How to Write a Great Common App Essay
The Common App essay, often referred to as the college essay, is a 650-word personal statement that will be submitted to all of the schools that you apply to using the Common Application. While strong test scores, interesting extra-curriculars, and excellent grades are all important elements for a successful application to a top American university, a strong personal statement is one of the best places for you to set yourself apart from other applicants.
By U2 US Admissions Tutor, Carmen ( 2018 – 2022 | Brown University & Master’s from Cambridge University)
Getting Started with the Common App Essay Prompts
Each year, the Common App releases several prompts for this essay. The prompts for the 2023-2024 application cycle are the same as those for the 2022-2023 application cycle, and generally the questions change very little from year to year. For this reason, you do not need to wait until the Common App becomes available on August 1 to begin your college essay. In fact, you shouldn’t. Writing your college essay should ideally be drawn out over several months and, for this reason, the summer between Year 12 and Year 13 is the perfect time to tackle this project.
The prompts for the 2023-2024 application cycle are as follows:
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.
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?
3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
4. Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
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?
7. Share an essay on a 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.
Importantly, your college essay is also useful for applications to universities that do not use the Common App. For instance, even though Georgetown has its own application process, there are nevertheless prompts within the school’s application where your Common App essay would be an appropriate response.
How to Start a Common App Essay: Engaging Strategies to Hook Your Readers
Your college essay is the place where you should let your personality and creativity shine. Don’t spend it writing about things that will be mentioned elsewhere in your application, and don’t write about something just because you think that it is the kind of essay that an admissions officer will want to read.
The prompts are broad enough to allow you to write about almost anything, so as you begin to consider your college essay, spend some time brainstorming stories that you are interested in telling. What are things, moments, or experiences that matter to you? What kind of story could you tell to give admissions officers a sense of the version of you that your friends, teammates, parents, or siblings know?
College essays can be light-hearted or serious in tone, and they don’t need to be about big moments. In fact, it’s recommended that you don’t write about topics that can feel contrived. College counsellors suggest avoiding essays about volunteer trips abroad, essays about major epiphanies, or other topics that can feel performative.
As you begin to jot down a few different ideas, see if any of them feel like they could be extended into something longer, or if any of them could be tied together.
When I brainstormed stories that I wanted to tell, my experiences moving frequently whilst growing up, and my experience sustaining a career-ending back-fracture as a gymnast emerged as two themes that I wanted to explore further. I wrote about them separately at first, eventually tying them together, exploring how gymnastics’ constant role in my life had always given me a sense of stability when so many other things had felt tenuous, and how unsettling it had been to lose my sport. My essay was more serious, but several of my classmates at Brown took more light-hearted approaches. One of my friends wrote about winding down every evening watching TV with her parents and siblings, and how that brought them closer together as a family. Another wrote about the colour yellow, and another still wrote about pasta, exploring how despite being a picky eater, she became increasingly more adventurous as grew older, learning that small changes could transform something that had initially seemed mundane.
Having read each of these essays, which are all about very different topics, the common themes that emerge are their honesty and unpretentiousness. They use moments, ideas, or things to engage in larger, self-reflective discourses.
Structure and Organisation: Crafting a Compelling Narrative in Your Common App Essay
When you begin writing your college essay, don’t feel constrained by the 650-word limit. The first version of my college essay was about 1500 words, and I was consistently reminded by my college counsellor that it is always better to start with too much material than too little. Once I had a full draft of the story that I wanted to tell, I began to identify which sections mattered the most to me, and which parts I could cut.
Work on your draft for several days, then take a step back so that you can return to it with fresh eyes. This is why it is essential to give yourself plenty of time to write your college essay – you should go through many different iterations of it before you are ready to submit your application. Working with a tutor can also be especially useful whilst you are revising your college essay, because they can help to identify where your voice is strongest in your essay and recommend sections to cut - U2 Tuition have some fantastic top US and Ivy League-educated tutors who can support (get in touch here).
Editing and Revising: Polishing Your Common App Essay for Clarity and Impact
Plan to have a completed draft that is close to the word-count by mid-August. That way, you have time to copy edit your work. Be very diligent in your proofreading. Read it repeatedly, and have other people read it too, because there should be absolutely no errors in your final version.
Aiming to have your final draft completed by the beginning of September will make your university application process much smoother, especially if you are planning to submit an early application. Even if you are only intending to apply during the regular application cycle, completing your college essay early is advantageous, because once Year 13 begins it will be all the more difficult to dedicate the time and attention that this essay requires.
Ready to craft a standout Common App essay that captures the attention of admissions committees?
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