Interesting Personal Essay Ideas

A personal essay gives the reader a glimpse of your personal life experience. A lot of times you may need to compose a personal essay. It could be for a simple class assignment, or the requirement for a college application. In order to gain ideas of writing a personal essay, you can get inspired by the listed topics below. Just think of each of the ideas as a prompt for writing, and imagine any special moment the prompt may bring to your mind.

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  • How you and your best friend met
  • The bravest moment of your life
  • What makes your parents special
  • The experience of overcoming a fear
  • The moment your life changed forever
  • Why you can succeed in life
  • A difficult choice you have made
  • A place that is special to you
  • The experience of being let down by a friend
  • A failure you experienced
  • A disappointment you had
  • A surprising turn of events you experienced
  • Your favorite period of time
  • A place you always try to avoid
  • If you had power, what you would do with it
  • What super power you choose to have
  • If you could change someone’s life
  • How money matters for your life
  • Where would you go hide
  • The biggest loss you have experienced
  • If you could have a do-over
  • Words that stung
  • A book that has changed your life
  • When you have the desire of running away
  • When you have the urge of hiding in a hole
  • The proudest moment of your life
  • When you were taught a lesson by a child
  • Words that prompted hope
  • If your dog or cat could talk
  • Your favorite time with family
  • If you could invent something
  • If you could live in a different country
  • What the world would be like in 100 years
  • If you lived 100 years ago
  • The animal you would like to be
  • The greatest movie moment
  • One thing you would change about the world
  • If you could change one thing about yourself
  • The type of teacher you want to be
  • If you could live anywhere
  • A museum you’d like to visit
  • If you could become a building
  • Something a robot could never do
  • An animal that could be in charge of the world
  • The greatest discovery
  • Your most fortunate day
  • Your secret love
  • Your secret talent
  • The ugliest thing you have seen
  • The most beautiful thing you have seen
  • An accident which changed everything
  • Something you have witnessed
  • A right choice
  • A wrong choice
  • How you would spend a million dollars
  • The meaning of color
  • If you could start a charity
  • Your favorite gift
  • A close call
  • A secret place
  • A hard lesson
  • An unexplained event
  • Something you can’t resist
  • A visitor that you can’t forget
  • The longest moment you ever had
  • An awkward social moment
  • A near death experience
  • The hardest news you had to deliver
  • A special morning
  • A kiss that meant a lot
  • Why you will never tell a lie
  • When you needed a hug