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.