4 Signs Your Admissions Essay Topic Isn’t working

Finding a personal statement topic is one of the hardest things seniors go through. I went through about five before landing on my idea and outline. Most of the students I work through go through a similar elimination process. Sometimes, after a long brainstorm session, students find that they have to start writing up a few ideas before they realize what to keep for the Common App essay and what to save for the shorter supplements. Sometimes, it takes an outside perspective to help you figure out if something is working or not. Here are the tell-tale signs I look for when it’s time to change personal essay topics.

1) You’re way under word count

If you really have enough to say, you will struggle with the 650-word count, often going far beyond that. In fact, for that reason, I advise all my students to ignore word count completely at the drafting stage. If your draft is under, that’s usually a clear-cut sign that this topic might work better as a supplement or that you didn’t dig deeper enough for a vulnerable self-reflection to take your topic to the next level. Most students end up drafting thousands of words and then cut it down in the revision process to 650 words.

2) You’re forcing an extended metaphor

If the essay is more concerned with fanciful phrases than the content itself, your topic isn’t working. You’re overdoing the metaphor and most of the essay focuses on these flourishes instead of a deeper more personal narrative that explains your growth or tells your story.

3) The topic isn’t all that meaningful to you

On the page, you could have the most brilliant unique topic ever. Maybe you had a cool internship or insight, but the truth is, it didn’t really shape you into who you are today. Maybe you had an impressive summer and a parent suggested writing about it. There’s no growth. There’s no tension. There’s no years-long commitment. There’s no time-flying-by passion. There’s no deeper self-reflection to help make the essay stand out. You can try salvaging the draft for a shorter supplement while you explore other topics that made a bigger difference in your life.

4) Writing your draft feels like pulling teeth

If you’re staring at the computer screen with your cursor blinking for hours (and you’ve tried these proven writer’s block strategies), and still nothing is coming, maybe it’s a sign that you need to try writing about something else. Or if you eeked out a few paragraphs but really have nothing more to say, maybe try a new idea. Once students have a topic they love or connect with, writing should feel smooth, almost like you’re in a flow state. There will definitely be writer’s block along the way (that’s just part of the process), but it shouldn’t feel extremely painful to get a draft going. Sometimes this is plain-old writing anxiety and procrastination, and the topic could work, but maybe try writing up a new idea and see if sparks fly.

Still feeling stuck? See these college admissions essays that worked for some inspo.