What makes a bad college essay? There are so many wrong moves to navigate these tricky writing assignments. But it all starts with choosing the correct topics. Would you believe us if we told you that most college admissions essays cover six misguided topics? We at Ivy Coach call these “third-rail” topics because choosing one for your Common App. Personal Statement will likely kill your chances of admission to your top choice school.

What are these misguided topics? Illness, grandparents, community service, travel, sports, and music. Accepting that these six topics are scorched earth when it comes to elite college admissions is a hard pill for many students and families to swallow because colloquial knowledge would have you believe that college essays are the time to bear your soul, be vulnerable with your reader, and describe a significant hardship or life lesson you experienced. But this is precisely how so many essays fall short! College essays are not a forum for expressing significant emotional experiences or traumas. 

Following this “trauma-dumping” approach to college essays creates clichéd writing that fails to make the emotional impact the writer typically thinks they are making. Let’s walk through examples illustrating how these well-meaning attempts at heartfelt connection often fall flat.

Essays About Illness Don’t Work, Whether It’s Your Story or a Loved One’s

Whether you’ve experienced a personal illness or the loss of a loved one to an illness, there is undoubtedly a lot of pain and personal development to be gained from your resilience. But admissions officers won’t be convinced by your show of empathy or your fight against adversity. Unless you have the literary chops to tell your story in an entirely unique way that genuinely pulls on heartstrings (and chances are, you don’t!), your story won’t strike the emotional chords you think it will. Take it from us — let those memories or experiences inform how you live your life and treat the people around you, but don’t use them to get into college. The last thing you’ll want to do is come across as opportunistic, especially not when you’ve experienced the loss of a loved one.

The same goes for any college essay about community service. If you had your heart in your trip to Peru to install whiteboards across classrooms, you wouldn’t be writing about it for the sake of getting into a top college. It’s self-defeating and conveys to admissions officers (who don’t make salaries that allow for extensive foreign travel!) that your family had the means to send you on an expensive trip abroad.

Other Clichés: Sports, Music, Coming Out

We can’t tell you how many essays we at Ivy Coach have had to help set ablaze about how a sports injury taught a valuable lesson about perseverance or how music offered an escape from a challenging situation. It’s all been done before and may have worked in the 1980s, but today’s admissions process is far more cutthroat and competitive! Similarly, essays about coming out of the closet may have been a novelty ten or fifteen years ago. But unless your singular hook involves sexuality or gender, this subject won’t automatically get you into a top school. LGBTQ students are not considered underrepresented minorities on elite college campuses. Keep your touching story in your vault of life experiences, as there is no doubt that it has shaped you into a more self-actualized person. Just don’t exploit it by putting it on the pages of a college application.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance With Choosing a Competitive Topic For Your College Essays

Our team of former elite college admissions officers has seen it all. We know what works in highly selective admission offices and what earns a quick rejection. We guide your child through optimizing their application to an elite college by steering clear of third-rail topics.

So, fill out our complimentary consultation form and we’ll be in touch.