People often tell us they don’t have anything to write their college essay about. Good stories, they think, involve Hollywood blockbuster experiences. If they haven’t saved a child from a burning building, fled war, or discovered the cure for some obscure disease, they think they might as well accept that they’ve lived a pretty mundane life and that there’s no way they’re going to college.
Here’s the thing: this isn’t true.
Sure, some people have written strong college essays about overcoming immense challenges, but others have written standout essays about everything from making kombucha to watching The Daily Show.
So if you’re asking yourself “what should I write my college essay about?”, rest assured that how you write about your topic can be as important as (and frequently more important than) what you write about. That said, there are some key considerations you should have in mind when choosing a topic for your application essay.
Read on for guidance on finding a college essay topic you feel truly confident about. At the end, we’ll go over a couple of strong college essay examples, which will show you how others have found great stories in day to day experiences.
What can I write my college essay about?
Almost anything you want—it’s an opportunity to show your authentic self to admissions readers in a way that your test scores, GPA, and activities list can’t. Rather than like the more formal literary analysis essays you may be used to writing in your English classes, think of the personal statement as a chance to show admissions readers who you are and what you value.
Some people greet that wide open canvas with relief, others with anxiety—the sheer volume of things you could write about can feel overwhelming. And if you’re looking for any help from the Common Application prompts, you’ll likely be disappointed. As we’ve said elsewhere, using the prompts to figure out your college essay topic probably isn’t the best way to go about brainstorming (more on that here). The good news is that CEG offers a bunch of brainstorming exercises that can set you up for success.
How to brainstorm college essay topics
At College Essay Guy, we think of essays as generally being either Montages or Narratives. A Montage uses a guiding idea to tie examples together, and a Narrative tells the story of a single (or in some cases, a couple of) challenges the writer experienced. Which one makes the most sense for you? Ask yourself this question:
Have I experienced significant challenges in my life?
If the answer to that question is “yes” (and, importantly, you’re willing to write about those challenges … ‘cause you don’t have to, despite what many people think), you might try writing a Narrative.
If the answer to that question is ”no”, try writing a Montage.
But notice the word “significant” in that question above. To get a sense of what “significant” means in the context of college essays, think about a spectrum where getting cut from a sports team is on one end (the low end… sorry), and having your house destroyed in a flood is on the other.
To be clear, we’re not saying that getting cut from your sports team is an easy experience. But think about the admissions officer’s perspective: maybe, just before reading your essay about getting cut from a sports team, she read an essay about a kid who escaped from a warzone. By comparison, your challenges simply won’t seem as compelling. And while it is possible to write a strong essay about challenges that were not significant, it’s pretty hard to pull off.
Brainstorming a Narrative Essay
So let’s say that after some thinking you’ve realized, yes, you have experienced some significant challenges, and yes, you are willing to write about them. How should I brainstorm my college essay? you may be asking. Good question. We’d suggest you try out our Feelings and Needs exercise.
In short, this exercise asks you to brainstorm a bunch of challenges you’ve experienced in your life, then reflect on the following questions for each challenge:
What were the effects of the challenge?
What did I feel as a result of those effects?
What needs were created as a result of those feelings?
What did I do to meet (or try to meet) those needs?
What did I learn from all of this?
Working through this exercise has led students to write some very strong college essays. If you’re interested in giving it a try, you might check out this video walking through it.
Brainstorming a Montage Essay
If you haven’t experienced significant challenges, or you simply don’t want to write about them (again, totally fine not to), don’t worry—you can write a Montage Essay.
Brainstorming a Montage Essay is largely about identifying your guiding thread—the thematic idea that links together different examples from your life. There are many ways to find your thread. You might try the Five Things exercise, or the I Love exercise.
A lot of people find some traction with the Essence Objects exercise. In short, this exercise asks you to brainstorm different objects in your life that are particularly meaningful to you (Ethan likes to use his green pen as an example). If you need a bit more guidance, you might ask yourself these questions:
What’s hanging on the walls in my room?
What’s something I collect, like stickers on my laptop or water bottle?
What foods do I have strong memories of?
While you’re doing this exercise you might start thinking, how on earth am I going to write my college essay about this? Resist those thoughts. I promise, this exercise has helped people write very strong essays.
What to include in a college essay
Once you’ve done some high quality brainstorming and are ready to write, be sure to remember the goals of your personal statement. Whereas the purpose of an essay in your English class is to support a clearly stated argument with evidence, the goal of your personal statement is to show an admissions officer the values, insights, skills, qualities, and interests you’ll bring to a college campus (more on the difference between English class essays and personal statements here). This means you can (and probably should) do things you wouldn’t normally do in a literary analysis essay.
For example:
Yes, you can use “I” statements. The essay is about you, after all. Rather than revealing how X author uses Y literary device in a book, you’re revealing your core values.
You can be vulnerable. This can be scary, but it’s one of the most efficient ways to show a stranger (i.e., a college admissions officer) who you truly are. The admissions officer should have a clear sense of “you” after reading your essay, and vulnerability is a tried and true way of getting “you” to come off the page.
You can be more casual in your writing style. In a literary analysis paper, the writing might sound something like this:
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses several literary devices to show that shame can have physical consequences. For example, when Hester opens up the book on the table, she finds that…
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By contrast, a personal statement’s writing can sound more like this:
I have been pooped on many times. I mean this in the most literal sense possible. I have been pooped on by pigeons and possums, house finches and hawks, egrets and eastern grays…(read the rest of this essay here)
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But don’t mistake a more casual tone for haphazard structure. If you read the rest of that “poop” essay, you’ll see that the writer successfully connects ideas logically, but in a way that’s not at all obvious or boring.
For more guidance on what to include in your college essay, check out our Great College Essay Test. Below, you’ll find two stand-out college essays accompanied by some tips and analysis of what makes them so great.
2 Example College Essays with Analysis
Example college essay 1
“Bahraini & Turkish” (Identity montage)
Born to a Turkish father and a Bahraini mother, I was named Yusuf, a name with deep roots in both countries. That decision marked the beginning of my parents’ quest to connect me to Bahrain and Turkey. Looking back, I can see how each country shaped my personal development and character in distinct ways.
Bahrain gives me a sense of belonging; it represents home. It’s where my family, friends, and school are. Fridays are particularly special—they are family days. Almost every Bahraini will tell you that. From noon until evening, my extended family meets at my grandparents’ house over lunch. But our gatherings are unique. My grandfather, who served as Bahrain’s first minister of commerce and agriculture, will discuss current domestic and regional events—from the viability of a value-added tax in Bahrain to the Qatar diplomatic crisis. Many conversations turn into an engaging debate between my family members, all Western-educated, offering different opinions. As one of my uncles advocates for cutting off diplomatic ties with Qatar, my mother will argue for restoring them. This exposure to varying views on social changes and political rifts ingrained in me a thirst for political and historical insights.
My inquisitiveness fueled within me a strong interest in politics, something else I owe to my Bahraini roots. As I got older, I took the initiative to educate myself about regional issues to form my own opinion. I would research a variety of news outlets, from our regional Alarabiya station to the international BBC channel, using VPN to read blocked news websites, such as Al Jazeera, watch documentaries, and read history books in an attempt to understand both sides of each issue. I started thinking more freely and learned to acknowledge and respect other people’s stances, even if I disagree.
While my Bahraini side helped shape my beliefs, my Turkish side has pushed me to stand up for them. I like telling people I am half Turkish, even if I’m not asked. It gives me a sense of pride. The political rift between Bahrain and Turkey has made politics personal, making me feel more Turkish than ever. I’ve watched my parents debate Erdogan’s expansionary policies and my friends bash Turkey because of the Bahraini government’s opposition to Turkey’s involvement in the Arab region. I give Bahrain credit if I agree with the stance, but I also defend Turkey in a society where the majority endorses the government’s views. I gained a sense of independence by standing up for Turkey and sticking with my convictions, knowing the risks of being alienated.
Bahrain and Turkey have played different roles in my growth, but they have also combined to influence my benevolent side with their Islamic culture's strong emphasis on compassion. I once read that cockroaches cannot survive laying on their back, so if I find one in that position, I flip it. I made bead bracelets and sold them for charity. As I matured, my contributions to my community did too. From teaching English to underserved kids to arranging Iftar meals for expatriated laborers during the COVID-19 pandemic, my efforts to give back not only gave me a new perspective on my community, but they also proved to me that the humanitarian nature of my culture is stronger than temporary political feuds.
My dual heritage is reflective of the diversity of my community—a trading hub founded by the influx of Arabs, Persians, and Indians, a region where Muslim Sunnis and Shias, Christians, Jews, and Hindus have coexisted for centuries. It has shaped my natural diplomatic tendencies, from negotiating disagreements between friends to learning four languages to respecting that each position has multiple stances, many of them valid. I am eager to further develop my diplomacy skills so I can one day return to Bahrain, serve in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and be able to do my part to influence the direction of an ever-changing, complex world.
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College Essay 1 Tips + analysis
The author shows different values clearly. It’s fairly easy to map a core value onto each body paragraph in this montage essay. This isn’t by accident—it’s the result of the author using clear examples to illustrate the “so what” in each of their paragraphs. They show us those lunch gatherings to reveal the origins of their inquisitiveness. They talk about righting an up-turned cockroach to show us their compassion. With a clearly defined guiding thread of their Turkish and Bahraini identities, they’re able to show us key aspects of themselves. The result is that we (and admissions officers) get a clear sense of who the writer really is as a person.
The author gets a little vulnerable. They do this in a few different ways. When it comes to discussing their political beliefs, they’re well aware of the “risks of being alienated.” And yet they show that they lean into that vulnerability in the interest of staying true to their “Turkish side.” But they also get vulnerable by explaining what might be perceived as a behavioral quirk: they say that, even when not asked, they “like telling people [they’re] half Turkish…” More than simply telling readers that they take pride in their Turkish roots, they use this specific admission to really show readers what those roots mean to them.
Example college essay 2
“Patellar Tendinitis…” (narrative)
The summer before junior year was pretty awful.
At the beginning of summer, I was diagnosed with patellar tendinitis. Not only did I lose the experience of playing basketball, but I also lost the feeling that came with being part of a team. One month later, the only boy I could ever fully trust died: my dog, Max. His chubby stomach would no longer provide my head a pillow, I would never get to hear him bark ever again, and I had nothing to play with when I came home. And to top it off, two weeks later, my dad cheated on my mom. I didn’t tell anyone, not even my best friend, and feelings of resentment and anger were just bottled up inside me, making me feel alone.
I felt lost.
So I tried to cope in different ways.
I began dieting, but realized I loved food too much to starve myself. So then I started binging. No, not on food, on TV. I forced myself to watch the worst shows of all time, and by the time I hit rock bottom, I had watched every season of the Kardashians. Yeah, I went there.
But I realized that dieting and watching these shows didn’t make me feel any better, they actually made me feel worse.
At that point, I felt not only lost but empty and utterly bored.
Fast forward to the first day of Junior year. I needed one more visual arts credit, so I switched into the Film A class. The first assignment was to pitch three short film ideas to the class, and let them decide which we would work on for the semester. I pitched my three ideas, and the class picked the story of Nina, a young girl who investigates the murder of her dead stuffed animal.
I worked on my little movie idea like there was no tomorrow. I struggled to learn how to white balance and to use Final Cut Pro. I worked on color correcting during my free periods, stayed up all night making new edits of my film and kept annoying my poor teacher by emailing every day with new questions. My DP, actors, and I worked together each day to create the best version of my film. I was constantly occupied, enough so that my mom didn’t even ask me to run errands for her anymore. Score.
Once my film was completed, my teacher emailed to ask if she could screen my film at a school-wide assembly. I emailed her saying “Yes!!” (with two exclamation marks). But what I was really thinking was, “Dear God, why me? I don’t want to do this, people are going to hate it. Thanks a lot” (no exclamation mark).
But at the screening a miracle happened. They smiled. They laughed. They even clapped! My lack of confidence was banished by the time my film ended. I had made something that not only made me happy, but made others happy too. A cheesy smile was plastered on my face for the next two weeks.
But over the next couple weeks something else started to happen.
People in my film class began asking how I came up with my film idea. At the time, my answer was, “I don’t know” or “Um, I like stuffed animals?” But then I showed my film to my sister. Once it ended, she started crying. She said, “I’m so sorry you had to go through these things. It’s too early.” At first, I didn’t really understand why my film made her say that. But then I realized that she saw something I originally hadn’t.
On the surface, the film is about a teenager named Nina who loses her beloved stuffed animal, Jimmy, only to find out her mother stole it to teach Nina a lesson in growing up. But my sister saw my film as kind of a distorted life story. It wasn’t just about having weird connections with inanimate objects, it was about losing something/someone you love then losing the trust of a parent. I realized that the loss of Jimmy in the story represented the loss of my dog and that Nina’s mother stealing the stuffed animal, which led to a lack of trust, represented the loss of trust I felt after my dad cheated on my mom. I may have thought that I was over my resentment and anger toward my dad, but I wasn’t. And, if I’m being honest, I’m still not. But, that anger and resentment towards my dad that pushed me to come up with this film showed me that I wasn’t alone because my sister was feeling the same thing. Even though we are 19 years apart, we unbottled our resentment together and opened up to each other.
Not only did this little movie idea lead me to this understanding, but I also had a realization about filmmaking.
Even though my film was comedic, it showed a hidden side of my feelings, and ultimately gave me an outlet that allowed me to show my feelings in an indirect, but meaningful way. And that’s why I love comedy. It's not just about the laughs and slapstick jokes that makes the audience laugh, but it's also about the relief creating the story gives. If I created a dramatic film about the lose of a loved one, I would have given my film teacher the hesitant yes I gave her. I would have just straight out said no. The idea of having a hidden side to my film that no one would see because they would be too busy laughing, gave me comfort.
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College Essay 2 Tips + analysis
The author is intentional with their casual-ness. Consider when the author discusses “binging”. A more straightforward approach may have just said something like this: “I started watching a lot of TV.” But this author plays with our expectations in a tone that’s more conversational, saying “So then I started binging. No, not on food, on TV.” Later, when talking about their film being screened in front of the whole school, they show their anxiety by saying that there was “(no exclamation mark)” at the end of their hypothetical letter to God. They’re doing two things here that result in a more casual tone: they’re indirectly addressing the reader, and they’re being brief and quippy. The informality of the writing may cause you to glaze over the intention behind it, but make no mistake: this writer’s in control of their tone.
Another example of how to get vulnerable. This author writes about painful experiences with clarity. The toll her father’s infidelity took on her is clear, and yet there’s wisdom and control in the way she writes about that pain. She writes, “I may have thought that I was over my resentment and anger toward my dad, but I wasn’t. And, if I’m being honest, I’m still not”, then launches into how filmmaking allowed her to find communion with her sister. This shows us that she’s reflected deeply on an experience that was clearly quite hard for her, giving us a clear “so what.” When it comes to reflecting on difficult experiences, you may find that you’re not quite ready or willing to write about them. That’s fine—you don’t have to. If you are ready, though, this author shows us what it can look like to work maturely and clearly with emotional pain in a college essay.
Special thanks to Nick Muccio for writing this blog post.
Nick Muccio
Rather than candy, Nick (he/him) went searching for people’s vacuum cleaners when trick or treating. He’s since found other ways to help people clean, usually involving their essays (though he has great ideas on carpet maintenance, too). He earned a degree in Psychology from Bates College, where he rowed boats and acted in plays. Teaching high schoolers English for seven years taught him about the importance of presence and knitting sweaters. He sweats a lot, usually on purpose, and usually involving running shoes, a bike, or a rock climbing harness. His greatest fear? Heights. His greatest joys? Numerous, though shared laughter is up there.
