The Common App’s essay prompts play a vital role in your application profile to elite colleges and universities. The personal statement provides a space for students to showcase who they are beyond their academics and test scores. Students who are able to convey something unique about themselves or shed light on an interesting aspect of their identity through their writing gain a coveted advantage in admissions. The Common App prompts for 2021-22 remain the same as the last admissions cycle, with one exception: the option about solving a problem has been removed. In its place, the Common App has added the following question: “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?”. The Common App hopes that this question on gratitude and kindness will inspire students to think of something positive and heartfelt in their lives during these difficult times. When tasked with writing their personal statement, students tend to have two questions: “Which Common App prompt should I choose?” and “How do I respond to the Common App prompt?”. These questions are undeniably important but the answers to them depend on who you are and your personal and academic journey. However, there are some general tips you can follow on how to choose your personal statement prompt. Similarly, there are definitely some do’s and don’ts when responding to the prompt you have chosen. In this blog, we will take a look at how to choose and respond to the Common App prompt.

2021-22 Common App Prompts

  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.

Choosing your Common App prompt

The most important thing to note about the Common App prompts is that they aim to get a sense of who you are. Colleges and universities want to get a better idea of your identity, what motivates you, and how you will fit into their community. They look at your personal statement for information, and if it is lacking, they will often struggle to find reasons to admit you. That is why we recommend that before you begin writing your personal statement, you should brainstorm the narrative you want to present to colleges. Create a mind map of your interests, pastimes, and passions. Write down a couple of impactful memories or events in your life and how they shaped who you are. Break down your identity into your background, way of thinking, actions and aspirations. Once this is done, look for commonalities and intersections between your identity, past experiences and current actions. Are you passionate about something because of a certain upbringing? Do you act a certain way because of a specific desire? Thinking critically about who you are will ensure you present an authentic and personalized narrative to colleges and help you stand out from generic applicants. With this information, picking a Common App prompt is a matter of identifying which prompt you want to write about the most. Many students will try to find the easiest prompt or force their writing to fit a prompt. Unfortunately, this usually makes for confusing or uninteresting reading. The truth is that when you write about something that genuinely speaks to you, your writing will be more personable and authentic. As we mentioned before, all the prompts aim to accomplish the same thing, so simply pick the one that fascinates you the most or applies to the idea you want to write about the best.

Responding to Common App prompt

Similar to choosing your prompt, there is no formula or template for responding to your essay prompt. However, there are some guidelines you should follow to ensure your essay is well written and impresses college admissions committees. Here are three do’s and three don’ts for writing your Common App essay:

DO give your essay significance

The biggest mistakes students make when responding to their Common App essay is that they neglect to give their essay any significance. They will write about an impactful event or amazing accomplishment and simply assume the reader will know its importance. You must be explicit about why what you’re writing about is meaningful. Take the time to elaborate on how your topic connects back to you and has some significance in your life. Your essay must not only describe an event or idea, it must also give that event or idea some greater meaning. Purely explanatory writing is boring, but essays with story arcs and stakes make for memorable reading.

DO contextualize your essay

All admissions officers know about you is which classes you took and what your grades were. It is your job to provide more details about yourself. Since you will be telling them about yourself, it is important to make sure your story has some context. Students often fall into the trap of diving straight into the details of an event or moment. This tendency can leave the reader lost and your entire essay feeling disjointed. Make sure to use the first couple of sentences in your essay to set the scene. Explain important details and be descriptive about relevant feelings and thoughts. Contextualizing your essay will help give it a greater sense of purpose.

DO focus your essay on yourself

College admissions officers sometimes receive essays about an applicant’s grandmother or dog or brother and end up denying the student. This is because they are looking to learn more about you, not someone else in your life. Do not spend the entirety of your essay discussing someone or something that does not explicitly connect back to you. Instead, focus your essay on yourself and emphasize your strengths without appearing arrogant. You are applying to the school because you want to be there and think it will be a good fit, so make sure to explain why you think that is.

DON'T exaggerate or undersell

Many students feel the need to present some grandiose event or life altering experience in their writing. Conversely, some students fail to convey their strengths and personality because their essay is overly timid. You should avoid doing either of these. Do not fabricate feelings, events, or actions in your essay. Steer clear of trying to force a narrative into your writing that is not already evident. Doing either of these will make your essay feel superficial and disconnected. On the other hand, make sure to highlight something you think others appreciate about yourself. If your essay portrays you as bland or one-dimensional, admissions officers will feel like they can find similar applicants elsewhere. Remember to advocate for yourself in your writing.

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DON'T submit an unstructured essay

The Common App essay is still a piece of formal writing, and therefore it requires organization, both thematically and structurally. If your essay is all over the place without paragraphing, confusing sentence structure and needlessly advanced vocabulary, admissions officers will not enjoy reading it. Even worse, if you essay jumps from idea to idea without transitions or leaves concepts unfinished, your admissions officer will be confused about the topic of your essay. Make sure you organize your writing and have others revise it for grammatical errors and conceptual discontinuities.

DON'T leave the prompt unanswered

Many students pick what they will be writing about and then choose their Common App prompt. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this approach, it does leave you susceptible to leaving the prompt unanswered. Avoid writing about things that are unrelated to the prompt because it detracts from the overall direction of your essay. Each sentence and idea in your writing should reinforce a central theme. If your essay is filled with random facts and miscellaneous events the reader will struggle to understand how your essay connects back to the prompt you chose.

Concluding thoughts

Picking and responding to a Common App prompt requires a lot of self reflection and time, but it does not have to be difficult. So long as you choose a prompt that speaks to you and connects to your identity, you’re guaranteed to write an authentic and descriptive response. Furthermore, if your essay is well organized with a clear topic and has evident significance, it will leave a lasting impression on admissions officers and increase your chances of admissions. Make sure you start early with your personal statement, revise it multiple times and follow some of the advice in this blog post, and before you know it you will have a unique and impactful essay.

Trying to figure out if the common app essay prompts are any different this year? Well, we’re here to answer all of the questions you may have. We’re going to give you, a college student to be, as much guidance on how to approach the common app essay as possible. Learn what the prompts are, what the most popular one is, and how to use them effectively.

Are the essay prompts 2022-23 different from the Common App essay prompts 2021-22?

The common app essay prompts are here and there are no surprises this year! All of the prompts are exactly the same as last year. There are seven essay topics to choose from. These essay prompts are here to help you navigate a 650-word essay that complies with different topics, tones, styles, and subjects.

What’s new in Common App essay prompts for 2022-23?

The common app college essay plays a vital role in your application process to get into elite and ivy league colleges. As stated before, there are no new prompts this year. The common app essay prompts are as follows:

  • 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.

The common application essay prompts that were most popular according to common app analytics are prompt 7: the choose your own topic, prompt 5: Explain an accomplishment, and coming in third prompt 2: a setback or failure.

The admission officers are finding that these prompts are usually the most common because they can be very relatable topics. Though this is your chance to stand out among the other applicants, so be original with your personal statement.

When you are choosing the new prompt for your personal essay you should consider what will make you stand out. Choosing the most popular prompt is less likely for you to impress the admissions committee. Go through the common app prompts and choose the best one for you based on your life experiences.

All 2022-2033 class college essay prompts in Common App

Now we’re going to go through the college application essay prompts and answer common app essay questions you may have. Our goal is to give you the additional information that you are looking for.

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.

This prompt offers an opportunity to engage with your favorite extracurricular or academic subject, and it allows you to weave a narrative that displays personal growth in that area. An essay that displays your personality and a unique interest can be attention-grabbing.

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?

This prompt lends itself to consideration of what facets of your personality allow you to overcome adversity. While it’s okay to choose a relatively mundane “failure” such as not winning an award, another (perhaps more powerful) tactic is to write about a foundational failure and assess its impact on your development thereafter.

Prompt 3: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

This prompt is the hardest one to answer because most high schoolers haven’t participated in the types of iconoclastic protests against societal ills that turn themselves to an awe-inspiring response.

An alternative here could be to discuss a time that you went against social norms, whether it was by becoming friends with someone who seemed like an outcast or by proudly showing off a geeky passion.

Prompt 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?

While this prompt may seem to be asking a simple question, your answer has the potential to provide deep insights into who you are to the admissions committee. Explaining what you are grateful for can show them your culture, your community, your philosophical outlook on the world, and what makes you agitated.

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

This prompt is expansive in that you can choose any accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked personal growth or new understanding. A fairly simple prompt that you have the chance to make your own and impress the college admissions officers.

Prompt 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?

This prompt is great if you want to expand and deepen a seemingly small or simple idea, topic, or concept. For example, you could talk about trees. Maybe you grew up in the country or would always go to the park. This can translate to a deeper meaning, your love for nature grows and you end up wanting to be an environmental biologist.

Prompt 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.

This prompt allows you to express what you want to express if it doesn’t align directly with the other prompts. While this prompt is very open-ended, it doesn’t mean you can adapt any essay you’ve written and think it will suffice. Make sure to do some brainstorming and incorporate an out-of-the-box essay that will help you stand out.

How many Common App essays are required?

When you use the common app, you only have to write one essay based on the prompts above and it will qualify for all the colleges that are associated with the app. This will be most of the colleges that you apply to, but double-check before applying!

What makes a great Common App essay?

The best way to make your essay great is to ensure that you are making a deep personal connection. Think about the people who will be reading your essay; These college admission officers are reading hundreds of essays so make sure yours is the one that stands out. If they feel connected to your essay, you are most likely going to get accepted.

Key takeaways about answering the Common App questions

Now that you know the common app essay prompts are the same as last year, you can conduct proper research to make yours the best one yet. Remember to stay personal and original within your writing and follow our other essay tips to help you out.

Need professional college application essay help? Contact Prepory

Our college admissions experts are here to guide you from where you are to where you should be. Through our comprehensive curriculum, individualized coaching, and online workshops, you are set for success as soon as you connect with us.

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FAQs

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Senior year of high school is a very bittersweet time for students. They stand on the crossroad of what they have known their whole life and the life that is ahead of them. Your child might be under a lot of pressure to make such a grand choice, especially amidst years of teen angst. 

It’s very easy to agitate them with too many questions and requests, therefore as a parent, it feels like you need to tiptoe around them. However, this does not mean that you have to remove yourself from their decision-making. Instead, involve yourself in a way that is encouraging and guide them through the process of going to college. The following list outlines 5 things you can do as a parent to encourage your child as they’re looking to apply to college:

01

1. Look up colleges, programs, and scholarships that your child might be interested in.

With high school’s already existing deadlines and research tasks, there is pressure on your child to continue excelling in school while starting their college applications.

It would be a sign of appreciation and care for you to involve yourself in this research. Look into programs and schools they might like. This will shorten the time they spend looking for those things and reduce stress. This act of kindness also shows that you care about them and the journey they are about to embark on. It shows them that you know them and that you are receptive to their wants and needs. 

Financing for school is also a huge issue nowadays as immense college debts keep racking up. Help your child out by looking at potential scholarships they are eligible to apply for. 

In the realm of helping and knowing your child, you can also get them excited about applying to college by helping them write the personal statement essay. College essays are curated to be extremely personal and telling of character. Help your child by guiding them through what aspects of their personalities should be framed in this essay or remind them of instances in their life that are worth telling.

02

Create a weekly meeting to discuss college applications

One of the most stressful high school instances is during the pre-college application deadlines when there is a constant buzz of college talk. Your child might feel under pressure and will most likely feel like their home is a safety zone where they can get away from all the college jargon. They have had enough of talking about college with their teacher, counselors, and friends, therefore it is reasonable as to why they get irritated when a parent asks them about a college application. 

It’s understandable to not want to be left in the dark, so the best way to solve this issue is to have weekly family meetings to discuss college. During this allotted weekly time, you and your child can talk about what they have been working on and how their application is going. You can also give your inputs and assess their deadlines and how they are doing in order to achieve them. 

Doing this will also help reduce your child’s stress because they know they won’t be harassed about college on any other day in the week. Use this time to present the college research you’ve done. 

03

Get additional help

Sometimes teenagers might be overwhelmed with how much work they have to do in order to apply for college. They might even already be drowning in school work. It would be beneficial for some children to hire additional help. This would make it seem less overwhelming as they have someone to guide them through the whole application process and help them break down major objectives into several tangible targets they can work on together. 

It can also be beneficial for someone to review the essays and supplements that your student will need to write to make sure they are submitting the best work to their abilities. Working with a college counselor will also prepare them for what is to come, as these counselors are trained to answer all the questions your student might have about applications. It can also be beneficial for parents because a lot of time, these services will update the parents on the students’ work and efforts, making them more aware of how the process is going for them. 

Assess your students’ needs and determine if the additional help might be beneficial to them. 

04

Discuss their options

No one is the same and there is not one specific path to success for everyone. It’s important to keep an open mind for your child during this whole process. Discuss their options with them and let them be aware that you support them no matter what route they want to take in life. They may prefer to take a gap year or semester in order to gain worldly experience by traveling or stack up some money by working in a local store. Especially given this time and COVID-19, it is important to remember that flexibility is key in good parenting. 

Moreover, assess what your child is good at and encourage them to pursue careers that you think they would enjoy. Help guide them into choosing the right degree path for them. Giving them freedom will allow for them to feel more in control and in general, increase their drive, as they don’t feel like what they are going after is something forced. 

05

Reinforce their sense of achievement

Remind them of their abilities and capabilities. This is why there’s an insecurity plague amongst teenagers nowadays. It is important for them to feel nurturing from their parents and be able to fall back to their parents as a source of motivation. If you encourage your kid to keep attempting and keep going, they will feel encouraged during the college admission process. It will help them gain confidence and value themselves and their work highly. 

This could open doors for them that were blocked before from the struggles of insecurity.  It will encourage them to make even more grand acts like this and keep their morale up during the trying times of college applications. 

The last year of high school means that a lot of change is going to fall upon your teenager. They should be encouraged to spend their last moments with friends and family. It is important for parents to help pave the path for their children’s future. By working on this together and having patience with your child, the pressure on them will hopefully reduce leaving more space for them to feel excited and look forward to this new stage of their lives. Motivate your teen to go to college by being open-minded and nurturing to them. Understand they are already under a lot of pressure and embark on this journey with them. 

Here are some resources to help you further understand the college application process better and how the admissions process works.