Writing your college essay should be a process of self-discovery as much as it is a portal into your life for the admissions staff reading it.

The college essay. It’s what students usually think about first when they start applying to colleges. It can seem overwhelming for many students. You may ask yourself, “What should I write about?” or, “Is there a wrong topic to write about?” or, “Will colleges even read my essay?”

These are all reasonable questions to ask yourself as you begin writing your essay, but we’re here to ease your concerns.

Don’t think of the essay as a daunting testament to your life up to this point. Think of the essay as a chance to help the admissions department hear your unique voice and learn more about you beyond grades, extracurricular activities, or test scores. It’s your chance to speak directly to the humans behind the screen that are reading it. It gives colleges an idea of your background, personality, and how you might fit into their community. Writing your college essay should be a process of self-discovery—it’s a moment to pause and reflect on where you’ve been and where you’re going.

So, where should you start?

Start at the most basic level, by picking your essay topic.

There’s no right or wrong topic to write about. Write about something that speaks to you. We have identified seven main topics that students generally write about.

1. Your background. Where did you come from, what do you think about yourself, what makes you, you? 

2. Challenged ideas or beliefs. Did you have a preconceived idea about something or someone and then find that it wasn’t accurate? 

3. Overcoming setbacks. Did you have a difficult experience or fail at something? How did you come back and react to that? 

4. Your passion(s). What do you love to do, what is your calling, what is something that speaks to you? 

5. A problem you’d like to solve. Is there an issue in your community or world that you would like to solve? What inspired you to solve this issue, and how would you like to fix it? 

6. An event that sparked personal growth. In your life so far, is there an event or experience that led you to change or grow? What happened, how did it affect you, and what did you learn? 

7. Your achievements and meaningful contributions. Celebrate your success! Maybe you succeeded at something or helped someone, talk about it!

While these are the most popular topics, write about what feels right to you, not what others think you should write about. The topic should always be you, no matter the topic or prompt you pick. Make sure to stay focused on your main idea or theme and build your essay around it. Let your experiences paint the picture, by using specific examples rather than broad statements to make your point. 

Secondly, you might be wondering what writing mechanics make an essay work well.

The college essay is very similar to essays you’ve already written for school. Essays should provide a direct answer to the question you’re asked or are asking yourself. Your essay should always have a point. Even if it’s not an academic essay, what is the thesis of your essay? Following that line of thinking, your essay should have a comprehensive argument or narrative to support what you want to say. Your essay should have a strong opening that captures the reader’s attention. A strong opening helps the audience stay engaged and sets the tone for what they’re going to read.

Next, we can’t say it enough: revise, revise, revise.

Reread your essay multiple times to ensure that it gets the point across that you want to make. Read it silently, then read it aloud to see if it works. Have people you trust read it, too. This helps since your audience may not read it the way you intended it to sound, so others can help you pick up on that. These reviewers may also notice errors that you didn’t. Give yourself time to edit and proofread so you don’t have to rush to complete everything. We do look at grammar, punctuation, and spelling as part of our review so it’s important to revise well.  

Finally, don’t be what you the think the person reading your application wants you to be; be yourself!

If you still want more tips on college essays that work, take a look at the recording of our Writing the College Essay Webinar.

To see some examples of essays from the last year that American University Admissions staff loved, read our Class of 2029 Essay Anthology.