<p>Question: It seems like everyone else has something significant to write about in their college essays
the death of a parent or winning some national music award. I am just an ordinary teenager. I have lived in my same suburban house my whole life and am in a bunch of typical school clubs. […]</p>
<p>[View</a> the complete Q&A at CC’s Ask The Dean…](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/college-essay-tips-for-ordinary-teenager.htm]View”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/college-essay-tips-for-ordinary-teenager.htm)</p>
<p>You have 16 or 17 years of memories stored up there between your ears. What are your strongest memories? Are they of good times, bad times, trying times, boring times, exciting times? Spend a moment and think back on what is memorable to you. If any of these memories tested you or changed you or made you a stronger person, you may have just found your topic.</p>
<p>To create an essay that’s powerful, personal, and strongly memorable to an admissions officer, then it must come from powerful, personal, strong memories of the writer. Even a bad memory can be used to demonstrate your ability to emerge from it as a stronger person.</p>
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<li>- Robert Cronk</li>
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