Selecting a Topic
Having completed brainstorming in
step one,
you should now have a rough idea of the elements you wish to
include in your 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. We should remark that at this stage,
undergraduate applicants have a large advantage over graduate
school applicants. Whereas nobody questions a high school
student's motivation to attend college, graduate and
professional school applicants must directly address in their
essays their desire to study their selected field.
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. 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. 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. "Diversity" is the biggest buzzword of the 1990's.
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. 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. 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.
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