New Common Application Essay Questions (as of 8/1/13)

March 8, 2013. On August 1, 2013, students entering their senior year of high school will be able to download a new Common Application form here.

There will be MAJOR changes in the essay prompts from the previous application.  Gone is the prompt,  “Topic of your choice,” to be replaced by a number of new prompts. Also, the upper limit of word length has been raised to 650 words.

Upcoming Essay Coaching Classes listed here will cover writing essays for these new prompts.

NEW COMMON APPLICATION PROMPTS—BEGINNING AUGUST 1, 2013

Instructions.

The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don’t feel obligated to do so. (The application won’t accept a response shorter than 250 words.)

1. 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
2. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again
4. Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content.What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Read the complete announcement on the new Common Application questions here.

Need more assistance with writing an essay for graduate school, college application, or scholarship? Write debbie@essaycoaching.com or fill out our easy appointment request form. We will set up a phone, email, or Skype appointment with you for a consultation. We work with students in the U.S and internationally, with excellent results.

CURRENT COMMON APPLICATION PROMPTS—UNTIL AUGUST 1, 2013

Please write an essay of 250 – 500 words on a topic of your choice or on one of the options listed below, and attach it to your application before submission. Please indicate your topic by checking the appropriate box. This personal essay helps us become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself. NOTE: Your Common Application essay should be the same for all colleges. Do not customize it in any way for individual colleges. Colleges that want customized essay responses will ask for them on a supplement form.

1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.
6. Topic of your choice.