Because of a pretty common (and potentially damaging) misconception, we wanted to write a post drilling down into college application essay topics, and especially the use (or maybe more like “misuse”) of the word “topic.”
So below, we’ll talk about
what is actually meant by your “topic” in your personal statement (and how it’s different from probably every other time you’ve used that word when referring to an essay)
what makes for a strong personal statement topic
and some ways to brainstorm options for yours
Diving in …
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(click to skip ahead)Your “topic” isn’t your topic
Maybe that phrase seems confusing.
Here’s what we mean:
Probably every other time you’ve had a teacher talk about the “topic” of your essay, that teacher was referring to the thing you were actually going to focus on and write about.
For example, if the topic of your essay for some class was the symbolism of the green light in The Great Gatsby or the primary causes of the American Civil War, you would focus on examples, details, and analysis exploring those things.
But with a college application essay, your topic should be you—who you are, what you value, what insights, interests, qualities, and skills you’ll bring to a college campus and community.
The ostensible “topic” (like Laptop Stickers or a Happiness Spreadsheet or Light or a specific challenge you faced) is really just a device you’re using to share those things about yourself.
We (as in, your readers) don’t actually care as much about the stickers or the spreadsheet or light or, to be honest, the challenge itself. We care about you, and we’re not really interested in the framing device itself so much as we’re interested in how you use that framing device to help us understand more about who you are.
Your topic is you.
“Best” college essay topics
So with that in mind (that your topic is you), here’s a way to think about “best” when it comes to common questions about the “best” college essay topics:
There actually isn’t one.
There’s no such thing as a topic that works for everybody.
Instead, the “best” college essay topics are those that allow you to most effectively show colleges who you are through the values, insights, skills, qualities, and interests you bring with you. Which means those “best” topics are going to be different for everyone.
For example, maybe you (as in, you the specific person reading this) could write an amazing essay using “different kinds of board games” as an excuse to share different sides of yourself. I’m not sure I (Andy, the person writing this post) could. But I could probably write a great essay using something like “hiking boots” or “different species of trees,” whereas maybe you’ve never owned a pair or have no idea what a larch is. Both “board games” and “hiking boots” or “trees” could be potential “best” topics, but probably not for both of us.
So if you can find something kinda unique, great. But don’t get paralyzed in the writing process thinking you need to find something no one has ever used as a “topic” before, and that there’s a potential “perfect” essay topic just waiting out there for you.
Why? Because it could be that something relatively common—in other words, something that other people could write well on—could make for a great essay topic for you.
Heads up: Common topics can make for outstanding personal statements
We’ve seen amazing college essays written on topics that are very common. Take, as an example, the essay below on food:
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Since 1941, my family has had an odd tradition.
Three days a week, my great-grandfather Pop brought home ribs. After dinner, he’d go around the table inspecting each plate, making sure each rib was stripped down to the bone. If he found one morsel, you couldn’t be excused. Pop believed that, before you could leave the table, you had to finish your ribs.
This lesson has stuck with me. Whether I’m staying up until two in the morning to figure out the Radius of Convergence of a Power Series or identifying solutions to countless concerns issued by my school district, I strive to finish my ribs.
But this is just one of many lessons food has taught me…
During Thanksgiving, instead of going around the table to express “thanks”, my family writes notes on the tablecloth--the same one for the past 26 years. You’ll find thoughts from my Dad. But only until 2004. Or corny jokes from my step-dad. But only until 2016. And you’ll read “Family is everything” from my great-grandmother Non. But only until 2017.
My family is far from perfect, but it’s in the presence of a tablecloth where time freezes and I begin to feel an unfamiliar sense of stability. It’s where my brother Noah told my Dad he loved him after six years of not communicating; where Mom sat next to Dad without a lawyer by their side, and where my family has gathered for every birthday at the same restaurant since I was four.
To me, eating means celebrating--culture, people, life. And I celebrated Non’s life by trying a dish I’ve feared since my first Passover: Gefilte fish, a stuffed seafood concoction. It’s not the taste I remember clearly but rather how it began a cascade of tasting other Jewish foods--chopped liver, beef tongue, pickled herring. In the time since, I’ve realized Gefilte fish is more than just the unfamiliar food tucked away in my great-grandma’s fridge, it represents the opportunities that arise from trying new things.
Because Gefilte fish is everywhere.
In some cases, Gefilte fish has meant testing different locations of bins to minimize food waste in a school with no cafeteria. Or researching how biofortification can create an allosteric inhibitor reducing the release of ethylene, thus increasing the shelf life of produce.
The lessons I learn through food aren’t just limited to traditional meals, though.
For the past five years, I’ve sold Otter Pops, a type of popsicle, at Spokane’s annual race. Every year my business grows -- I hire new employees to manage new stands throughout the course to sell thousands of Pops. But while my popsicle empire expands, one thing remains true: I take a break amid the chaos to eat my own Otter Pops. It’s the same reason I play volleyball with friends after a long week of school and swim in the river with my football teammates after we finish conditioning. I take tremendous pride in these things; in fact, I find them necessary.
And when I cook, I transform a part of raw Earth into raw culture. Preparing steak enables me to remember my great-grandfather while eating it reminds me of its destruction to the environment. This is how I understand the world--I cook to discover myself; I eat to learn about the world around me.
But we’ve become a product of the industrial food system, leading us to believe food is just another commodity and rendering us unable to identify that it exists at the seed of our very identity. This is why I want to study Anthropology and Public Policy--to restore the bond between humans, food, and culture and to create the policies that will ensure those who are food insecure have the same opportunity to do so themselves.
I have so much left to eat in this world—so much to change, so much to create, and even more to impact.
I’m hungry…
_ _ _
Check out the YouTube video analyzing this essay below:
This essay is, in our opinion (and also in the opinion of one of the most famous colleges you’ve ever heard of, just in case you’re not sure you trust our opinion), a really strong personal statement.
The “topic” of that essay—the thing that stitches the various elements together—is “Food.” But this (clearly) isn’t an essay on the culinary proclivities of Marie Antoinette. “Food” isn’t the topic …
The real topic is him. And through the essay, you get a clear sense of who he is and what he values through the moments, details, and insights he shares.
So, a big tip: when you’re brainstorming possible “topics” (more on brainstorming below), don’t get stuck looking for the “perfect” topic—there isn’t one. Instead, focus on finding a few different interesting avenues that allow you to share core aspects of yourself with your reader.
For more on how to write a personal statement, check out that guide.
With all that in mind, here’s how to think about the Common App essay prompts in conjunction with essay topics …
Common App Essay Prompts
Before we show you the Common App main personal statement prompts, we want to offer some advice:
Ignore them.
At least at first.
There are a few interrelated reasons that it’s a great idea to ignore the Common App essay prompts when you’re first starting out with the writing process:
There are two catch-all prompts (Prompt 1 and prompt 7) that allow you to write about virtually anything.
Combined with reason 1: Colleges don’t really care about which prompt you choose (and plenty of application readers don’t even look at the personal statement prompt)—they care more about the extent to which you’re revealing the skills, qualities, values, insights, and interests you’re bringing to a college campus.
Because of the points above (you can write about anything + colleges don’t care too much), looking at the prompts is only useful if you’re totally, completely stumped* as to how to brainstorm possible topics for your college essay. (In which case, see below.)
The danger of looking at the prompts before you do some brainstorming is that you may box yourself in by thinking you have to write about something that fits, say, prompt 2, and thereby prevent yourself from thinking about options for topics that allow you to show who you are and what you value more effectively.
*Actually feeling totally stumped? Here are some brainstorming exercises to try before you look at the prompts:
Try at least some of those exercises before you look at the Common App prompts below.
Below are the Common App essay prompts for 2023-24:
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.
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?
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
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?
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
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?
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.
Some key takeaways:
Again, prompts 1 and 7 allow you to write about basically anything.
Notice that the core subtext of each of the prompts is “who are you?” That’s the question a good “topic” helps to answer.
You can use the brainstorming exercises above to find a few possible “topics” that allow you to share core sides of yourself.
To explore what we’ve talked about via concrete example, let’s look at another great sample essay and, among other things, notice its “topic” (waves) vs its topic (the author).
Another Example Essay + Analysis
“Topic”: Waves
(Note: Bold added to words below by us, for clarity of analysis. Original essay was unbolded.)
As “Concierto de Aranjuez” plays from a pair of newly modified speakers in the basement, my fingers intuitively flick as sparkling guitar strings and silky oboe reeds sing, their sound waves varying in amplitudes of compressions and rarefactions along diverse wavelengths, vibrating in the air and straight into my ears. Suddenly, a pronounced F sharp cuts in, and I know I need to adjust the speaker to around 740 Hz.
One of my favorite pictures is of 3-year old me, wearing jeans and a flower apron, sitting on a vintage redwood loudspeaker. I was my father’s shadow, tagging along as he soldered electronic boards for audio equipment in the basement. I still remember the smell of melted metal whenever I sprinted down the stairs to watch his daily quest of opening up speakers, identifying components of various sizes and geometries, and soldering wires together. Over time, my father and I became our own band of rebels, staying up past midnight in the musty basement, smoke rising from the soldering iron and drills bzzzing down screws while toying with electronic components that would fabricate perfect wave frequencies.
On my fifth birthday my parents led me into the living room, where a brand new mahogany upright piano sat. Hesitant, I awkwardly pressed a few keys. Though it might have sounded like a musical mess to others, I was immediately captured. Each key produced a wonderful blend of frequency and wavelength. That day began my piano career, leading eventually to performing in world-renowned music halls and playing with international orchestras. Every time I play, I communicate my affections and despairs, whether to a hall of hundreds or a cramped room of friends, by plucking the notes for dolce, crescendoing for ff, and slowing or upping tempo. These dynamics merge together, coalescing into sound waves that rise through me and into my audience, connecting us emotionally.
At sixteen, I was selected to conduct MRI research at Columbia University Department of Psychiatry. In the lab, my mind was bombarded with myriad questions: I knew a kilohertz electromagnetic wave could vibrate air to convey sound into our eardrums. But how can a megahertz wave resonate with hydrogen protons in our brains to generate an image of neuron distribution and activities? Would gigahertz or terahertz waves reveal other characteristics of our bodies? As I recorded data and observed the different frequencies of the EM waves emitted by the machine’s resonance frequency coils, the shapes the waves make reminded me of the same forms shown by my dad’s oscilloscope. I fell in love with the MRI lab, the birthplace of my interest in physics.
As first-generation immigrants, my parents, during many dinner conversations, told me of their youths in China. Stories of poverty, starvation, and national turmoil sunk into my mind, and I was devastated by the horrors they had gone through. I was also struck by their lack of proper English language education, especially since I believe an increase in globalization is the key to a safe and prosperous future, and English is considered a universal language. Thus in 9th grade I founded Cultureswave, an association that connects American students in my community with Chinese students via an online platform to help with English speaking, reading, and writing skills. Not only am I using language to create ties between cultures, but I’m also allowing these groups to resonate with each other, forming waves of communication across continents.
Life is full of coincidences. Modes of resonance in forms of waves have popped up repeatedly throughout my years, between communities as small as my family and friends to ones that span the Pacific. I’m certain my school’s campus will be the next society where I’ll resonate with thrilling ideas and school spirit, like booming soundwaves from a pair of speakers. Maybe my dorm will be my next basement, tuning my latest modified speakers to a perfect 740 Hz.
Tips + Analysis
“Topic” vs Topic:
In keeping with the focus of this post, I want you to notice that the pieces I bolded in the essay build a clear theme/thread for the essay—each paragraph is linked through the framing device of “waves.” But clearly, different kinds of “waves” aren’t really her topic. Her real topic is her, and through the excuse of “waves” we get a lens into who she is, what she values, and what she’ll bring to a college campus and community.
Use your “topic” to show your values:
The author above uses “waves” to point to a different side of herself in each paragraph to demonstrate different core values (which are one of the easiest/clearest ways to help someone understand who you are). For example, in the second paragraph of the essay, in the nice illustrative details she offers, I see values of family, experimentation/exploration, pushing boundaries, and creation. In the third paragraph, I see creativity, dedication, expression, and connection. And each subsequent paragraph uses the thematic excuse of “waves” to illustrate who she is through further core values.
Use your values to demonstrate your insights:
Essentially, what are some things you’ve learned through reflecting on your values and experiences?
For example, through connecting phrases like “I believe an increase in globalization is the key to a safe and prosperous future” and “Not only am I using language to create ties between cultures, but I’m also allowing these groups to resonate with each other, forming waves of communication across continents” in her final body paragraph, she helps us see how she has taken the time to reflect on why it’s important that language can build connection between people, and how she has acted to try to facilitate that kind of connection to lead to greater well being for others.
For more on how to add insight to an essay, check out that guide (which is written focusing on UC PIQs, but the same tactics and principles apply to Common App essays).
Thanks for reading, and have fun exploring possible “topics” so you can actually write about your topic. Which is you. (Which by now is probably clear. Which is great.)
Andrew Simpson has worked as an educator, consultant, and curriculum writer for the past 15 years, and earned degrees from Stanford in Political Science and Drama. He feels most at home on mountain tops and in oceans.
Top Values: Insight/Growth | Truth | Integrity
