By Rebecca Carter

The element of the college application process that many students find to be the most stressful is writing the admissions essay. Yes, the admissions board will be judging your general understanding of and aptitude with the English language, as well as whether you have anything interesting or original to say, and you’ve only got this one shot at it. But don’t be afraid of the essay! “It’s a great opportunity, and if you take the time to really think the process through, you’ll have no problem getting the perfect essay down on paper” Jason Kim, a writer at uk essay writing, says. To help you along, here are a few steps you can follow to find the right topic for your college admissions essay.

Brainstorm

Start off with an old fashioned brainstorm. Go over all of the questions in the application form for your college. They will give you some idea of what the admissions board is most interested in, and should help to narrow things down. Then take the time to sit and come up with several ideas. Don’t censor yourself. The key is to get as many options down on paper as possible. Once you’ve got a good dozen or so, then you can begin to narrow things down. Try to determine how comfortable each idea makes you when considering writing a whole essay about it. Then you’ll want to cut out the ideas that don’t feel original. You should end up with an essay that hasn’t been done to death, so if any of the ideas feel overly generic, throw them out.

Think whether You Can Provide Original Ideas On a Topic

Once you’ve got your list whittled down, check out what’s left and consider whether you have an original take you can provide on the material. Every subject that’s ever come to mind has been written about in the past, so is there anything that you and only you can write about? Remember, this is a professional essay, but the more personal you can make it the better. Consider the subjects you have left, and what life experiences or choices you’ve made you can bring to the table to give the conversation an original spin. Being able to do something unique with a generic subject matter can be just as impressive to the admissions board than if you somehow showed them something new.

Find Appropriate Arguments

Now that you’ve got an original topic, or a topic that you can bring something original to, it’s time to ask yourself some questions. You know you will be able to bring your experiences to bear on the topic, but do you have any supporting arguments or examples to draw from? Can you get through what you need to say within the confines of the essay, and can you do it in an interesting way? Remember that page count and tightness of writing style will be looked at, and you don’t want to ramble on with no end.

Estimate Topics from the Admission Board’s Point of View

Next you should look over your remaining topics with an eye on the admission board’s perspective. That means that just because a topic is interesting to you, that doesn’t mean they’ll want to read it. Talking about why you love their school, or how you’re going to create world peace are better suited to a pageant than an admissions essay. Any off color stories about crimes, failing tests or drug use will not make them jump to let you attend their school. If you are going to hit any of these areas, definitely treat them with kid gloves.

Choose Topic of Your Expertise

It’s time to whittle the last topics down to the one you’ll write about. You don’t yet have that mass communication degree, so if you’ve got a subject you don’t feel you can express in a deep and involved way, toss it. The same goes for topics you don’t particularly care about. If you’ve got one topic left that fits everything else, don’t waste time wondering if the admissions board will care. If it satisfies all the other categories, whether it’s one of their favorite subjects won’t matter.

Be Creative

It goes without saying that the admission board will put a mark not only estimating your grammar and offered arguments. In this case, it is important to be creative choosing a topic because it is the first thing a committee sees. Try to make them pay special attention to you writing. But be careful because there is a thin verge between creativity and irrelevance.

Win This Fight

Some people can say that it is easy to choose a relevant and interesting topic to write about while applying for a college. On the one hand, it depends on a person’s writing skills. But, on the other hand, it is really easy because you can do it in several steps such as brainstorming, ability of providing original ideas on a topic, finding appropriate arguments, estimating topics with an eye on the admission board’s perspective, choosing topics of your expertise and being creative.

About the author: Rebecca Carter, an English teacher and happy mother of two wonderful kids. Besides, she likes sharing her experience with others in a form of small discursive essay. She’s going to create her own blog in order to have an appropriate place for her publications.