Having completed brainstorming in step one,
you should now have a rough idea of the elements you wish to include in your colege application essay, including your goals,
important life experiences, research experience, diversifying features, spectacular nonacademic
accomplishments, etc. You should also now have an idea of what impression you want to make on the
admissions officers.
You must now confront the underlying problem of the admissions essay. You must now consider topics
that will allow you to synthesize your important personal characteristics and experiences into a
coherent whole while simultaneously addressing your desire to attend a specific institution. While
most admissions essays allow great latitude in topic selection, you must also be sure to answer the
questions that were asked of you.
Leaving a lasting impression on someone who reads 50-100 essays a
day will not be easy, but we have compiled some guidelines to help you get started. With any luck,
one or two topics, with small changes, will allow you to answer application questions for 5-7
different colleges, although admissions officers do appreciate essays that provide convincing evidence
of how an applicant will fit into a particular academic environment. You should at least have
read the college's webpage, admissions catalog, and have an understanding of the institution's strengths.
Consider the following questions before proceeding:
Have you selected a topic that describes something of personal importance in your life,
with which you can use vivid personal experiences as supporting details?
Is your topic a gimmick? That is, do you plan to write your essay in iambic pentameter
or make it funny. You should be very, very careful if you are planning to do this. We recommend
strongly that you do not do this. Almost always, this is done poorly and is not appreciated by
the admissions committee. Nothing is worse than not laughing or not being amused at something
that was written to be funny or amusing.
Will your topic only repeat information listed elsewhere on your application? If so, pick
a new topic. Don’t mention GPAs or standardized test scores in your essay.
Can you offer vivid supporting paragraphs to your essay topic? If you cannot easily think
of supporting paragraphs with concrete examples, you should probably choose a different essay topic.
Can you fully answer the question asked of you? Can you address and elaborate on all points
within the specified word limit, or will you end up writing a poor summary of something that might
be interesting as a report or research paper? If you plan on writing something technical for college
admissions, make sure you truly can back up your interest in a topic and are not merely throwing
around big scientific words. Unless you convince the reader that you actually have the life
experiences to back up your interest in neurobiology, the reader will assume you are trying to
impress him/her with shallow tactics. Also, be sure you can write to admissions officers and that
you are not writing over their heads.
Can you keep the reader's interest from the first word. The entire essay must be interesting,
considering admissions officers will probably only spend a few minutes reading each essay.
Is your topic overdone? To ascertain this, peruse through old essays.
EssayEdge's 100 free essays
can help you do this. However, most topics are overdone, and this is not a bad thing. A unique or
convincing answer to a classic topic can pay off big.
Will your topic turnoff a large number of people? If you write on how everyone should worship
your God, how wrong or right abortion is, or how you think the Republican or Democratic Party
is evil, you will not get into the college of your choice. The only thing worse than not
writing a memorable essay is writing an essay that will be remembered negatively. Stay away from
specific religions, political doctrines, or controversial opinions. You can still write an essay
about Nietzsche's influence on your life, but express understanding that not all intelligent
people will agree with Nietzsche's claims. Emphasize instead Nietzsche's influence on your life,
and not why you think he was wrong or right in his claims.
In this vein, if you are presenting a topic that is controversial, you must acknowledge
counter arguments without sounding arrogant.
Will an admissions officer remember your topic after a day of reading hundreds of essays?
What will the officer remember about your topic? What will the officer remember about you? What
will your lasting impression be?
After evaluating your essay topics with the above criteria and asking for the free opinions of
EssayEdge editors, of your teachers or colleagues, and of your friends, you should have at least 1-2
interesting essay topics. Consider the following guidelines below.
1. Focus on Personal Qualities. If you are planning on writing an essay on how you survived poverty in Russia, your
mother's suicide, your father's kidnapping, or your immigration to America from Asia, you should
be careful that your main goal is to address your own personal qualities. Just because something
sad or horrible has happened to you does not mean that you will be a good college or graduate
school student. You don't want to be remembered as the pathetic applicant. You want to be remembered
as the applicant who showed impressive qualities under difficult circumstances. It is for this
reason that essays relating to this topic are considered among the best. Unless you only use
the horrible experience as a lens with which to magnify your own personal characteristics, you
will not write a good essay. Graduate and professional school applicants should generally steer
clear of this topic altogether unless you can argue that your experience will make you a better
business person, doctor, lawyer, or scholar.
2. Essay Fit. Essays should fit in well with the rest of a candidate's application, explaining the
unexplained and steering clear of that which is already obvious. For example, if you have a 4.0
GPA and a 1500 SAT, no one doubts your ability to do the academic work and addressing this topic
would be ridiculous. However, if you have an 850 SAT and a 3.9 GPA or a 1450 SAT and a 2.5 GPA,
you would be wise to incorporate in your essay an explanation for the apparent contradiction. For
example, perhaps you were hospitalized or family concerns prevented your dedication to academics;
you would want to mention this in your essay. However, do not make your essay one giant excuse.
Simply give a quick, convincing explanation within the framework of your larger essay.
3. Addressing Diversity. Diversity is the biggest buzzword of our times. Every college, professional school,
or graduate school wants to increase diversity. For this reason, so many applicants are tempted to
declare what makes them diverse. However, simply saying you are a black, lesbian female will not
impress admissions officers in the least. While an essay incorporating this information would
probably be your best topic idea, you must finesse the issue by addressing your own personal
qualities and how you overcame stigma, dealt with social ostracism, etc. If you are a rich student
from Beverly Hills whose father is an engineer and whose mother is a lawyer, but you happen to be
a minority, an essay about how you dealt with adversity would be unwise. You must demonstrate
vividly your personal qualities, interests, motivations, etc. Address specifically how your diversity
will contribute to the realm of campus opinion, the academic environment, and social life.
4. First Impressions. Don't mention weaknesses unless you absolutely need to explain them away. You want to
make a positive first impression, and telling an admissions officer anything about drinking, drugs,
partying, etc. undermines your goal. EssayEdge editors have read more essays on ADD (Attention
Deficit Disorder) than we would ever have imagined. Why admit to weakness when you can instead
showcase your strengths?
5. Honesty Matters. Be honest, but not for honesty's sake. Unless you are a truly excellent writer, your
best, most passionate writing will be about events that actually occurred. While you might be
tempted to invent hardship, it is completely unnecessary. Write an essay about your life that
demonstrates your personality.
For access to 100 free sample successful admissions essays, visit EssayEdge,
the company The New York Times calls "the world's premier application essay editing service." You'll also
find other great essay and editing resources (some free and some fee-based) at EssayEdge.
