Education & Opportunity

In my Nov. 30 newspaper column, I showed you how to write a college admissions and scholarship essay that really stinks. Hopefully, all of you avoided those pesky essay mistakes I described. Here's one more big mistake to avoid: the "multi-topic combo meal."

When you are trying to show your thoughtfulness, creativity, and eloquence all in one essay, choosing a primary topic on which to focus can be difficult. As a result, many applicants don’t make this decision at all; they just lump together all of their thoughts on the topic like a stew made from incompatible leftovers. The result is usually a fragmented essay of incomplete, incoherent arguments--in other words, a confusing jumble of unpalatable ideas.

Combat this problem by forcing yourself to make the tough decisions. If the question asks, for example, about something meaningful in your life, don’t write a 300-word essay that includes the birth of your baby brother, winning the state swimming meet, and attending your grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Each of these could be a solid topic, but combining all of them together would only detract from the weight of your words and the image or emotion you are striving to evoke.

So if you want your essay to stink, be sure to combine a lot of topics in one composition. If you want your essay to actually be good, then try to focus on your most compelling subject matter.