6 More Topics to Avoid in the Common Application Essay Sarah O’Neill Chester County

 By Sarah O’Neill Chester County, Supreme Editing

To add to the prior article, here are more topics to avoid in your Common Application essay. As stated in a prior post, there can be exceptions to the rule, especially if the information/topic is treated personally and creatively. I encourage all readers and applicants to lean on a proper editor or reader for advice from a reader’s and admission officer’s perspective.

Here they are!

#1 The Cliche Coming-to-a-New Country Story

I say “cliche” because the vast majority of college essays focusing on immigration emphasize the same things: moving to a new home, feeling out of place, and eventually learning to accept both one’s cultural heritage and one’s new surroundings. Does this mean there’s no way to write a good immigration-focused college essay? Of course not!

But try to pick a more unique story related to your immigration experience. Not only will this help your application stand out, but a more unique topic can also help to humanize you as you describe the unexpected situations that you had to ultimately overcome.

◦The U.S. is a nation of immigrants and while not every student has an immigrant story, a lot of them do. Consequently, these immigrant themes are ones that every admissions officer has read before:

◦Learning a new language

◦Adapting to new customs

◦Adjusting to a new lifestyle

Struggling to fit in

Write about an experience that is truly unique. Perhaps, when a student first came to the U.S., they didn’t have access to a vehicle or public transportation and needed to walk to school or their job. That student could use their college essay to focus on what they learned on their walks and the ambitions it sparked — such as tenacity to succeed against all odds or a desire to found a program for immigrants in a similar position.

#2 Controversial Topics

◦Controversial topics, such as current political hot buttons, should be avoided at all costs. These topics might provide you with a subject you feel strongly about, but your college essay isn’t the time to focus on something that’s highly sensitive or polarizing.

Keep in mind that you have no way to know whether or not the person who ends up reading your essay agrees with your views. Instead of impressing them with your writing skills and knowledge, you could alienate them and hurt your chance of being accepted. If you’re going to choose a topic that you’re passionate about, make sure it isn’t considered controversial or sensitive. On occasion, students write essays on illegal or illicit topics that they may have worked through in their lives: drugs, alcohol, sexual behaviors, arrest, rape, abortion, etc. It is possible to write an effective essay on these topics, but it’s better to AVOID such risky topics entirely.

You don’t want your essay to cast doubt on your judgment or call your behavior and morals into question. The same is true for profanity and topics related to violence. Gail Berson, vice president and dean of admissions at Wheaton College, tells the story of a student whose grades and test scores were excellent but who submitted a very “off-putting” essay written in graphic language about a violent video game. The person was rejected.

Remember that you don’t know who will read your essay or how they will feel about such topics. If you’re in doubt, it’s best to leave it out.

Avoid hotly debated current events.

◦Again, you don’t know who’s reading your essay or where they will stand on the issue being addressed. If you tackle a touchy subject, the essay could be offensive or off-putting to the very person who will determine your admission. It’s best to steer clear of especially sensitive or polarizing subjects in the college essay. Here’s a good test: If posting a Facebook status about this topic could start an online argument, don’t mention it in a college essay. For example, if you casually mention illegal drug use in your essay, it will make the college worry about you partaking in illegal drugs while at the college.

And even when it’s not an outright crime, you should refrain from writing about unethical activities that make you look bad. For example, some students have actually written college essays about how they were caught cheating on a test and ultimately learned from the experience. Learning from mistakes is fine and all, but the only outcome of such an essay is making the admissions committee question how long it will take you to start cheating on various college tests and essays.

The ideal essay topic is one that makes the committee trust you and believe that you’ll add value to the college. That’s going to be tough to do when you write about illegal or unethical activities

#3 Highly Personal Topics

College essay topics to avoid also include anything that’s highly personal or a delicate subject. For example, avoid doing an essay that provides too much detail on an illness, disability, or injury, especially a severe one. You might want to write about this kind of experience to emphasize how you dealt with it or overcame related challenges.

While you can still consider choosing a personal challenge as a topic, it’s better to avoid writing about anything graphic or too personal, such as describing a serious injury in detail.

#4 Tragic Events

Tragic events can provide an opportunity to explore personal growth, but they’re usually very hard to write about. This depends on your own comfort level in handling this type of topic, such as losing a loved one.

If you do want to write about a tragic event in your life, make sure that you keep it focused mainly on yourself. For example, use the essay to explore how the event affected you or what your thoughts were when it occurred.

Handling a tragic topic in this way helps the school learn more about you rather than just reading about the details of the event.

Tragedy — death, divorce, abuse

Tragedies are formative experiences, which, in theory, make them a natural theme for a college essay; however, tragedies are often universal experiences. Furthermore, essays on this topic are too often centered on the tragedy itself rather than the applicant.

Although we DON’T recommend it, it is possible to write a college essay about a tragedy that isn’t cliche, however. The key is to keep it focused on the applicant and personal.

Avoid overused themes like “life is short” and “make every day count.” Instead, highlight how the tragedy affected the writer. For example, if you had a friend who passed away from substance abuse, an essay centered around your subsequent commitment to drug prevention programs and advocacy is an interesting angle.

#5 Privilege or Luck

If you’ve had a lot of luck or privilege in life, such as growing up in a wealthy community, avoid using this as a college essay topic. Writing about how much you’ve had the privilege of experiencing in life can easily create the impression that you’re boasting. This kind of essay topic also doesn’t tell schools enough about who you are as a person or what you’re capable of accomplishing through your own skills and talents.

This doesn’t mean you have to feel guilty about skiing, vacationing, or fancy restaurants. Just understand that these take a lot of money, and most people in the world don’t live like that. I would say there’s a 50/50 chance the person reading your college application is one of those people. If nothing else, you just want to show that you have a realistic sense of the world and your place in it. If you are privileged, no need to hide it. Just don’t flaunt it or let on that you think everyone shares your good luck.

Here are some examples of how these loaded words can slip into your essay:

While we were scuba diving in the Bahamas…

I was out surfing in front of our beach house…

During a shopping trip to Paris with my mom…

While flying to Boise in my dad’s plane…

Every year, we take out our sailboat off the coast of Mexico and swim with the dolphins…

We were on our second round of golf of the day at Pebble Beach…

I was in the middle of my massage when my dad called me…

#6 Negative Aspects of School

This might seem obvious, but it’s best to avoid writing about anything that portrays the school you’re applying to in a negative way.

Some students might consider doing a negative topic as a way to stand out or get credit for taking a risk on their essay. However, the school isn’t likely to see it this way. Spending your college essay criticizing the school you’re applying to or focusing on negative aspects of it is a surefire way to make a bad impression. This could cost you the chance to have your application taken into serious consideration.

No matter what you end up choosing for your college essay, make sure you take your time writing it. Double-check when it’s due. Give yourself plenty of time to come up with a well-written essay that reflects who you are.

Creating a high-quality college essay helps put you above the competition and improves your chance of getting noticed among a sea of essays.

THE TOUGH GRADE YOU GOT

It’s generally never a good idea to use this as an essay topic, though. First, other students will write about some serious challenges, even things like escaping war. Framing getting a bad grade as a serious challenge next to something like that … may not go so well. And while everyone has gotten a bad grade from time to time, you don’t want to make poor academic performance the first thing an admissions committee hears about you.

Focus on a topic that emphasizes your strengths more than your weaknesses.

Working Hard in a Challenging Class

Working hard in a challenging class doesn’t work as an essay topic for many reasons. If you’re applying to a highly ranked institution, it’s likely that most of their applicants took tough classes and worked hard. They also likely faced challenging classes, struggled, and ultimately succeeded. Another reason to avoid this topic? The traits conveyed are likely covered by recommendation letters:

◦Perseverance

◦Diligence

◦Tenacity

◦Work ethic

Intellectual ability

Instead of writing your essay about overcoming a tough class, think about the personality traits you want to highlight. If you feel that your determination is already covered in other aspects of your application, pick another trait to feature in your essay. Or maybe you feel like your determination isn’t emphasized enough. Which other experiences highlight this trait? Another idea is to make the essay less about the class and more about the writer. Instead of sharing how you struggled to understand Crime and Punishment in your advanced lit class, you might detail how the class inspired a desire to write or how the works covered made you reflect on your own life.

Additional Tricky Topics to Write College Essays About

◦Romantic relationships

◦Breakups

◦Family pressure to pursue a particular major or field

◦Your religious institution or faith

◦Moving to a different part of the country

◦Someone you admire

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Sarah O’Neill Chester County Supreme Editing Coatesville