How to Choose College Essay Topic. The Ultimate Guide

23 Dec 2020 7 min read

Writing a college essay could be one of the most challenging things that young people have to go through. Your essay should help you stand out among other potential students and show that you are the best one for the college. Basically, you have to show your personality and all good traits in a page or two and make readers believe that you are the perfect fit.

But what can really make your essay outstanding and memorable, and how to come up with unique college essay ideas? Check out this article and find useful tips for writing your college essay.

What Makes an Essay Topic Great?

There are a variety of things that make a college essay exceptional. It is important to make it personal by telling your own story. Don’t forget to include a catchy introduction and excellent conclusion, and also follow the structure. However, the main thing that plays a huge role in writing a good college essay is a creative topic. 

These are the tips that help to create an outstanding college essay:

Make Your Essay Personal

What does it actually mean, and how could you make your essay personal? The main idea is that your college essay represents your story and tell the readers about the experience you have had. Surely, you can rewrite some extraordinary stories that happened to your friends or acquaintances. But in this case, the essay will lack the most important thing. It won’t have your emotions and definitely will not be catchy and unique. When choosing a topic, remember that the best topics to write about for a college essay are the ones that are connected to you. It doesn’t matter if you decide to write about the worst day of your life or describe the most important event that happened to you. What does matter is the way you show your attitude and share the emotions that will be placed between the lines. It can only occur in case you tell your own story. And make your essay personal.

Use Catchy Introduction and Memorable Conclusion

Professor reads tons of essays on a daily basis. If you want your work to stand out, the best idea is to catch readers’ attention. Include an outstanding introduction that will prepare a reader. And finish your essay with an exceptional conclusion. It will help to make your work memorable and exceptional. 

Follow the Structure

It is undoubtedly essential to organize your essay and follow the structure. Divide it into logical parts from introduction to a conclusion. Help a reader to grasp all your ideas and thoughts by leading them from the beginning to the end of your essay.

Nevertheless, remember that if your college essay topic is trivial, it will still be impossible to create an engaging essay. Even following all the tips mentioned above. It doesn’t matter how many times you check and rewrite your work. If your college essay ideas are banal, you won’t create catchy writing. 

So, the best advice is to start working on your college essay by brainstorming. Make a list of all the ideas that come to your mind and choose the one that will let you prepare a memorable essay.

Tips and Techniques How to Come up with Ideas for Essay Topic

Sometimes students feel that there is nothing special about writing a college essay. They think that they are prepared as they have already written tons of assignments while being in high school. However, the main difference is that they usually had essay topics, and it was quite easy to complete the tasks.

A college essay is a totally different thing. Students should choose a college essay topic, and for some of them, it is a challenging task. 

A majority of students prefer to select an easy solution and choose between possible college essay topics that can be found online. But this way usually leads to mistakes as they can’t create anything special by using the ideas of other people. 

If you want your college essay to be exceptional, here are some tips and techniques that will help to come up with ideas for college essay topics:

Check College Requirements and Pieces of Advice

Start with checking what colleges actually expect from your essay and what tips they suggest in order to make it memorable. Read various blogs and check the best essays that have already been written. Find out the pros and cons of them by checking professors’ reviews and recommendations. 

It will help you to realize what points you should pay attention to and how to avoid common mistakes.

Brainstorm

How to choose a college essay topic

Make a list of all the important events that have happened in your life so far. Think about all the essential accomplishments and experiences that you have had. What makes you unique and can help to stand among other students?

If it is too difficult to come up with ideas, relax. Take a walk, listen to music, and try to concentrate on your life. Ask your friends and relatives about the things they admire in you. Let them remember all your skills and traits that can be mentioned in a college essay.

When the list is ready, try to pick the most valuable things and think over the topic that can unite all of them.

Answer Various Questions About Yourself

Another good way of searching for topics for college essay is to ask yourself diverse questions. Find out all your hobbies and interests, think about why higher education is important for you, and describe a person you want to be in several years.

Don’t be afraid of asking thought-provoking and even weird questions. This technique will surely help you understand yourself better and lead to more ideas for your college essay.

You have tried all the tips and now have a huge list of diverse ideas. So, the next step is to turn them into an excellent topic that will help you to create an outstanding college essay.

How to Turn Ideas into an Essay Topic

How to turn your ideas into an essay topic

If you still feel lost and are ready to give up, it is not a problem at all. Just find a professional service that will help you to turn your ideas into a perfect essay. But if you desire to continue the battle, here are the tips that will help you turn all essay ideas for college into a good topic to write about:

  1. Choose the ideas that describe you in the best way and cross out the ones that won’t reveal you as a unique person
  2. Take some time to think them over and come back to working on the essay topic a few days later
  3. Ask your friends and relatives for advice. Let them choose the ideas that are suitable for your essay according to their thoughts. Ask them to explain the choice
  4. Set a topic that is suitable for the essay 
  5. Write a draft using the top two or three ideas and check how it works. Ask somebody to take a look and listen to advise and recommendations
  6. Don’t be afraid to rewrite an essay or even write a completely new one. The more you practice, the better your college essay would be

When you complete your essay, check the topic again. Does it reveal all the ideas and thoughts you wanted to put in your college essay? Does it help you to show all your traits and skills that are important to share? If it is still not as good as you want it to be, try to rewrite it until you feel that this college essay represents you perfectly. 

Conclusion

Choosing a creative topic for a college essay is a challenging task. Lots of students feel lost when they are looking for a good college essay topic. Instead of coming up with their own ideas, they search among general essay topics for college students. As a result, their essays are trivial and can’t help them stand out among other students.

Even though it seems difficult to prepare an exceptional college essay, it is still possible to complete this task. If you think over, brainstorm the ideas, prepare a list of possible things that should be mentioned in the essay to make it unique, it will help. As you could easily come up with a great essay topic. And the topic is the main thing that makes your paper memorable and recognizable. It should be personal and based on your own experience and skills. Interesting college essay topics surely win the hearts of professors who read a huge amount of works regularly.

It is known that a college essay plays a huge role for every student. If you realize that you can’t complete it without help, don’t hesitate to ask for it. The better your college essay topic is, the more chances to create a memorable paper you have.