Selecting a Topic for your College Essays

If you go to the ‘California Colleges’ website dedicated to perfecting the Personal Statement for the UC Application, http://californiacolleges.edu/admissions/university-of-california-uc/personal-statement.asp, you’ll be told that

“The UC personal statement is a preview to the kind of writing you'll be doing in college and on college placement exams.

Unknown Audience: You will be writing for a community of strangers.

Writer-Determined Topic: You will pick the topic for your response.

Dig Deeper: Analysis and reflection are keys.”

Few high school students have dealt with this kind of writing before. You’re now writing for strangers in some admissions office who are not only reading what it is you’ve written, but are judging you based upon what you’ve written. No one likes to be subjected to such scrutiny, especially when the stakes are so high. Plus, there is one other uncertainty, you are now selecting the topic to use in the essay, and that’s a scary proposition.  

Keep one clear principle in mind, no matter whether the prompt is: ‘Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations,’ or the University of Chicago’s Essay Option 6:’ Don't write about reverse psychology,’ the real topic is you. Accept this and the rest of the writing process will more quickly come into focus. The essay is your vehicle for developing rapport with everyone and anyone in the admissions office. Developing rapport, by the way, is best done by showing, not telling, your audience who you are. You want to select a topic that will help you do this.

Common sense suggests certain topics are best not used in your college essay. These include drug use, sexual experimentation, self-pity, criminal activity, strong religious beliefs, a travelogue…there is a more complete list on about.com, http://collegeapps.about.com/od/essays/tp/bad-essay-topics.htm, Discussing shady activities, or superficial treatments of your one week trip to the Great Wall, is hardly going to present you accurately. A topic you’re excited by will generally be your best choice. If it is rebuilding a Chevrolet 2.8 liter, V6 engine, then describe the process clearly and in detail, again, preferably around a story. Your enthusiasm will shine through if your interest is real. Even someone who doesn’t know a bolt from a screw will pick up your enthusiasm and will enjoy. (Trust me in this: your passion for any topic will be noted and shared by readers). When your passion palpitates, it attracts.

If, you can’t come up with a topic, it’s always a good idea to start asking questions. Such probing stimulates your brain cells and opens up your thinking: What do I spend a lot of time doing? What is it you like to do? In what activity do I lose track of time? If I could accomplish one thing in the next three years what would it be? Free writing and free association is a good way to generate topics, but do it with a pen or pencil on paper. Recent studies from the University of Indiana indicate handwriting evokes strong mind response and idea generation.

The painful part of selecting a topic is getting started. Don’t be intimidated by the process. Yes, you might go down some dead ends. What you write might not even come close to what it is you wanted to get across. These are all part of getting to where you want to go. Look at it from a different perspective. The pleasure of getting it right can bring incomparable rewards. You might even discover qualities about yourself within your essay that you may have never known you had. That, in itself, is the whole purpose of the enterprise in the first place: self-discovery. It’s just a question of getting it down on paper. Start now.   

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