For many seniors, the end is nigh. They’ve taken and retaken the ACT. They’ve suffered through thousands of hours of school work over the past 12 years. High school is ending, and many have already found the college or trade school of their choice.

Now, for these post-secondary education bound seniors, the only thing left to do is write the college (or scholarship) essay.

They must write the next Great American Novel in 450 words or fewer. Every word must be perfect and their heart and passions and inner desires must bleed onto the essay. They should write their essay about how they will change the world curing cancer, winning a Nobel Peace Prize, and becoming the first Guamanian President of the United States.

Or so I thought when I began the college essay process. This fall, I spent countless hours staring at an empty Word document, trying to write the perfect college application essay. Unsurprisingly, I found myself not writing an essay at all.

Many people (myself included), approached the college essay process by trying to write something of massive scale. For example, every year, thousands of high school seniors write the famed mission trip essay. In this essay, the student describes one experience in a third world country helping children and restoring buildings, and how this stuck an epiphany and made the student think about poverty and want to change the world.

Don’t get me wrong, mission trips are great opportunities to help others, and some people certainly have written great mission trip essays. Most people, however, fail with these essays because they try to make a grand, universal statement by way of epiphany. In these essays, students try to solve grand world problems such as hunger instead of focusing on something very unique to them.

So the best advice I can give is to write about a something unique to you for your college essay. In AP Literature, my teacher, Ms. Daut, told the class that the best college essays don’t have to be about a mind blowing epiphany or a world-changing accomplishment. “The best essays,” she said, “can be about something small that shows a student’s unique passions.”

Ms. Daut’s advice inspired me. Instead of writing about how I would change the world, I wrote my college essay about reading a poem in front of the school for the Veteran’s Day assembly. No, my poem didn’t change the world, but it showed my interest in writing and respect toward’s those who served our country.

Your college essay does not have to change the world. After all, if you have already cured cancer or won the Nobel peace prize, you might not need to go to college at all.

Do not fear the college essay. Unlike grades and test scores, essays give students the opportunity to show admissions officers and scholarship coordinators something they truly care about, whether it be football or chess.

So find a comfortable place, block out all surroundings, and write what you know, not what you want others to think of you.

Still need help on those essays? Soon, The Talon will post an article with examples of successful college and scholarship essays, because the best way of learning is by example.