A new client, who I will call Sarah, met with me for the first time to talk about topic ideas. When I pressed her about her interests, her hobbies, her passions, she kept insisting that she was a well-rounded, strong student, but didn’t have any one thing that stood out about her. It’s a common obstacle in writing these essays. Students think they need to have climbed Mt. Everest or invented a better paperclip to justify a strong topic.
These students just need to slow down long enough to see what is right in front of them: the often mundane, yet fascinating qualities, habits, goals or characteristics that make them unique. I gave Sarah a few examples of this idea: the student who wrote about her wild red hair; the girl who liked riding the public bus system and used that to “show” her sense of adventure and openess to all types of people; the student who wrote a tribute to his TI-83+ calculator; the girl who wrote about her prowess as a karaoke queen.
After listening to these ideas, Sarah kept insisting she really didn’t have anything special to write about herself. She thought for a few more minutes and then said quietly, “I smile a lot.” Bingo!! I had only spent about ten minutes with Sarah, and I had noticed she easily broke into a wide, beautiful smile. Sarah even smiled when she talked. It was as though she couldn’t stop herself. “My mom says I’m always smiling,” she added, smiling. What a perfect topic for an essay? Sarah’s constant smiling obviously was a big part of who she is, and all she had to do was explore what this meant to her, how it affected her relationships and experiences with others, maybe develop some metaphors to her smiling and life, and she had a makings of an engaging essay.
As with Sarah, sometimes the best essay topics are so close you don’t even see them. Just keep looking!
Tags: "college admissions essay", advice, audience, Choosing a Topic, college, common application, essay, personal statement, secrets, Tips, topics, topoics, university of california, writing
SocialVibe