Identifying Themes in Your Autobiography for Your College Admission Essay

Identifying Themes in Your Autobiography for Your College Admission Essay

The stories of your life are an important ingredient of the admission essay, but they're not the only ingredient. You also need to identify the themes that run through the information you present to the admissions committee. A theme is a general category or "big idea" that seems to apply to the most important memories of your past. Creative works have themes, too; in English or art class, you've probably had to identify the themes of novels or other artworks (poems, plays, musical compositions, paintings, and so on). How do you find the themes that are relevant to your essay? Read on.

Reviewing your life story

Your life has an objective reality: hours worked, food eaten, friends greeted, tasks accomplished, and so forth. But apart from that dry list of details, everyone also makes an internal movie, The Story of Me. In The Story of Me you are the star, the scriptwriter, and the director. You create the characters (the way you see yourself and others) and select events to film (decide which events are important to you). From time to time you project The Story of Me onto the screen of your mind, watching the events (that is, remembering them) and, in the process, weaving a set of random happenings into a plot that makes sense. To identify themes, turn yourself into a movie critic, interpreting and analyzing The Story of Me.

For example, your own personal film may revolve around compassion. When you peer into the past, you remember how you helped that little boy in kindergarten who dropped his glob of clay and how you sat for hours with an elderly neighbor as she regaled you with stories of her childhood in Hungary and her career as a cigar roller. Your inner review of The Story of Me proclaims, "This film is a moving account of a girl who never met anyone she wouldn't help! The main character is a model of compassion and concern for others."

Revealing significant themes

Identifying themes is crucial because you can't write about your life coherently unless you understand why particular events are significant to you. Moreover, if you identify a theme and express it clearly, the reader (that is, the admissions office) will understand how to interpret the information you're providing. And the more deeply the admissions or scholarship committee understands your character, the better off you are.

Here's a selection of themes that may apply to your life:

Identity: How do you define yourself? Think about gender, race, ethnicity, economic level, age, and all the other factors that contribute to your identity. Then think about times when you were particularly aware of those factors. Can you match any memories to these issues? If so, you may have an essay topic.

Challenges: What barriers have you overcome? What difficulties have you gone through? When have you almost lost courage? Think of challenges relating to family, school (both academic and social),