"But I Don't Know What to Write About!"
Tips to help you start the college essay
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The day has come when you must begin writing your college essay. You might be in that small percentage of people with fresh, clever topics that you are ready to write about, or you could be in the majority and have absolutely no idea what to write in order to try and convince these schools that you are a student they want. But don’t worry just yet— there's still time for you to figure out what might work and what might be a flop. Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling!
Start with your hobbies and major interests. Map out what you find yourself doing when you are procrastinating your homework, what makes you lose track of time, or what makes you feel the most yourself or at your happiest. This could be anything, really anything— I wrote my essay about hula hooping!
When you find that hobby that you think you might want to write about, you should consider why you are drawn to it. How do you feel when you participate in this activity? Writing about something that you are passionate about is one of the best ways for you and your reader to stay invested in the narrative.
But maybe you don’t have any hobbies you feel are worthy of a college essay. That's okay! There are still other options that you can pull from your life experience in order to craft a meaningful essay. Maybe something significant (good or bad) happened to you during the course of your life. Think back to that moment. How did you react? How has this event impacted who you are today, and how you approach life? The hardest part of writing the college essay is remembering to show, and not tell. Showing and not telling is crucial in pieces like your college essay since they are typically written as narratives. You want your story to come across as engaging. For example, when describing the feeling of running for, let's say, a track meet. Rather than stating “I sprinted down the track and was getting tired”, say "One foot in front of the other, each step moving as fast as my racing heartbeat, I could feel my legs losing the will to keep pushing me forward." This helps to convey the emotion of running fast and helps the reader understand that you were starting to feel the pressure of finishing the race. In this moment, the reader may also begin to understand that this race was important. Don’t just say that the race determined if you were going to make it to states, show and explain how winning this race may affect how you run for the rest of the season.
Hopefully this article has been helpful for you, and you are now able to get somewhere with your essay. But if you are still struggling with finding a topic, I suggest writing a couple of essays. I know this seems counterintuitive, but it may help you in the long run. These essays don’t have to be any good. You don’t have to submit them to your colleges. Just write whatever comes to mind, about whatever topic you’d like (don’t pay attention to the word count, just start with the general idea).
After writing a couple of essays, think about each piece. What did you enjoy writing the most? Why did you like writing that piece? What about that topic made you think you couldn’t use it for your final college essay? More likely than not, that topic is probably okay for you to use. Yes, you might have to move stuff around, rewrite some parts, or even the whole essay. But with some solid revisions and lots of bad drafts, you have the potential to write a thought-provoking and engaging narrative.
If you are still struggling with starting your essay, or organizing how you will write your narrative, here are a few videos that covers some things I may have missed, and might help push you in the right direction.
Top 3 Tips
Map out your interests and hobbies
Significant Events (good or bad)
Write multiple essays spanning different topics and aspects of your life
The Common App essay prompts for the 2021-2022 application cycle:
1) Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
2) The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
3) Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
4) Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
5) Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
6) Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
7) Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
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