EssaysApr 2026 · 4 min
Killing the cliché: prompts to avoid
The overdone topics admissions readers see a thousand times, and what to write instead.
Some topics aren't forbidden, they're just crowded. The winning-the-big-game essay, the service-trip-that-changed-me essay, the immigrant-grandparent essay told from a distance. Readers have seen each a thousand times.
The problem is rarely the topic; it's the angle. If your essay could have been written by any of a hundred applicants, the topic has swallowed you. Find the detail only you would notice.
When in doubt, go smaller and stranger. The most specific essay in the pile is almost always the most memorable.