The Résumé Recap is the most straightforward and frequently seen essay type on the overused list. In fact, this happens so often that you may not even realize you've done it at first. Or maybe your essay started out strong, but the second half turns into a list of accomplishments. Truly, it happens all the time.
11 Cliché College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them
9. Your religious institution or faith. Religion is generally a very tricky topic, and it's difficult to cover it in an original way in your essay. Writing about your faith and reflecting on it critically can work, but basic religious essays about why your faith is important to you are a little more cliché.
Bad College Essays: 10 Mistakes You Must Avoid · PrepScholar
Going over the word limit. Part of showing your brilliance is being able to work within arbitrary rules and limitations. Going over the word count points to a lack of self-control, which is not a very attractive feature in a college applicant. Repeating the same word (s) or sentence structure over and over again.
10 College Essay Topics to Avoid
Avoid clichés and overused topics unless you can present them in an original way. Creative Expression: Creativity in how you express your ideas can make your essay more memorable. 6. Relevance to the College. Fit: Show why you are a good fit for the college and how the college is a good fit for you.
5 Overused College Essay Topics to Avoid
Here are a handful of these overly-familiar topics to remove from your running list of possibilities for the main college essay: 1. Sports. Whether tales of an epic win or loss, played in full health or after facing injury, a sports-themed essay hits on familiar themes and story arcs. It is hard to offer a new angle, and even when a student ...
Overused College Essay Topics
Moving. Unfortunately, writing about a big move is one of the many college essay topics that have been done countless times. Admissions officers have likely already read about plenty of students having to switch schools and adapt to a new place. Instead, try and focus on a specific part of your life or identity that changed when you moved.
3 Common College Essay Topic Clichés & How to Fix Them
Victories, injuries, and teamwork are the most common themes sloshing around the bucket of vague sports essays. This topic presents an opportunity for students to describe how they surmount different kinds of obstacles - an opportunity almost everyone takes. Surprisingly, the challenges of playing soccer in Ohio are quite similar to those of ...
4 Overdone College Essay Topics
3. The summer camp essay. There is a reason this essay topic has become a cliché - for many students, summer programs represent the first exposure to life outside of their bubble. Similarly, camp can legitimately help kids grow and mature, develop a sense of community, and foster leadership skills - duh, that's part of why parents send ...
21 College Essay Topics & Ideas That Worked
Here's a list of essay topics and ideas that worked for my one-on-one students: Essay Topic: My Allergies Inspired Me. After nearly dying from anaphylactic shock at five years old, I began a journey healing my anxiety and understanding the PTSD around my allergies. This created a passion for medicine and immunology, and now I want to become ...
The 5 Most Overused College Essay Topics
The statements sound cliché. So here are the five most overused clichés we—and every admissions officer we've spoken with—see most often and which you should avoid. 1. The aforementioned "blood drive essay" or "How community service taught me the importance of helping others" Colleges appreciate students who are concerned about ...
College Admissions Essay Topics to Avoid
October 03, 2023. The last thing you want your college essay to be is a cliché, so avoid the following. A pplying to college is a multi-pronged process that culminates with a component that high school seniors tend to both dread and procrastinate. Hint: it's the college admissions essay. It's true, you can save yourself some time and ...
27 Outstanding College Essay Examples From Top Universities 2024
This college essay tip is by Abigail McFee, Admissions Counselor for Tufts University and Tufts '17 graduate. 2. Write like a journalist. "Don't bury the lede!" The first few sentences must capture the reader's attention, provide a gist of the story, and give a sense of where the essay is heading.
What are cliché college essay topics?
Here's a brief list of college essay topics that may be considered cliché: Extracurriculars, especially sports. Role models. Dealing with a personal tragedy or death in the family. Struggling with new life situations (immigrant stories, moving homes, parents' divorce) Becoming a better person after community service, traveling, or summer camp.
35+ Best College Essay Tips from College Application Experts
Use your essays to empower your chances of acceptance, merit money, and scholarships.". This college essay tip is by Dr. Rebecca Joseph, professor at California State University and founder of All College Application Essays, develops tools for making the college essay process faster and easier. 15. Get personal.
53 Stellar College Essay Topics to Inspire You · PrepScholar
In this section, we give you a list of 53 examples of college essay topics. Use these as jumping-off points to help you get started on your college essay and to ensure that you're on track to coming up with a relevant and effective topic. All college application essay topics below are categorized by essay prompt type.
What are the most cliche essay topics to write about?
Anything that multiple people in your school also do. The more people that also do it, the more cliche it likely to be. It scales. If 10 students per school do something, that 10x schools in America students. But if you're the only one, you might be the only one at a lot of school. 5.
What college essay topics to avoid?
When crafting your college essays, avoiding overused topics is indeed a smart move. By now, admissions officers have seen countless essays on common themes like scoring the winning goal, community service trips that changed a student's life in just a week, overcoming an injury, and the death of a family member/pet. While these topics can be meaningful, they often fail to stand out in a sea of ...
The 5 Most Overused College Essay Topics
So here are the five most overused clichés we—and every admissions officer we've spoken with—see most often, and which you should avoid. 1. The aforementioned "blood drive essay" or "How community service taught me the importance of helping others" Colleges appreciate students who are concerned about their communities. But one ...
The Great College Essay Test
Read your essay aloud, or have someone else read it aloud, then ask these questions: Core Values (aka Information). Can you name at least 4-5 of the author's core values? Do you detect a variety of values, or do the values repeat? Examples of NOT varied values: hard work, determination, perseverance. Examples of more varied values: autonomy ...
What Not to Write About in a College Essay
Tragedies. In and of themselves, tragedies are not necessarily a bad topic for college essays. However, it can be easy to fall into cliched writing as you tell these stories. Hackneyed themes and phrases include "life is short," "time heals all wounds," and "seize the day.". If you write about a tragedy you have known or experienced ...
Choosing Your College Essay Topic
12. Kirsten Courault. Kirsten studied political economy at U.C. Berkeley and has seven years of experience as a writer, editor, and English teacher. She cherishes helping students unearth their unique stories for college admissions essays. A strong college essay topic should be personal, original, and specific.
College Essay Examples
Table of contents. Essay 1: Sharing an identity or background through a montage. Essay 2: Overcoming a challenge, a sports injury narrative. Essay 3: Showing the influence of an important person or thing. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about college application essays.
4 Winning College Essay Examples from Top Schools
This is why it is important to learn more about components of a strong personal statement, as well as overused college essay topics that are best to avoid. Reading examples of successful Common App essays is a great way to start thinking about how to best approach your college essays. By identifying key strategies and characteristics that ...
COMMENTS
The Résumé Recap is the most straightforward and frequently seen essay type on the overused list. In fact, this happens so often that you may not even realize you've done it at first. Or maybe your essay started out strong, but the second half turns into a list of accomplishments. Truly, it happens all the time.
9. Your religious institution or faith. Religion is generally a very tricky topic, and it's difficult to cover it in an original way in your essay. Writing about your faith and reflecting on it critically can work, but basic religious essays about why your faith is important to you are a little more cliché.
Going over the word limit. Part of showing your brilliance is being able to work within arbitrary rules and limitations. Going over the word count points to a lack of self-control, which is not a very attractive feature in a college applicant. Repeating the same word (s) or sentence structure over and over again.
Avoid clichés and overused topics unless you can present them in an original way. Creative Expression: Creativity in how you express your ideas can make your essay more memorable. 6. Relevance to the College. Fit: Show why you are a good fit for the college and how the college is a good fit for you.
Here are a handful of these overly-familiar topics to remove from your running list of possibilities for the main college essay: 1. Sports. Whether tales of an epic win or loss, played in full health or after facing injury, a sports-themed essay hits on familiar themes and story arcs. It is hard to offer a new angle, and even when a student ...
Moving. Unfortunately, writing about a big move is one of the many college essay topics that have been done countless times. Admissions officers have likely already read about plenty of students having to switch schools and adapt to a new place. Instead, try and focus on a specific part of your life or identity that changed when you moved.
Victories, injuries, and teamwork are the most common themes sloshing around the bucket of vague sports essays. This topic presents an opportunity for students to describe how they surmount different kinds of obstacles - an opportunity almost everyone takes. Surprisingly, the challenges of playing soccer in Ohio are quite similar to those of ...
3. The summer camp essay. There is a reason this essay topic has become a cliché - for many students, summer programs represent the first exposure to life outside of their bubble. Similarly, camp can legitimately help kids grow and mature, develop a sense of community, and foster leadership skills - duh, that's part of why parents send ...
Here's a list of essay topics and ideas that worked for my one-on-one students: Essay Topic: My Allergies Inspired Me. After nearly dying from anaphylactic shock at five years old, I began a journey healing my anxiety and understanding the PTSD around my allergies. This created a passion for medicine and immunology, and now I want to become ...
The statements sound cliché. So here are the five most overused clichés we—and every admissions officer we've spoken with—see most often and which you should avoid. 1. The aforementioned "blood drive essay" or "How community service taught me the importance of helping others" Colleges appreciate students who are concerned about ...
October 03, 2023. The last thing you want your college essay to be is a cliché, so avoid the following. A pplying to college is a multi-pronged process that culminates with a component that high school seniors tend to both dread and procrastinate. Hint: it's the college admissions essay. It's true, you can save yourself some time and ...
This college essay tip is by Abigail McFee, Admissions Counselor for Tufts University and Tufts '17 graduate. 2. Write like a journalist. "Don't bury the lede!" The first few sentences must capture the reader's attention, provide a gist of the story, and give a sense of where the essay is heading.
Here's a brief list of college essay topics that may be considered cliché: Extracurriculars, especially sports. Role models. Dealing with a personal tragedy or death in the family. Struggling with new life situations (immigrant stories, moving homes, parents' divorce) Becoming a better person after community service, traveling, or summer camp.
Use your essays to empower your chances of acceptance, merit money, and scholarships.". This college essay tip is by Dr. Rebecca Joseph, professor at California State University and founder of All College Application Essays, develops tools for making the college essay process faster and easier. 15. Get personal.
In this section, we give you a list of 53 examples of college essay topics. Use these as jumping-off points to help you get started on your college essay and to ensure that you're on track to coming up with a relevant and effective topic. All college application essay topics below are categorized by essay prompt type.
Anything that multiple people in your school also do. The more people that also do it, the more cliche it likely to be. It scales. If 10 students per school do something, that 10x schools in America students. But if you're the only one, you might be the only one at a lot of school. 5.
When crafting your college essays, avoiding overused topics is indeed a smart move. By now, admissions officers have seen countless essays on common themes like scoring the winning goal, community service trips that changed a student's life in just a week, overcoming an injury, and the death of a family member/pet. While these topics can be meaningful, they often fail to stand out in a sea of ...
So here are the five most overused clichés we—and every admissions officer we've spoken with—see most often, and which you should avoid. 1. The aforementioned "blood drive essay" or "How community service taught me the importance of helping others" Colleges appreciate students who are concerned about their communities. But one ...
Read your essay aloud, or have someone else read it aloud, then ask these questions: Core Values (aka Information). Can you name at least 4-5 of the author's core values? Do you detect a variety of values, or do the values repeat? Examples of NOT varied values: hard work, determination, perseverance. Examples of more varied values: autonomy ...
Tragedies. In and of themselves, tragedies are not necessarily a bad topic for college essays. However, it can be easy to fall into cliched writing as you tell these stories. Hackneyed themes and phrases include "life is short," "time heals all wounds," and "seize the day.". If you write about a tragedy you have known or experienced ...
12. Kirsten Courault. Kirsten studied political economy at U.C. Berkeley and has seven years of experience as a writer, editor, and English teacher. She cherishes helping students unearth their unique stories for college admissions essays. A strong college essay topic should be personal, original, and specific.
Table of contents. Essay 1: Sharing an identity or background through a montage. Essay 2: Overcoming a challenge, a sports injury narrative. Essay 3: Showing the influence of an important person or thing. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about college application essays.
This is why it is important to learn more about components of a strong personal statement, as well as overused college essay topics that are best to avoid. Reading examples of successful Common App essays is a great way to start thinking about how to best approach your college essays. By identifying key strategies and characteristics that ...