By Sam Segan
The Common App opened its portal on August 1st for 2024-2025 applications. The primary essay prompts, announced earlier this year, will remain the same as last year. You can find them here.
In my recent experience coaching kids who apply to the most selective colleges, I’ve found that the majority of successful essays come from these three prompts:
Prompt #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?”
Surprising, but true: students do their best work writing about failure! It doesn’t have to be a dramatic narrative of suffering, but colleges want to know kids can deal with difficulty and demonstrate important values like persistence and resilience. An essay that shows what you value is a good essay. My students have written about everything from losing a student election to struggling to design an app to simply tackling a difficult class.
Prompt #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.”
Less surprisingly, the personal essay should show who you are, and this prompt is the most direct way to get there. This prompt encourages students towards the essay only they can write–a key element of success. Students have written successfully about obvious choices like cultural heritage, less-obvious ones like their passion for the science behind baking, or even seemingly negative things like their dyslexia and how it brought an unexpectedly fresh view of literature.
Prompt #5: “Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.”
A good narrative demonstrates change and evolution. This prompt encourages students to show their agency in their own lives and their ability to self-reflect. These qualities are important to colleges, who want to know students can keep growing when they move on to higher education! My students have chosen narratives about learning new instruments, discovering a love of feminist poetry, or finding an unexpected way to connect with their pupils as a tutor.
To learn more about how to write “next level” college admission essays, attend our August 20th webinar at 6P. Sign up here.
