How to Choose a College Essay Topic
One of the most overlooked yet important parts of a college application is the essay. Before you can even begin you need to determine a topic to write about. How to choose a college essay topic can be a daunting and difficult question to answer. There are many ways to determine what you are going to write about, but you can make the process easier by taking things step by step.
The first step in how to choose a college essay topic is basically to find topics that you do not want to write about. Things that are too personal and emotional, while at first may seem like great topics, can in fact be more detrimental than helpful. These topics can be great to write about, but for a college essay topic they are not necessarily appropriate. They can often reveal things about yourself that may not put you in the best light in the college’s eyes so they should be avoided.
Secondly you want to make sure the topic you choose is of a serious enough nature that it will show how mature a person you are, yet at the same time not be too serious. The key here is to make sure that the topic is appropriate and not of a vulgar or flippant nature. At the same time though you do not want to go too far and write an essay that is boring or uninteresting. Finding a nice balance can make your essay standing out, going to extremes can at best make your essay unremarkable or at worst disqualify you from getting into your dream school.
I know the first thing we discussed was making sure the topic was not too personal, but for the third step you want to find some way to include yourself in the topic. This essay at heart has to be about you and your beliefs so at some point you are going to need to include yourself in the essay. This can be simply a reflection of your philosophies and ideals, or perhaps include yourself in a story in the first person. Whichever method you choose, you have to make sure that you somewhere in the story. Distancing yourself form the topic to far will lead to your essay not being a representation of who you are.
Lastly, make sure that the topic you choose is one you can write at length about. While this may seem obvious, sometimes people will choose a topic then get into the writing process and realize they do not have enough meat. The typical reaction to this is to simply try to fill the rest of the page with fluff. This is a bad idea. Find something that you know you can speak at length about. Preferably you should be able to write more than what is require, then trim your essay back to make sure it is as tight as possible. This can go a long way from separating yourself from the other essays. Many times the readers will have to go through many essays and having one that flows well from beginning to end is a welcome change.
That is about it. Make sure to follow these guidelines and you will be well on your way to finding the perfect topic for your college essay.
