College Entrance Essay Questions

I spotted some difficult essay topics and wanted to remember them (for the distant future) when my kids may need to practice writing these types of responses before they are required.

• Name a time you faced or witness discrimination and how you overcame it
• What do you consider to be the single most important societal problem? Why?
• Pick a controversial problem on college campuses and suggest a solution.
• What do you see as the greatest threat to the environment today?
• Describe how you have demonstrated leadership ability both in and out of school.
• Discuss a special attribute or accomplishment that sets you apart.
• Describe your most meaningful achievements and how they relate to your future goals.
• Pick an experience from your own life and explain how it has influenced your development.
• Who in your life has been your biggest influence and why?
• How has your family background affected the way you see the world?
• How has your education contributed to who you are today?
• Briefly describe your long- and short-term goals.
• Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
• Why do you want to get a college education?
• Choose a person or persons you admire and explain why.
• Choose a book or books and that have affected you deeply and explain why.
• Describe a time when you grew as a person

As a few of the more 'off-beat' questions I found:

• How do you feel about Wednesday?
• What outrages you?
• Write a haiku, limerick, or short poem that best represents you 
• Are we alone?
• What is college for?
• Please describe a daily routine or tradition of yours that may seem ordinary to others but holds special meaning for you. Why is this practice significant to you?  
• Make a bold prediction about something in the year 2020 that no one else has made a bold prediction about.
• How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be.) 
• You have just completed your 300-page autobiography. Please submit Page 217

Personally, I think some of the weirder questions look a whole lot more fun than the standard questions. But that's probably the point. In any case, when High School rolls around for my kids, I'll probably assign them a few of these questions to get them thinking about how to write something about themselves without being too egotistical or bland.