It’s that time again. The yearly struggle to write college application essays is upon us. Given that this is a common problem that most of us will face or have faced at some point or another, I’d like to offer a few suggestions on topics that your fellow applicants probably won’t be brave enough to cover. That is, topics outside the norm.

Are you brave enough to tackle them?

First, the key to writing a great college entrance essay paper is to make it fun and engaging, while also challenging typical thinking on the subject. Go against the grain! College essays can still be entertaining, you just have to figure out how to make them so. The prompts your chosen colleges give may seem boring – it’s your job to make them interesting. Further, entertaining essays catch the eye of admissions committees tasked with reading about the same topic over and over again. Doing something different can make you stand out, and get you admitted.

For example, in one essay, we were asked to write a letter to someone explaining the importance of writing well. Most students chose their brothers or sisters or friends. I chose Stephen King.

In another essay prompt, we were asked to predict the future and how humans will change. I composed an essay suggesting humans would grow hair like monkeys in order to protect them from the sun.

Those are only a couple of examples of the ways you can make even seemingly boring topics fun.

Here are a few more out-of-the-norm college application essay ideas:

1. Your favorite TV show. You’d be surprised how many academics are devoted to television shows. Buffy: the Vampire Slayer has a huge academic following – with conferences and scholarly papers included. See if you can weave your favorite television show into your essay. You can do the same with songs that may apply to your topic.
2. What’s the thing you most dislike to do? Hate is a very motivating topic. Find something you really dislike and write about it. Give your opinion, do some research, synthesize your opinion with your findings and see if you change your mind. Writing is the physical manifestation of thinking, and thinking is what college is all about.
3. Tell your life story – backward. Write your autobiography, including triumphs and failures, from today to your birth.
4. If you are assigned a topic, twist it into something interesting, as I did with the first two examples. Writing about what you did last summer can turn into quite the amusing story, if given the right perspective.

Now, make sure you don’t skip over the requirements for your essays – sometimes outside-the-box topics can make you forget what you were supposed to write about! But try to have fun and make them personal at the same time. Given the right perspective, these kinds of essays almost write themselves.

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Contributed by William Pate

“What would you like to do after high school?”

The bog-standard response to that soul-crushing question often follows along the lines of, “I’d like to travel.” Of course, many parents tend to roll their eyes at such a wishful statement—traveling is costly, making it a naïve goal—yet there are plenty of occupations that actually pay for you to travel.

A clear career choice for those who love traveling is to become a tour guide. Every city that attracts tourists is in need of tour guides. Spending your day exploring a lush metropolis like Athens, London, or Shanghai is a dream job for many people. Of course, you will need to research your city extensively; it would be wise to cultivate an understanding of the areas culture, history, and public discourse. In order to succeed in this job, you should be able to interact well with other people. It might be a good idea to ask yourself, “Am I a ‘people-person’?” If not, then this job will quickly become frustrating. Introverts beware!

International aid workers perform proficient, charitable service abroad. Those who work for aid organizations, like the Peace Crops or USAID, seek to improve living standards in underdeveloped areas, whether that is through education, health, or economic stability. It’s a respectable, rewarding career, one that provides philanthropic international services that help alleviate natural disasters, war, and famine across the board. Not for the faint of heart, but certainly for those with an eye for social change.

Travel nurses have the opportunity to travel (either within their country or internationally). Travel nurses temporarily fill open positions when and where they’re needed. Emergency room nurses, operating room nurses, labor and delivery nurses – these are just a few example of the positions that are in perpetually high demand across the country and internationally. It’s an exciting opportunity that yields the opportunity to build a relationship with esteemed medical professionals everywhere. If you’re passionate about public health, this is a path to consider.

As an ESL teacher, you’re able to travel abroad and teach English to age groups ranging from kindergarteners to high schoolers. It’s common for ESL teachers to receive free accommodations while working abroad, which could easily make it a thrifty venture. Talk about saving cash! Most positions require a bachelor’s degree at the very least, yet you’ll earn more if you also have a master’s. So if this is something that’s of interest to you, you better study hard in high school and college – it will be worth the effort if you’re a traveler through-and-through.

Jobs that involve travel certainly aren’t for everyone. For instance, many people are a little too dependent on routine – people are comfortable with comfort. And traveling is far from comfortable – at least for the truly rewarding kind. It can be stressful, taxing, even arduous—yet it will almost always make an impact – on you and on others – something that can render any drawback unimportant. If you’re anxious about settling too early, the only true remedy is to travel.

According to the mass majority of adults, college is the time of your life, but high school is just as fun, and without the added responsibility. With that in mind, there are six great ways high school students can make the most out of this coming summer, without losing all the fun of being a high school student. College students tend to deal with lots of financial difficulties or circumstances that can become stressful. Having to learn how to do laundry, cook, clean, or manage time accordingly can grate the brain. Taking time during the summer for both play and preparation will ease your mind as you head into college.

1. Work a Part-Time Job
This may seem like a way to ruin a summer, but part time work doesn’t have to take up more than a few hours each day. Working a simple twenty hours a week will allow for a small but suitable income that can be saved for the future. A job also improves any resume by showing that while other kids were becoming couch potatoes, you worked instead. Talk about ambition!

2. Attend a Camp out of Your Comfort Zone
Summer camps, sport camps, any and all kinds of camps. There are at least half-a-dozen different camps open every summer for at least a week or two. Attending a camp may seem like child’s play, or boring when you could do something else, but there are excellent personal skills one can learn from attending. Plus, new experiences broaden horizons and make other things easier to adapt to in the future. After all, when you eventually reach your first evening at college, you’ll want to share the spontaneous experiences you had the past summer, instead of talking about those all-night marathons on Netflix.

3. Apply for Every Scholarship
Once again, college is more expensive than most students expect. There are student loans available for many, and parents can help with the expenses if they’re financially able. Yet, there are personal expenses that may not be considered when applying for loans. For one, at Texas A&M University, all on campus dining options close around 8 p.m. with a few exceptions lasting until 10 o’clock. This makes things hard for late night study sessions, so extra cash comes in handy just to go out to eat a few times or pick up some food if you’re ever in a rush to get somewhere.

4. Shop for the Future
This may seem contradictory to applying for scholarships and getting a job, but whether attending college in a few years or in a few months, some household items are more expensive than others and can add up very fast. For one, if a TV is desired for your future pad, they can easily cost anywhere from $150 to over $700, depending on where and when you shop for one. Printers, comforters, and kitchen items may not seem very expensive on their own, but if you’re buying them all at once, oftentimes people will settle for price instead of searching for quality. The coffee maker that lasts you four years through college will be your best friend, so choose well!

5. Take a Few Summer Classes
This might be rather redundant considering summer is a break from school, but taking courses over the summer will keep your mind agile, while making the coursework during the school year a little less rigorous. This will come in handy in college, as finishing off classes that you can’t take on during the fall or spring semester can even help you graduate early (and save some money in the process).

6. Work as a Counselor
This will present new opportunities, as well as resume builders. Counselors get to meet new people, help others, and (hopefully) spend much of the summer out in the sun. Sure, the kids may be a bit rambunctious, but when has that ever stopped you? After all, you’re a risk-taker, and you don’t want to spend your high school summer behind a counter. Spend it instead on a playground or by a lake and pocket some change while you’re at it.

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Contributed by Author