Chapter Two
Roughly nine hundred schools in the United States use the Common App, as do about fifty schools internationally. For the Common App essay, there are currently seven prompts, a starting point from which to launch your essay.
In December 2019, the Common App website surveyed more than ten thousand students and Common App member colleges. They found that
the current prompts do their job well. Over 95% of every group who responded to the survey—students, counselors, teachers, admission officers—agree that the current prompts spark effective essays. That’s a testament to you. Over the last 8 years, based on your feedback and the indispensable counsel of our advisory committees, we’ve revised and refined the prompts so they guide students toward stories that will help Common App members make informed admission decisions.
(Just a reminder that even the Common App needs an editor because numbers less than ten should be written out.)
The specific prompt you choose is not important. Some guides advise you not to start by choosing a prompt, rather to write your essay first and then select the prompt that best fits it. Our view is that students who know what they want to write should do that, but most students will need some help. You may not be sure what you will write about, and you need the assistance the prompt offers to brainstorm your essay or just to get you started. Before starting, read all the prompts, discard those you know you will not be writing about, and pick one or two of the remaining ones that look promising.
At that point, you can begin writing and gradually you will see which prompt best fits your chosen subject. You may select an identity, a setback, a challenge, a passion, or an accomplishment, and some subjects will fit more than one prompt. No subject is better than another; it doesn’t matter what you choose—much more important is how you treat your topic.
Although your choice of prompt isn’t that important, you must answer the prompt you have selected—and generally as early as possible in your essay. The most important message in your essay is telling the college reader about yourself, but the reader is also looking for several other things including how you address the task at hand and that includes your ability to follow directions. That means answering your selected prompt. No matter how beautiful your free-form essay is, you are likely to meander if you completely ignore the prompt (this is an argument for selecting a prompt before you start your essay).
It is not mandatory, but it is advisable, to answer the prompt as soon as possible in your essay, ideally in the first paragraph. Some essays don’t lend themselves to answering the prompt in the first paragraph, but if you have written three hundreds words of your essay and still haven’t addressed the prompt, odds are that you have probably lost the reader. (Remember, that’s the key: Don’t lose the reader.)
Answering the prompt is not simply a matter of regurgitating the prompt and then giving an answer (“The problem I would like to solve is . . .” or “I gained a new understanding of myself when . . .”). This is your chance to demonstrate your narrative ability—show, don’t tell (a phrase we will come back to several times in this book). By using just a few sentences, you can explain your view of the problem you want to solve before you dive deeply into your solution. Rather than just telling the reader what your life-changing event was, briefly describe what you were like before the event occurred. These are good ways to interest the reader, answer the prompt, and transition into your narrative. In the next chapter, we will discuss these techniques in greater detail.
Don’t get hung up on finding a unique idea that no one has ever written before. Your chances are not good. Most ideas have been used by countless students before you (the exception may be a problem you would like to solve). But don’t let that deter you because you are convinced you must write about something special. If you do find something unique in your experience, that’s great, but more important is how you tell your story. Even the most common or mundane topic—a summer job or a family vacation—can be illustrative of your personality and your voice. It can become a great essay if you write honestly and with passion. Be authentic.