“I have no idea what to write about!”
I can’t tell you how many times I hear this when meeting with college-bound students on our first call. And, rightfully so, they have a point. Honestly, it would be daunting for anyone at any age to sit down and think about a topic to write about when sharing an aspect of their life in the form of a personal narrative essay.
However, on a positive note, writing the college essay is really the only part of the application where students can truly show who they are as a person rather than being defined by test scores, activities, and achievements.
So, let’s take, “I have no idea what to write about!” and transform that statement to “Ah, ok, I got this!”
Here are fifteen potential topic ideas to explore in helping you choose which direction is best for you.
- Passions and interests, especially those that reveal continuity
- A special skill / talent you possess
- A defining moment that helped you spark a new way of thinking or caused you to go on a journey of self-improvement
- An experience or event that changed you for the better
- Engaging in an activity that made you realize something about you and about others as a result
- Something or someone you are grateful for and why that is
- Something important about who you are as a person related to your background, life experience, identity formation
- An obstacle/hardship that you’ve had to overcome and how doing so has changed you
- Having to navigate a challenge and the steps taken to do so
- A real-life experience and its impact on you (ex: working, interning, doing community service)
- Reflecting on a life lesson taught by someone important to you
- Believing in something only to discover otherwise and how this experience impacted you
- Discovering a new ability in an unexpected/surprising way
- A quirk or a specific character trait that you believe defines you
- A time when you took a risk and what you learned from that experience