How to Write the Common Application

Essays 2018-2019 (With Examples)

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With the 2018-2019 application cycle soon underway, the CollegeVine essay team
wanted to share our best strategies on how to write the all-important and often-
intimidating Common App essays. This year, The Common App announced that
prompts will remain unchanged from the 2017-2018 cycle.
 
In this blog post, we’ll provide advice on how to break down these prompts, organize
your thoughts, and craft a strong, meaningful response that the admissions committees
will notice.
 

Overview of the Common App

The Common App essay is the best way for admissions committees to get to you know
you. While SAT scores, your past course load, and your grades provide a quantitative
picture of you as a student, the Common App essay offers adcoms a refreshing glimpse
into your identity and personality. For this reason, try to treat the essay as an
opportunity to tell colleges why you are unique and what matters to you.
 
Since your Common App essay will be seen by numerous colleges, you will want to
paint a portrait of yourself that is accessible to a breadth of institutions and admissions
officers (for example, if you are only applying to engineering programs at some schools,
don’t focus your Common App on STEM at the expense of your other applications —
save that for your supplemental essays).
 
In short, be open and willing to write about a topic you love, whether it is sports, music,
politics, food, or watching movies. The Common App essay is more of a conversation
than a job interview.
 
The Common App essay is the best way for admissions committees to get to you know
you. While your test scores, course load, and grades provide a quantitative picture of
you as a student, the Common App essay offers a glimpse into your identity and
personality. So, consider the essay an opportunity to tell colleges why you are unique
and what matters to you.
 
Since you’ll submit your Common App essay to many colleges, you’ll want to paint
yourself in a way accessible to a breadth of institutions (for example, if you’re applying
to engineering programs only at some schools, don’t focus your Common App on STEM
at the expense of your other schools—save that for your supplemental essays).
 
In short, be open and willing to write about a topic you love, whether it’s making music,
spending time with family, or fixing bikes. The Common App essay is more of a
conversation than a job interview!
 

Strategy for Writing the Common App 2018-2019

Essays
Because the Common App essay is 650 words long and has few formal directions,
organizing a response might seem daunting. Fortunately, at CollegeVine, we’ve
developed a straightforward approach to formulating strong, unique responses.
 
This section outlines how to: 1) Brainstorm, 2) Organize, and 3) Write a Common App
essay.
 
Brainstorm
 Before reading the prompts, brainstorming is a critical exercise to develop high-level
ideas. One way to construct a high-level idea would be to delve into a passion and
focus on how you interact with the concept or activity. For example, using “creative
writing” as a high-level idea, one could stress their love of world-building, conveying
complex emotions, and depicting character interactions, emphasizing how writing stems
from real-life experiences.
 
A different idea that doesn’t involve an activity would be to discuss how your personality
has developed in relation to your family; maybe one sibling is hot-headed, the other
quiet, and you’re in the middle as the voice of reason (or maybe you’re the hot-head).
These are simply two examples of infinitely many ideas you could come up with.
 
To begin developing your own high-level ideas, you can address these Core Four
questions that all good Common App essays should answer:

 “Who Am I?”
 “Why Am I Here?”
 “What is Unique About Me?”
 “What Matters to Me?”
 
The first question focuses on your personality traits — who you are. The second
question targets your progression throughout high school (an arc or journey). The third
question is more difficult to grasp, but it involves showing why your personality traits,
methods of thinking, areas of interest, and tangible skills form a unique combination.
The fourth question is a concluding point that can be answered simply, normally in the
conclusion paragraph, i.e., “Running matters to me” or “Ethical fashion matters to me.”
 
Overall, there is no single “correct” topic. Your essay will be strong as long as you are
comfortable and passionate about your idea and it answers the Core Four questions.
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Organize
Common App essays are not traditional five-paragraph essays. You are free to be
creative in structure, employ dialogue, and use vivid descriptions—and you should!
Make sure that context and logic are inherent in your essay, however. From paragraph
to paragraph, sentence to sentence, your ideas should be clear and flow naturally.
Great ways to ensure this are using a story arc following a few major points, or focusing
on cause and effect.
 
Write
Your Common App essay must display excellent writing in terms of grammar and
sentence structure. The essay doesn’t need to be a Shakespearean masterpiece, but it
should be well-written and clear.
 
A few tips to accomplish this are:

 Show, don’t tell

 Be specific
 Choose active voice, not passive voice
 Avoid clichés
 
“Show, don’t tell” is vital to writing an engaging essay, and this is the point students
struggle with most.  Instead of saying, “I struggled to make friends when I transferred
schools,” you can show your emotions by writing, “I scanned the bustling school
cafeteria, feeling more and more forlorn with each unfamiliar face. I found an empty
table and ate my lunch alone.”
 
In many cases, writing can include more specific word choice. For example, “As a kid,
I always played basketball,” can be improved to be “Every day after school as kid, I ran
home, laced up my sneakers, and shot a basketball in my driveway until the sun went
down and I could barely see.”
 
To use active voice over passive voice, be sure that your sentence’s subject performs
the action indicated by the verb, rather than the action performing onto the subject.
Instead of writing “this project was built by my own hands,” you would say “I built this
project with my own hands.”
 
Finally, avoid clichés like adages, sayings, and quotes that do not bring value to your
essay. Examples include phrases like “Be the change you wish to see in the world” (it’s
also important to know that sayings like these are often seriously misquoted—Gandhi
did not actually utter these words) and lavish claims like “it was the greatest experience
of my life.”
 

Deciding on a Prompt
This section provides insights and examples for each of the 7 Common App essay
prompts for the 2017-2018 cycle. Each of these prompts lends itself to distinct topics
and strategies, so selecting the prompt that best aligns with your idea is essential to
writing an effective Common App essay.
Here are this year’s prompts:
 

 Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so
meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds
like you, then please share your story.

 The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to

later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did
it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

 Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea.

What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

 Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can

be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma – anything that is of
personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps
you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

 Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of

personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

 Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you
lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you
want to learn more?

 Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already
written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Prompt #1
Some students have a background, identity, interest,
or talent that is so meaningful they believe their
application would be incomplete without it. If this
sounds like you, then please share your story.
 

This prompt offers an opportunity to engage with your favorite extracurricular or

academic subject, and it allows you to weave a narrative that displays personal growth
in that area. An essay that displays your personality and a unique interest can be
attention-grabbing, particularly if you have an unconventional passion, such as blogging
about Chinese basketball or unicycling.
 
Don’t feel intimidated if you don’t have a passion that is immediately “unique,” however.
Even an interest like “arctic scuba diving” will fail as an essay topic if it’s not written with
insight and personality. Instead of attempting to impress the Admissions Officer by
making up unusual or shocking things, think about how you spend your free time and
ask yourself why you spend it that way. Also think about your upbringing, identity, and
experiences and ask yourself, “What has impacted me in a meaningful way?”
 
Here Are A Few Response Examples:
 
Background – A person’s background includes experiences, training, education, and
culture. You can discuss the experience of growing up, interacting with family, and how
relationships have molded who you are. A background can include long-term
interactions with arts, music, sciences, sports, writing, and many other learned skills.
Background also includes your social environments and how they’ve influenced your
perception. In addition, you can highlight intersections between multiple backgrounds
and show how each is integral to you.
 
One of our consultants wrote about how growing up in a poor Vietnamese immigrant
family inspired her to seize big opportunities, even if they were risky or challenging. She
describes the emotional demand of opening and running a family grocery store. (Note:
all of the following essay excerpts have been shortened and edited for this post. Names
have also been changed to protect the identity of the author and subjects.)

“An opportunity knocked on my parents’ door: a grocery store in the town of Dennis,
Mississippi, was up for rent. My parents took the chance, risking all of their savings. On
the first day, the business brought in only twenty dollars. Twenty dollars.
My mother and my father wept after they closed the shop. Seeing the business as a
failure, my mom commenced her packing that night; returning to Vietnam seemed
inevitable. The next business day, however, sales increased ten-fold. More and more
customers came each successive day. My mom’s tears turned into—well, more tears,
but they were tears of joy. My mother unpacked a bag each night. Fifteen years later,
my parents now own Blue Ravine Grocery. My parents work, work, work to keep the
shelves stocked and the customers coming. The grocery store holds a special place in
my heart: it is the catalyst for my success. So when the opportunity to attend the
Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science presented itself, I took it and ran, as
did my parents by leaving Vietnam and by buying the store. Although the opportunities
that my parents and I pursued are different, our journey is essentially the same: we walk
a road paved with uncertainty and doubt with the prospect of success fortified by our
hearts and our hands.”

Identity – this can mean racial identity, sexual orientation, gender, or simply one’s place
within a specific community (even communities as unique as, say, players of World of
Warcraft). With the topic of racial identity, it’s important to remember the audience
(college admissions counselors often lean progressive politically), so this might not be
the best place to make sweeping claims about today’s state of race relations. However,
reflecting on how your culture has shaped your experiences can make for a compelling
essay. Alternatively, focusing on a dominant personality trait can also make for a
compelling theme. For example, if you’re extremely outgoing, you could explain how
your adventurousness has allowed you to learn from a diverse group of friends and the
random situations you find yourself in. One important thing to note: the topic of identity
can easily lack originality if you cover a common experience such as feeling divided
between cultures, or coming out. If such experiences are integral to who you are, you
should still write about them, but be sure to show us your unique introspection and
reflection.
 
One of our consultants detailed how growing up as an American in Germany led to
feelings of displacement. Moving to America in high school only exacerbated her
feelings of rootlessness. Her transcultural experiences, however, allowed her to relate
to other “New Americans,” particularly refugees. Helping a young refugee girl settle into
the US eventually helped the writer find home in America as well:

“Growing up, I always wanted to eat, play, visit, watch, and be it all: sloppy
joes and spaetzle, Beanie Babies and Steiff, Cape Cod and the Baltic Sea, football and
fussball, American and German.
After moving from Berlin to New York at age fifteen, my feelings of cultural
homelessness thrived in my new environment. Americans confused me as I relied on
Urban Dictionary to understand my peers, the Pledge of Allegiance seemed
nationalistic, and the only thing familiar about Fahrenheit was the German after whom it
was named. During my first weeks in America, I discovered HomeNow, a nonprofit that
empowers resettled refugees, or “New Americans,” to thrive. I started volunteering with
HomeNow children’s programs, playing with and tutoring young refugees. It was there
that I met Laya, a twelve-year-old Iraqi girl. In between games and snacks, Laya would
ask me questions about American life, touching on everything from Halloween to
President Obama. Gradually, my confidence in my American identity grew as I
recognized my ability to answer most of her questions. Together, we worked through
conflicting allegiances, homesickness, and stretched belonging. Forging a special,
personal bond with young refugees proved a cathartic outlet for my insecurities as it
taught me to value my past. My transculturalism allowed me to help young refugees
integrate into American life, and, in doing so, I was able to adjust myself.”

Interests – Interest are basically synonymous to activities, but slightly broader (you
could say that interests encompass activities); participation in an interest is often less
organized than in an activity. For instance, you might consider cross country an activity,
but cooking an interest. Writing about an interest is a way to highlight passions that may
not come across in the rest of your application. If you’re a wrestler for example, writing
about your interest in stand-up comedy would be a refreshing addition to your
application. You should also feel free to use this topic to show what an important activity
on your application really means to you. Keep in mind, however, that many schools will
ask you to describe one of your activities in their supplemental essays (usually about
250 words), so choose strategically—you don’t want to write twice on the same thing.

Prompt #2
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can
be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when
you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it
affect you, and what did you learn from the
experience?
 

This prompt lends itself to consideration of what facets of your personality allow you to
overcome adversity. While it’s okay to choose a relatively mundane “failure” such as not
winning an award at a Model UN conference, another (perhaps more powerful) tactic is
to write about a foundational failure and assess its impact on your development
thereafter.
 
There are times in life when your foundation is uprooted. There are times when you
experience failure and you want to give up since you don’t see a solution. This essay is
about your responsewhen you are destabilized and your actions when you don’t see an
immediate answer.
 
For example, if you lost a friend due to an argument, you can analyze the positions from
both sides, evaluate your decisions, and identify why you were wrong. The key is
explaining your thought process and growth following the event to highlight how your
thinking has changed. Did you ever admit your fault and seek to fix the problem? Have
you treated others differently since then? How has the setback changed the way you
view arguments and fights now? Framing the prompt in this way allows you to tackle
heavier questions about ethics and demonstrate your self-awareness.
 
If you haven’t experienced a “big” failure, another angle to take would be to discuss
smaller, repeated failures that are either linked or similar thematically. For example, if
you used to stutter or get nervous in large social groups, you could discuss the steps
you took to find a solution. Even if you don’t have a massive foundational challenge to
write about, a recurring challenge can translate to a powerful essay topic, especially if
the steps you took to overcome this repeated failure help expose your character.
 
One of our consultants described his ignorance of his brother’s challenges—the writer
assumed that because his brother Sam was sociable, Sam was adjusting fine to their
family’s move. After an angry outburst from Sam and a long late-night conversation, the
writer realizes his need to develop greater sensitivity and empathy. He now strives to
recognize and understand others’ struggles, even if they’re not immediately apparent.

“You ruined my life!” After months of quiet anger, my brother finally confronted me. To
my shame, I had been appallingly ignorant of his pain. When my parents learned about
The Smith Academy, we hoped it would be an opportunity for me to find not only an
academically challenging environment, but also a community. This meant transferring
the family. And while there was concern about Sam, we all believed that given his
sociable nature, moving would be far less impactful on him than staying put might be on
me. As it turned out, Smith Academy was everything I’d hoped for. But preoccupied with
new friends and a rigorous course load, I failed to notice that the tables had turned.
Sam had become withdrawn and lonely. While I saw myself as genuinely
compassionate, I had been oblivious to the heartache of the person closest to me. I
could no longer ignore it – and I didn’t want to. We stayed up half the night talking. Sam
opened up and shared that it wasn’t just about the move. He told me how challenging
school had always been for him, due to his dyslexia, and that the ever-present
comparison to me had only deepened his pain. We had been in parallel battles the
whole time and, yet, I only saw that Sam was in distress once he experienced problems
with which I directly identified. My failure to recognize Sam’s suffering brought home for
me the profound universality and diversity of personal struggle; everyone has
insecurities, everyone has woes, and everyone – most certainly – has pain. This
experience has reinforced the value of constantly striving for deeper sensitivity to the
hidden struggles of those around me.”

Prompt #3
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged
a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What
was the outcome?
This prompt is difficult to answer because most high schoolers haven’t participated in
the types of iconoclastic protests against societal ills that lend themselves to an awe-
inspiring response. A more tenable alternative here could be to discuss a time that you
went against social norms, whether it was by becoming friends with someone who
seemed like an outcast or by proudly showing off a geeky passion.
 
And if you ever participated in a situation in tandem with adults and found some
success (i.e., by blogging, starting a tutoring organization, or participating in political
campaigns), you could discuss your experiences as a young person without a college
degree in professional circles. However, avoid sounding morally superior (as if you’re
the only person who went against this convention, or that you’re better than your peers
for doing so).
 
Another way to answer this prompt is to discuss a time when you noticed a need for
change. For example, if you wondered why medical records are often handwritten, or
why a doctor’s visit can be long and awkward, maybe you challenged the norm in
healthcare by brainstorming an electronic-recording smartphone app or a telemedicine
system. In a similar way, if you led a fundraiser and recognized that advertising on
social media would be more effective than the traditional use of printed flyers, you could
write about a topic along those lines as well. Focus on what action or experience
caused you to recognize the need for change and follow with your actions and resulting
outcome.
 
As a whole, this prompt lends itself to reflective writing, and more specifically, talking the
reader through your thought processes. In many cases, the exploration of your thought
processes and decision-making is more important than the actual outcome or concept in
question. In short, this essay is very much about “thinking,” rumination, and
inquisition. A good brainstorming exercise for this prompt would be to write your
problem on a sheet of paper and then develop various solutions to the problem,
including a brief reason for justification. The more thorough you are in justifying and
explaining your solutions in the essay, the more compelling your response will be.
 
One of our consultants penned her experience of growing up with a unique name, and
feeling pressured to be different from others. She would sacrifice her wishes and
preferences just to make the unconventional choice. Finally, she challenged this idea of
being different for the sake of being different to discover her real interests.

“Whenever someone hears my name for the first time, they comment “Wow, Jensina is
a cool name.” She must be pretty cool. She must be from somewhere exotic. She must
be musical and artsy. When I was little, these sentiments felt more like commands than
assumptions. I thought I had to be the most unique child of all time, which was a
daunting task, but I tried. I was the only kid in the second grade to color the sun red.
During snack time, we could choose between apple juice and grape juice. I liked apple
juice more, but if everyone else was choosing apple, then I had to choose grape. This
was how I lived my life, and it was exhausting.
After 8th grade, I moved to Georgia. I soon discovered that my freshman year would be
my new high school’s inaugural year. Since there were students coming in from 5
different schools, there was no real sense of “normal”. I panicked. If there was no
normal, how could I be unique? I realized that I had spent so much energy going
against the grain that I had no idea what my true interests were. It was time to find out. I
joined the basketball team, performed in the school musical, and enrolled in chorus, all
of which were firsts for me. I did whatever I thought would make me happy. And it paid
off. I was no longer socially awkward. In fact, because I was involved in so many
unrelated activities, I was socially flexible. I had finally become my own person.”

Prompt #4
Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d
like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a
research query, an ethical dilemma — anything that is
of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain
its significance to you and what steps you took or
could be taken to identify a solution.
The prompt itself provides three specific suggestions (intellectual challenge, research
query, and ethical dilemma), but it’s important to note that the phrase “anything that is of
personal importance” gives you a lot of freedom, allowing you to center your essay
around basically anything that can be loosely called a “problem.”
 
Our advice is to pick a problem that deeply concerns you and make it clear to your
reader why that topic matters to you, either through an account of how your interest in
the subject originated, or through an explanation of the potential consequences of the
dilemma.
 
Even though the prompt allows you to explore more academic and intellectual topics, it
is important not to get carried away with esoteric details. Be careful you don’t go
overboard with an intensely intricate discussion about particle physics; geeking out a
bit and validating your passion, however, is encouraged. Bottom line, the topic you
choose for this prompt should, like every topic, highlight your personality,
identity, and how you think about the world.
 
Be sure to describe the event or experience that caused you to realize the gravity of the
problem, the specific actions you took to plan or execute your solution (i.e., call
sponsors, raise money, design graphics, speak at events), explain why solving your
problem is so critical, and identify the tangible change your solution would bring to
people’s lives. For example, if you care deeply about drug education because of a past
experience with a friend or family member, you could outline a plan to bring young-adult
speakers to your school to positively influence your peers and stress the real dangers of
drugs.
 
As an alternative, this prompt gives you the opportunity to address a more ambitious,
hypothetical problem you would like to solve. For example, you could address the
logistical and legal problems of high-speed rail in the United States, the complex
environmental and economic problems of using fossil fuels, or even the ethical dilemma
of creating A.I. As long as you are creative and refrain from choosing a cliché topic like
“curing cancer,” addressing a hypothetical problem can result in a strong essay. Be
careful to frame your hypothetical problem clearly, explain why it is a problem, outline
the important points, and explain your steps to create a solution.

Prompt #5
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that
sparked a period of personal growth and a new
understanding of yourself or others.
This prompt is expansive in that you can choose any accomplishment, event, or
realization that sparked personal growth or new understanding.
 
One option is to discuss a formal accomplishment or event (whether it is a religious
ritual or social rite of passage) that reflects personal growth. If you go this route, make
sure to discuss why the ritual was meaningful and how specific aspects of said ritual
contributed to your personal growth. An example of this could be the meaning of
becoming an Eagle Scout to you, the accomplishment of being elected to Senior
Leadership, or completing a Confirmation. In the case of religious topics, however, be
sure to not get carried away with details, and focus on the nature of your personal
growth and new understanding — know your audience.
 
Alternatively, a more relaxed way to address this prompt is using an informal event or
realization, which would allow you to show more personality and creativity. An example
of this could be learning how to bake with your mother, thus sparking a newfound
connection with her, allowing you to learn about her past. Having a long discussion
about life or philosophy with your father could also suffice, thus sparking more thoughts
about your identity. You could write about a realization that caused you to join a new
organization or quit an activity you did not think you would enjoy, as doing so would
force you to grow out of your comfort zone to try new things.
 
The key to answering this prompt is clearly defining what it is that sparked your growth,
and then describing in detail the nature of this growth and how it related to your
perception of yourself and others. This part of the essay is crucial, as you must dedicate
sufficient time to not undersell the description of how you grew instead of simply
explaining the experience and then saying, “I grew.” This description of how you grew
must be specific, in-depth, and it does not have to be simple. Your growth can also be
left open-ended if you are still learning from your experiences today.
 
One of our consultants wrote about how her single mother’s health crisis prompted her
to quickly assume greater responsibility as a fourteen-year-old. This essay describes
the new tasks she undertook, as well as how the writer now more greatly cherishes her
time with her mother.

“I had anticipated a vacation in Washington, D.C., but unexpectedly, I was rushing to

the hospital behind an ambulance carrying my mother. As a fourteen-year-old from a
single mother household, without a driver’s license, and seven hours from home, I was
distraught over the prospect of losing the only parent I had. Three blood transfusions
later, my mother’s condition was stable, but we were still states away from home, so I
coordinated with my mother’s doctors in North Carolina to schedule the emergency
operation that would save her life. My mother had been a source of strength for me, and
now I would be strong for her through her long recovery ahead. As I started high school,
everyone thought the crisis was over, but it had really just started to impact my life. My
mother was often fatigued, so I assumed more responsibility, juggling family duties,
school, athletics, and work. I made countless trips to the neighborhood pharmacy,
cooked dinner, biked to the grocery store, supported my concerned sister, and provided
the loving care my mother needed to recover. I now take ownership over small
decisions such as scheduling daily appointments and managing my time but also over
major decisions involving my future, including the college admissions process. My
mother remains a guiding force in my life, but the feeling of empowerment I discovered
within myself is the ultimate form of my independence.”

Prompt #6
Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so
engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why
does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to
when you want to learn more?
This prompt allows you to expand and deepen a seemingly small or simple idea, topic,
or concept. One example could be “stars,” in that you could describe stargazing as a
child, counting them, recognizing constellations, and then transforming that initial
captivation into a deeper appreciation of the cosmos as a whole, spurring a love of
astronomy and physics.
 
Another example could be “language,” discussing how it has evolved and changed over
the course of history, how it allows you to look deeper into different cultures, and how
learning different languages stretches the mind. A tip for expanding on these topics and
achieving specificity is to select particular details of the topic that you find intriguing and
explain why.
 
For example, if you’re passionate about cooking or baking, you could use specific
details by explaining, in depth, the intricate attention and artistry necessary to make a
dish or dessert. You can delve into why certain spices or garnishes are superior in
different situations, how flavors blend well together and can be mixed creatively, or even
the chemistry differences between steaming, searing, and grilling.
 
Regardless of your topic, this prompt provides a great opportunity to display writing
prowess through elegant, specific descriptions that leverage sensory details. Describing
the beauty of the night sky, the rhythms and sounds of different languages, or the scent
of a crème brûlée shows passion and captivation in a very direct, evocative way.
 
The key to writing this essay is answering the question of why something captivates you
instead of simply ending with “I love surfing.” A tip would be to play off your senses (for
applicable topics), think about what you see, feel, smell, hear, and taste.
 
In the case of surfing, the salty water, weightlessness of bobbing over the waves, and
fresh air could cater to senses. Alternatively, for less physical topics, you can use a train
of thought and descriptions to show how deeply and vividly your mind dwells on the
topic.
 
Well-executed trains of thought or similar tactics are successful ways to convey passion
for a certain topic. To answer what or who you turn to when you want to learn more, you
can be authentic and honest—if it’s Wikipedia, a teacher, friend, YouTube Channel,
etc., you simply have to show how you interact with the medium.
 
When brainstorming this particular essay, a tip would be to use a web diagram, placing
the topic in the middle and thinking about branching characteristics, themes, or
concepts related to the topic that are directly engaging and captivating to you. In doing
so, you’ll be able to gauge the depth of the topic and whether it will suffice for this
prompt.
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Prompt #7
Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be
one you’ve already written, one that responds to a
different prompt, or one of your own design.
This prompt is allows you to express what you want to express if it doesn’t align directly
with the other prompts. While this prompt is very open-ended, it doesn’t mean you can
adapt any essay you’ve written and think it will suffice. Always refer back to
the Strategy section of this article and make sure the topic and essay of your choice
addresses the Core Four questions necessary for a good Common App essay.
 
This prompt, more than the others, poses a high risk but also a high-potential reward.
Writing your own question allows you to demonstrate individuality and confidence. Here,
you can craft an innovative essay that tackles a difficult topic (for example, whether to
raise or lower taxes) or presents information with a unique format (such as a
conversation with an historical figure).
 
We encourage you to try something unconventional for this prompt, like comparing your
personality to a Picasso painting, using an extended philosophical metaphor to describe
your four years of high school, or writing in a poetic style to display your love of poetry.
If you are extremely passionate about a topic or an expert in a certain area, for example
Renaissance technology or journalism during World War II, you can use this prompt to
show your authority on a subject by discussing it at a high level.
 
Be careful to frame the essay in a way that is accessible to the average reader while still
incorporating quality evidence and content that would qualify you as an expert. As
always, exercise caution in writing about controversial social or political topics, and
always make sure to consider your audience and what they’re looking for in a student.
 
Sometimes an unconventional essay can capture Admissions Officers’ attention and
move them in a profound way; other times, the concept can fly completely over their
heads. Be sure to execute the essay clearly and justify your decision by seeking high-
quality feedback from reliable sources. As always, the essay should demonstrate
something meaningful about you, whether it is your personality, thought process, or
values.

In conclusion…
All Common App essays must show your personality, identity, and aspirations, as well
as spark discussions on interests, character, values, and community. The goal for any
Common App essay is to impart a lasting, authentic image and sense of yourself on the
reader. When you’re writing and hit a mental block, don’t hesitate to refer back to the
Core Four questions a good Common App essay must answer, and always check
whether or not the ideas in your essay reflect the characteristics you want to convey
about yourself.
 
With these tips and strategies, you should be well on your way to writing a perfect
Common App essay. Best of luck from the CollegeVine team!
 
For more help, feel free to reach out to work 1-on-1 with one of CollegeVine’s
trained college essay specialists.