Common App Essay Prompts
Christen Arafeh 
Want to get a jump start on the Common App? Take a look at the list of questions here and start brainstorming and outlining your essay.
Common App Essay Prompts
Want to get a jump start on the Common App? Take a look at the list of questions here and start brainstorming and outlining your essay.
The Common App is a vital part of many seniors’ college applications. The application is meant to eliminate the need for entering the same monotonous information into multiple applications and no need to keep track of all those individual school log-ins.
This also means that the student has one chance to perfect their application and essay before submitting in and waiting months for the acceptances to hopefully start rolling in.
- 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?
- 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?
- 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.
At least one of those spoke to you. Right? Jot down which prompt resonated with you the most, and start outlining your ideas for the essay. First, break it down into 2-4 main ideas you want to discuss. Then, write a detail or two for each idea. Last, craft an introduction and a conclusion (and make sure they are captivating!) Make sure that you have someone read over it before you submit it!
Common App opens August 1 for the 2021-2022 school year. If you get started on this now, you’ll have the hardest part over before it’s even time to begin.
Need someone to help you brainstorm the perfect essay? Or maybe you’ve written your essay and you could use another set of eyes to edit and annotate it? Let me help you! Send me an email to christen@ccccnola.com to discuss your essay or schedule a 1:1 consult and we can talk more about it.
Categories: : 2021, 2022, admissions, college, common app, essay, high school, scholarships, university
About the Author
Christen is the founder of Hive Education. She is passionate about helping families navigate the college application and admissions processes. She helps students set goals to work towards their own debt-free degrees with her personalized scholarship searches, scholarship courses, and by sharing her scholarship strategies that won her over $900,000 in for her own college education. With four years of experience in higher education, two years working with teens in inner city high schools in New Orleans, and starting her first college consulting company during a pandemic in 2020 she strives to make college accessible for everyone, especially for first generation, low income, and minority students. In her spare time she loves to share her love for books with her daughters. You can find her on Facebook.
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