College Essay Tips: Narrow Your Topic
Many students make the mistake of trying to cram their entire life story into their college essay. This makes for a very dry essay: a list of facts and events rather than an accurate depiction of the student as a human being. Instead, you should think of offering your reader a slice of your life in the college essay; describe a moment that stands in for the whole. What you choose to write about and how you choose to write it will tell the admissions committee what is important to you.
Once you’ve chosen a broad topic–why you love cooking, or how you spent your summer, for example–try to narrow it down to something more manageable. You might write about your favorite recipe and a special day on which you prepared it. Or you could describe a particular summer day on which you learned something new, or did something to surprise yourself. The key is to narrow your focus to something manageable, not just for you as a writer, but for the members of the admissions committee as readers.
Ideally, your personal statement should be 600-800 words, or around three pages in length. That’s not nearly enough space to tell your entire life story, so shave your topic down to one memorable moment that you can describe in vivid detail.
