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Writer's pictureMaureen Carson Scudder

Kickstart your college essay brainstorm

Skip climbing inside my head (Why these, Maureen??) and dig into your own. Start with what each quote means. Then spin off your explanation into thoughts triggered by your response. No wrong answers here. Free-write means that: “free” to “write.”


Still stuck? Try these sentence starters:


This quote means…

The writer is telling us…

Their message reminds me of…

It makes me think of…

I needed to hear this because…


  1. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ~e. e. cummings

  2. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” ~Frederick Douglass

  3. “My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery — always buzzing, humming, soaring, roaring, diving, and then buried in mud.” ~Virginia Woolf

  4. “Go where your deepest yearning meets the world's greatest need.” ~Frederick Buechner

  5. “The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” ~Bertrand Russell

  6. “Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” ~Arnold H. Glasow

  7. “Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.” ~Margaret Mead

  8. “Say what you've got to say, and say it hot.” ~D.H. Lawrence


Now that you’ve unpacked the quotes and riffed on each, I hope you’ll see glints of you on the screen. Sure, I could have asked you to respond to each of the Common App prompts, and I will, but for now I’m leading you through the side door.


Oh, and if you don’t like my quotes, find your own.


Read more tips HERE.





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Photo credit: Jan Tinneberg


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