Short Story and Collegiate Essay Topics

The purpose of this essay is to fast-forward a few years and get you thinking about the college application process. Every college or university that you apply to will ask you to make a personal statement in the form of an essay that must be submitted with your application. The essay you write could be based on a single prompt or a choice of prompts, however your essay response will become an extension of your personality providing the college or university with a profound look at you as student and a person.

For the past two weeks we have been responding to collegiate essay topics in our writer’s notebook. It is now time to choose a college essay topic and develop it into a well-written essay to be submitted for a grade. You may only pick from the list of ten stated below and the length should be 3-4 pages. Be creative and impress me with your writing ability.

College Essay Topics to Choose From:

1. Write a short story using one of the following titles: a.) House of Cards, b.)ThePoor Sport, c.) Drama at the Prom, d.) Election Night, 2044, e.) The Getaway. (Tufts, 2009)

2. Do you believe there's a generation gap? Describe the differences between your generation and others. (Denison University)

3. Pick a story of local, national, or international importance from the front page of any newspaper. Identify your source and give the date the article appeared. Then use your sense of humor, sense of outrage, sense of justice—or just plain good sense—to explain why the story engages your attention. (University of Chicago)

4. Describe your most important academic accomplishment or intellectual experience to date. We don’t want to know about test scores or course grades, rather we want to know about your creativity, your willingness to take intellectual risks or your affinity for scholarly endeavors. (MIT)

5. Make a bold prediction about something in the year 2020 that no one else has made a bold prediction about. (University of Virginia, 1999)

6. Name one book or story you have read in the past year, describe your reasons for considering this book or story significant and what you gained from reading it. (Lewis and Clark College)

7. What are the responsibilities of an educated person? (University of Puget Sound)

8. Tell one story about yourself that would best provide us, either directly or indirectly, with an insight into the kind of person you are. For example, the story can simply relate a personal experience, or a humorous anecdote; it can tell about an especially significant academic encounter or about an unusual test of character. The possibilities are unlimited (well, almost so). You choose. Just relax and write it. (Princeton)

9. Tell us about the neighborhood that you grew up in and how it helped shape you into the kind of person you are today. (Yale and the University of Chicago)

10. What invention would the world be better off without, and why? (Kalamazoo)