Your Topic, Yourself: College Essay Series Part 2

Every year it happens. One student or more, perhaps consciously, but more frequently subconsciously or unconsciously, scares the heck out of his or her classmates by writing an awesome college essay on an original topic. I always hope this isn't the first kid up to read at the college essay workshop. Then there is that long, awkward pause during which all the applicants look at each other as if to say, "How am I going to write like that?"

Things came to a head in one of my workshops a few years ago. During my work with small groups, two different essays surfaced as "The Great Ones." One was drafted by a young man whose father had been laid off and spent his son's junior year being Mr. Mom. The other was composed by a young lady whose father had died of cancer the year before. Both pieces were compelling and needed very few revisions to speak of -- and both left the rest of the students wondering but not daring to say, "How am I going to write like that if nothing like that has ever happened to me?" This is a good question, arguably an egotistical one, so you're smart not to say it out loud. Be assured that thousands of teenagers would choose four more years with their deceased parent over four years of college if they ever had any choice.

Nothing tragic need happen for you to write a great college essay. In fact, I would say that the majority of excellent college essays I have read have been entertaining and a delight to read. Of course, I may be a little biased, having usually coached young people through the process, but even so, it's worth reinforcing here. I've seen college essays about Barbie dolls, Oreos, germaphobia, dance team, boating, substitute teachers and tattoos. All of them were great, and none had tragedy as a prerequisite. So stay resolved to find the best topic for you.

Another mistake that often gets made is to write about the topic you think other people want to hear and to try to wrap it up with a neat little bow. Remember that a college essay is one of the few essays that can end with a beginning. Be open. And know that sincere writing is believable. If an experience didn't change your life, don't write about it as if it did.

Very early in my teaching career, a student came to me for extra help with his essay. He wrote about his experience volunteering for a special swim program at the local Y. I looked at the draft and asked him how frequently he still volunteered. He said he had quit after the first two weeks because he didn't feel comfortable there. It amazed me that he managed to crank out two pages on something that meant so little to him, but he was convinced that he had to write about volunteering. I told him that I had a younger brother with special needs, that I knew how hard the people in his school and group home had to work, and that it was an insult to anyone who did dedicate their lives to that field to write something like that. I asked him if he wanted to go into special education or social work. He said he wanted to major in business.

By the time we were finished talking, he decided to write about his family landscaping business, how he had worked for his dad and uncle every summer since he was 13 and what that work had taught him. All of the sudden, he looked confident and hopeful. When you arrive at the right topic, you just know. And sometimes it's one of the most obvious things in your life, the thing that consumes you. This young man, as it turned out, had designed and built 20 fully functional koi ponds by his seventeenth birthday. That process was eventually what he wrote about. And it was what made him decide to pursue a major in landscape architecture with a minor in business. Never underestimate the writing process as a means of discerning what really and truly matters to you. Your college essay can decide your future, because if it's written well, your college essay personifies you.