The college application essay is one of the most important factors of a college application because it showcases who you are as an individual and the quality of your character, but because of that, there’s a lot of pressure to write a great essay. Knowing where to start can often be harder than writing the whole thing. So, here’s some guidance on how to get your ideas flowing to find the best topic for your college essay.
The struggles of writing
I had a friend when I was a kid who had Japanese fighting fish. One night, during a sleepover party at her house, one of them devoured the other. I remember staring at them for a long time before hitting the sack—their fancy, elaborate blue fins like diaphanous curtains swaying this way and that in the clear, illuminated water of the fish tank. We went to sleep, and they were fine. We woke up and remnants of blue were floating in the murky water of the tank. Apparently, Japanese fighting fish will devour each other if left to their own devices but will die of loneliness if made to live in total isolation. To keep Japanese fighting fish, you must put up a glass barrier so that they can see each other but will not eat each other alive.
So it is with your inner creator and critic. If you let them near each other, the critic will always win. It will, in fact, devour that small, still voice within. The creator’s voice, in most of us anyway, is elusive, even fragile. It must be cultivated and protected. Don't let your inner critic near it, especially when writing something as important and "critical" as the college essay. So how might you encourage that voice while resisting the nagging voice of your inner critic? How can you come up with the basis for a standout college application essay when you have no idea where to start?
Try freewriting
Just let it all out. Write about whatever comes to mind. Don’t restrict yourself, and—whatever you do—don’t edit as you go. After all, in a freewrite, there's no need for structure or organization. You don't need to spell things correctly right now. You don't need a beginning or a conclusion. You don't even need to know what you're talking about. All you have to do is write your heart out—just make sure it’s in full sentences. Think of this as focused stream-of-consciousness writing. That is, you write as much as you can, as fast as you can, without attention to organization or grammar, but you write it on the subject you have identified. What happens after the freewrite is an extremely important, often overlooked, part of the process. Once you’ve completed your freewrite, you are no longer staring at a blank page—you have something to work with! Even if it’s just shy of pure drivel, it’s very helpful in moving forward.
Related: An Essay About You: How to Tackle Your College Essay
Turning your freewrite into an essay
At this point, you can (and should) take a break. You’ve crossed a bigger hurdle than you realize! Then, when you’re done with your break and have had a chance to gain some perspective on the story you’re trying to tell, it’s a good idea to call in the W’s.
- When did this happen?
- Where were you?
- Who were you with?
- What were you doing?
- What was it like?
- Why do you think you remember it?
- Why is it important?
- What were your feelings about this event or moment?
Answering these questions will bring you to what I call the expanded freewrite. This is a filled-out version of your freewrite with details, dialogue, and description added to flesh out what you have already written. It is often at this stage in the process that I speak to my students about the four modes of writing in the college essay:
- Showing
- Telling
- Describing
- Reflecting
Anyone will tell you the rule-of-thumb when it comes to writing college essays is show, don’t tell. And it’s absolutely true that admission counselors want you to paint a picture using the engaging details of your life. But this is only part of the story. In fact, you must show and tell in order to write a dynamic, original, vivid essay. You must describe what you have seen and experienced for the reader. And you must reflect on the experience and why you’ve taken the time to tell it. It needs to come from the heart, which is what you need to do to tip the admission scales in your favor.
Your college essay must express the essence of who you, so that you come alive on the page in front of the admission committee; this is no small feat. It’s not enough to say you’re good at chess. You must show you’re good at it, how you got to be good, what it means to you, what you do when you lose, and how you come back from those losses to be someone XYZ University wants to accept into their school.
Related: Top College Essay Tip from Admission Insiders
Let me give you an example. Imagine your freewrite starts with a story about the time you found a goat stuck in the mud while traveling in Botswana.
What you originally wrote:
My host brother and I decided to go to the lake. On our way there, the ground started getting muddy. Halfway to the lake, we found a goat stuck in the mud. We struggled for a long time to get it out. Finally we did it.
When you add detail, dialogue, reflection, and action:
My host brother, Mtumbe, who was wearing shorts and no shirt and white tennis shoes that were too big for him, had one gold tooth that sometimes glistened in the sun when he smiled. “Come to the lake,” he said. “Not far. Down the hill.” I was scared. I had only arrived the day before to this village of 1,200 people on the southernmost tip of Botswana. But Mtumbe was always smiling and it seemed like whatever he did, he was happy, which made me feel that everything would be okay. The cracked earth began to get muddy as we got nearer to the lake. Soon our shoes were sucked down into the mud. At one point, Mtumbe lost one of his white sneakers. That’s when we spotted the goat, struggling to free itself from the same mud that was pulling us down.
This is a true story, by the way, told to me in the form of a freewrite by a real student. She and her host brother finally got the goat out. They brought it to safety and covered it with a blanket. The next day, they went back to check on it, and sadly, it had died. From that single instance, her story materialized and flowed out easily when engaging in a freewrite. And, indeed, you have to start with a moment.
Related: Admission Granted: Examples of Successful College Application Essays, Volume III
Without a freewrite, there would be nothing to fill out, bring to life, upon which to elaborate. You must call on all four modes of writing to produce an essay that will shine: showing, telling, describing, and reflecting. But there’s no getting around the freewrite as a place to start. The more you do it, the better you’ll get. When you do get good, don't get seduced into thinking you can skip this step. Instead, let the freewrite take your ideas and turn them into living stories.
For examples of real, successful application essays and a to more advice, check out our Application Essay Clinic.
