Every summer, high school seniors across the country sit down and ask themselves the same question:
What should I write my college essay about?
It feels like the right place to start. It is not.
Most of you have been trained to think about essays as assignments. There is a prompt, a word count, and a deadline. You complete the task, polish it, submit it, and move on.
But elite college admissions essays do not work that way.
The better question is this:
What role should my essay play in my overall admissions strategy?
Those two questions may sound similar. They are fundamentally different.
The first treats the essay as a standalone deliverable. A topic to select and execute. And, the “perfect topic” is often the least important part of the process.
The second recognizes the essay for what it actually is: a strategic component of a much larger admissions narrative.
If you treat your college essay like an isolated assignment, admissions will only see one small piece of your whole picture. They will miss learning about what makes you special and different and about the many valuable contributions you will bring to their community. And, you will miss getting an acceptance letter.
Your essay topic should be the last decision you make, not the first. Before you write a single sentence, you should understand:
- What story does the rest of your application already tell?
- What dimensions of yourself are currently missing?
- What do you want admissions officers to understand or feel when they finish reading your file?
Once those questions are answered, your essay topic usually selects itself. Now, it’s about how you treat the topic. That’s what distinguishes a competent college essay from one that gets you admitted.
Stef Mauler
Founder, The Mauler Institute
Elite College Essays Part 2: Why You Can’t Write a Winning Essay in a Day
