"The pandemic made me realize the importance of human connection."
If you're considering writing about COVID-19 in your college essays, pause right there. College admissions officers have read thousands of pandemic essays, and most follow predictable patterns that fail to distinguish applicants. Before you join the crowd, let's explore why COVID essays are often ineffective and how to approach this topic if you absolutely must.
This guide will help you understand the pitfalls of pandemic essays and provide alternatives for showcasing your experiences.
The Problem with the COVID Essay
Nobody is denying that the pandemic left a lasting impression on you. You might have picked up new hobbies, shifted your routine, or reevaluated your life choices. While these things are not unorginial per se, the reality is that virtually everyone on the globe shared this historical and cultural moment with you. Simply put, enough students have already shared their lockdown epiphanys with Admissions Officers that you'd be hard pressed to find a new angle to differentiate yourself.
Overused COVID Essay Topics to Avoid
- Generic Realizations: The most common and least effective COVID essays focus on broad revelations that could apply to anyone: discovering the value of family time, missing friends, or learning to be independent. These insights, while genuine, don't help admissions officers learn anything unique about you.
- Remote Learning Struggles: Unless your experience was truly extraordinary, writing about Zoom fatigue or adapting to online classes won't stand out. Nearly every student faced these challenges, making them poor topics for your personal statement.
- Lost Opportunities: Essays lamenting canceled activities, sports seasons, or events often focus too much on what didn't happen rather than how you responded. While these losses were real, they affected most applicants similarly.
- Surface-Level Impact: Many essays describe the pandemic's general effects without delving into personal growth or specific actions. Simply documenting the experience isn't enough to create a compelling narrative.
When and How to Write About COVID (If You Must)
If your pandemic experience genuinely shaped you in a unique way or demonstrates exceptional qualities, here's how you can approach it more effectively:
- Put Meaningful Growth in Center Stage Avoid harping on the past as much as possible. If you need to mention pandemic-related struggles, include this only as a preface to what ought to be the main content of your essay: your growth in the years beyond the pandemic. Rather than dwelling on what was lost, focus on what you created, learned, or achieved. Show how you turned limitations into opportunities for growth or service.
- Focus on Specific Actions: Instead of broad statements about adaptation, detail concrete steps you took. Did you create an innovative solution to help your community? Did you take on significant family responsibilities in an unusual way? Notice how this focus on specific actions takes the spotlight away from the pandemic, and back to you as a problem solver.
- Highlight Unique Angles: If you must write about COVID, connect it to your distinctive circumstances or perspectives. For example, how did your experience as a first-generation student intersect with pandemic challenges in ways others might not have faced?
- Consider Alternative Topics: Often, the most compelling aspects of your pandemic experience might work better as examples in essays about other topics. Could your story be more effective as part of a broader narrative about resilience, innovation, or community service?
The key to writing about COVID-19 is understanding that the pandemic itself isn't your story—your unique response to it is. Before proceeding with a pandemic essay, ask yourself:
- Could this essay be written by thousands of other applicants?
- Does this experience reveal something distinctive about my character or perspective?
- Would this story be more effective if framed around a different central theme?
Remember, your college essay is a rare opportunity to show admissions officers who you are beyond your grades and test scores. While the pandemic was a defining moment for everyone, your essay should define you as an individual. If you can't identify a truly unique angle on your pandemic experience, consider exploring other significant moments in your life that better showcase your personality, values, and potential contributions to a college community.
For more guidance on selecting and developing compelling essay topics, explore our guides on personal statements and crafting authentic narratives. The strongest essays often come from unexpected moments that reveal genuine insights about who you are and who you're becoming.