Moving is a nearly universal experience, which is actually a really good thing when it comes to writing college essays. One of the biggest misconceptions about college essays is that if you don’t have something truly unique to say, you and your essay are going to fall into a pit of half-read applications from which no acceptances ever materialize. If you didn’t hear us say “misconception,” let us reinforce that this is a myth. The idea that a 100% unique never-done-before totally-novel essay is a winning essay is a total lie.

The people who know you the best are probably, for 99% of people, your family. You’ve spent more time with them than anyone else, whether they are biological, adopted, or chosen. So, you have the most history with them, and the deepest stories with them. There is a lot of fodder in there for essays! It makes sense, then, that you would think to write about your family in your college essay.

What do you think of when you hear the word “community”? Does a specific organization, group, team, or even class pop into your mind? Or maybe it’s a feeling — a sense of closeness, support, and reciprocal care. The coolest thing about community, though, is that there isn’t one kind of community. Communities come in all shapes and sizes, and what one person looks for in a community (let’s say, loudly supporting cheerleaders) might be the exact opposite of what someone else is looking for (bookworms with that quite kind of confidence). No matter who the community is comprised of or why it has come together, though, communities all have one thing in common: they bring people together.

Death is a universal human experience, but, while we love when students write about something universal for a college essay, death isn’t like other universals. This is because it’s almost always, and practically unavoidably, dark. Writing about other universals, like food or friendship, are assumed to be positive by the reader. As soon as they get a sense of the topic, they feel a warm fuzzy feeling. But writing about death isn’t like this. It gets depressing fast. Like literally from the get-go.  

If you’re sitting down to write your college essay but have no idea what to put on paper (or, more likely, the screen), we’re here to help. Writing a college essay can be scary and overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. One of the ways to make it fun is to write about something you love, something you cherish, and something that is close to you — and often that means your culture.

Picking a topic for your college essay can be intimidating, to put it lightly. In 650 words, you are supposed to distill yourself into an essay that is both a convincing argument for offering you admission and a literary masterpiece. That’s a lot. But picking the right topic for your essay can be the key to the puzzle. With the right topic, things flow.

We love jobs. We love summer jobs, and we love after-school jobs. We love part-time jobs, and we love seasonal jobs. We advise nearly all of our students to get a summer job that pays real money to do real work, as opposed to an internship — which is also good but different. Many colleges even prioritize applicants who have real-world work experience, so getting a job pays you at work and in the college admissions process. Because of this, a summer job is nearly always a great topic for a college essay.