College essay topics to avoid? Here’s the ultimate “Do Not Play” list—with clever, twists to help your college essay stand out.
- Nancy Gorman
- Apr 2
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 3
Each year over the summer, rising seniors churn out personal essays that echo the same tired tunes. Kind of like that one song on Spotify you can't escape. Pouring your heart out is all well and good, but blending into the crowd? Not so much. Here's a guide to the Common App essay topics that are as overplayed as "Baby Shark"—and how to jazz them up so they leave a lasting impression.
🎧If college essays were a Spotify playlist, these are the tracks admissions officers are skipping—and how to remix yours into something worth playing on repeat.
🎵 Track 1: Torn ACL Blues
Cliché: “I tore my ACL and learned perseverance.”
Why it’s overdone: Tales of athletic injuries leading to personal growth flood admissions offices every year. While your resilience is commendable, this narrative has been played out more times than the championship game.
Remix It: Write about the absurdity of being the team’s hype captain on crutches or how being sidelined forced you to fall in love with coaching, strategy, or cheering like it was your full-time job. Maybe your recovery and rehabilitation made you fall in love with medicine, and now you're on a pre-medical pathway. Show how you pivoted, adapted, and redefined your identity off the field.
🎵 Track 2: The Mission Trip Monologue
Cliché: “Helping others made me grateful.”
Why it’s overdone: While your service is admirable, essays highlighting brief volunteer stints abroad often come across as insincere or self-congratulatory. Admissions officers have read countless versions of this story.
Remix It: Reflect on a moment of discomfort or misunderstanding during the trip—like getting lost without cell service or realizing you packed granola bars and not gratitude. Focus on what you learned from those you were supposed to “help.”
🎵 Track 3: Ode to the Departed
Cliché: “Losing my beloved [pet/goldfish] taught me to cherish every moment.”
Why it’s overdone: Writing about personal loss is deeply heartfelt, but it's a path many applicants tread. It’s challenging to offer a fresh perspective on grief that stands out.
Remix It: Focus on the odd, funny, or unexpectedly meaningful habits your pet had—and how their tiny, finned (or furry) life rippled into yours. Maybe Goldie’s great escape inspired your curiosity about ecosystems, or the routine of feeding them taught you discipline and responsibility. Show how their presence (and absence) shaped your values or sparked a deeper passion—without sinking into melodrama.
🎵 Track 4: Championship Chronicles
Cliché: “We won/lost, and I grew.”
Why it’s overdone: Sports victories and defeats are common experiences. Unless you have a unique angle, this topic may not showcase your individuality.
Remix It: Zoom in on one weird, unforgettable detail—like the team chant you created that accidentally went viral, or how you were more proud of fixing your teammate’s cleat mid-game than the scoreboard. Show what leadership looked like, not just what it meant.
🎵 Track 5: The World-Changer Internship
Cliché: “I made an impact at NASA/Brookings/the UN.”
Why it’s overdone: While internships are valuable, essays that overstate high school students' roles in major projects can come off as exaggerated.
Remix It: Tell the truth about the mundane parts: organizing folders, botching your first email, or awkwardly introducing yourself at meetings. Then pivot to what those moments actually taught you about the work—and yourself.
🎵 Track 6: Divorce Diaries
Cliché: “My parents’ divorce made me resilient.”
Why it’s overdone: Many students experience family changes. Sharing this story without a unique personal insight may not distinguish your application.
Remix It: Share how you became the unofficial household mediator or the logistics manager for two Thanksgivings. Focus on how you carved out your own identity, maybe even becoming the family’s emotional tech support.
🎵 Track 7: The Passport Revelation
Cliché: “Traveling opened my mind.”
Why it’s overdone: Travel experiences are enriching, but they often lead to similar reflections. It's difficult to present a novel insight in this narrative.
Remix It: Talk about how you navigated a local market with three words of the language and learned humility through charades. Or maybe how trying unfamiliar food gave you courage. Maybe the locals were extremely welcoming, and that helped calm your fears, and now whenever you see a tourist in your neck of the woods, you go out of your way to help them feel welcome. Show transformation through tiny, tangible moments.
🎵 Track 8: Academic Comeback Story
Cliché: “AP Chem was hard, but I survived.”
Why it’s overdone: Academic challenges are common, and essays about them can blend together without a distinctive personal element.
Remix It: Describe how you built a study group from a Discord meme channel, or how your dog became your study buddy-slash-judge. Let the humor and humanity of your effort shine more than the grade improvement.
🎵 Track 9: Grandma the Muse
Cliché: “My grandma is my role model.”
Why it’s overdone: While family admiration is heartfelt, essays centered on relatives often focus more on them than on you.
Remix It: Instead of writing her eulogy, write the unexpected ways she influenced you—like her obsession with weather reports, making you love patterns in data, or her habit of coupon clipping, inspiring your passion for economics.
Try This Instead: Instead of writing her eulogy, write the unexpected ways she influenced you—like her obsession with weather reports, making you love patterns in data, or her habit of coupon clipping, inspiring your passion for economics.
🎵 Track 10: From Shy to Spotlight
Cliché: “I found my voice.”
Why it’s overdone: Personal growth is important, but this narrative is frequently told. A unique spin is necessary to stand out.
Remix It: Pinpoint the moment you surprised yourself—like leading a class Kahoot, making a joke in public, or giving a speech in front of 7 sleepy freshmen at 7:30 am. Avoid the “hero arc” and instead show subtle transformation through real moments.
At the end of the day, you don't need to avoid these cliché college essays—it just needs to be genuinely you. So if your story starts in familiar territory, don’t panic. Just take the detour. Dig deeper, laugh at the awkward parts, and find the angle that only you could write. Because admissions officers don’t need another perfect essay—they need your voice, not a replay of someone else’s greatest hits.
Need help finding your unique angle or want honest feedback on your draft? Let’s work together. I help students turn “meh” topics into memorable moments that land—and I’d love to help you do the same.
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