As Stephen King wrote in his book On Writing, “The scariest part is always just before you start.” At some point, you will have arrived at the most daunting moment of the writing process: you are ready to begin writing your personal essay for your college applications, except… what in the world are you going to write about?
What story do you have to tell that can possibly be unique or interesting enough to send off to your dream school? This is a common experience that faces many high school students when it comes time to begin writing their college essays. Many fear they have led mundane, overly ordinary lives that don’t lend themselves well to an incredible essay topic.
But fear not! Admissions committees are not looking solely for students who can tell a fascinating and unique story about working with orphaned chimpanzees or backpacking across Laos. They’re just as interested in stories that can make something interesting out of the ordinary. It is possible to write a powerful essay about everyday experiences, fears, failures, passions, and relationships that are powerful because of their ordinary nature.
These stories, when told the right way, reflect the universality of the human experience. So before you panic about leading a mundane life, remember that the most important goal for your college essay is that it says something significant about you as a person. You could write about any experience you found important. Even if that experience is, at first glance, seemingly ordinary. As Mark Twain put it, “There is no such thing as an ordinary life.”
Here is a quick list of “ordinary” topics we’ve seen in phenomenal college essays:
- a student’s struggle to raise his hand in Chemistry class
- a student’s love for baking cakes
- a student’s history project reading old newspapers
- a student’s hatred of being outdoors
- a student’s love of geometry proofs
- a student’s relationship with her grandmother
- a student’s moving to a new house
If you are ready to begin brainstorming, take a look again at the Common App questions for the personal essay (below). They are designed to get to know you, to prompt you to tell the admissions officers what makes you tick, what matters to you, what you care about, or how you understand the world and your place in it.
We suggest sitting with these questions for a few different brainstorming periods and free-writing any ideas that come to you as you read them. Notice that the last question can be about absolutely anything, so if you have a story you’d like to tell that doesn’t fit into the first six questions, that’s ok!
Remember before you begin to write that you should be able to answer the What, the Why, and the How about your story before you decide on it as the topic for your essay.
The What: What story do you want to tell?
The Why: Why are you telling this story? What important thing(s) will the story show the admissions committee about you as an individual? (If you can’t answer this question clearly and honestly, then you might want to continue looking for a topic.)
The How: How can you tell this story in a way that engages your reader, and also avoids the cliche?
Common App Essay Questions, 2026-2027:
- Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
- The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
- Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
- Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
- Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
- Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
- Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design
Acton Essay Center 