The College Essay
Topics (Choose one):
Explain at what point in your life you will be ten years after your graduation from college
This will provide an admission committee a sense of how realistic and sensible you are.
If you plan on being the most popular rock star in the world, make sure that you explain how you will achieve that goal.
If you'll be a billionaire with houses in all fifty states and Bermuda, how do you specifically plan to achieve that goal.
Be realistic, be specific. The essay can demonstrate that you're a bright individual who "has a plan." The essay could also demonstrate that you're living in a fantasy world in which you'll never achieve any practical success.
Explain your motivation in pursuing a particular career.
This will provide an admission committee an insight into the motivation you have for pursuing a particular career or occupation.
Some students indicate how personal experiences have led them into certain directions.
Students who have had siblings or cousins with special needs have decided to enter the field of special education to provide others the services their relatives did or didn't get.
Students with ill parents/relatives have found professions in the health care industry or medical research interesting.
This essay is a great vehicle for demonstrating your motivation and intensity, two characteristics that would be very desirable in a potential student at "X" College or "University."
Identify the person who has had the greatest influence on your life.
This will provide the admission committee a sense of your values.
Explaining whom you've decided to select as an individual worthy of emulation will lead to your identifying values of character that you hold significant. Is the object of your admiration your hero/heroine because of financial success? This will provide insight to you as concerned with the material world. Is your hero/heroine someone who champions the rights of the homeless? This would provide a different insight to your character.
In addition to having an insight to your as a person, the college essay will give an admissions committee as sense of your competence in writing.
Is it all one wandering, unfocused paragraph? That could suggest someone who is hopelessly confused about his/her life plan. It could also suggest someone who'll be spending some time in remedial (not-for-credit) English courses.
Is it carefully structured? Does it reflect an ease with English usage? Is it correctly spelled? Do you appear to be a student who has already mastered the skills of writing that are necessary to provide an intelligible report of the research required at the college level?
For help in writing your essay try the College Board.
You're bright enough not to need the expensive editing service if you're smart enough to edit and revise the essay. Ask your parents/guardians/friends for help in editing by having them point out any "rough spots" in your essay.