5 College Essay Topics to Avoid (And What to Write About Instead)

how come you shouldn't write about water polo, as most people don't do it

why not lawyer?

im recommmending you to every other senior, this is helping me so much!

Hello. Im trying to write my essay on my favorite show about someone chasing their dream and am going to try to relate their journey with my own. is this a unique topic?

Can writing about using a dustbin as my basketball hoop be wonderful?

Hy eathan ,
I need someone to proofread my essay.
Can anyone help me

Your videos have been very encouraging in my writing process so far, thank you very much for all that you do!
I wanted to write my essay about my favorite K-pop group's complex storyline and how I relate to each member and their individual struggles. I don't think it would be a common topic, but I'm unsure if it can work. What do you think?

Hi ethan, i wrote on happiness
I wrote on how i lost my friend and how the experience helped me shape my life and my passion for science. Do you think It'll work?
And please drop a link on where i van get someone proofread my essays for free and give me nice feedbacks

Hey Ethan I chose to talk about my love and I experience with business. Do you think it still works if I talk about parts of my life that contribute to aspects of why I love business?

Great points on avoiding pitfalls in the essay that don't talk enough about the unique experiences that are the value-add on campus (aka the awesome sides on who you are :)) rather than the travel abroad piece

Great video.

How can I find the "How to write about engineering" video? One of my student wrote one of his essays about leLego and Engineering and I want to help him.

Hi Ethan! Thank you so much for this video, but now watching your video, i have become slightly nervous about my essay. I already finished it and don't want to restart. My essay is about an essence object: my journal. And how it carries all the past versions of myself and how i have and still can grow, but my past versions of myself have a lot of mental health issues. I know you said to avoid talking about mental health, so is my approach different enough or should i start trying to write a new essay?

Hi Ethan!! what is your opinion about my essay topic about motivating my peers or being a student psychiatrist in my community and how i literally saved a life through it. Could this essay outstand

Hi Ethan! Is it too basic I talk about the contrast between growing up in Colombia (Which has a very lively and colorful culture) and my shy personality, and how that made me want to become a writer?

Great video! I know it's probably a stupid question, but does college essay need title?

Hi im an engineering student and I cant find your video about legos.

You're the best, Ethan!

Hi Ethan! I am currently writing about my experience in beginning to play hockey as a minority race in the sport, the cultural shock, and the desire to fit in. Would this fall into the themes of cultural identity and new environment, which you said were common topics across essays? Also, I'm hearing from many different sources the the personal statement should be a specific, singular event, but I feel like I could best write my essay by talking about my desire to fit in over a larger period of time. Please share your thoughts. Thank you in advance.

Hi Ethan. Thanks for the informative video. May you please review my essay for me. I've just completed my final draft. Thanks once again from Zimbabwe

Hi Ethan, what if I wrote my personal statement about cooking a dish that highlights my characteristics? Maybe something like relating the different ingredients to my different characteristics, and how they all culminate to make who I am as a person? Do you think that would be a good idea?

Thanks for the amazing videos! So helpful and so comprehensive ❤

Hey! I wanted to say that your videos really helped me to write my essay, thank you so much, I wrote my essay about my experience in my country Iraq with it’s conservative society and how much I’ve changed the way I lived inside this society, dealing with it’s old and wrong beliefs that destroyed years of my life, I wasn’t quite sure if I should write about this particular topic because I felt it’s a little common but I decided to write eventually and I also added a description of a special place where I would escape every time I felt I was losing hope, do you think that’s a good topic?

You are a great counselor. Thank you for all of your advice, in all areas

Hello Ethan, I've been watching your videos for half a year. I'm a grade 11 student from Taiwan, so I still have little time to build my activities; but I'm curious about is lifeguarding a rare and beneficial activity for my personal statement essay because I'm currently being a lifeguard (for summer), or should it be in the extracurricular essay?

Do you know any great Maya Angelou quotes to write an essay on?

Hi Ethan! I wrote my personal statement about my ethnic country Pakistan (a common topic, I guess?) but talked about how reflecting on my experience helped me become more humble/less judgmental and build realistic plans for problems I see, and focus on the positives. Do you think the values I used are uncommon enough to make me stand out? I also put a lot of imagery and a hook about seeing an air-conditioned yak on the street in a country where people don't have money to feed themselves much less their pet yaks. Please let me know :)

Is writing about a break through with mental health a good topic?


Pro tip: listen to the whole thing before asking questions 😅☝🏾

Where's the link for the engineering topics?

Where is the video for stem students about legos?

what if my personal statement is about moving between two cities five times? would that still make it common or no? Also, the end of mine basically just talks about how I want to help other people create themselves, like how moving a lot has had me realize a bunch of things and create myself, is that also a common thing to talk about or no?

Hey, apologies for the off topic question, in my personal statement the reader had to find the characteristics themselves (although most people understood most of the characteristics ) I got some advice that I should explicitly say the characteristics sometimes, what do you think?

What do you think about culture and tradition and being like born ina different culture and embracing it?