate the unworkable.
- Thursday, come back and write bullets to outline your essay. Eliminate the unworkable
- Friday, come back and flesh out each one a little more. Eliminate the unworkable.
By Saturday you should have a decent list of possible essays.
FYI, I don’t have any intentions to steal other people’s essay ideas. I was just curious and wanted to have open end discussion lol.
Google “Hack the College Essay 2017”. It tells you to “write the essay only you could write.”
that is, don’t write something so generic that anyone else could write it.
Figure out what you want to write about, and then go back and figure what prompt matches it.
Something that is interesting and relevant to you. It’s not about the essay topic most of the time, but how you write and tell the story. Some of the most mundane topics, if told well, can be some of the best essays.
The simple answer is that you should write about yourself, your goals, what motivates you, what has occurred in your life that has changed you & why.
Many college application essay prompts are designed to allow the applicant to reveal qualities about themselves not evident in other parts of the application. For example, what motivates you & why does it motivate you.
No one is accusing you of trying to steal anything, sorry if it came across that way.
But once something is posted online, it’s there for the world to see.
Other people may not be as ethical.