For seniors, college could not come any sooner. There is only one thing standing in our way, and that’s the college essay. If you plan on applying to a university within the next year, you should be writing a college essay. Most of the universities out there want to not only see how you write, but they also want to know something interesting about you.

The truth is, when I say interesting, I mean interesting. Colleges are used to reading the same exact essays about the same old basic things over and over again. Write about something that actually speaks to you, and has significance in your life. Do you really think that writing about breaking your collar bone at gymnastics camp when you were eleven is really worth writing about? Or that one time on your eighth birthday when you got a gold fish that died the next day? The stories that lack inspiration are not worth writing an entire essay about. The basic stories that have little symbolic meaning are not the ones you want to be writing an essay that could make you or break you.

The best stories to write about are the ones that have always meant something to you. If something has been with you for your whole life, chances are it is something that is unique about you and something that the admissions counselors will find rather interesting. If something you want to write about occurred when you were very young, chances are it’s not going to be as descriptive compared to a more recent or ongoing experience in your life.

Brainstorming a topic to write about can be easy for some, and much harder for others. In order to do well on this essay, you cannot rush through it. Also, if you are stuck between a few ideas, write more than one essay. Your English teachers are more than willing to help out with ideas and get you on the right track to writing the perfect essay, so go talk to them. Preparing for college is pretty much a whole other class, because it requires so much thought and time.

What you write about is completely up to you, which can be an advantage, but also difficult at the same time. If you pick the wrong topic, it could hinder your chances on getting into the school of your dreams. In order to take the big risk, you need to be vulnerable. Taking the risk means channeling your inner writer and putting the creative you in the form of an essay. There really is no downside of taking a risk and writing about something different. So why not do it?