New College Essay Prompts

Advice for Students on Topics for the New Common App Essays

College advisor Alice Kleeman joins us today in our ongoing series on the changes to the Common Application with some excellent guidance for students and how to think about the new essay prompts and an entertaining look back on some of the essays that have been favorites in her twenty years advising students.

 

The five prompts that will appear on the “new” Common Application should allow for nearly any topic you might choose. Below are some suggestions for academic, extracurricular, and personal topics that might fit neatly into a response for each prompt. Of course, these are just suggestions, designed to jumpstart your thinking, provide a gentle nudge if you feel stumped, and to help you decide which prompt might provide the best opportunity for you to show the admission office who you are. Your response to any college-essay prompt should be entirely personal and one that only you could write; these examples are just to get your essay juices flowing!

 

Essay Prompt One:

 

 Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete  without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

 

Key Words:

 

“background,” “story,” “identity,” “incomplete without”

 

Possible topics:

 

ACADEMIC: