Coming up with the best common application essay topics can be one of the biggest hassles in the college app process. The perfect set topics can oftentimes take the longest time to conjure; it is especially bad for applicants who begin writing and want to change their topic at the last second.

In this article, we will be covering some of the most important factors to take into consideration when choosing good essay topics for the university application personal statement.

The following two disclaimers are notes to consider before writing your personal statement for the common application essay topics; please take note of these following disclaimers as they answer very important common questions.

Disclaimer 1: For most applicants hoping to find a cheap trick to get into university, the thought of simply using a sob story —or making one up—has not been an uncommon thought. Unfortunately, unsuccessful applications concerning sob stories are more common than some may think; the idea is not original and it tends to over-saturate the admissions office. In fact, one of the most common questions we receive from clients is whether to use a sob story to make a good university application essay.

Here’s the short answer: No. For the most part, you should not respond to common application essay topics with a sob story. Because sob stories –particularly bad ones—tend to infiltrate the application admissions office in large numbers, the expectations admissions officers hold for sob stories rise significantly. Applicants will have to write better than most others to make the story work; this means even outstanding applicants will have to spend extra time on editing their essay to make it decent when they simply could have chosen different topics to write about. There are exceptions to sob stories, but it requires the right wording and the right structure placement and considerations for the application to work.

If you are unsure whether your application essay’s sad topic will work, consider college essay editing services.

Disclaimer 2: These attributes are NOT ALL MANDATORY. In fact, there exist some successful applications to high-tier schools such as Brown University and UC Berkeley that used essay topics such as spending time in the rain or walking a dog.

We covered this in another article, but there was once a student who even wrote an essay about Costco. They got into 5 Ivy League schools with it. (Times have changed, though, and it’s not always safe to play that risk.)

As with every rule in university applications, though, one should consider not taking this risk and having the most ideal application essay to maximize their success rate of acceptance. It is wise to have at least a few of these attributes in your university application essay. Having an essay that fills in all of these requirements is of course a plus, but we would expect that applicants should have at least 4 of the following six traits listed below.

What Makes Good College Application Topics

1. Moral underpinnings:

Showing that you’re a person who is capable of good and moral well-being demonstrates a sense of maturity. This is a vital element to add when tackling just about any of the common application essay topics. 

The average age of incoming undergraduates and applicants is in the late teens; anyone at this age can easily parrot the idea that one should “treat others the way they want to be treated” without fully realizing the weight of the phrase. It shows no sense of actualized morality. Writing about the things that you have achieved in the name of goodness and justness is a much more clear indication and demonstrates to the admissions office the multiple layers of characteristics that you are made up of. For obvious reasons, it would be difficult for admissions officers to believe an applicant when they claim to be “a good person” in a very straightforward manner. That is why this traits is described as moral “underpinnings” and not “statements”. Remember this: actions speak louder than words.

You can’t exactly escape from using words though; getting accepted into your dream school requires an application essay, after all. The key to “actions speak louder than words” in the application essay is to show how your morality shines through your actions by describing your actions and subtly hinting at your morality and justness. Think, “show don’t tell” which is a lot more difficult than it sounds. The fundamental way of showing and not telling readers how just and moral you are is to compliment words of positive and negative connotation in the right format with the right timing. This is not particularly easy to do, but we can show a few examples of how to describe actions that hint at moral goodness without being obnoxious about it.

Bad example:

“I poured tea for my father, my mother, and my brother respectively. I was at the age when I was no longer young enough to receive red envelopes during the Lunar New Year, but old enough to pour tea and serve food for my family again. It is a family tradition in that way, but I was glad that I can demonstrate my growing up during that day; I am always a good person and try to treat everyone with respect, but having the affirmation of maturity through tradition was a new experience.”

This is problematic since the applicant does not specify enough how they are a good person. They are also under optimized on the right keywords with he right connotation to imply good morality. Below you will find an example solving this problem. The good example also implies a growth in maturity as an experience rather than a statement of being; this gives the example more credibility.

Good example:

“Pouring tea for my family became second nature at that point: I had grown so used to supporting my family and little siblings that I had felt strong and competent, it stroked my ego. But it wasn’t right, something was off. At the time, I supported my family to feel good about myself and did not understand the true value of it; that is, until my father took me to the lake by our house. We went fishing.”

2. Relatability:

Relatability is actually as straightforward as it is important when approaching the common application essay topics. Simply place in your essay elements of life that can be experienced by others very often in order to build rapport with the admissions office.

This usually does not add any sense of accomplishment or demonstrate competence, but it makes the applicant appear more multi-dimensional and real which, in turn, will make the admissions officers think more positively of the applicant.

It would be wise not to skip out on this factor, as it is very easy to make a good application great by simply writing in relatable phrases that could take only a few minutes to think up of.

Here is an example of good relatability in good college application essay topics:

“I’ve struggled with my own self-image for as long as I could remember. There was a time when it was arguably bad, but not terrible; I would stay up after a long night of studying to stay in the bed and scroll through my phone until it ran out of battery. Upon its running out of battery, I would be greeted with my own visage staring back in its most natural state; I would be disgusted. It was only around my sophomore year that the negative effects of self-deprecation had finally reared its ugly head. I was at the worst part of my life.”

Instances of seeing one’s own reflection through a screen work well as they are relatable to just about anyone and give a closer connection to the admissions officers reading the application. Others that work include awkward handshakes, long moments of awkward silence, and trying to move out of the way in a walkway for someone (only for them to move out of the way for you, effectively achieving nothing.)

3. Growth / Change or Development In Character:

This is perhaps the most important aspect of all common application essay topics and perhaps the most important point of this entire article. This can also be one of the most difficult factors to implement correctly in the application essay as a few mistakes may very easily steer the essay in the wrong direction.

If we could only tell you one thing about this article and nothing more, it would be to demonstrate growth or change in character in your application essay.

Growth and development is rather difficult to demonstrate in practice, as it requires “show don’t tell”, the right connotation, as well as the right keywords matched with the correct order of sentence structure to accommodate for all of said factors. This is especially difficult for application essay topics that require a small word count such as 500 words or fewer.

Now, here’s a common issue with a lot of our clients concerning the implementation of development in character in the application essay: How does one say they have changed for the better? It is one thing to have a story about personal growth, but it can be difficult trying to format the whole thing perfectly and effectively (hence why such an important and difficult variable is a major factor in our editing and consulting services.) In fact, most applicants approach common application essay topics incorrectly by sounding arrogant or immature.

Thus, it is in our best interest to share a good trick to tackle this. It by no means makes implementing growth or development in the application essay easy, but it hopefully takes away some pain points for our applicants. A good technique to help demonstrate growth is to follow this format:

Intro:

Write an engaging hook that captures the admissions officer’s attention.

Paragraph 1:

Describe the person you used to be. But foreshadow a coming change. (Little to no imagery here)

Paragraph 2:

In 1-2 sentences, say that a significant change had taken place that turned your world upside down. In essence, everything you thought you knew was wrong.

Paragraph 3:

Describe what you did in response to said change, not just how you felt. (Lots of imagery to contrast with first paragraph, giving sense of development)

The key here is to make a significant introduction lead or hook. You can find out how to do this in one of our previous articles located here. A strong introduction will keep the admissions officers interested for a longer time, giving you enough space for more informative information in the first paragraph.

AVOID using TOO MUCH imagery all in one go in the first paragraph; a little bit is fine, but imagery serves to capture the reader’s attention and convince them of something.

This is mostly done in the introductory hook anyway; as such, providing imagery in the first paragraph after the introduction will be too stimulating. Instead, let paragraph 1 be the opportunity for a breather before the significant transition paragraph and third paragraph that delves into imagery. This will give the sense of change and development much-needed impact and weight when being compared to the rest of the application pool.

Mistakes can and will happen. Speaking as a consultant who was helped optimize both strong and weak applications to their fullest potential, I can say rather confidently that most applicants make more mistakes than they even realize. Coming up with the right application for the common application essay topics properly is no joke either. Thinking up a good essay topic is the beginning of the university application assembly line; as such, all mistakes made during that time will branch out into many more later on in the writing process. Find these mistakes early. Speak to an expert to pull out the problem at its roots before it is the night before the deadline.