How to Choose a Unique College Essay Topic
Are you wondering how to choose a unique college essay topic?
In the competitive world that is college admissions, it would be hard to overstate the significance of your personal college essay.
Your personal statement is the part of your college admission application that allows you to highlight your personality, your experiences, your aspirations, and your worldview.
Your personal essay is your best opportunity to stand out from other applicants!
So how do you choose a college essay topic that’s unique?
How do you choose something special about yourself to write about in your college essay? Out of all the things that have happened to you, how do you choose just one important experience to write about?
Choosing a unique, strong college essay topic and writing a engaging essay is a daunting task!
This post will give you some great ideas about choosing a unique college essay topic and practical tips about writing an essay that lets your individuality shine!
Why Is It Important to Have a Unique College Essay Topic?
Simply put, your college essay is your best shot at setting yourself apart from thousands of other applicants.
Your college essay is your chance to tell your story and explain who you are.
Deeply personal essays will explore your unique perspective on life and convey who you are beyond the numbers on your test scores, your grade point average, and the list of accomplishments on your application.
Admissions officers review thousands of essays each year, and most of them have been doing their jobs for a long time! That means they’d love to read a unique college essay!
Most of the college admissions process is anything but personal. Your SAT or ACT scores (if you submit them), your grades, the list of courses you took, your extracurricular activities, and your awards are all pretty dry.
The best college admissions essays bring their writers to life in a way that numbers and lists just can’t do!
Choosing a College Essay Prompt
The Common App lists a variety of common app essay prompts that students can choose from when writing their college essay. (If you apply directly through an individual college’s website, you may find additional suggested prompts.)
The Common Application essay prompts are designed to be broad, so that high school seniors can write essays specific to a significant moment or experience in their lives.
Almost always, you can chose to write a creative college essay on the topic of your choice or submit an essay you wrote in response to a completely different prompt.
This means you have creative freedom to write about anything you want admissions officers to know about you.
Tips for Choosing a Unique college essay Topic
You’re the only person who can actually tell your story.
There’s a reason the college application essay is called a personal statement!
To make your college essay unique, you must write about yourself and your personal experiences.
This essay offers a unique opportunity to reflect on and write about your passions, your spirit, your quirks.
College admissions officers really do want to learn about you.
And this is your chance to give them insight on what matters to you, what your values are, how your family dynamics have shaped you, and why you are the person you are.
Creative essay ideas often come from the seemingly ordinary moments of your everyday life.
To explore what you want to share in your college application essay, you’ll need to think about how you want to describe yourself and what stories you want to tell about who you are.
Here are some strategies for finding inspiration for a unique college essay:
1. Choose one key thing to write about
To write a unique college essay, choose something that’s truly of great personal importance to you. Use that as a jumping off point to talk about who you are.
You could write about something you’ve been interested or involved in for years, like community service, a club, or another extracurricular program. Discuss your consistent interest in this topic or how your interest has evolved over time.
You could write about a favorite place, some aspect of your family history, or an object that’s important to you. Be sure to give personal details about how this place, experience, or thing has impacted you.
Remember that the most memorable college essays are about unexpected topics, so be creative!
2. Show growth
How have you grown as a person through your high school years? Of course you have!
Writing about your personal growth is a great topic for a college essay. The trick here is to be specific and insightful on what happened, how you changed, and why.
You can talk about a sport you played or a club you participated in, but you’ll need to go beyond cliches and explore what you learned from that experience—and I mean what you learned about yourself, not about baseball or how to put together a yearbook.
- Has your involvement in an activity led to a period of personal growth?
- Has it given you a new understanding of yourself?
- Did you experience an intellectual challenge that led to later success?
3. Be specific
Use one small detail of an experience or event as the starting point to craft a narrative that weaves in various elements that are important to your story.
Don’t use broad explanations or make generalizations. Nobody wants to read a vague essay with generic examples!
Focus in on the specific details of your story to help your essay stand out from the others.
A great college essay topic will let you tell a meaningful story about yourself by focusing on one significant moment or one small thing that is of great personal importance to you.
4. Tell your story
Above all, when writing your college admissions essay, write about you! Definitely frame your story with the necessary characters and place, but take advantage of this opportunity to write about yourself.
You may write an essay that includes your siblings, parents, or grandparent as characters. But the heart of the essay needs to be about you.
How have you changed? What do you believe? What did you do? Why does something matter to you? Dig deep and share truths about yourself.
Your college essay should be so unique that the only person who could have written it is you, not any other college applicants.
If someone who knows you, like your best friend or a family member, found your essay in a stack of essays, they should know beyond a doubt that you are the author.
How to brainstorm unique college essay topics
Now, you need to find just the right topic for your college essay.
Remember that the goal of a great college admissions essay is to show that you are insightful, mature, empathetic, a problem solver, and so on.
Begin the college essay writing process by reflecting on your life experiences, values, and the moments that have shaped you. These can be big events or small moments.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Use a notebook or a journal to write down your answers to these questions.
Its a good idea to write down all the answers that come to mind, even if you’re not sure yet if they’d make a great topic idea or what you would say about that topic. Take your time.
The experiences that made an impact on you or are central to who you are could be a conversation, a travel experience, or a seemingly insignificant daily event.
Remember that the key to a good college essay lies in your ability to connect a specific experience to your personal growth and development.
Writing a Unique College Essay
Now that you’ve brainstormed potential essay topics that are uniquely about your life, you’ll start to craft a compelling essay that will captivate a college admission officer.
Here are some guidelines for starting the writing process.
1. Think it over
Before you start writing, think about which of your responses to the questions above would make great college essay topics.
Let your ideas percolate in the back of your mind for a day or so, then read them again with a fresh perspective.
2. Choose one
When you come back to your answers to the questions above, think about which theme would make a great unique college essay topic for you to write about.
Remember, you brainstormed ideas for writing a unique college admissions essay. You don’t need to write an essay that directly answers a certain prompt.
Some of your initial ideas aren’t going to resonate with you. Cross out any ideas that feel flat, clichéd, or boring.
If you don’t feel an emotional connection or enthusiasm for the topic, move on.
3. Focus on the best
If a topic makes you feel excited, you have a lot to say about it, or you know it reveals something special about yourself, put it on the short list.
How would you tell the story behind each topic? What does each story say about you?
How would you share this story with a new friend? You should be excited and happy about the prospect of sharing this story.
4. Start outlining
You may have to test run two or three (or more) topics to find the right one. Sometimes, what you think will be a great story just isn’t so good once you start writing. That’s okay, because you should have dozens of other ideas to work with!
Spend some time thinking about how you would write an essay for each topic to see which one feels best. Chances are, one essay topic will feel easier to write and more true to you. That’s the one to choose!
5. Hook the Reader with the Introduction
Open your essay with an engaging hook that draws the reader in. You could use a vivid anecdote or a thought provoking question. Make the reader curious.
6. Tell an engaging story
Use the narrative arc of your essay to describe the situation, the conflict, and the resolution of your story. Make the reader want to know what will happen next.
The best essays reveal what kind of person the writer is, their sense of humor, their best qualities, and how they see themselves in the world.
7. Reflect
Be sure your essay demonstrates how your experiences have shaped you. Include your thoughts and emotions throughout the narrative.
Write about what you learned, how you’ve grown, and how your values or goals have changed as a result.
8. Use Vivid Imagery
Bring your essay to life by using descriptive language and vivid details to paint a picture for the reader. Choose your words carefully. Show, don’t tell, your story.
9. Craft a memorable conclusion
Your conclusion should resonate with the central theme of your essay. Try to leave the reader with a lasting impression that conveys your individuality, values, and character.
10. Get feedback
Ask a trusted individual, like a parent or an English teacher for feedback on your essay.
Evaluate each suggestion thoughtfully and consider whether it enhances your essay’s clarity and overall impact.
You don’t need to implement every suggestion, but be open to constructive criticism.
11. Refine and revise
During the revision process, refine your essay. Strengthen the narrative, improve sentence structure, and be sure your message is compelling.
Remove redundant sentences or unnecessary words. Be sure your essay tells the story you’re trying to convey.
You may decide to get feedback and make revisions a few times before you’re satisfied with your essay.
Senior year is busy, so allow plenty of time to write and revise! Start writing your unique college essay well in advance of the applications deadlines! (If possible start writing the summer after junior year/before senior year.)
12. Proofread Carefully
Never overlook the importance of grammar, spelling, and punctuation! You don’t want any careless errors in your essay to detract from your story.
Pitfalls to avoid in College essays
Because college admissions officers read thousands of college application essays each year, if you want your essay to be unique, you should avoid these common college essay pitfalls.
1. Clichéd topics
Certain college essay topics are overused. If you write on the same topic, your essay will blend in with the crowd.
Avoid clichéd topics like sports tournaments, why you admire your grandparents, or the challenges of COVID.
2. Controversial subjects
While it’s important to express your opinions, some topics, like politics and religion, can be polarizing.
If you choose to write on these subjects, do so with sensitivity and focus on your own growth or changes in your perspective.
3. Writing to Impress
Use your authentic voice in your college essay.
Don’t write using impressive words from the thesaurus that you don’t really understand or overly complex sentences.
Don’t try to sound older or more sophisticated than you are.
Just write clearly and authentically, in your own voice.
4. Lack of personal connection
When writing your essay, you should dig deep to express exactly how you feel about the things or events that you’re writing about.
Your essay should feel very personal and reflect your individual perspective.
5. Being too personal
If you have struggled with mental health, consider NOT writing on that topic.
While you may have grown and changed a lot because of that situation, you should carefully consider the pros and cons of sharing all those details with the college admissions team.
6. Ignoring Instructions
Don’t ignore the guidelines!
You could write a great essay, but if you are over or under the word limits, you ignore specific requests, or you don’t follow instructions, no one will read your essay.
Final Thoughts on Choosing a Unique College Essay Topic
College admissions committee members read so many college applications and college essays. As you apply for admission into your dream school, remember that a unique college essay can make a huge difference!
After following the guide above, you’ll have at least one great topic for a unique college essay that only you could write. (Save your other ideas–you might want to use them for supplemental essays.)
The college essay requirement is not just another college application process hurdle to overcome. Choosing a unique topic for your essay is an important opportunity to reveal your best self to the admission staff.
Your academic interests and life experiences, as well as the personal growth you’ve experienced, offer dozens of potential essay ideas.
The best college essay topics will allow you to convey your individuality and confidently write a great essay.
When you write your essay, the most important thing is to embrace what makes you unique and be authentic when telling your story.
In the end, you’ll have an amazing college essay that tells a unique story about you–and makes a great impression on the college admissions committee!
