Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. Contact us to learn more about our admissions consulting services. Use this option if you have a story to share that doesn't quite fit into any of the options above. However, you'll want to demonstrate some of the same qualities that colleges are looking for in all college essays: things like academic passion, maturity, resourcefulness, and persistence. What factors of your identity are most important?
I've collected the main ideas you should keep in mind as you plan your Common App essay below. Ask below and we'll reply!
If you're uncertain what you want to write about, think about challenges you've faced, a problem you solved or want to solve, or your major intellectual passions. Here, again, the Common Application gives you a lot of options for approaching the question. It's far more comfortable in an application to celebrate successes and accomplishments than it is to discuss setbacks and failure. Like Prompt 1, this one is very general. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. What is something that you have genuinely struggled with? This guide will go over the details of all seven current prompts, but first let's talk about some overall advice.
Many students believe that they should write about resume-padding activities that look especially impressive, such as volunteering abroad. Maturity comes as the result of a long train of events and accomplishments (and failures). Trust your instincts and don't pick a topic you're not comfortable writing about. Does your Common App essay actually stand out? Whichever prompt you chose, make sure you are looking inward. Retaining the essay prompts provides the added benefit of consistency for students, counselors, parents, and members during the admissions process. What’s something you and your friends can talk about for hours on end? Try to avoid boring generalizations in favor of more specific and personal insights. Essay Example #1 - Japanese Puzzle Get professional help from PrepScholar. Now that we've established the basic ideas you need to keep in mind as you brainstorm, let's go through the 2020-21 Common App essay questions one at a time and break down what admissions committees are looking for in responses. The next most popular topics were: âDiscuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.â (23.7%), followed by âThe lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. The more specific your essay topic is, the more clearly your unique voice will come through and the more engaging your essay will be. What is a meaningful community in your life, one that is essential to your identity? Answering the Common App Essay Prompts.
Want to write the perfect college application essay? Can you question someone else's beliefs without belittling them?
Did you undertake extra study? This prompt is pretty straightforward.
If you take on this question, you must show how you grew from the experience and, ideally, how you incorporated what you learned into other endeavors. The other key point to remember when addressing this question is that you need to explain how this event changed or enriched your understanding of yourself or other people.
All rights reserved. A personal essay is an essay about your life, thoughts, or experiences. Much like Prompt 3, this question likely either appeals to you or doesn't. With the ability to write about an "intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma," you can essentially write about any issue that you find important. The 2020 Common Application Essay Prompts.
It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma—anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. But the point of a personal statement isn't to explain what you've done; it's to show who you are. We can help. Another benefit of a specific topic is that it makes coming up with supporting details much easier. What makes you the unique individual the admissions folks will want to invite to join their campus community? But here are some ideas to consider: You may have some interests or talents, maybe some interesting background, so feel free to use that all to complete your application. Take the time to brainstorm and figure out what you want to show colleges about yourself and what story or interest best exemplifies that quality. As such, your topic needs to be something meaningful to you. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. You'll face a lot of challenges in college, both academic and social. As part of our commitment to making sure the essay prompts continue to serve students and Common App member colleges well, we invited feedback through a survey. But the Common App essay goes to every school on your list, and is often one of the first things admissions officers see. The current prompts are the result of much discussion and debate from the member institutions who use the Common Application. So It's fine to say that the topic that engages you most is football, but talk about what interests you in an academic sense about the sport.
Counselors looking to get a head start with application workshops this year can take advantage of Common App Ready, a suite of on-demand resources, training videos, and infosheets, details everything students, counselors, and families need to know about using the Common App. As you brainstorm, think about moments where you didn’t succeed, and then really consider how you eventually overcame, or are still trying.
These essays are often boring and derivative because the writer doesn't really have anything to say on the topic and assumes it'll speak for itself. Hole yourself up in the library? What does it mean for a topic to be "meaningful to you"?
However, you also need to "explain its significance to you." It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.â (24.1%).
The best course of action is nearly always to write a new essay specifically tailored to the expectations of admissions committees. If the conclusion of your essay is "and that's how I matured and realized that everyone in the world is terrible," that's not going to work very well with admissions committees, as you'll seem pessimistic and unable to cope with challenges. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. (Henry Faber/Flickr). However, personal growth is a gradual process, and you can definitely still approach this topic if you feel you have more maturing to do. Focus on writing a single great personal statement. Neatly packaged takeaways. Is there something you do or love, or something that happened to you, that isn't reflected elsewhere in your application but that you feel is vital to your personal story? An explanation of why a particular social or political problem is meaningful to you and hope you hope to become someone who helps find a solution. However you approach the prompt, make sure you are inward looking and explain how and why the story you tell is so meaningful. Don't do this. When responding to Prompt #1, consider the following: As you can tell from these essay questions, college admissions officers love reading about personal growth, and there’s no more direct way than to tackle head-on a story about a time that you failed and then got back up and tried again. In essence, it's asking you to identify and discuss something that enthralls you. You want to have enough space to really explore one specific idea, but you don't need to include everything. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League.
Second, it means that the topic shows off a quality or trait you want to highlight for the admissions committee. Have you ever had a crisis of faith, whether politically or spiritually? If this sounds like you, then please share your story. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. These questions ;ask about specific types of experiences that not every high school student has had. How you failed at procrastination because you're just so organized or how you've been challenged by the high expectations of teachers at school because everyone knows you are so smart are not appropriate topics. What does it show about me? When and why? What big picture problems do you aspire to help solve someday? 2. Pick your topic accordingly.
Want to build the best possible college application? The question gives you an opportunity to identify something that kicks your brain into high gear, reflect on why it is so stimulating, and reveal your process for digging deeper into something that you are passionate about. They don’t know you at all, so make sure you’re coming across as friendly, likable, and thoughtful. For example, say a student, Tommy, wanted to solve the problem of homelessness. Why are you personally passionate about your area of academic interest? As I touched on above, one way to avoid this problem is to be very specific—rather than writing generally about your experience as the child of immigrants, you might tell a story about a specific family ritual or meaningful moment.
The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. Almost any topic could theoretically make a good essay about personal growth, but it's important that the overall message conveys maturity. No matter how tempting it might be, stick to the word limit. What do you know now that you didn’t before? How do you handle frustration? Below are the seven options with some general tips for each: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. Describe a problem youâve solved or a problem youâd like to solve.
Your essay needs to add something to the rest of your application, so it also shouldn't focus on something you've already covered unless you have a really different take on it. Then I would tie it all together by explaining how my love of reading has taught me to look for ideas in unexpected places. If you're applying to more than one or two colleges, there's a good chance you'll have to use the Common Application, and that means you'll probably have to write a Common App essay. The Common App essay prompts for 2020-21 have been released and—spoiler alert—they’re exactly the same as last year’s! The Common App has seven essay prompts from which to choose. However, almost any kind of obstacle, challenge, or failure—large or small—can work: Make sure you pick an actual failure or challenge—don't turn your essay into a humblebrag. What’s the hardest you ever worked at something, and what did you learn? An important part of writing a successful application essay is studying examples of essays that worked. Read on to see tips and outstanding essays for each of the six core Common App prompts. However, the first six topics are extremely broad with a lot of flexibility, so make sure your topic really can't be identified with one of them. It's also worth noting that because of the way this system is set up, you could theoretically send a different essay to each school. But then I started to wonder if I could use what I'd learned to do the whole thing faster. How to Approach the Personal Statement. That means that, in addition to writing about why the subject is so captivating, you also need to explain why it’s meaningful to you, and what this passion says about your personality. Has a teacher ever said something that caused you to reconsider your beliefs?