What Should You Write About in Your College Essay? How to Help Colleges Get to Know You
One of the most common pieces of college essay advice is also one of the least helpful:
“Use the essay to help colleges get to know you.”
But what does that actually mean?
What should you write about in your college essay? Choose an experience that helps an admission officer understand something meaningful about you that isn't already obvious from your grades, test scores, and activities. The experience doesn't have to be extraordinary. What matters is what the story reveals about how you think, what you care about, how you respond to situations, and how you've changed.
Students are often told that their college application essays should reveal their character, personality, voice, values, resilience, or contribution to a community. These are important ideas, but they are also abstract. If you're staring at a blank screen, being told to “show your character” probably doesn't make choosing a college essay topic much easier.
A better approach is to stop thinking in admissions terminology and start thinking about your actual life.
How Do I Choose a College Essay Topic?
Instead of asking, “How can I demonstrate my values?” start with questions about experiences you can actually remember and describe.
What do you genuinely care about? What can you spend hours doing or thinking about even when nobody requires you to do it?
What do you notice? What fascinates, frustrates, surprises, or bothers you that other people might overlook?
What are you like around other people? Are you the person who organizes everyone? Makes people laugh? Notices when someone is left out? Explains things patiently? Takes responsibility when something goes wrong?
What have you done when things didn't go according to plan? Did you persist, change your approach, ask for help, admit you were wrong, or learn to accept something you couldn't control?
How have you changed? What does the current version of you understand that your 14-year-old self did not?
These questions lead to experiences—and experiences lead to stories.
One reason this process can be difficult is that the experiences most familiar to us rarely seem remarkable to us. You may overlook a great essay idea simply because making dinner for your siblings, helping at your parents' business, repairing old computers, or spending hours perfecting a hobby feels like an ordinary part of your life.
Instead of immediately asking what an experience “says about your character,” start by remembering specific moments, choices, conversations, habits, and reactions. Meaning often emerges through reflection; it doesn't have to be obvious when you begin.
Does My College Essay Topic Need to Be Impressive?
No. A strong college essay does not require an extraordinary accomplishment, prestigious research project, major leadership position, or serious hardship.
In our work with college applicants, we often find that students initially dismiss some of their best college essay ideas because the experiences don't seem impressive enough.
Working weekend shifts at your family's restaurant, teaching your younger brother math, repeatedly losing at chess, rebuilding an old computer, cooking dinner for your family, or having an argument with your grandfather could all become compelling essays.
The important question isn't:
“Is this experience impressive?”
It's:
“What would someone understand about me after reading this story?”
Some of the strongest college essays begin with experiences students initially consider ordinary. The goal isn't to manufacture a better story. It's to recognize what is meaningful about your own experiences.
Should I Write About My Intended Major or Activities?
You certainly can—but first ask whether your essay will tell the admission officer something they don't already know.
Imagine a student whose application includes AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C, robotics, an engineering summer program, engineering research, and an intended mechanical engineering major.
Another essay explaining the student's passion for engineering might simply repeat what the application has already established.
A better principle is:
Don't automatically use your college essay to prove something the rest of your application has already proven.
That doesn't mean STEM students shouldn't write about STEM, musicians shouldn't write about music, or athletes shouldn't write about sports.
Instead, ask:
If I write about this activity, what will the reader learn about me that isn't already apparent from my application?
A future engineer writing about repairing an old cassette deck with her grandfather may still be writing about engineering. But the essay might ultimately reveal her patience, her relationship with her grandfather, her sentimentality, her curiosity, or the way she connects with another generation.
The subject may be engineering. What the story reveals doesn't have to be.
What Do Colleges Want to Learn From Your Essay?
Your college application already contains a great deal of information about you: courses, grades, test scores, activities, awards, and accomplishments.
The essay can show something different—the person behind that information.
You also don't need to tell the admission officer what qualities you possess.
Consider a familiar conclusion:
“This experience taught me the importance of perseverance and resilience.”
Instead of announcing that you are resilient, show the reader what happened when you wanted to quit.
What were you thinking? What did you do? Why did you keep going? Did you change your approach? Ask for help? Decide that something mattered enough to continue despite being frustrated?
If the story is effective, the reader may conclude:
This student doesn't give up easily.
That's much more powerful than simply saying it yourself.
Ultimately, helping colleges “get to know you” means giving an admission officer something they cannot find in your transcript or activities list: a glimpse of how you think, what you notice, how you respond, what matters to you, and how your experiences have shaped the person you are becoming.
Your college essay doesn't need to prove that you're extraordinary.
It needs to make you recognizable.
Frequently Asked Questions About College Essays
What should I write about in my college essay?
Write about an experience that reveals something meaningful about how you think, what you care about, how you interact with others, or how you have changed. The best college essay topic is not necessarily the most impressive experience; it is one that helps the reader understand you better.
Does a college essay have to be about a major accomplishment?
No. Everyday experiences can produce excellent college essays when they reveal something important about the student that isn't apparent elsewhere in the application. How you experienced and responded to an event can matter more than how impressive the event itself appears.
Should my college essay be related to my intended major?
It can be, but it doesn't have to be. If your academic record and activities already demonstrate your interest in your intended major, consider whether your personal statement could reveal another dimension of who you are.
What do colleges look for in a college essay?
Colleges use essays to learn more about the person behind the grades and activities. A strong essay gives the reader insight into how a student thinks, makes decisions, responds to experiences, relates to other people, and makes meaning from what happens in their life.
Need Help With Your College Essays?
Choosing the right college essay topic—and figuring out what your experiences say about you—can be one of the hardest parts of the college application process.
Elite Prep's College Consulting and College Application Services provide individualized guidance throughout the application process, including college selection, application strategy, college essay brainstorming, and essay review.
Our counselors help students identify meaningful experiences, develop their own ideas, and communicate their stories authentically while ensuring that the final essay remains the student's own work and voice.
Learn more about Elite Prep's College Application Services and how we can help you build your strongest college application.