How to find college essay topics in academic research

RReaders in Stanford's admissions office are choosing students for the faculty, and professors spend their careers reading, thinking and publishing about ideas, under real pressure to say something new. That makes what professors are writing about right now one of the richest sources of essay material there is, and most applicants never look at it. They draft from what they already know, and their essays speak the language of a high school classroom. A student who engages with current work in her field speaks the language of the people she is applying to join, and a reader notices the difference within a paragraph. Closing that gap is easier than families expect, once you know where the work lives and how much of it you actually need to read.