What are some strong persuasive essay topics suitable for college applications?

Persuasive essay prompts for college applications are a great chance to show your ability to take a stance and defend it thoughtfully. To make your essay stand out, focus on a specific, relatively under-explored angle that connects to your interests or experiences.

Since you’re interested in environmental science and policy, you could argue for or against a nuanced environmental policy, like:

- Should cities prioritize green roofs over urban parks to address climate change?
- Should governments subsidize lab-grown meat to fight environmental degradation?
- Is it ethical to charge more for single-use plastics, or is this measure regressive?

A personal approach also works well. Maybe you have direct experience with a community garden, a recycling project, or an environmental club—argue that schools should have mandatory environmental curriculum, for example, and illustrate your point with a story about starting a compost program at your high school. Connecting an argument to something you’ve done makes your essay memorable and authentic.

Here are more persuasive essay ideas that show critical thinking without falling into common clichés:

- Should social media companies be held more accountable for misinformation, even if it means stricter regulations on free speech?
- Argue for or against requiring climate change education in all high school science curricula.
- Should communities invest in public transportation over expanding highways?
- Is it effective to use financial incentives to encourage college students to pursue STEM degrees?
- Should schools eliminate letter grades in favor of narrative assessments?

Try to avoid well-worn topics like school uniforms, the importance of technology in education, or the general "why recycling is good" angle. These are either too broad or have been written about so often that they’ll be hard to make unique.

For example, one student successfully argued that local governments should invest in urban beekeeping to boost city ecosystems. He tied this to his experience volunteering at a rooftop garden, discussing both policy and personal impact.

Ultimately, choose a stance that genuinely matters to you—this passion will come through in your writing and often makes your argument more persuasive. If there’s a small, often-overlooked problem in your town or school, or a specific environmental policy that excites or frustrates you, those are usually great starting points.