College Application Theme Examples
The trouble with most examples
Search for application theme examples and you tend to meet students who started a company at fifteen or published research before they could drive. Reading about them is discouraging. It is easy to conclude that a theme is something exceptional students have, and that a regular good student has nothing to work with.
That gets it backward. A theme comes from a pattern, and patterns show up in ordinary lives: a weekend job, a family responsibility, the one club a student never quits.
Six examples
| For a student who has | The theme could be | Which suggests |
|---|---|---|
| Interpreted for relatives at medical appointments, written for the school paper and enjoyed biology | Making health information usable for families who face a language barrier | A health explainer series in the paper, and volunteering at a clinic that serves non-English speakers |
| Worked weekends at the family restaurant, built an ordering spreadsheet for it and tutored math | Helping small businesses run more smoothly | Adapting the spreadsheet for another small business, and taking the computer science course |
| Worked at the public library, looked after younger siblings and read history for fun | Preserving the stories of ordinary people before they are lost | Recording interviews with older neighbors and giving the collection to the library |
| Played viola in the school orchestra, taught two beginners and played at a senior center | Using music to reach people who are usually left out of it | A small ensemble that plays in places concerts never come to |
| Refereed youth soccer, served on student council and competed in debate | Helping groups settle disagreements fairly | Peer mediation training, and a course in government or psychology |
| Hiked every weekend, organized trail cleanups and taken up photography | Showing neighbors the local places worth protecting | A photo exhibit at the town library, and environmental science next year |
What the strong ones have in common
Read down the middle column and three things stand out.
Each one says what the student does and who it is for. "I am passionate about science" has neither. "Making health information usable for families who face a language barrier" has both.
Each one could only be about that student. Thousands of applicants can say they are leaders. Very few can say they are the person who rearranges a restaurant's ordering system on a Sunday night.
Each one points somewhere. The third column was easy to fill in, because a clear theme makes the next step obvious. That is a good test of your own: if you cannot say what it suggests you do next, it is still too vague.
Jobs and family duties count
Three of these six students have a job or a family responsibility at the center of their theme. That is deliberate. Students often leave these off because they do not look like achievements.
They belong. Turning the Tide, a 2016 report from the Harvard Graduate School of Education written with a coalition of admissions offices, asks colleges to count caring for younger siblings, running a household and working to support the family as real contributions. Stanford says it considers each applicant's circumstances and background when it reads a file. Hours spent at a family business or looking after siblings are part of who a student is, and often the most telling part.
Don't borrow one
It is tempting to pick the example closest to you and adopt it. Resist that. A theme that fits someone else's record will not fit yours, and the teacher writing your recommendation will not recognize you in it.
Use the examples for their shape: something you keep doing, and someone it is for. Then find your own.
Sources
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