Do college admissions officers ever get bored reading all of those Personal Statements? You bet! Despite being able to choose nearly anything in the world to write about, most applicants choose one of five done-to-death topics that make admissions officers glaze over with boredom. And every one of them thinks they are being creative and unique! You might think your essay about sports, community service, grandparents, foreign travel, or music is reinventing the wheel, but really, it’s torpedoing your chances of getting into the school or your dreams! Let’s find out why and how you can choose a more unique and compelling topic.

5 Common App Personal Statement Topics to Avoid

1. The Sports Essay

So you sustained an injury that meant you had to work extra hard to bring home the win. Or, despite all your hard work and dedication, your team still lost but learned an incredibly valuable lesson in the process. Admissions officers don’t care, we’re sorry to say! Writing about sports in your Personal Statement will only make you appear well-rounded and less admissible (heck, even recruited athletes should steer clear of sports in their storytelling). But even if this weren’t true (which it is!), the cliché should turn you away from the topic all on its own!

2. The Community Service Essay

In the 1980s, you had a decent chance of being admitted to a good school if you centered your Personal Statement around the generous volunteer work you did for disadvantaged communities. Nowadays, this topic only makes you seem opportunistic and out of touch. Admissions officers aren’t naive. They know you only spent time at the homeless shelter to get into college. This doesn’t mean you should stop any and all community service, but just don’t talk about it in your Personal Statement (and the way you serve your community should be through your singular admissions hook). If your heart was in the right place all along (and you were volunteering your time for the sake of bettering your community, not for personal gain), this won’t come as a huge setback.

3.The Grandpa Essay

Maybe your grandpa or grandma is your hero. Or perhaps you’re recovering from a recent loss that has fundamentally changed you. We’re sorry for this loss, but please leave it out of your Personal Statement. Cliché, cliché, cliché! You might think you’re making a wonderful tribute to your relative, but you’re just lulling an admissions officer to sleep with a poorly chosen topic. And anyway, this topic won’t seem like as much of a tribute if you think of it as the thing that got you denied from the school of your dreams!

4. The Travel Essay

You’re lucky to have gone to India to reconnect with your extended family. Or Greece to help build houses for the housing insecure. Or Ghana to participate in a cutting-edge research opportunity. No matter where in the world you went, leave it out of your Personal Statement! You might think this topic communicates your worldliness, but it just communicates your privilege. Don’t you think admissions officers would have loved to visit Thailand, too? They can’t on their salaries. So please don’t rub it in their faces (and come off as less socioeconomically diverse and less admissible in the process)! 

5. The Music Essay

Did music change your life? What about skateboarding? Or knitting? Doesn’t matter. Unless your activity of choice relates to your singular admissions hook, writing about your passion for something like music will only make you come across as desperately trying to sell yourself. You may be the first chair violinist at your school. This fact must tell admissions officers valuable information about how you will take advantage of their school’s immense intellectual resources. Otherwise, leave it out. It’s just bragging — so steer clear!

We Will Help You Pick a Genuinely Creative Essay Topic That Wows Admissions Officers

Ivy Coach’s team of former elite college admissions officers have seen it all — the essays about charity work, the essays about family illnesses, and the big win — and they’ve seen enough! We will help you craft a Personal Statement that is as innovative as it is groundbreaking, all while returning to a competitive hook that dramatically increases your odds of admission to a highly selective university.

If you want to optimize your child’s Personal Statement for elite college applications, fill out our complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch.