20 Questions: For the Student Who Hasn't Found a Topic

Where Might You Find an Essay Topic?

Earlier this year, a New York Times article mentioned a study conducted by psychologist Arthur Aron. One purpose of the study was to develop a procedure for creating closeness between two people. The mechanism the study used was to have two people take turns answering a series of 36 questions.

These questions -- at least some of them -- strike me as a great place to start for a student who is searching for an essay topic. I'm talking about the student who doesn't have a major turning point in his life and who doesn't have a defining passion, mission, or purpose. I'm talking about the student who feels a bit intimidated about choosing a topic because he has had a fairly normal life.

If that student might be you, start with the questions below. Some of these I've taken verbatim from the study, and others I've tweaked the wording. One I borrowed from the University of North Carolina application because I liked it. Without further ado, here are 20 questions to help you find a topic:

1. Before making a phone call, do you ever rehearse what you're going to say? Why?
2. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you choose?
3. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
4. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
5. Tell your life story in as much detail as possible.
6. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?
7. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?
8. Is there something that you've dreamt of doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it?
9. You get one do-over of any moment in your life. What would you do over, and why?
10. What is your most treasured memory?
11. What is your most terrible memory?
12. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?
13. Complete this sentence "I wish I had someone with whom I could share..."
14. You meet your college roommate and decide you want to be close friends. Please share what would be important for him or her to know.
15. Share an embarrassing moment in your life.
16. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?
17. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
18. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven't you told them yet?
19. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?
20. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?

The Big Problem

Now stand in awe of my ability to read your mind. You're thinking three things:

1. I read all those questions.
2. I still don't have a topic.
3. Therefore, these questions are useless.

Not so fast. Here's the thing. Reading the questions (or, let's be honest, skimming them in 10 seconds, yes?) is not the same as thinking about the questions. When Phil and I were talking the other day, he described a problem he observes with many of his SAT and ACT students. They do the practice tests or the homework, but not in a mindful way. As Phil put it, "I don't know what they're doing, but it's not thinking." It's the same issue with these 20 questions to help you find a topic. Skimming is not mindful. It's no surprise when a mindless approach fails to yield an essay topic.

2 Ways to Be Mindful

First, I give you the obvious solution: typing. You need to open up a Google doc or whatever other word processing program you use and start typing. Set the timer at 3 minutes. Type out everything you can about the first question. If you're not typing, you're not creating a record of your thoughts. That's no help. Your fingers should be moving.

Second, I give you a novel solution: speaking. Open up this link using Google Chrome, find a quiet place, click on the microphone button, and spend 3 minutes answering the first question. Then cut and paste the text of your response to a Google doc, and move to the next question. The transcription won't be perfect, but it doesn't have to be. You need to cycle through lots of possibilities rapidly, and speaking lets you do that faster than writing. If you keep at it, you'll generate some text that becomes the seed of a rough draft.

Try It for Yourself

If you're typing or speaking, you're really thinking. You're engaging. You're being mindful. Whether you type or speak, you'll have to invest about an hour. But it's an hour well spent if it pushes you to find a topic. The hardest part is starting. So get started!

As far as I know (but please correct me if I'm wrong so I can acknowledge the right person), Essaywise is the first college planning website to offer students an instantaneous speech-to-text tool to help them find essay topics. We might be using this tool for years to come, or we might discard it as another failed experiment. (If history is any judge, the wise money is on the latter.) Whatever the case, Phil and I are always looking for new ways to streamline the writing process for students.

Good luck writing!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.

Immediacy: Why Your Essay Needs It

Immediacy

One of this website's many deficiencies is its lack of a blog post where I tell you I consulted a big book of big knowledge and learned a new perspective on an everyday word. Today I right that wrong.

The word of the day is, you guessed it, immediacy. A quick Google search (dictionary was buried in the garage) directs me to what I'm sure is a 100% reliable source of etymological knowledge, where I learn that "immediacy" comes from "immediate" (I actually knew this already), and that "immediate" comes from Late Latin "immediatus," meaning "without anything in between." Immediatus comes from some even older words (!), but since those do not make my point as conveniently, I invoke my artistic license and hereby omit them.

Immediacy means "without anything in between." And after you've chosen your topic, immediacy is your goal, is it not? You want the reader to see what you saw. The more you do that, the closer the reader feels to you.

Actions & Details

Allow me to share with you a quotation from Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, about how to create immediacy:

"Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating."

This concept of "just show the physical actions and details" has helped me get my students out of the "thought zone." Maybe you've faced this problem. You went through some experience, and it produced Deep Thoughts & Feelings. So you try to convey those Deep Thoughts & Feelings by saying how "amazing" the thing was or what you "learned" from the experience. Maybe sprinkle in some "really" or "very" somewhere to show how intense it was. To really hammer home the point, write like 8 of those sentences together, and then lament that you can't use ALL CAPS for emphasis. Right?

Deep Thoughts & Feelings are a great way to zero in on a topic. No point writing about something you don't care about. Yet though they're great for topic selection, they're not so great for topic execution. Why? They make your essay sound just like all the other essays talking about Deep Thoughts & Feelings: generic. Your essay's fingerprint is not Deep Thoughts & Feelings, but rather Deep Actions & Details. I mean the "physical actions and details" Palahniuk mentions. If you spell out the Deep Actions & Details, the reader will infer your Deep Thoughts & Feelings.

Roxanne

I explain the concept of immediacy to my students in terms of a GoPro camera. If you were wearing a GoPro during the experience you're writing about, what actions and details would it have picked up? Similarly, if a GoPro were focused on your face and body the whole time, what actions and details would it have picked up? When you answer these questions, you begin to understand immediacy.

Let me give you an example of how this works. The other day, at some point during my mindless wandering across the vast plains of the internet, I encountered a cover of the song Roxanne by The Police. I try to avoid Roxanne. When she enters my car, I banish her. The radio station is altered and, therefore, upgraded with great haste.

Yet I managed to watch the Roxanne video below all the way through. I know why. It's the camera. The video is a single shot. The camera pans left and right, up and down. I feel like I am right there in an abandoned brick building in Germany with the musicians. Nothing between the subject and me. Immediacy.

If you have a couple minutes, watch the video and see what details it picks up. Think about which ones you remember, and why. Observing sights and sounds is the first step to writing with immediacy. It is annoying to write with immediacy. It's far easier to fall back on Deep Thoughts & Feelings. But -- resist! If you fight to find your Deep Actions & Details, your essay will improve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI4ssGtfdxw

Your Best Essay

Writing with immediacy is especially important if you don't feel like you have a great topic. Many students who have lived fairly ordinary lives so far feel like their topics aren't "good enough." True, you might not have an epic story with obstacles worthy of Odysseus. But the good news is that even an ordinary story improves with immediacy.

Don't get caught up in writing "the" best essay. Stay focused on writing "your" best essay. Hint: immediacy.

Good luck writing!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.

Parent Guide: Common App Activities List

We all need help sometimes. The annoying thing for me about lots of how to articles is that they're not specific enough to be helpful. In the interest of simplifying the activities list, and at the risk of revealing our obsessive side, Phil and I came up with this step-by-step guide for parents and counselors who are helping students fill out the activities list on the Common App. Our goal was to make something you would keep open and refer to as you're working on the Common App. Start by heading over to Common App website.

Essaywise_Star

Step 1: Click "Log In."

Step 2: Click "Student."

Step 3: Log in.

Step 4: Click on "Common App" Tab at Top.

Step 5: Click on the "Activities List" Tab at Left.

Step 6: Click "Yes" to Indicate You Have Activities to Report.

Step 7: Select "Activity Type" by Clicking on the Drop-Down Menu.

activitiestab2

*It's fine if the drop-down menu option isn't 100% accurate.

Just choose the one that's the closest match.

*Should I include ________?

Yes, if it's significant to you. Otherwise, no. Wait, what's "significant"? You tell me. Usually, an activity is significant if (a) you devote lots of time to it or (b) it had a big influence on you. And no, it doesn't have to be an "official" or "organized" activity to be significant.

*Sometimes you'll want to split an activity into two entries.

For example, if you do soccer through a high school team and a club team, do one entry for the high school team and a second for club. Or if you volunteer through an umbrella organization such as Assisteens but volunteer most of your time with another organization such as Pediatric Therapy Network, you might do one entry for Pediatric Therapy Network and a second entry for all the other volunteer work you do through Assisteens. The point isn't to make your list look longer -- it's to give you adequate space to discuss your participation.

Step 8: Describe the Organization Name and Your Position.

*Space is limited, so abbreviations are OK.

That said, stick to common abbreviations. Expect your reader to know that “Co.” means “Company,” or that “CA” means “California,” but don’t expect her to have any idea what “SGLT” is. (I don't know what it is, either.)

*Keep formatting consistent.

Consistent formatting makes your application look more organized. It doesn't matter exactly what format you choose, but once you choose, stick with it. Also, you can use parentheses to show the grade level you held a position. Below is an easy-to-follow format I ask my students to follow, with organization followed by position. If you can't fit all your positions into this space, don't worry -- we'll take care of that in the next step. Liverpool F.C. Supporters Club: President (12) Futsal Club: Treasurer (10-11)

Step 9: Describe the Activity.

*Space is limited, so sentence fragments are OK.

*Use "action" verbs.

Here is a list of powerful verbs. No excuses now...

*Try to avoid repeating verbs.

You know, since you have 185 to choose from and all.

*Use present tense for verbs describing stuff you're still doing.

For example, if you're organizing events senior year, you'd say "Organize events..." rather than "Organized events..."

*Include details about what you contributed.

Ask yourself what the purpose of the organization was, and then ask yourself what contribution you made. You won't be able to explain much, but you do have enough space to include 2-3 highlights. Instead of stopping at "Organized events," keep going: "Organized events such as canned food drives and clothing drives."

*Include numbers whenever possible.

Which sounds more convincing, "raised money" or "raised $500"? "Taught a group of students" or "Taught 12 elementary school students"? "Collected canned food" or "Collected over 100 cans of food from 41 classmates"?

*Include positions you've held.

Remember all those positions that wouldn't fit in the previous step? Now's your chance to include them.

*Include awards you didn't list in the Education > Honors section of the Common App.

In the Education > Honors section of the Common App, you have the chance to list any academic awards you have received. No need to list those again here. But definitely list any non-academic awards for any of your significant activities.

*List the most important details first.

*You won't always have much to say.

For example, if you play a sport, maybe all you have to say is that you played the sport. Still, at least ask yourself whether there's anything else you could write. If you were team captain, what specific responsibilities did you have? If you were "just" a member of a volunteer organization, what was the organization's mission, and how did you contribute? But yes, if you ask yourself these questions and come up with nothing, that's OK. It happens.

*Sometimes CSF, NHS, and honor societies are honors and activities.

Say you list CSF under Education > Honors. Is it an activity, too? Depends on your involvement. If you're just doing the minimum possible to keep your membership in good standing, then no. However, if you're a club officer with additional responsibilities, like organizing peer-to-peer tutoring, then yes, perhaps.

*Highlight depth of commitment by mentioning when you started the activity.

Typically, colleges aren't that interested in what you've done before 9th grade. One exception, though, is mentioning the start date for an activity you've been doing forever. For example, if you've been doing Girl Scouts since age 5, I think you go ahead and mention you've been a Girl Scout for 11 years.

*Keep punctuation consistent.

If you end one entry with a “.” then end all of them with a “.”

Step 10: Check box or boxes that show participation grade levels.

Step 11: Check box or boxes that show participation timing.

Step 12: Enter hours per week spent.

*Don't Exaggerate!

*But don't stress either -- a reasonable hours estimate is fine.

If you’re like most students, you didn’t keep a daily log of hours spent. You’re not a robot. That’s OK. Just think back through a typical week and ask yourself how many hours you spent on the activity.

*For travel and trips, put the number of hours you were actively doing something.

Like don’t put 168 hours a week. Just count the waking hours when you were participating.

Step 13: Enter weeks per year.

*The school year is about 36 weeks.

*Summer is about 12 weeks.

Step 14: Indicate whether you will keep participating in this activity in college.

*Don't say "Yes" for every activity.

Come on, now. If you have 1-3, that's fine.

Step 15: Click “Add another” to add more activities.

*You have 10 slots for activities.

You don't have to use them all. You don't need fluff. Just focus on significant activities.

*If you have more than 10 activities, too bad.

Just kidding. Go to the Writing > Additional Information section of the Common App. Create a heading called "Additional Activities." Then list your additional activities and descriptions.

Bonus Tip: Use the Writing > Additional Information section for anything important you couldn't fit elsewhere in the application. That includes academic honors, non-academic honors, activities, and AP scores, to name a few possibilities. It also includes any special circumstances you faced, such as illness and family hardships, especially if they affected your academic performance. Remember, though, that you'll want to find a way to show you've gotten past the obstacle. For example, if illness caused freshman grades to drop, it's great to point to improved sophomore and junior grades.

Step 16: Repeat steps 7-15 above until you’ve included all your significant activities.

Step 17: List activities from most significant to least significant.

*Use the arrow to change the order.

I circled it for you. That is an up arrow. There is a down arrow, too. I was getting too tired of cutting and pasting images to show you that, too. But I know you will find it.

Let Us Know How We Did!

If you see something confusing or something missing, please let us know in the comments below.

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.

Parent Guide: Common App Essay

These tips are for anyone -- whether parent, teacher, counselor, coach, relative, or mentor -- who wants to help a student write a better college application essay!

On Becoming Obsolete

My dad always told me, "Your job as a parent is to make yourself obsolete." I think the same holds true for my job as a college consultant. If I really know what I'm doing, I should be able to explain it clearly enough so that any motivated person can do what I do. Isn't that what it means to teach?

This challenge got Phil and me thinking and talking over the weekend. What would happen if we wrote out a guide for parents who want to help their students with the personal statement? We would never say that our way is the only way or the secret way or the best way. OK, fine, I do claim that some of what we do is the "best" way, but really I just mean that as shorthand for "best way we've found so far in our experience." Best or not, I can at least say that our way is an effective way.

As Phil and I were trying to pinpoint what we do, we realize the process breaks down into three parts:

1. Ground rules.
2. Key concepts.
3. Structured assignments.

5 Ground Rules

One common theme I hear from parents is that they don't want to be the bad guy when it comes to college applications. They don't want to nag. We can't eliminate 100% of the stress of college applications, but when parents and students have the right ground rules in place, life gets a whole lot calmer. Here are our 5 ground rules:

1. The student has the final say on the personal statement.
2. The parent may not make negative comments about the personal statement.
3. The parent may ask open-ended questions about the personal statement.
4. The parent may not initiate conversations about the personal statement except at agreed-upon times.
5. The parent may not write any part of the personal statement.

By clarifying responsibilities and limitations, these ground rules help improve communication between parent and child.

5 Key Concepts

Another common concern I hear from parents is that they don't know what makes a "good" personal statement. It's as if the application essay is some kind of impenetrable cipher. It's not. When I'm working with students, I'm focused on 5 key concepts:

1. The personal statement is more about character than achievement.
2. The best way to reveal character in the personal statement is to write about conflict.
3. The best way to write about conflict is to write as much as possible as fast as possible.
4. Vivid writing includes sights, sounds, conversations, and thoughts from a particular moment.
5. The best way to organize the personal statement is to put “what happened” first and “why it matters” last.

Once parents understand these concepts, they have the reference points they need to guide their child. I know, you're disappointed I have omitted any High Theory of Literature or Narrative or Some Such Vanity. Pardon us -- our preference lies with the practical.

Stop Procrastinating & Get Started!

If there's one thing I've seen in working with students on their essays, it's that writing has very little to do with getting inspired. It's more about perspiration than inspiration. Start with the perspiration, and the inspiration will follow.

If you want to learn more about helping your child with the application essay, please take a look at our book Writing the College Essay.

Good luck writing!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.

Parents Speak: Advice for Parents of Rising Seniors

Over the weekend, my kids asked me if they could watch Finding Nemo (again). My favorite character is still Crush. Everyone else is stressed, but not that dude.

My main challenge as a college counselor is that there are so many things I can't control -- the student's GPA, course selection, SAT / ACT scores, and letters of rec, to name a few. One thing I definitely do control, though, is how stressful the application process is.

Applying to college is often stressful because parents don't always know what to expect. As I was thinking about how to give parents some better info, I realized the answer was simple: just ask last year's parents. Below is a compilation of advice I received from my Class of 2015 parents.

Advice from Parent of USC Freshman

"The only tip that comes to my mind is for the students to start early in their summer of senior year. That gives them the leverage in case they need to change the essay all together. Also for the students to come up with a personal deadline for what they want to accomplish regarding different sections of the application and different schools' requirements and share that plan of action with their parents. If the students use a big calendar or white board, the visual aspect helps the student to check off as they go and parents can keep an eye on the progress. This way everyone will be on the same page and the parents do not have to constantly check in with their kids and indirectly stress them out. As far as keeping the peace at home, I truly meant it when I wrote to you that working with you made this process ever so smooth."

Advice from Parent of TCU Freshman

"I have a great tip for your future students and parents..it actually came from the National Charity League senior girls years ago. They said…do NOT go on college visits. It's a waste of time and money, especially if you don't get in. Instead, research the schools you are interested in. Apply to them. Once you get in, THEN, go look at the school.

Since we did college trips before [D] applied (we didn't have this info and didn't know better) and after [S] applied, I thought it was very good advice. [S] is going to TCU. He had seen many schools with [D] earlier, but he never made it down to Texas. After applying and getting in, we went and looked. Turns out it is the right school for him! It's a great place for [S]. I think he's going to be very happy.

I also think that there is a school for every kid. It may not be their first choice, but there is a school. Parents need to chill! Their kid will get into a college if they want to go."

Advice from Parent of USC Freshman

"My biggest word of advice is to hire a college counselor :) It really takes the stress off the student-parent relationship when some else oversees the application process. [D] sometimes called you a nag, but she meant it in a good way! She said you stayed on top of her apps and forced her to get things done. You were just what she needed, and she knew it. She was very grateful in the end.

Oh, and I liked your suggestion of a scheduled "appointment" to discuss the applications. I never realized that throwing out questions at [D] at any time of the day or night was adding more stress on her. Knowing that we would sit down and discuss things at a pre-determined day/time alleviated tension and kept things a little more sane. [D] also kept a college app. graph on Google drive that I could look at whenever I wanted to see updates. That was nice and helped to keep my questions at a minimum.

Gosh, I think I would say to start the college application process early, really early! Try to visit preferred colleges before senior year begins. And of course, the essays should be done too. Senior year is super busy. (I know [D] was busier than most, but it's the busy kids that are trying to get in the reach schools.)

The senior-year grades do count! Colleges want great 12th grade transcripts, and strong spring-semester GPA's. By the time the kids reach the end of the college search process, in December, they are burnt out! Alleviate some stress and get everything done sooner than later.

Most students did not end up where they originally thought, so encourage them to do applications far and near. So many kids thought they wanted to go far away, but ended up staying in California! I think tuition costs, travel expenses, and proximity to friends and family played a big part in those decisions.

Also, apply to reach and safety schools. Some kids underestimated themselves, and others surprisingly, had the grades and test scores, but did not get in where they expected. The acceptances and rejections did not always make sense, so cover all your bases."

Advice from Parent of Washington University in St. Louis Freshman

"[D] is really looking forward to join her peers at WashU. When we were looking to get help for [D], we were so uncertain about where to start.

1st- We did not know how much weight the standardized test has for the admission. 2nd - The effect of GPA 3rd- The school of interest vs. the school where [D] could be admitted. 4th- When is the best time to visit the school of interest. 5th- How much the parents should interfere in the decision where to apply, where to go. 6th- To apply early decision or early action. How to take advantage of it?

Our experience overall for the college application is the result is not really on based the performance of the students. A lot of other factors play the role on the acceptance.

I feel that [D] did pretty well being accepted for UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Cornell, and WashU. We appreciate your continuous help and support.

Jon

Final Thoughts

Here are some of these parents' observations I'd like to highlight:

1. Start early!
2. The results are unpredictable, even for good students.
3. Apply to a mix of reach, target, and safety schools.
4. Negotiate a method -- white board, spreadsheet, appointment -- to check in with your child so that you're not adding to the stress by constantly bothering her for updates.
5. Spending $$$ visiting out-of-state schools before you apply is not a requirement. I would add, though, that if you're applying to private schools within reasonable driving distance from where you live, you'll want to spend some time on the school website figuring out whether that school considers "demonstrated interest" (campus visit, seeking out information, attending presentation at high school, etc.) in the admissions process. Some do, and some don't.

OK, that's it for now!

Jon

Jon Perkins holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He helps students with their college, law school, and medical school applications.