Your college essay is one of the most important parts of your application. What you write gives the admissions team a glimpse into your personality, background, and goals, differentiating you from a list of metrics like GPA, extracurricular activities, and standardized test scores.
Learning how to brainstorm essay ideas, how to pick a strong topic, and how to craft a memorable essay will help your application stand out.
What the Admissions Committee Wants
You want a strong topic for your college application essay, but the topic matters less than how much you let your character shine through it. College admissions officers are looking for insight into who you are as a student, prospective candidate, and future career leader. They’re looking for:
- Curiosity, intellectual spark, and initiative in learning
- Resilience in the face of challenges or setbacks
- Initiative to teach yourself, start projects, and tackle problems
- Contributions to teams, families, or communities
- Self-awareness, reflection, and growth
- Your values in action
How to Brainstorm College Essay Topics
The hardest part of a college essay is getting started. Brainstorming your topic ideas will help you discover what you value most about yourself and what you want to highlight in your essay. Here are some brainstorming exercises to try:
Values Exercise
The Values Exercise is a guided process for identifying, understanding, and prioritizing personal values.
- Write a list of every word that represents something you value.
- Categorize your list and eliminate anything that isn’t a true value, such as your hobbies or possessions.
- Select the top 10 most important values from the refined list.
- Narrow down your list to the top 5, then the top 3.
- From this short list, pick your most important value.
- List specific events or memories from your life that connect to that value.
Essence Object Exercise
This exercise focuses on identifying concrete objects that represent deeper aspects of your identity or values.
- Use guiding questions to trigger ideas, such as:
- What objects represent a challenge you’ve overcome?
- What object reminds you of your family or a significant person?
- What object makes you feel safe?
- What object represents a dream or goal for the future?
Brainstorm concrete objects like a family heirloom or a pair of lucky socks. For each object, briefly explain why it’s significant to you and what it represents, such as persistence or integrity.
Create a list of 10-20 essence objects that connect to different aspects of your life.
Here’s an example:
- Prompt: What object represents a challenge you’ve faced?
- Object: A pair of worn hiking boots
- Essence: Represents a challenging hike you worked to complete and learned perseverance.
Forked Path Exercise
The Forked Path Exercise highlights transitional moments in your life and can lead you into reflection.
- Find a quiet place without distractions.
- Close your eyes and picture yourself at a forked path with two distinct roads.
- Decide which path represents a potential change or significant decision.
- In writing, follow the safe, comfortable path and explore the emotions and challenges.
- Now, visualize taking the other path, the one of growth and new challenges.
- Journal your feelings and observations about each path.
These ideas may inspire you to write about significant life changes and what you learned from them.
21 Details Exercise
The 21 Details Exercise is straightforward and sparks ideas. Just list random facts about yourself – the first 21 things that come to mind. They could be quirky habits, unique experiences, or specific skills or knowledge. When you’re finished, look at your list of 21 details and see which ones reveal the most about your values and character, which you can use to create your personal essay.
“Non-Negotiables” Exercise
The “Non-Negotiables” Exercise helps you prioritize the areas of your life where you’re not willing to compromise. This exercise helps you define your core values and principles.
- Begin by listing anything that’s not up for compromise – the things you can’t live without.
- For each item, consider why it’s important and how it impacts you.
- Group non-negotiables into different areas of your life (personal, professional, etc.).
- Within each category, prioritize non-negotiables.
- Review the list to ensure it reflects true values.
Good College Essay Topic Ideas
What makes a “good” essay topic? Your topic should be specific and deep enough to give you freedom to write about your values and character. Here are some ideas:
Personal Identity and Background
College applications often ask about personal identity and background. This is a good option to connect the factors that shaped your personality and your perspective of the world. Think about the communities you’re part of, such as cultural heritage, ethnic group, or a faith group. Link your heritage to your values and hope for the future.
Facing a Fear or Overcoming a Challenge
Facing a fear shows incredible growth. Talk about a time you’ve had to take a risk or overcome a big fear, such as going skydiving on vacation when you’re scared of heights or delivering a memorable presentation with a fear of public speaking.
Your Favorites
Some college essay prompts ask you to write about your favorites in different categories, like books, authors, music, movies, or food. This is an opportunity to talk about why something is your favorite and why it had such a strong impact on your life.
Moment of Growth
Like overcoming a fear, the moment of growth is a specific life experience that shows how you’ve matured, such as taking on extra responsibility or trying something new. This is an opportunity to talk about the lessons you learned and connect them to your academic pursuits.
Your Passions
Talking about your passions or what drives you is a great way to talk about your qualities as a student and future career leader. Think about the subjects or activities that you could talk about endlessly, such as photography, reading, or environmental causes.
Influential Role Model or Mentor
Everyone has a role model, whether it’s a teacher or a public figure. Talk about your role model, the qualities they have, and how knowing them has had a positive impact on your life. This essay topic is about someone else, but it’s an opportunity to show your own desires and personal development.
Your Future Plans
This essay topic focuses on the future instead of the path – what you want to do with your education, your career plans, or the industry problem you want to solve. Connect the knowledge and skills you’ll gain in school to your bigger goals of making a positive impact on your industry or community.
Responding to Prompts
Most college essays may be open-ended, but some may require you to respond to a specific prompt like:[1]
- Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
- Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
- Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
If you have an application like this, make sure your response addresses each part of the prompt and follows the required formatting and word count.
Once you have your topic in mind, you will need a thesis – the main theme and purpose of your essay.[2] Instead of saying something vague like “I want to be an engineer because I love building things,” your thesis could be, “Through years of participating in robotics competitions, I developed robust problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaborative skills that would be an asset in tackling engineering challenges.”
Your thesis guides the rest of your essay, with each body paragraph addressing points and examples that support it. In the engineering example, one body paragraph would demonstrate how robotics competition teaches problem-solving skills, the next would address critical-thinking skills, and then the final would address teamwork. The conclusion summarizes your main points to bring them all together.
What Makes Your Essay Memorable?
College essays are memorable when they’re authentic and deeply personal, rather than a list of achievements. Here are some tips to make an impression:
- Open with a concrete moment that brings the reader into the scene.
- Be specific with the details of the scene and story. Always choose specificity over scope.
- Highlight the stakes and the change that occurred. For example, if you’re talking about a lesson you learned, clarify your old belief, the event that changed your mind, and your new outlook.
- Don’t choose complex or grand vocabulary to sound smarter. Keep your voice authentic, so if you wouldn’t say “cognizant” or “ameliorate” in real life, don’t say it in your essay. Don’t be afraid to use appropriate humor or slang here or there to give your story personality.
Keep the momentum in closing with these strategies:
- Revisit a specific detail or image to complete the narrative.
- State how your past experiences and growth will contribute to your success.
- Summarize the key lessons or insights you gained, demonstrating how you have developed as a person.
- Connect your story to a broader narrative, like your values, character, or career goals.
- Though it may be tempting, avoid cheesy quotes, clichés, or simply restating your thesis.
Create a Standout College Application
Coming up with a great college essay topic is important for putting your best self forward on your application, but the way you tell your story and show your character is what leaves a lasting impression. If you want guidance on your college essay and applications, InGenius Prep can help. Schedule your free consultation today!