How to Write the College Essay Introduction + 30 Examples

This article will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to write a college essay introduction. I’ll be covering how to start the hook (the first few sentences or first paragraph) of your college app supplementals.

Additionally, I’ll share 30 unique examples that worked for my clients!

Some background info: my name is Jason. I’ve helped countless students of vastly differing profiles write killer essays that got them accepted into some of the best institutions including UPenn, Columbia, MIT, Cornell, Duke, and more.

Okay, let’s get to it.


Table of Contents

  1. What Makes a Good College Essay Introduction?
  2. How NOT to Start a College Essay.
  3. How to Start Your College Essay in an Interesting Way. Suspending Control.
  4. 10 Ways to Start Your College Essay Introduction (and 3 Examples Each)
    1. The Relatable.
    2. The Inconspicuous.
    3. The Guttural Shock.
    4. The Pivot.
    5. The Cormac Mc Carthy Method: Shocking Simplicity.
    6. The Virginia Woolf Method: Stream of Consciousness.
    7. Heavy Imagery.
    8. The Shocking Opinion/Hot Take.
    9. The Nerd.
    10. The Uncomfortable (Especially Socially Unacceptable) Question.

What Makes a Good College Essay Introduction?

One word: interesting.

Strong college essay introductions MUST stand out by being interesting. As a general rule, your essay should capture your admissions officer’s attention within the first few sentences.

If the first few sentences don’t capture your reader’s attention, you’ll be beat out by other applicants. Everyone is vying for your admissions officer’s attention. So, you can’t afford to be bland or boring —especially with the rise of applications every year.

There are many ways to start off your essay in an interesting way. And, frankly, there’s wrong way to do it except for a few.

Let’s cover some of those below.

How NOT to Start a College Essay.

While there’s no “bad” way to start a college essay —since “good and bad” are subjective— overused intros leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.

These are 6 essay introductions we’ve seen that statistically don’t work.

  1. The Naively Pessimistic
    • There’s nothing wrong with being pessimistic. But, trust us: youthful, teenage cynicism doesn’t work. It’s the self-congratulatory intelligence that gives a bad look. I think a perfect example of this is R/iamverysmart. One can only criticize Capitalism for so long before becoming a pretentious know-it-all!
  2. The Broken 4th Wall
    • In general, don’t break the 4th wall in your college essay. This can *sometimes* be done properly and effectively. However, we find a lot of students (even strong writers taking AP Lit or other advanced writing classes) can’t do this effectively. It’s just not worth the risk unless you really know what you’re doing.
  3. The Too Much Information (TMI)
    • The problem with the TMI isn’t that it’s not interesting. In fact, the TMI can be quite interesting depending on how it’s written. It’s just that it uses all the compelling information in the introduction, leaving nothing of substance for the rest of the essay. Don’t put all the cool stuff in the beginning just to catch their attention. You need to leave some scattered through the rest of the application to retain your reader’s attention all throughout!
  4. The High School Journalism Hook
    • This essay introduction mimics conventional journalism introductions common in High School. Example: “The sound of cheers roared across the sky as feet trampled the grass. The Wolverines won against the Cavaliers 5-4.” This format comes in the form of, “the [noun] [verb] as the [noun] [verb].” This format is bad because it’s been repeated time and time again. Don’t do this if you want to avoid being generic!
  5. The Ambiguous Overgeneralized Statement
    • The Ambiguous Overgeneralized Statement involves starting your essay with something that sounds profound but lacks substance. It oversimplifies a phenomena that’s ambiguous enough to sound smart. And, many high school and college students fall victim to this mistake because it’s easy to write. Some examples include, “Science is filled with mysteries” and “The key to success is hard work.”
  6. The Low Baller
    • The Low Baller strategy involves writing about oneself negatively to evoke sympathy. It leverages reverse psychology —getting admissions officers to feel sympathetic. However, admissions officers can see these tricks from a mile away. Additionally, if you’re a solid candidate, this can actually work against you because you may just come across as humble bragging.

How to Start Your College Essay in an Interesting Way. Suspending Control.

Writing the beginning of your college essay in an interesting manner is actually quite simple. There’s just one very basic rule you need to keep in mind whilst brainstorming.

If you can master this, you’ll be capable of conjuring as many interesting and compelling supplement intros as you’d like.

Ready, here it is: you need to suspend your sense of control.

Now, we know

You may have seen a lot of guides on YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit talking about how to make things interesting and not boring. And, while some of these tips like choosing cool topics and avoiding certain words *might* work to some degree, they fail to

In the next section, we’ll show you 10 different ways you can start your college essay introduction.

10 Ways to Start Your College Essay Introduction (and 3 Examples Each)

The Relatable.

Photo source: Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg –Nickelodeon

The Relatable college essay introduction is quite straightforward: catch your reader’s attention by making a statement anyone can relate to on a personal level.

This introduction style is strong because it establishes a connection between you and your admissions officer in the get go. They can feel empathetic toward you and, therefore, be more likely to view you in a positive manner.

Allowing them to step in your shoes also helps them understand how you’ll be a solid candidate for their campus, as they can relate their own personality to yours.

One essay topic where this introduction works beautifully is tutoring. Many students who tutor have experience being teachers. And, that relates very well with how admissions officers feel. If you have experience tutoring or doing any kind of teacher-like work such as TA-ing, this introduction strategy may work beautifully for you.

Example 1

What people don’t understand about teaching is how dirty it is. Like, literally. I didn’t believe it myself until I started working as a tutor for middle school students in honors English; and, boy oh boy. I wanted nothing more than hand sanitizer and a box of wipes.

If there’s one thing I learned for certain, it’s this: teachers don’t get enough credit.

Example 2

So, you’re working: you’ve got a stack of finals to grade that you know were supposed to be graded the day before but they weren’t so here you are; and, you just gotta get your pen wherever that pen went –wait a minute, didn’t you have them in your desk cup?– you could’ve sword… “Jamie!” you start, “did you take my pens again?”

To which he replies sheepishly,

“…No”

He definitely did.

Example 3

One thing I won’t understand is just why people say, “those who can’t do, teach.” For, my experience teaching and supporting my teacher’s lectures involved a lot of doing. In fact, I was shocked just how much teaching involved so much doing. For one: teaching itself is a breath-exhausting exercise that knocks one’s wind out by the time the final period is over —to which one’s throat is scorched from speaking.

Then, one must do it all over again!

The Inconspicuous.

Photo source: Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg –Nickelodeon

The Inconspicuous introduction involves writing about mundane everyday things in your life.

It’s difficult to pull off. But, under the right care, it can be written beautifully to introduce to admissions officers a vibrant look into your everyday life.

Often, this strategy isn’t just for sharing random details about mundane things. It’s also a way of hinting at themes and motifs surrounding your general life story. For instance, a description of everyday mundane commutes to school may subtly hint at the gentrification emerging in your hometown and your underlying disdain of capitalistic change.

It’s a great way of showing what you think or feel without being too banal and obvious!

Here are a few examples of this below.

Example 1

There’s a cat I see all the time on my walk to school every morning. It’s a stray cat. White. Spotted. Yellow eyes. I give it food every once in a while. It likes to judge me on my way to school. Maybe that’s the way cats think: just an everlasting state of perpetual judgement. Eyes that move from left to right, following my steps. He’s a free cat.

Really, he’s truly free.

Isn’t that odd? We feel sorry for stray cats like these; but, if anything, they live quite peacefully here in quiet little [CITY NAME REDACTED]. Poor suckers like myself feed him. And, he can go wherever he wants. “What about you?” he probably asks me in cat-language as I make my morning commute.

Example 2

The Journalism Yearbook Potluck: it was work, disguised as a party.

Despite being our journalism team’s EIC, I grasped the iced punch in my hands, cradling it like a baby as I slowly blended into the walls of the room. Everyone talked. And, as the conversation slowly drifted deep enough such that reinserting myself into the dialogue would be awkward, I let out a sigh of relief.

Perfect.

“So, what: you don’t like gossip either?” to my surprise, my introverted Eden was interrupted by none other than the EIC of the school’s Yearbook.

“Guess that makes both of us, right?” I replied.

“….Actually, nah.” He started. “I kinda like gossip; just, not if I’m in the crossfire. I just like to watch. You, though? You’ve got no excuse Mrs. School Newspaper EIC. Isn’t gossip your job?”

“So, you wanna know why I hate talking in big groups and parties?” I retorted.

“I wanna know why a try-hard like you is so reserved in the party that she organized.” he grinned.

I smiled.

Example 3

Fishing. You just cast a line and if you catch something you catch something and if you don’t you don’t. And, today was no different; I did what I did every other day and hooked my line with smelly squid in the hopes of catch a fine, fat trout. I sat down on the docks, leaning on my side. I threw my line. *plop* I got comfortable.

“Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me.” I read. “The carriage held…”

Cue 2 hours of furrowing my eyebrows trying to deconstruct the mind of a schizotypal genius. I didn’t catch anything. But, that’s okay. I always wanted to have some time to read Dickinson’s pieces again. And, fishing is perfect for that. Girls like us seldom have the chance to breathe every once in a while. Take a break from it all. Have some peace from all the noise.

The Guttural Shock.

Photo source: Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg –Nickelodeon

The Guttural Shock is a college essay introduction strategy that captures the admissions officer’s attention as quickly as possible with shocking emotion. Often, these are used to elicit a severe response such as disgust, horror, and sudden arbitrariness.

This strategy works very well for students who have personal experiences or life moments that, when taken out of context, may seem very confusing.

It’s a great way to get admissions officers to beg the question: what could possibly be happening here inn this essay? What is this student’s story?! Now, you need to be careful with this intro. The appeal to this is the lack of context; for, the less context is provided, the more intriguing it becomes.

Example 1

The smell of smoldering ash was beautiful. Against my friend’s advice, I took a long drag of the bonfire through my nose, inhaling all the dark, charcoal-ey smoke through my sinuses and letting its toxin slither down my throat and lungs as my chest expanded to let in all its poison.

Don’t get me wrong. It was stupid. I agree.

But, it had to be done.

Why?

Well… it started 3 years ago.

Example 2

I puked.

Acidic chunks of half-digested… things… erupted from my throat and down the carpet, dripping from my face and down my chin, and leaving the fabric coated and soaked. It didn’t take long for the smell to permeate the air: a smell that needs no explanation, as it’s “that” smell.

Yeah, not exactly the best first impression when introducing myself to my sister’s college friends; but, hey, I own up to it. And, not only that, but I learned how to recover from cataclysmic embarrassment.

Example 3

Hong Kong. 7PM.

They called it the umbrella protest. Some people I knew called it hell. Having been there to see the brutality police bared, beating men, women, and teenagers and the elderly with batons until their heads were painted red, until their eyes left their sockets and hung like balls on a rubber band, until screams unfathomable to the human phoneme reached my ears, until something —something? I couldn’t tell— popped or broke or cracked to reveal white bone and red streaks, I’d have to agree with the latter.

The Pivot.

Photo source: Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg –Nickelodeon

This is an interesting way to write your college essay introduction. The pivot is an intro method that guides admissions officers toward one direction, then abruptly changes the tune. It’s a surprising twist that leads admissions officers toward one way of thinking before shattering the presumption.

What makes The Pivot useful is how it alarms the reader into reconsidering their preconceptions. Most college essays must follow a chain of thought that leads admissions officers toward an inexorable conclusion.

(Example: father was a doctor –? looked up to father –> took AP Bio –? fell in love with biology –> want to be a doctor.)

The Pivot allows students to disrupt the chain of thought and shock admissions officers with an unexpected twist. This commands their attention, and demands their full attention to grasp the situation at hand.

Example 1

Mathematics is an incredible field. It’s what helps make the world go round. It’s subtle truth shines to us ways of innovating our everyday operations in life, driving our civilizations to a new era at a faster rate than we can eve mentally process. And, frankly, its innovation is jaw dropping and awe-inspiring for just about anyone.

Now, I’m going to be very honest here. I hate Mathematics.

I know, I know. There’s utility in Math and I respect it. But, I don’t like it like I do a cold lavender latte during a hot Spring afternoon.

Example 2

My sister is 30 now. And, she’s bemoaned her lack of employment for about 8 years now. It’s been a long time; and, my family and I for 8 years have done everything we could to help persuade her to get out of the bed. Not even to get a job, really; rather, we just wanted her to make a habit of getting outside to get some sunlight. But, as the words of the wise preach: hard work pays off. So, after much trials and tribulations, persuasive tactics and empathic listening, we finally received the result we deserved.

Nothing.

And, that’s okay!

Example 3

The school’s journalism team had 2 choices: continue as we always have and let the slowly dying numbers be the end of our club via attrition, or receive external funding from one of our editor’s father.

With not much else left to lose, and a love for the sanctity of our club, as EIC, I did what I could to truly give our journalism team the best it deserves.

I let it die.

“Sofia, what on Earth are you thinking?!”

“Sophia, my dad literally knows about our situation. He said himself he can fund us for longer; you know that right?!”

“Sophia, before you make a decision, I think it’s important to be careful with our choices here.”

The Cormac Mc Carthy Method: Shocking Simplicity.

The Cormac Mc Carthy method is a way of starting your college essays that includes shock and emotion. However, this method uses more simple wording and sentence structure to make the reading experience as smooth and straightforward as possible.

This is based off of Cormac Mc Carthy’s strong writing style, especially in his masterpiece The Blood Meridian. You can see an example of his simple yet powerful writing here.

“See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the scullery fire. Outside lie dark turned fields with rags of snow and darker woods beyond that harbor yet a few last wolves.”

As you can see, writing can be vivid and compelling without using flowery sentence structure. In this case, it’s clear the child lives in an unsafe world. The Cormac Mc Carthy method is great for students who want to have punchy, powerful writing that paints a great picture for their readers without sounding too over the top.

Example 1

She wore a perpetually solemn look on her face. Her eyes were stately and rigid.

Meanwhile, I was shaking. I wasn’t very well liked. And, unlike her rigidness, I was like a leaf.

But, what we both had in common was we shared our first detention together.

I never received detention. I was always “a good kid.” But, for once, I found something scarier than getting into trouble. This stern looking girl.

“Hey, you.” she started. “What are you doing here? I’ve seen you before.”

“Oh, uh…” I could barely talk. “I’m not really a bad guy. I just, I was in a protest.”

“…what?”

Example 2

Time runs slower here in [CITY NAME REDACTED]. White suburbs with white picket fences line the homes. The grass is green. Very green. Someone walks their dogs and a woman gets her morning jog. Everything is perfect here in [CITY NAME REDACTED], even my coworkers a the ice cream shop.

2 girls come in like they do every day. School has ended. They want order two scoops.

Example 3

There’s a secret to Utah no one knows about.

Everyone knows Utah to be Mormon capital. Everything is clean. It’s a white majority town. We all smile. There’s no alcohol. None. We all love to talk about pleasantries and seersucker shirts. And, if not that, how the family is doing and other pleasantries. There’s always some.

It doesn’t take all that much scratching underneath the surface to unearth Utah’s dark side.

The Virginia Woolf Method: Stream of Consciousness.

Virginia Woolf was known for her method of writing called stream of consciousness. This involves being a bit flexible with your sentence structure and grammatical form to emulate what’s happening in the mind. What makes this method so strong is its ability to relate to the reader.

The stream of consciousness method also works best for students who want to introduce their college essays with emotions that are complex or hard to explain. Often, abstract emotions require a lot of creative structure to truly articulate. And, the flexible nature of stream of consciousness works perfectly with this.

Students with essay topics that get difficult, controversial, or complex work best with this introduction type.

Note: Be careful. While stream of consciousness doesn’t always follow literary or grammatical conventions, you should still follow at least some grammatical structure. This ensures admissions officers aren’t thrown off by unconventional writing too much.

Example 1

I think every woman has experienced it before: it’s your first customer service job, and your job is to smile and nod and agree with whatever uncomfortable joke the customer —a middle aged man whose jokes seem to float right *right* at the cusp of being creepily flirtatious, but just not enough for you to point it out lest you make a fool of yourself— makes at your expense. It’s like needing to scream. Scream? Something like that —but, just not so much that it inconveniences people. Heaven forbid I inconvenience others.

Example 2

After about —like, what? A quarter past 10 or so?— the sound of giggling finally ceases and my friends Aubrey and Cayden and Julie emerge from the closet with each respectively asking me some form of “so… whadaya think?” to which I reply, “oh, uhh, yeah that’s a real good one; but, like, fer’ all’yah” before feeling my eyes drag down and my skull give in to gravity like a bowling ball.

Seriously: how do people stay up so late these days?

Example 3

Have you ever dealt with a narcissist?

I don’t mean in the colloquial sense. I mean in the diagnosed with NPD sort.

I’m an aspiring therapist. I love psychology. But, my appreciation for the field multiplied ten-fold when I first spoke to Andrew.

It’s…oh, it’s impossible to say without sounding brash and unemphatic —and believe me, I uphold empathy as the highest virtue— but it’s like listening to a brain that is different from other brains: which it is. Except, it’s more than that. It’s a brain that has no space for anyone or thing outside of it, and constantly demands —yes, demands— validation to the highest heights lest mayhem ensue; and, really, ironically enough as I write incessantly and without self-awareness of my own verbosity, he could only continue talking.

His lips wouldn’t stop.

“And then…” “And then…”

By then my attention started drifting

“But I…” “Of course I…”

They all became “I” statements until I heard the inflection come up —signifying… ahh, shucks: that was a question. Thus, I retort something neutral to play it safe.

“Ehhh, whatayagonna do, y’know? That’s life, innit?”

Heavy Imagery.

Photo source: Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg –Nickelodeon

The heavy Imagery method involves explaining details with vivid descriptions, creative sentence structure, and sophisticated word choice. You can think of this as the “Romantic Victorian Writer” method.

This method is a great way to start your college essay with a bang. It also shows admissions office officers that you care enough about your application to take your time writing it. Heavy imagery takes a lot of time to write. And, your readers will appreciate that amount of commitment.

Admittedly, some people have different preferences for what they consider compelling writing. Some love complex diction and flowery writing. Others prefer simpler writing. There’s no way to predict the admission’s officer’s stylistic preferences, as no one reader is the same.

To make this essay appeal to all tastes, remember to temper your vivid imagery. Mix in simple writing with profound imagery to bring balance, such that it doesn’t get overwhelming.

Example 1

To say that she possessed a colorful personality would’ve been an understatement. For, she was, like most who belonged in ASB, naturally gifted —or, to some, cursed depending on your personal sensibilities— in the art of extraversion. I, on the other hand, was gifted with a rudimentary temperament and a slightly downturned countenance that earned me the “why don’t you talk more?” and “why not smile more, little lady?” that so constitutes living in 21st century America.

That’s the charm of American life: a yearning for womanly desires predicated on masculine desires.

But, maybe I’m overthinking it. Maybe it’s just the way ASB is.

Example 2

There’s no scarier a time than being “in trouble.”

Perhaps I’d grow out of it as I transition into adulthood; but, I and many other children of narcissistic household are all to aware of the quintessential “this-day-can’t-get-any-worse” footsteps one hears when they’re silently reading before bed before thunder erupts what was once peaceful silence. There can never be peace in a household like this. Suddenly, one is met with a barrage of incomprehensible syllables and phonemes barely resembling English; and, in response to such guttural noises, one may also retort with logic and reason. This, however, would not do. For, the nature of narcissistic households is chaos. Chaos reigns supreme. It breeds fear; and, fear is the root of all problems: the strangling entanglement deep in the soil that make the weeds seem inconspicuously small before uprooting.

Example 3

Everyone asks me why I quit the violin.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved the violin.

If anything, playing the strings was my life —my personality. Even just starting the morning —yes, mornings— with an early session of practice and music writing brought peace to the soul. The touch of amber-like rosin. The wooden creases and subtle feeling of wood I feel when I bring the neck to my palms. It’s a “quaint little thing” as my mother used to say, whenever I’d play in the backyard: not exactly the best place to play but I think my family loved the image of it. Fancy upper-middle-class lifestyle hobbies. English vedure. Gentle sensibilities.

I hated that.

The Shocking Opinion/Hot Take.

Photo source: Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg –Nickelodeon

The Shocking Opinion/Hot Take is a very, very difficult college essay introduction to write. This intro toes a fine line between totally awesome and immensely problematic. Using the Shocking Opinion carelessly may lead to offending your admissions officers (and not in a charming way.)

The Shocking Opinion is great for students who have a very stunning, riveting topic to write about. And, their take may seem or appear counterintuitive or incongruent with conventional norms. This works wonderfully when trying to catch the reader’s attention; but, it also demonstrates creative thinking outside of what others parrot.

Think of this intro strategy as a high-risk-high-reward strategy. If you can do this well, it can truly help you stand out from the rest of the competition.

If you’re unsure of how to write the Shocking Opinion or are contemplating writing something controversial in the beginning of your college essay, consider reaching out to us for help. We’ll advise you throughout the writing process to ensure you keep your intro interesting whilst avoiding being inappropriate.

Example 1

I don’t like positivity.

Woah, woah, woah. Before the pitchforks come out, let’s get a few things here. I am an aspiring psychology major, looking to become a therapist. And, it’s my understanding that my job is to help diagnose mental pathologies, reduce unnecessary suffering, and maximize life-long joy.

Nonetheless, I think the uptrend in positivity movements have run incongruent to this goal; nay, it completely annihilates it.

Now, I’m no grumpy mc. grumpy-son. But…

Example 2

In life, we’re often told to give it our 100% or our 120%.

This is stupid.

Okay, okay. I know. This is a bit hypocritical coming from the person who lives and breathes —very heavily at that— the competitive sprinting lifestyle. But, I have a reason for endorsing the half-measure lifestyle when it comes to work.

It all started 2 years ago.

Example 3

You know, as an aspiring English major, I don’t think low-brow reading is all that bad. In fact, it’s quite great we’ve got the Twilights and the BookTok movements going on right now, even in all their improper grammar and questionable writing styles.

Why?

Well, it’s quite easy! They’re doing what no one else is doing: getting people to actually pick up a book and read!

As an English tutor, it’s virtually impossible to get students to pick a book they like. Sure: you’ve got the Harry Potter vs Percy Jackson kids. Fair enough. But, they’re a minority. A majority of people don’t read!

The Nerd.

Photo Source: Knowyourmeme

*Pushes up glasses*

“Well, ackshually…”

In all seriousness, The Nerd is quite a strong strategy for students wishing to write a compelling college essay introduction. It essentially involves starting a sentence or paragraph talking about something you love dearly in depth. Long story short: nerding out about something.

What makes The Nerd a strong introduction isn’t how smart it sounds. In fact, you don’t really even need to sound smart. That’s what the GPA is for. If anything, you want to show enthusiasm and love for your topic.

This shows admissions officers the kind of care and passion you have for your chosen topic. Just don’t try to force your chosen topic to be interesting. Instead, share your passion and love for the topic and accept it as interesting. By not forcing it, admissions officers can more easily empathize and relate to your excitement. Your passion will bleed through the writing!

Example 1

Look: so there’s this world called Warhammer 40k. It’s named that because it’s based off the 41st millennium, when technological advancement has evolved dramatically. Frankly, I think it should be called 40k to signify the amount of money it takes to get into this hobby.

Regardless, this world has consumed me for the past 2 months, and I cannot let this off my chest without it rotting me from within.

Okay, so it starts like this.

Example 2

It infuriates me that people still spell “you’re” and “your” incorrectly.

Actually, I lied. In fact, it actually delights me.

Think about it: isn’t it fascinating that there are many reasons for differences in spelling? Some mistakes are due to mistranslation. Others are due to conflicts of religion or war. And, this one is a result of the education system’s failure and overall societal acquiesce at human incompetence. Isn’t that incredible that semantic shift takes place even now?

Example 3

I have to talk about horror —yes, I do mean I have to.

Why?

Well, I never really felt scared of things. I never found vampires scary or roller coasters scary. However, I think 2 years ago I awakened the emotion that is fear; and, feeling this emotion for the first time shook me to my core of cores. It’s not that I saw something gross, or conventionally scary, or what have you. It’s best described as an uncanny sense of terror.

It all started when I read a webcomic called BongCheon-Dong Ghost.

The Uncomfortable (Especially Socially Unacceptable) Question.

Photo source: Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg –Nickelodeon

This is very similar to the Shocking Opinion introduction strategy. The only difference here is the Uncomfortable Question is a less inflammatory strategy. While it might not be as interesting as the Shocking Opinion, it’s still a great way to stand out from the rest of the admissions pool.

Additionally, the uncomfortable question demonstrates the courage to wrestle with distasteful topics. This is crucial in college admissions. For, you’ll be faced with uncomfortable topics and tasked with conjuring creative solutoins to them.

This is especially useful for students in liberal arts majors such as English, Psychology, and Sociology.

Example 1

Quick! Here’s a question.

You’re in a forest and you can choose to encounter one: a random man, or a bear.

Which do you choose?

Yeah… you’ve probably heard this question before; and, you’re probably more aware of the vibrant discourse surrounding it. Let me give you my take…

Example 2

So… does anyone know what we’ll actually do about this global warming thing? Or, are we just going to accept that our children’s children will live in a nuclear wasteland?

I mean, it’s a serious question. I genuinely don’t see a way we can possibly wade in the delusion waters any further unless we recognize the truth: that unless something dramatic changes in waste management from a corporate level, our children’s future won’t be looking too good.

Not one bit.

Example 3

What does it mean to be a man? What about a woman?

I can bet few people would be capable of answering that question without first cringing on the inside. And, I bet even before that they’d be questioning what they should say. That’s right: “should” say.

As an aspiring sociology major, I’ve come to learn about how people have different answers for different situations. Some for correct or logical answers, and some for impressing or maintaining a status quo.

…yeah. okay; fair enough, that was obvious. But, it gets deeper!

If you’re struggling with writing a solid college essay introduction, don’t fret. We’ve helped countless students like yourself throughout the entire college essay writing process from brainstorming to drafting. Most recently, our students were accepted into some of the best schools in the nation such as MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Stanford, Princeton, Duke, Yale, UCLA, UCB, and more! So, if you would like help with your college essay process and maximize your chances at getting into some of the best schools, schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll get back to you within 24 hours!

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