Choosing the Best Personal Statement Topic

If you are a current high school junior or senior, you may find yourself agonizing over this question: how on earth do I decide which personal statement topic to respond to for my college admissions essay? 

Well, you may be excited to hear that actually, it is likely not the prompt or topic that you choose that will make or break your essay, but rather what you reveal about yourself within the essay. 

So, without further ado, here are the steps that you should take before choosing a personal statement topic to ensure that you set yourself up for writing an effective admissions essay.

Research your colleges of interest

When faced with the daunting choice of which personal statement topic to respond to for your college application, your first course of action should be to research your schools of interest and what they require. Ideally, to save yourself some time and stress, you will write as few application essays as possible. 

Now, there are quite a few colleges and universities that have their own specific essay topics, but a good majority of post-secondary schools will accept applications through sites like Common App and Coalition for College. 

Starting your search here is beneficial because it can possibly be a one-stop-shop for all of your application materials (including your essay) depending on which schools you are applying to. 

Outside of researching the specific essay requirements for your schools of interest, you will also want to do a little digging around on their individual school websites in order to get a sense of what they value as an institution. 

Spend a few minutes looking around at their homepage, their About section, or their mission statement. What qualities seem most important to them as an institution? Are they a college that places a lot of importance on diversity? Are they very research-oriented? 

For each of the schools you plan to apply to, jot down a list of 2 – 3 of their core values. Once you’ve done that for each school, see if you can find any common values among schools. 

This will give you a starting point to know what types of strengths you will want to illustrate from your own story when you craft your admissions essay. Chances are, if you write about a character strength of yours that aligns with the values of the school, you are on your way to writing an effective essay already. 

Engage in some self-reflection

After taking the time to research what your prospective schools value, spend a little time reflecting on your own character strengths and values. 

Here are a few ideas for engaging in self-reflection: 

Think of yourself as the website now. If someone who didn’t know you glanced at your social media profile or pictures/videos that you’ve posted, what would they assume that you value? Viewing yourself from the perspective of an observer can help bring to the surface some of your most notable character strengths. 

Do a 10-minute scavenger hunt around your bedroom. Choose 10 items from your room and place them on your bed. In just considering these 10 items, what would someone learn about you and your character strengths? 

Write a letter to yourself in the third person. In your letter, detail 3 reasons why you are proud of yourself. Again, viewing yourself from a distance can be beneficial for uncovering what you value most about yourself. 

Complete a personality test. This one is my favorite. Be as honest as possible with yourself while taking the quiz. Don’t give yourself more than a few seconds to answer each question—just go with your gut. Upon completion, carefully read the results that explain your personality type. See which character strengths from your personality report resonate most with you. 

Consult trusted friends and family

If you are having trouble with self-reflection or you just want an extra layer of perspective, consider talking to trusted friends or family members. Sometimes those we are closest to know us even better than we know ourselves. Often, their views of us are less biased and distorted than our own. 

Ask them in person or via text or email any of the following questions:

• What do you think are my 3 biggest character strengths?
• What is something special about me?
• What do you appreciate most about me?
• How would you describe me to a stranger?
• What three words best encompass my character?

If you are feeling awkward about this, reciprocate the favor by telling them something nice you appreciate about them!

Do some preliminary brainstorming 

Another approach you may find helpful for choosing the best personal statement topic is to actually start looking at some possible essay prompts and casually see what comes to mind.

Don’t put any stress on yourself in this brainstorming process. Just give yourself the space and time to think without any judgment or pressure.

To do this, choose 4 – 5 prompts you are considering and jot them down on a piece of paper. Set a timer for 4 minutes and jot down anything that comes to mind for the first prompt. Then repeat this for each of the remaining prompts. 

After your brainstorm, see if there are any common threads that appear in your list for each prompt. 

Decide on your most valuable character strengths

After having gone through the first four steps of this process, the most important step is this: determine which of your character strengths (and this can be anywhere from 1 – 3 strengths) you want to highlight within your personal statement. 

The character strengths you land on should be the ones that align with the schools you researched, the ones that feel most integral to your character and personality, and the ones you feel you have the most “material” (life experiences, examples, etc.) to write about. 

Once you have landed on what those 1 – 3 character strengths are, look back at the personal statement topics you have to choose from, and determine which one is most related to the character strengths you want to write about. 

Boom! You have landed on the ideal personal statement topic. Now you just gotta write the actual essay. 

We hope these five steps have been enlightening for you and that they have eased your anxiety over picking the perfect essay topic for your admissions essay. Check out this post for other personal statement questions you may have!

If you are still feeling in need of more guidance, we encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter which includes bi-weekly content related to the college application process. 

And if you are a student who is ready to actually start writing your essay, we offer a range of essay writing support from a 3-week, self-paced course through one on one coaching. This is a sure-fire way to complete your admissions essay with confidence.