College TNT

Let It Go! 5 Essay Topics to Avoid

• Jen Schoen • Season 4 • Episode 2

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Are you working on your college application essay and worried about sounding like everyone else? In this episode of "Let It Go," college admissions expert Jen Schoen reveals the five most overdone essay topics that make admissions officers groan—and shows you how to make your story stand out.

Jen draws on decades of experience reading thousands of applications to break down why topics like sports victories, mission trips, personal tragedies, leadership roles, and the COVID-19 pandemic are so common—and how you can transform these clichés into compelling, personal narratives. With vivid examples and practical tips, Jen shares three actionable steps to help you add unique details, evoke emotion, and make your essay truly your own.

Whether you’re just starting your draft or polishing your final version, this episode will help you avoid the pitfalls and discover the magic in your own story. Tune in for expert advice, a dash of Disney inspiration, and the confidence to write an essay that only you could tell!

For the handout mentioned on 3 Pixar steps to better storytelling in your essay, head here tinyurl.com/collegeTNTpixar.

For more about me - my experience and my speaking, check out the links below.

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You can reach me at jen@collegetnt.com.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenschoen/
https://www.firstgenfm.com/speaker-high-school-educators-students-parents

 Today we are talking about those essay topics that make admissions officers go, oh no, not this. Again. This is Let It Go where I share five essay topics that you should consider avoiding unless dramatic effect. You do a few things differently and I'll be sharing what those differences are and know I will not be singing.  Let's explore five overdone college essay topics you might not want to write about unless you can make them uniquely yours.

Overview

In this video, I'll give you some examples with and without details so you can hear the difference and we'll see if you can guess what that fifth topic might be.

Please hit subscribe to be sure you get all of my tips for preparing for college. I'm Jen Schone with college TNT, and I'm here to share my decades of college admissions and scholarship review experiences with you. I have read thousands of college applications and scholarship applications.

My goal is to help you navigate to and through your first year of college with some Disney magic thrown in to make it more of an adventure and more fun. Let's get started.  Is

Topic 1: Sports Victory or Defeat

so the first essay I want to talk about is the Sports Victory or Defeat essay.

Now, this is a sentence I have read many, many times. We lost the championship game, but I learned to never give up. Now that's a good lesson, but. To make it your own, add some details that are unique to you. For example, that moment when I, I. For example, that moment when I missed the game-winning penalty shot taught me to redefine success.

Now I coach at a local hockey clinic for elementary kids in an outdoor rink, teaching them that growth comes from analyzing our misses, not just celebrating our hits. So right there you get a little more detail. You learn that the person is a coach, and you just get a better sense and a picture. The picture here of what that person does.

Topic 2: Mission Trip or Volunteer Experience

Let's talk about the second one, the mission trip or volunteer experience. I have read so many mission trip, uh, essays I cannot even tell you.

They might. There are a lot of students who go on mission trips, and that is a wonderful opportunity, but everybody writes about it in very much the same way. So here's an example of something that is not so good.

My week in Guatemala changed my life. The people were happy despite being poor. I have read that so many times, but here's a slide that's better and specific to your experiences.

So here's something specific to you. When I taught English in Guatemala on a mission trip, I met Marlene, an 8-year-old, who gave me her only pencil to try to pay for my language lessons. That trade inspired me to start a school supply exchange program between my high school and Marlene School that now serves 200 students annually, much richer.

Topic 3: Death or Tragedy

You can hear the details, you can picture it in your head, and that's what we're trying to do. Create a snapshot for the admissions folks who are reading your application. The next one. Is the death or the tragedy essay, and I don't wanna make light of this, but it is very hard to do this well because you're talking about something that affected you very much.

But sometimes people write something very simple. When my grandfather died, I learned life is precious.

That is a very nice thing to learn, but again, it doesn't tell me a lot about you, so name the person. My grandfather, nano Lorenzo spoke his last words in Italian. Sadly, I couldn't understand them, which sparked my journey to learn his first language. I've learned enough to tutor at the senior center for others who want to learn and reconnect with their heritage.

Tutoring makes me still feel close to my nano. So that gives you a much, much richer idea of what that person is and what their grandfather meant to them. And naming a person you're talking about is a great way to kind of bring us into your story. So think about that. The fourth,

Topic 4: Leadership Position

the fourth one to consider is the leadership position essay. So many people could and do write this exact sentence. As a team captain, I learned how to lead others. Okay. But you should follow that up for sure, because so many people are gonna write that exact sentence with something that is exactly what you did to lead others.

So let me give you an example. Most mornings, it's my responsibility to get my younger siblings ready for daycare when Mateo tries to help me. Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The kitchen and Mateo are covered in peanut butter. My little sister Mia is also fond of throwing her cheerios on the floor.

In the mornings. I've learned that patience, kindness, and deep breaths really help. This chaos. Now I know you get a very good sense of what that student's experience is like and her leadership because she is responsible for her siblings, and that is leadership as well. It's not just having a title, uh, and it's not just in the school.

Could be in your family, in your community. So that's just a little aside there, but. When you write the leadership essay, be sure to give rich details so I can picture what your experience is like and I can picture that chaos and you can picture it 'cause you can see it right there as well. And finally, the fifth essay.

Topic 5: COVID Essay

We in admissions have read many, many times. I don't know, did you guess it? Did you get it? It's something we all have in common because this happened all over the world. That's right, it's the COVID essay. How many times have we looked and seen that? So here's an example of something people write over and over during lockdown, I learned to appreciate the little things.

Yes, I like to think we all did, but there's so much more that you can write to that. So you want to add details. So here's a great example. When my mom's restaurant closed during COVID, I turned our garage into Casa Day chemistry. Combining my love of science and cooking into TikTok videos all about food science.

I now have 50,000 followers and my mom's restaurant returned with a new Science Sunday menu featuring my experiments. So I really. Those are some good examples that show how important details are. So if you find yourself writing those very generic sentences, pause for a minute. And think, what are some details that I can add?

Okay. It's not that the topics themselves are bad. I don't believe that any appropriate topic, appropriate topic should be off limits. But adding details that only you can add into your story will give the admissions readers a much better sense of who you are. So if your essay topic falls into.

If your essay topic falls into any of these topics, do not panic. It's all fixable with details that make the story uniquely yours.

Three Action Steps to Improve Your Essay

Here are three action steps you can do to improve your essay on any topic. First, ask yourself what unique details make my story different? Look at, or if you haven't yet, write your first draft. Then add as many details as you can think of. Use your senses, okay, taste, touch, sight, sound, smell, to think about what to add, and then also add emotions and how you were feeling about this event as well.

Are you conveying what this moment meant to you? Because we want you to tell us what this meant to you and how you changed because of it. That aha moment, that transformation that you went. And then finally my third action, action, and finally my third action step. Share your draft with someone who knows you well and knows the story you're telling and

Ask your reviewer once they've read your essay, could the story only be told by me? What details am I missing and what do you remember? Take notes or record the conversation, then go back and add the details that are important to you. Just because someone else mentions them does not mean they have to go in.

They need to be important to you and to your story. You making meaning is what's important. We wanna know your aha moment, your transformation, like I talked about in the Pixar video. So consider that when you're adding those details. Like frozen Anna, discovering that an act of true love wasn't what she expected.

Your best essay topic and the details that make it your essay only might not be obvious. You can make magic happen in your essay and make your essay memorable for us who's reading it who don't know you, except through your essay when you dig deeper. Reflect and then reveal the unexpected details that make your story uniquely yours.

Conclusion and Next Steps

Now that you know which topics to avoid or how to add your own specific details, join me next time for more essay tips with some Disney magic. Like the haunted Mansions 999 Happy haunts. Every great essay has room for one more detail, and I'll show you exactly how to add them in that video. Click on this link to join my email list and get some great ideas on how to tell your story using the Pixar method that I talked about in a previous video.

And check out that video on YouTube too. Thank you so much for being here. Now go and tell your unique story.