Since I started Collegewise, I’d estimate I’ve helped over 500 students find their best stories for college essays. During our essay brainstorming meeting with a Collegewise student, we spend the entire hour listening to stories about the student’s life, asking follow-up questions, and pointing out how much interesting material just about every kid has to work with.
In all of those brainstormed stories, I can’t think of one that would not have worked with at least one of the Common App’s new essay prompts.
I think the best college essay prompts give students enough guidance to focus their story–most students I’ve met appreciate more direction than, “Write a 500-word essay on a topic of your choice.” But it’s also helpful when prompts leave enough leeway to allow every student to share something that helps the admissions committee get to know this applicant better than the application alone would allow.
- Is there something so central about you that you feel your application would be missing something if you didn’t share it?
- Have you ever failed at something, and if so, did you learn anything from it?
- Have you ever stood up for something you believed in, or gone against the grain in some way, even if it wasn’t popular or accepted?
- Is there something you do, or someplace you go, that just plain makes you happy?
- Have you done something that made you proud and at the same time made you feel like you were growing up?
If you answer “yes” to one or more of those questions, you’ve got a potential story in response to a Common App prompt.
Whether it's teaching yourself to cook, deciding not to go into your family's business, struggling through your first year on the water polo team, or immigrating to this country when you were 16, everybody has a story to tell. And the Common App prompts will let you tell yours.