Thank goodness for the Common Application. You only need to write one essay to apply to every school. Then again, everyone else only needs to write one essay to apply to every school. This increased competition may hurt your chances of getting into your dream school. So, is the Common App a blessing or a curse?

Pick the right essay prompt and it is a blessing. Pick the wrong one and you will fail to differentiate yourself from everyone else. Let’s talk about how to pick the right prompt for your essay. Once you are done writing your essay, submit your essay to Prompt to get great feedback and edits!

As a reminder for those who have not been agonizing over and meticulously contemplating the Common App essays, here are the prompt choices:

 
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 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.
   

Depending on your experiences, there are better prompt choices than others. Let’s walk through the situations in which you should consider using each prompt. When reading through these, make sure you keep in mind The Three Keys to Writing the Perfect College Application Essay: be memorable, be authentic, and flow, flow, flow, grammar.

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 is the best prompt to use; however, only use it if you truly have a story that is core to your identity. Admissions officers love people with a strong identity and sense of purpose. These stories, if told right, score very highly on being memorable and being authentic.

Use this prompt when…

 
• You have a background, story, or series of life events that defines you as a person.
 
• Your core identity is impressive, inspirational, and/or defines your future career path.
 

Examples:  

• You had a loved one who was a victim of gang violence and your life mission is to become a law enforcement agent and stamp out crime.    
• Your grandfather was a well-known local politician, you helped with his campaigns growing up, and you now want to follow in his footsteps by serving your community.
• You love technology, you met and were inspired by a startup CEO, and now you dream of being an entrepreneur and are learning to code.
• You had a loved one succumb to cancer or some other rare disease and now you want to be a healthcare professional or scientist.

DO NOT use this prompt when…

 
• A story does not easily come to mind as being a defining moment in generating your identity.
 
• Your story and/or identity is/are unimpressive or not memorable.
 
• Your story and/or identity does/do not link to what you want to do in your future career.
 
• Your story and/or identity does/do not come across as authentic.

2) The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure.  How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?

Try not to use this prompt; however, if you can actually come up with a good answer for this prompt, just do it, because it can impress the admissions officers as most people will shy away from it. Chances are that you have not experienced a significant enough failure in your life that has a strong enough lesson to impress the admissions officers. If you have experience such a failure, it might not be a good idea to tell about it as your questionable decision-making may have caused the failure. Getting a bad grade, losing a sports game or match, and getting arrested are generally bad examples to use.

Use this prompt when…

 
• You experienced a failure significant enough that the lessons you learned were meaningful.
 
• You acted on the lessons learned to achieve a positive result.
 
• Your failure seems reasonable and would not negatively affect the admissions officers’ opinion of you.
 
• Example: You lost the student council election. You learned from your mistakes and succeeded in being elected Senior Class President.

DO NOT use this prompt when…

 
• Your failure is unimpressive, making your lessons learned seem inauthentic and the story not memorable (e.g., you got a bad grade, you figured out you needed to study, you studied hard and got a better grade).
 
• You did not act on the lessons that you learned from your failure.
 
• Your failure was caused by poor judgment and/or questionable decisions.

3) Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea.  What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

Use this prompt if you cannot think of a good story to use for one of the other prompts. This might be the least exciting of the prompts, but it provides enough freedom for nearly anyone to answer it. Think of a time when you held a different point of view to someone else, you made that point of view known, and you performed some sort of action. This prompt provides you with an opportunity to showcase your interpersonal skills and your ability to empathize with and/or persuade others. Make sure you focus in on the details of the conversations and actions in the story. What did you do? What did the other people do? Make sure to reflect on your actions including lessons learned and what you would do or did do differently in the future. Try not use an example that involves politically sensitive topics (e.g., abortion, immigration) as some admissions officers may have an adverse reaction.

Use this prompt when…

 
• You do not have a memorable and authentic answer for one of the other prompts.
 
• You have a story that showcases your ability to empathize with and/or persuade others while simultaneously displaying interpersonal skills (e.g., conflict resolution within a group of peers or superiors).
 
• You have a belief that is core to your identity that someone challenged which made you feel compelled to act.
 
• Example: A classmate with special needs was being picked on and you felt compelled to stand up for your classmate.

DO NOT use this prompt when…

 
• You have a memorable and authentic answer for any of the other prompts.

 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?

[New in 2021-2022.]

Try not to use this prompt. Gratitude is a force for good in our lives. Not so much in our personal statements. It's hard to translate feeling thankful into evidence of your potential for success. The second part of this prompt, the actual question, focuses on YOU. If you answer this prompt, follow that lead. Don't get misled by the first part of the prompt, the statement, which is about what "someone has done for you." Admissions officers are trying to learn about you, not some nice person you know.

Use this prompt when…

 
• Someone's kindness toward you had a momentous effect on your life.
 
• Since that kindness, YOU have taken action, and changed the way you live your life.
 
• Your new way of living or seeing the world since this act of kindness have had a positive impact.
 

Examples:

• Your grandmother left you the family bakery in her will when she died. Since then, you've taken on that role with reverence for her legacy, and a fierce determination to see the business thrive, even as you seek to learn and lead a healthy high school life.
• A stranger donated bone marrow, saving your life. You're determined to make the most of this gift, dedicating your life to cancer research.

DO NOT use this prompt when…

 
• You experienced momentous kindness, but haven't yourself acted on it in a direct way.
 
• The act of kindness is more interesting than the subsequent changes you've made in your life — remember, a "personal statement" has got to be personal.
 
• The act of kindness is small or potentially uninteresting.

5) Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

This is the second best prompt to use, although it's the most difficult to work with. (In fact, it's the most rarely used.) You need a “defining moment.” If one doesn't immediately come to mind, use a different prompt. The key here isn't the moment itself. Rather, you need to focus on you PRE-spark, and you POST-spark. What caused this stark change? How did you cope with it? Did others in your community perceive you differently?

Use this prompt when…

 
• A clear “defining moment” pops into your head as soon as you read the prompt.
 
• There is a stark contrast between your perception of yourself and your community’s perception of you prior to and after the “defining moment.”
 
• Your “defining moment” is memorable; your explanation of it is authentic.
 
• Example: One of your parents left your family and you needed to get a job to help support your family while being a father figure to your siblings and keeping up with your schoolwork

DO NOT use this prompt when…

 
• You cannot quickly think of a clear “defining moment” that sparked a new understanding of yourself.

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?

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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.

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Write well and prosper, my friends.