Most universities require applicants to write one of the Common App essays, so if you’re planning on applying to college soon, you’ll probably need to write one of these. These prompts are set by the College Board, and students who use the Common App to apply to colleges will need to respond to one of the prompts broken down in this article.
Although Common App essays are only expected to be 250-650 words long (around 1-2.5 double-spaced pages), they can be very difficult to write. If you’re looking for more guidance on how to tackle this year’s prompts, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive in.
Common App’s 2024-2025 Prompts
- 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.
General Tips
Because the Common App prompts are so different from each other, there are not many universal problems or challenges students face in the writing process. But there are a few that we’ll discuss here.
Write about one topic.
So many students begin their Common App essays thinking that these 650 words must contain their entire selves. But this isn’t possible, and it’s fruitless to try. Instead of going broad, try going deep. Focus on one topic, and explore all of its angles. You’ll quickly realize that 650 words still isn’t much, and you may need to get even more specific.
Notice the way the prompts are written: every single topic is singular, not plural. If you’re answering the first prompt, you don’t need to discuss every identity you hold, just one (maybe more if they intersect, but keep things as tight as possible). Regardless, all of the prompts ask you to discuss one topic. Given the word limit on this essay, it’s in your best interest to keep your narrative focused and deep.
You need a “hook” (actually, you don’t).
Many students working on their college essays wonder how crucial it is to begin their personal essay with a “hook,” or a striking opening line. The truth is that a hook can be useful in drawing the reader in, but it’s not necessary. Although you want to write a compelling essay, if your essay topic is sufficiently interesting, a “hook” won’t be necessary.
If you come up with a “hook” that fits the topic of your essay really, then that’s great. Still, consider deleting your hook if it’s a line of dialogue, philosophical statement, or onomatopoeia. These techniques tend to be overdone in Common App essays. In many cases, if the “hook” is deleted, the essay remains largely unchanged. Thus, you may stand out if you avoid them and get the point a little more efficiently. To reiterate, a “hook” is a useful tool, but not a requirement, and you should ensure that your “hook” is unique and essential to the essay’s message.
Know how to use quotation marks.
Think you know how to use quotation marks? Think again. Having read countless college essays, I can safely say that most of them misused quotation marks. This issue may seem insignificant in the scheme of your college application, but submitting an error-free essay will demonstrate to the admissions team that you are a thorough, thoughtful student ready to write at the college level.
So, how do you use quotation marks? Firstly, commas and periods should always be placed inside the quotation marks when they occur immediately after the quote. For all other punctuation types, they should be placed outside the quotation marks unless they are part of the meaning of the quote. For example: “She used the comma correctly,” he said. Note how the comma is inside the quotation marks. Another example: “Does she hate exclamation points?” he asked. Because he is asking a question, the exclamation point is part of the quote. A third example is when you are using a quote “in your exposition”! In this case, the exclamation point is not part of the quote itself, so it goes outside the quotation marks. If you still have questions, use online resources or ask your English teacher for further guidance.
Common App Personal Essay Questions
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 essay prompt is for students who look back at their application and see something missing. Among the test scores, activity descriptions, and grades, a part of who they are is unrepresented. This unrepresented part of you doesn’t need to be directly relevant to the college admissions process, but might instead reflect your journey to become who you are today. Furthermore, whatever you choose to focus on in this essay could shed light on who you will be once you start college. That is, what kind of personality, background, perspective, and so on will you bring to your collegiate community?
The admissions officers reading your essay look for a student who will thrive in their college community. Thus, if you have a part of yourself that you’d like to share in this essay, it can be helpful if you show growth, maturity, openness to diverse ideas, or another quality that would benefit the college community you hope to join.
Crucially, the topic of this essay should be adding meaningfully to your college application. In other words, note the wording of this prompt: “so meaningful… their application would be incomplete without it.” If your personal essay topic doesn’t provide new information, new perspectives, or significant elaboration on the rest of your application, then you may need to come up with a different topic. In contrast, if your essay topic seems like it will really change your application reader’s perspective on who you are, then you’re probably on the right track.
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?
When the college admissions officers see you have selected this prompt, they expect to see a tale of growth, adaptation, and lessons learned. If you describe a challenging situation you have experienced, but leave out the lessons you learned from it, then you risk giving the impression that you won’t be able to elastically respond to challenges you might face in college. In other words, your story needs a beginning, middle, and end. Who were you before you faced this challenge/setback/failure, what was the obstacle itself, and who are you after this experience? Answering all these questions clearly in your essay will give it the coherent, cohesive structure great Common App essays tend to display.
Consider the first sentence of the prompt. We all face struggle in our lives, but how we respond to that struggle is what defines us. Additionally, learning from challenges allows one to become more resilient and capable of facing challenges in the future. What’s implied by this question is that you have the self-awareness and maturity to recognize those occasions in your own life. Consider the most formative challenging experiences in your life, no matter how embarrassing or low they might have been. Then, see if you’re comfortable writing about one of those experiences in this essay.
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
College provides students with the opportunity to learn about new ideas, perspectives, belief systems, and histories. In addition, when in college, you will likely be surrounded by more diversity of thought and life experience than you have ever encountered before. Changing your mind and being receptive to new ideas can be challenging, though. Thus, admissions officers often look to see if those abilities are displayed in applicants’ Common App essays. This essay is your opportunity to show your ability to be open-minded, think critically, and keep growing through that process.
Notice how the prompt itself provides a kind of outline for the essay. First, reflect on that transformative time. Then, show the conflict—what changed you, or led you to question your preconceived notions? Lastly, show the outcome of this experience. This can be a lesson you learned, a change in thinking, or the start of a new project/pursuit.
This essay prompt can be taken in many different directions, so it’s key that you keep its purpose in mind. Ultimately, the goal of Common App essays is to show admissions officers who their applicants are as people. Write about an event, experience, or change of heart that was genuinely important to you. Think about the stakes of this experience: how is your life meaningfully different as a result of this time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea? Focusing on a topic that is unique to your personal experience will make this essay stand out from the crowd.
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?
This is one of the less popular Common App essay prompts, but it has a lot of potential. Many students skip over this prompt, as writing about joy often less valuable or incisive than writing about struggle or conflict. That said, not only can struggle and conflict fit into this prompt, but joy can be a fruitful personal essay topic. Sharing what has made you happy, thankful, motivated, and so on can really show the reader who you are.
If you’re having trouble coming up with an essay topic, consider the second half of the prompt. What motivates you? For many people, their source of motivation is positive. Maybe you have witnessed the power of medicine in saving lives, and you are motivated to become a doctor. Or maybe a classmate’s kind words about a story you wrote gave you the confidence to start composing a novel. For instance, you could structure this essay as a thank-you note to someone important in your life, before expressing how their gift to you—literal or figurative—motivates you to this day.
In terms of structuring this essay, you can look to the prompt itself for inspiration. Start by explaining what someone did for you that surprised you in a positive way. You may need to provide background for this act of kindness to make sense to the reader. For instance, were you in a time of great need? Or did this act of kindness help you reach potential you didn’t know you had? Then, move on to describe how that act of kindness impacts you to this day. This essay may be reflective and abstract in concept, but be sure to include specific, concrete details to make the story feel vivid to the reader.
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Growth is a key quality admissions officers look for. But everyone grows up and matures—what will make your story of growth stand out? There are two things to focus on in this essay that can help it stand out: specificity and self-awareness. The ability to reflect on yourself and how you have changed demonstrates your capacity for further growth and self-improvement, which will serve you well in college. Specificity is an important part of telling your story, because the story needs to feel unique to you. In other words, if you are able to describe how you grew in a certain way with specificity and thoughtful, mature self-reflection, you’ll be able to nail this essay.
In terms of structuring this essay, look to the prompt. Start by discussing the event that changed you. This change should be meaningful. Even if it was a small moment in your life, or occurred over just a couple seconds, it should have a lasting impact. Then, explain how this event changed you. Lastly, reflect on this event and how it continues to impact you to this day. You could do this by explaining the lessons you learned or the new ideas you have developed.
This essay is a great opportunity to sell yourself to the admissions team of your dream school. By describing who you were both before and after this event, you will not only illustrate your growth to the reader, but you will provide them with a vivid picture of who you are today, have been in the past, and are becoming in the future. Because college tends to be a period of growth in one’s life, the admissions team may be able to extrapolate how you may develop during your education based on the growth you display in your essay.
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?
This essay prompt gives you the opportunity to discuss an intellectual or personal interest of yours. This interest should be specific, and, if needed, explained. Your reader might understand what you mean when you say you have an interest in film-making, but an interest in “the human body” may not give them much to work with. Do you want to be a doctor healing bodies? A painter of the human figure? It’s important to clarify exactly what your interest is before you get into the details of how and why it captivates you.
This essay should also show the reader how you learn. The resources and methods of your independent learning may provide a glimpse into the kind of student and community member you will be in college. For instance, you can demonstrate your resourcefulness and motivation in this essay by narrating a time when you tracked down the answer to a tricky question.
Alternatively, you could describe the relationships you’ve been able to build, compelled by your curiosity. Perhaps you’ve joined online forums, attended summer programs, or worked jobs related to this interest, and through those experiences, you’ve not only learned more, but also found community. Remember, this essay need not exclusively discuss your interest. Instead, you can branch out to show how this interest has shaped who you are and how you navigate the world.
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.
This prompt is one of the hardest and easiest of the Common App essays to choose. It’s easy because the options are endless and unrestricted. It’s difficult because sometimes structure and idea generation are the most difficult parts of writing an essay. That said, if you already have an idea for a topic, and there’s just no way you can fit that topic into any of the other prompts, then this might be the prompt for you. If that’s the case, you’ll need to make sure you organize the essay tightly.
Consider a guiding idea, quote, or concept that can bookend your essay. Yes, it’s a cliché way of structuring an essay, but you can often delete that quote or other helper after the essay is written. The key is that each paragraph relates to the prior paragraph, and to the overall idea of the essay. You can try writing a thesis statement, like you would for an academic essay, and/or outlining your essay before you begin.
If you need help polishing up your Common App essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.
