As I will be transferring next year, I want to start thinking of essay topics now to get it out of the way. I want to be original yet stand out in the application pool. I just want a few pointers to help write a strong essay. I had two very different ideas, one was to write about the anthropic principle or about a science fiction story. Are there any words or language I should or should not use in my essay?
It’s not the topic, but HOW u write about it. I could write an interesting essay about something as dull as mayonnaise.
It’s important to show lots of personality. whatever essay you write should reflect who you are.
You have to look deep into your soul choose an experience, character trait, or some event that will make you stand out. Try not to make it sound cliché then seize your glory.
A. Easy to read - Admissions officers have maybe 10 minutes to evaluate your application. Ain’t no one got time to decipher hieroglyphs. A lot of people try being too fancy and end up writing convoluted essays. Similarly other writers try to cram too many nouns or adjectives into their essays. Of course the essay needs to be well writing but that doesn’t mean it should be complicated. Make sure the skimibility factor is high.
B. Right content - At first glance essays appear to be free responses, anything goes essay, but in fact colleges are looking for certain qualities in students. Harvard has a list right here: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look
Basically you need to write about the following things. Helping your community, society; empathy and caring for other people and/or improving the lives of others. Passion for learning beyond getting straight As. Good morals/ethics/character. etc. Basically the good qualities in human beings.
To put this in context I read an essay about a girl who loves the piano a few days ago. It was a good essay. She did a good job describing her passion and her favorite composers. Unfortunately it didn’t really give a reason to say, “YES!” So beyond being well written and personal, an essay needs to stress the right qualities in yourself.
C. Be likable -This is the secret sauce. It’s very important to set the right tone or vibe in your essay (unless you are applying to USC 
). If the admissions officer doesn’t like you as a human being after reading the essay then your chance of getting into a selective program is very low. A common pitfall–which I made last year–is talking too much about myself without mentioning other people. Reason being is that comes off very self-centered.
D. Lastly reading a lot of essays on this website will let you see the common mistakes a lot of people make.
Your essay picks do not sound like they fit into point B and will mostly fail at point A.
BTW the transfer essay topic is simply the reasons for your transfer, your intended major, experiences you have and what you hope to achieve.
@bomerr thank you so much for your help and it is well noted. I really do think I have a good idea on how to construct my essay and the mistakes that can be avoided with a particular language. For my first essay I can relate to the level of subjectivity Now that I think of it, they may provide a prompt for me to answer.
USC lets see 