Step Two
- Selecting an Essay Topic
Having completed step one, you should now have a rough idea
of the elements you wish to include in your essay, including your goals, important
life experiences, research experience, diversifying features, spectacular nonacademic
accomplishments, etc. You should also now have an idea of what impression you
want to make on the admissions officers.
We should remark that at this stage, undergraduate applicants have a large advantage
over graduate school applicants. Whereas nobody questions a high school student's
motivation to attend college, graduate and professional school applicants must
directly address in their essays their desire to study their selected field.
You must now confront the underlying problem of the admissions
essay. You must now consider topics that will allow you to synthesize your important
personal characteristics and experiences into a coherent whole while simultaneously
addressing your desire to attend a specific institution. While most admissions
essays allow great latitude in topic selection, you must also be sure to answer
the questions that were asked of you. Leaving a lasting impression on someone
who reads 50-100 essays a day will not be easy, but we have compiled some guidelines
to help you get started. With any luck, one or two topics, with small changes,
will allow you to answer application questions for 5-7 different colleges, although
admissions officers do appreciate essays that provide convincing evidence of how
an applicant will fit into a particular academic environment. You should at least
have read the college's webpage, admissions catalog, and have an understanding
of the institution's strengths.
Consider the following questions before proceeding:
- Have you selected a topic that describes something of personal
importance in your life, with which you can use vivid personal experiences as
supporting details?
- Is your topic a gimmick? That is, do you plan to write your
essay in iambic pentameter or make it funny. You should be very, very careful
if you are planning to do this. We recommend strongly that you do not do this.
Almost always, this is done poorly and is not appreciated by the admissions committee.
Nothing is worse than not laughing or not being amused at something that was written
to be funny or amusing.
- Will your topic only repeat information listed elsewhere on
your application? If so, pick a new topic. Don't mention GPAs or standardized
test scores in your essay.
- Can you offer vivid supporting paragraphs to your essay topic?
If you cannot easily think of supporting paragraphs with concrete examples, you
should probably choose a different essay topic.
- Can you fully answer the question asked of you? Can you address
and elaborate on all points within the specified word limit, or will you end up
writing a poor summary of something that might be interesting as a report or research
paper? If you plan on writing something technical for college admissions, make
sure you truly can back up your interest in a topic and are not merely throwing
around big scientific words. Unless you convince the reader that you actually
have the life experiences to back up your interest in neurobiology, the reader
will assume you are trying to impress him/her with shallow tactics. Also, be sure
you can write to admissions officers and that you are not writing over their heads.
- Can you keep the reader's interest from the first word? The
entire essay must be interesting, considering admissions officers will probably
only spend a few minutes reading each essay.
- Is your topic overdone? To ascertain this, peruse through
old essays. EssayEdge's
100 free essays can help you do this. However, most topics are overdone, and this
is not a bad thing. A unique or convincing answer to a classic topic can pay off
big.
- Will your topic turnoff a large number of people? If you write
on how everyone should worship your God, how wrong or right abortion is, or how
you think the Republican or Democratic Party is evil, you will not get into the
college of your choice. The only thing worse than not writing a memorable essay
is writing an essay that will be remembered negatively. Stay away from specific
religions, political doctrines, or controversial opinions. You can still write
an essay about Nietzsche's influence on your life, but express understanding that
not all intelligent people will agree with Nietzsche's claims. Emphasize instead
Nietzsche's influence on your life, and not why you think he was wrong or right
in his claims.
- In this vein, if you are presenting a topic that is controversial,
you must acknowledge counter arguments without sounding arrogant.
- Will an admissions officer remember your topic after a day
of reading hundreds of essays? What will the officer remember about your topic?
What will the officer remember about you? What will your lasting impression be?
After evaluating your essay topics with the above criteria and
asking for the free opinions of EssayEdge
editors, of your teachers or colleagues, and of your friends, you should have
at least 1-2 interesting essay topics. Consider the following guidelines below.
- If you are planning on writing an essay on how you survived
poverty in Russia, your mother's suicide, your father's kidnapping, or your immigration
to America from Asia, you should be careful that your main goal is to address
your own personal qualities. Just because something sad or horrible has happened
to you does not mean that you will be a good college or graduate school student.
You don't want to be remembered as the pathetic applicant. You want to be remembered
as the applicant who showed impressive qualities under difficult circumstances.
It is for this reason that essays relating to this topic are considered among
the best. Unless you only use the horrible experience as a lens with which to
magnify your own personal characteristics, you will not write a good essay. Graduate
and professional school applicants should generally steer clear of this topic
altogether unless you can argue that your experience will make you a better businessman,
doctor, lawyer, or scholar.
- Essays should fit in well with the rest of a candidate's application,
explaining the unexplained and steering clear of that which is already obvious.
For example, if you have a 4.0 GPA and a 1500 SAT, no one doubts your ability
to do the academic work and addressing this topic would be ridiculous. However,
if you have an 850 SAT and a 3.9 GPA or a 1450 SAT and a 2.5 GPA, you would be
wise to incorporate in your essay an explanation for the apparent contradiction.
For example, perhaps you were hospitalized or family concerns prevented your dedication
to academics; you would want to mention this in your essay. However, do not make
your essay one giant excuse. Simply give a quick, convincing explanation within
the framework of your larger essay.
- "Diversity" is the biggest buzzword of the 1990's.
Every college, professional school, or graduate school wants to increase diversity.
For this reason, so many applicants are tempted to declare what makes them diverse.
However, simply saying you are a black, lesbian female will not impress admissions
officers in the least. While an essay incorporating this information would probably
be your best topic idea, you must finesse the issue by addressing your own personal
qualities and how you overcame stigma, dealt with social ostracism, etc. If you
are a rich student from Beverly Hills whose father is an engineer and whose mother
is a lawyer, but you happen to be a minority, an essay about how you dealt with
adversity would be unwise. You must demonstrate vividly your personal qualities,
interests, motivations, etc. Address specifically how your diversity will contribute
to the realm of campus opinion, the academic environment, and social life.
- Don't mention weaknesses unless you absolutely need to explain
them away. You want to make a positive first impression, and telling an admissions
officer anything about drinking, drugs, partying, etc. undermines your goal. EssayEdge
editors have read more essays on ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) than we would
ever have imagined. Why admit to weakness when you can instead showcase your strengths?
- Be honest, but not for honesty's sake. Unless you are a truly
excellent writer, your best, most passionate writing will be about events that
actually occurred. While you might be tempted to invent hardship, it is completely
unnecessary. Write an essay about your life that demonstrates your personality.
 EssayEdge.com Admissions Essay Help - Put Harvard-Educated Editors to Work for You! View 300 free sample admissions essays!
 Step Three: Writing the Essay,
Tips for Success >>
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