Don’t Let the Fear of “Cheesy” Talk You Out of a Good Essay

When I sit down with students to start work on the Common Application personal statement, or any application essay, I hear the same worry almost every time: “I don’t want this to sound cheesy.” 

I understand the instinct. But that fear carries a hidden cost; it quietly pushes students away from perfectly good topics because they assume those topics will read as ordinary and will not help them stand out.

Underneath this worry sits a belief in what I call the “killer essay”—the idea that one dazzling, unbeatable topic exists that will guarantee admission. I want to say plainly that the “killer essay” is a myth, and it is not worth a student’s limited time to chase.

The Pressure of Needing to Be Exceptional Can Be Stifling

I do not blame students for feeling this way. The stakes feel enormous, and there is no shortage of advice telling teenagers their essays need to be extraordinary. Faced with that pressure, it makes sense to steer away from anything that feels too familiar: an injury on the field, a family tradition, a friendship that changed.

Wanting to stand out is a healthy instinct. Left unexamined, though, it ties students into knots. They abandon a topic that holds real meaning for them and search for something more unusual, ending up with an essay that works less well because they are trying too hard rather than reflecting honestly.

Cheesy and Authentic Are Not the Same Thing

Here is the distinction I try to help students see: A “cheesy” essay is one where the outcome is predictable from the first paragraph. 

Take the classic sports injury story. A student gets hurt, works hard, gets better, and concludes that pain teaches resilience. The reader does not need to finish it. And that predictability, not the topic itself, is what makes an essay feel cliché. 

An authentic essay can cover the same event and read completely differently, because authenticity comes from depth of reflection, not the rarity of the experience.

Going Deeper Instead of Going Elsewhere

My first advice to students worried about sounding ordinary is not to abandon the topic but to go further into it. Instead of ending with “I got better,” ask yourself: ”What did sitting on the sidelines actually change in how I spent my time, in my relationships with teammates, or in my relationship with myself?”

It’s that honest reflection and writing about it that creates depth.

I often tell students to put their blinders on and stop worrying about whether someone else has written about a similar experience. If a moment genuinely sits with you, it is worth writing about. Colleges are not expecting a seventeen-year-old to have life figured out. They are looking for a genuine, honest attempt at reflection, even one that is a little unresolved.

The second recommendation I give just as often, because it tends to surprise students: If you’re worried your topic is overdone, the fix isn’t to find a different one, but to respond to the one you have as honestly as you can. 

Something close to magic happens when a student does this. 

A genuine, well-thought-through response to any experience is inherently personal and unique, simply because no one else will have the exact same reaction. Thousands of applicants may share the topic. Nobody else shares the specifics of the reflection, as long as it is truly yours.

Need Guidance Through the Essay Process?

Guiding a student in finding the right story and going deep enough into it that it becomes genuinely theirs is a large part of my work with families throughout the personal statement process. If you are a freshman, sophomore, or junior who could use a steady, experienced hand for college essay guidance, I invite you to contact me to talk about how I can help.