Help With Narrowing Down Essay Ideas

College Essays
1

I am working on my common app essay, and unlike a lot of my friends who complain that “I really have nothing to write about, or I don’t know what to write”, I am encountering the opposite problem. Maybe it’s a good thing at first to have a lot of ideas like me, but i feel it’s getting a bit excessive and I feel it may be detrimental/bogging me down.

One of main essay topics I will likely write about is music, but there’s so much I could write that i’m ending up writing like 6 different essays at once.
And that’s just music. I have others ideas for writing about like the sport i do (will not say which), and also a field of science i never really pursued in high school and not shown in my application at all, but absolutely love and could bring it up in the essay.

I really do not want to end up having to write 10+ different essays at once; my college counselor also wants a draft soon so i have to send him all my 10+ drafts i won’t have it all done and it will be too time consuming.

Or maybe this is the normal process of writing these essays (lots and lots of drafts before getting something good). I just feel instead of having 1 draft to begin with and developing that draft into other drafts until i reach a good essay, I am now in the position where i’m starting with like 10 different drafts/ideas.

How do I narrow my ideas down to save time? or just advice in general with the beginning stages. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

2

This is the normal process. As you write, you’ll realize that some ideas do not pan out the way you think they will, or that your second topic is much stronger and more interesting, or that you’ve found a way to intertwine everything you want to talk about in one story.

Really, if you have an idea a draft of each essay should take maybe an hour max to write. Save a weekend day or an evening after school and churn out several. They don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be executed ideas.

3

@Autumnal Thanks! I guess i’m certainly not an outlier then with all these drafts :slight_smile:

4

I don’t know how passionate you are about your music or your sports, but to me I would think your interest in the scientific topic would show through and make your essay more fun to read. Also, one of the biggest guidelines for writing college essays is make it stand out – and at least in my opinion, that would stand out more than music/sports, which are probably two of the most common topics.

Good luck!