Journal Writing Topics for Getting Started on your College
Application Essay
Instructions for summer: Choose one of the following prompts, listen to the audio that is associated with
the prompt, and then write a two-page (typed, 12-point font) response.
1. As you prepare for college and discuss your future with your parents, school counsellors, and friends,
you have most likely developed a plan. But what about a backup plan? Few things in life go as
planned--you know the line, "the best laid plans of mice and men..." So, where do you see yourself in the
future when “plan A” falls through? Have you thought about a "plan B" yet? What might that plan look like?
"As way leads on to way," can you foresee yourself ten years from now working on plan B, plan C, or plan
D? Are you willing to accept a deviation from your original course? Just how flexible are you? How will
you cope, emotionally or otherwise, with having to accept an alternative course, if necessary? What's the
strangest scenario you can see for your future? Is it possible to see the unforeseen? Listen to Plan B,
from the This American Life podcast before writing. (You can find a link to the audio under “Classroom
Resources” and then “Essays, Stories, and Topics…” on the Arboretum website. Also check the links in the
College Resources section below.)
2. All literature is about living life on Earth as a human. Even superhero stories--what, with their
protagonists flaunting extra-human powers and their other-worldly origins (think Superman)--are about us
mere mortals and our all-too-human flaws. But if the cosmic powers could grant YOU extra-human powers,
would you accept them? If so, what powers would they be, and for what purpose(s) would you use them?
If we narrowed the choice down to two superpowers--flight or invisibility--which would you choose and
why? Reflect on any of these decisions. The link below will direct you to some stories that examine this
question. Before writing, listen to Invisible Man vs. Hawkman. (You can find a link to the audio under
“Classroom Resources” and then “Essays, Stories, and Topics…” on the Arboretum website. Also check
the links in the College Resources section below.)
3. “Your Majesty, the Queen.” “The Honorable Ms. So-and-so.” “Sergeant Jane Doe.” “Dr. Jones.” Mrs.
Washington.” Official titles. How do they sound to you? Would you like one? Which official title, when
paired with your name, has a nice ring to it? Is there a title--and the profession that goes with it--that you
have always desired? If you received a PhD, would you want to be called Doctor so-and-so, or would you
like your status to be invisible? Is the title worth the grief and aggravation, the years of school and training
necessary to obtain it? Does it come with fame? If so, would you crave attention and importance, or
despise it? Reflect on these questions while you listen to and/or read The Learning Curve, from David
Sedaris’s Me Talk Pretty One Day for inspiration. (You can find a link to the audio under “Classroom
Resources” and then “Essays, Stories, and Topics…” on the Arboretum website. Also check the links in the
College Resources section below.)
4. As you prepare to step out of your high school doors and step onto the graduation stage, I want you to
reflect on the places your feet have taken you. A Fitbit may count the number of steps you take, but it
doesn't record all you have learned on those pedestrian (or not!) voyages. Where have your feet taken
you? Reflect on that question through the point-of-view of your feet, your sneakers, your heels, your skis,
etc. Or, consider the point-of-view of a Fitbit, (or other step tracker), or the roads, the treadmill, the school
hallways, or the dance floor on which so many of your steps have been taken. Where will your steps
continue to take you? How many steps ahead have you planned? What kind of steps do you normally
take; small tentative steps, bold definitive strides? What occasions might account for your different strides?
Do you count your steps? Like David Sedaris, does your attention to your steps (literal or figurative) ever
verge on obsession? Read Stepping Out from by David Sedaris’s Calypso for inspiration. (You can find a
