Five Clichéd College Essay Topics to Avoid This Application Season (and What to Write Instead)

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When I was an admissions officer, I read hundreds of applications per week, and most of them were…just fine. That is obviously not what students want to hear; I know how much work goes into drafting and polishing the personal statements that often represent your only chance to decide what to share about yourself in an application otherwise filled with required, factual information. Choosing a topic is the first step in this process.

As you’re deciding what to write about, you might worry that your topic needs to be catchy, or that you’ll choose something that you should have avoided. Are there topics everyone should skip?

Spoiler—I don’t actually think any essay topic is totally off-limits, but there are topics that admissions officers see frequently. If you are considering writing about one of these topics, you have two choices. You could decide to write about something else, or you could find a unique angle and absolutely crush it.

1. My grandma is great!

I’ve heard admissions officers say, “Wow, this student’s grandma sounds incredible. I wish she would apply!” It might come out a bit snarky depending on how many essays have already been read that day, but the point is that the student missed the opportunity to center themself in the story.

The solution here is simple—make sure you are the main character in your story and that most of your writing is about your relationship with your grandma or her influence on you. Of course, this doesn’t only apply to grandmas, but anyone else who you include in your essay.

2. The big game!

People love sports, which means they’re a common essay topic. Students often write the play by play of “the big game”. But, even a well-written essay that tells the dramatic story of a particular game—whether it was an epic failure or a triumphant victory—is not an effective college essay. A big sports moment feels incredibly personal, but the entire team could write basically the same essay, if the game is the whole plot.

The big game can absolutely be an anecdote in an essay about how you grew, learned something, mentored somebody, evolved, or recognized one of your personal strengths. It could be the introduction paragraph to a story about how you were injured, but found a new passion during your recovery, or the conclusion to a story about how you overcame someone else’s low expectations by believing in yourself and working hard.

3. The service trip that changed my life!

Students sometimes feel like they have to share something significant in their essay, when often the smaller, mundane stories say more about who they really are. The clichéd service trip essay is often one that feels trite or performative. The student writes about going on a life-changing trip—they gain a new perspective on privilege or happiness—then they go back to their normal life at the end of the week. They obviously have the best intentions, but they miss the mark when they can’t extend the story to how they’ve continued to serve, or how they have changed.

For students who have actually made a long-term habit of giving back, it’s easy to share their authentic dedication. They’ve built enduring relationships, and they volunteer consistently. Stories about lasting impact—even small ones—are much more flattering, and they often speak to genuine, deep-seated personal qualities. Instead of focusing on an act of service as the point of your essay, use it as the introduction, then write about something lasting like your impact on others, how you applied what you’ve learned, or how your perspective or behaviors have changed.

4. When I was six…

An entire essay about something from your childhood tells admissions officers who you were as a child and is not usually relevant to who you will be when you join a college community. Some of your qualities are truly innate, so a short story about something from years ago that still speaks to who you are today could be a great essay starter, but it should not be the focus of the entire essay.

Stories from your childhood can be useful in brainstorming a more current topic. Ask friends and family members to tell you stories that are great examples of who you are as a person. This conversation could spark a brainstorm about your core personal qualities, how you have grown or how something that happened years ago has shaped the person you are today. These discussions could eventually lead to a recent story you do want to tell.

5. Ogres are like onions (or parfaits).

Sometimes a simile isn’t as flattering as you had hoped, or a metaphor ends up so committed to the device that it’s no longer authentically about you. One admissions cycle, it felt like all the high school seniors had gotten together and decided it was the year of the extended metaphor—they were everywhere! I read about a girl who was a steak, a boy who was a pizza, a student who was a children’s book, and so many more. But do you really want to spend the mere 650 words allotted talking about trimming the fat, or how your academic awards are like pepperoni?

It’s okay to use literary devices, and sometimes comparisons to well-known objects or concepts can be really useful, just don’t get caught up in a gimmick and lose the point you are trying to make. The voice you use in your admissions essay should be your authentic, everyday voice. Maybe your writing is a bit more polished than your oral storytelling, but it shouldn’t be fancy or complicated. Be yourself. That’s the voice admissions officers want to hear.

Once you have an essay draft, reread it with a critical eye. Does it sound like you, or have you overused the thesaurus? Have you relied on too many editors’ input? Could anyone else have written the same story, but with different names or locations? Would your best friend know this was yours if they read a hundred essays without the authors’ names on them? Have you remembered to keep yourself at the center of the story, both as the main character, and in the voice you’ve used to write it, using pronouns like “me” and “I”?

Of course your story feels really personal to you because you’ve lived through the experiences, but adding details and examples is what will also make it specific to you—and only you—for readers. Admissions officers relate to universal experiences, but being more specific often helps something connect for them.

For example: I could write “I love playing with little kids, like my niece. Being around kids makes me feel young too.” OR “I love playing with my niece, and five has been my favorite age so far. When she invites me to swing with her at the playground, I feel like a kid again.” Adding a few details makes it less likely that someone else could write exactly what I did, and the details, like swinging, are more memorable than broad ideas, like playing.

This story isn’t totally unique to me yet, but I’ve narrowed the possibilities from anyone who likes kids to anyone who has a five-year-old niece who likes to swing with them at the playground. This, combined with additional details throughout my story, will make my essay one-of-a-kind.

Hot Tips from My Experience Inside an Admissions Office

–Trauma: It’s okay to talk about the tough stuff, as long as you can end on a positive note. Discuss what you’ve learned, how things have improved, or how it will be better in college. Be careful not to center someone else in your essay by sharing their tragic story.

–Beware of sweeping, universal statements: Starting with phrases like “We all know…” or “Everyone likes…” because they’re too broad and not specific to you, and they might not be as universal as you believe—as soon as you encounter a reader who doesn’t agree, you’re essay will not resonate.

–Be diplomatic: Don’t share your beliefs by putting down others. It’s okay to take a stance, but be diplomatic and open to a variety of opinions.

–Don’t be repetitive: Watch out for repeating the same word, phrase, or sentence structure over and over. I often have to check my writing for how many times I’ve said college, going back to sprinkle in university, school, and institution. Something as simple as “for example” can feel repetitive if used in every paragraph. This year, I’ve read so many sentences with this structure: Not only A, but B! The students aren’t usually using an exclamation point, but that’s how I read a sentence like that—sometimes you’re putting an unintended amount of emphasis on B, and you are using a lot of words when you could simply say A and B, and it will mean the same thing.

–Small moments make a large impact: It’s okay if your essay isn’t about something huge and life changing—that’s not really what most essay prompts are asking for. Essays about small moments are often the most memorable because they are unique to you. Telling a story using a single example, then sharing that it’s actually a common part of your life can be incredibly moving. I’ve read great essays about making meatballs on a Sunday with Nonna, rediscovering a childhood toy and mastering how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. All of those essays were written simply, and they each spoke to something deeper about their author. The stories were the lenses they used to effectively and memorably share about themselves.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The essay is one of the only opportunities in your application where you get to decide what to share, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to add new information. We recommend either highlighting something that isn’t covered elsewhere, or going in-depth about something that is important to you.

  • This is tricky—adults who offer to help edit your writing definitely mean well, but sometimes they go too far and you lose your authentic, teenage voice. Other times, you end up with too many “cooks in the kitchen”, and any unique voice is lost. Be very specific when asking for help. Try saying “I’m really happy with the story, but I’d love for you to check the spelling and grammar” or “I think I’m almost finished with my essay, but I’m not sure if my conclusion says what I meant to say yet”.

  • Sometimes students worry that they’re meant to write about big, life-changing experiences in their college essays, but if you reread the prompts, that’s almost never what colleges are asking for. Essays about small, meaningful moments or simple things that illustrate your strongest qualities can be very compelling.

  • I had a new favorite essay every week or two during each reading season, but they were all incredibly different from one another. What they had in common was that they each said something about their author that was helpful for the college to know, often indirectly through a story. (Your English teacher has probably discussed with you the concept of “Show, don’t tell”.)


    You can’t copy what has already been done well because it either won’t sound authentic, or it’s already well-known. With that said, some of my favorites were about a triumphant grilled cheese success, reminiscing about building an entire society of marble people and a senior year bucket list that ended with a confession about having a crush, but reminding the reader not to say anything to the girl in question. Remember, they were all deeper than the story told on the surface. Each one highlighted personal qualities and characteristics that let me know what type of person was coming to our college.

  • Probably not. When it comes down to it, not much will overcome a weak GPA. There are colleges for everyone though—and most schools don’t expect perfection. If you’re really worried about your classroom performance, you might not be a strong candidate for admission and you might not be prepared for college-level work. In that case, consider starting at a community college to take prerequisite courses and build your study skills before transferring to a more rigorous school.

  • Some high school English teachers assign essay drafts for spring juniors or fall seniors. Whether or not that’s true for you, most students tackle their main college essay over the summer before senior year. You can also start responding to as many of the supplemental writing questions as you can before senior year starts too. These become available on August 1st.