Brainstorm topics for my college application essay
Guided questions that surface real stories from your life and help you pick the one that shows who you are.
The prompt
Help me find the right topic for my college application essay. I'll write the essay myself; I need help finding what to write about.
The prompt(s) I can choose from: [PASTE THE ESSAY PROMPTS]
Word limit: [e.g. 650]
What's already in my application: [activities, awards, grades, so the essay doesn't repeat them]
Ideas I've considered: [LIST, even ones you think are boring]
What I want colleges to understand about me: [DETAILS or "not sure"]
Do this:
1. Ask me 8-10 brainstorming questions, one small batch at a time, about ordinary moments, not just big achievements: something I do differently from my friends, a time I changed my mind, a small object that matters to me, a responsibility I carry, a question I can't stop thinking about.
2. From my answers, pull out 3-4 possible topics. For each: what it reveals about me, which prompt it fits, a possible risk (e.g. too common, too much about someone else, hard to show growth), and a specific scene I could open with.
3. Help me choose by comparing them on: Is it mine alone? Does it show how I think? Does it add something new to my application?
Return the questions first. After I answer, return the topic options table and your observations. Do not draft the essay, outline it sentence by sentence, or invent experiences I didn't describe.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Writing & Editing prompts
What to fill in
- PASTE THE ESSAY PROMPTS
- e.g. 650
- activities, awards, grades, so the essay doesn't repeat them
- LIST, even ones you think are boring
- DETAILS or "not sure"
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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