What No One Will Tell You About the Common App Prompts

"When all else is equal between competing applicants, a compelling essay can make the difference. A powerful, well-written essay can also tip the balance for a marginal applicant."

-College Board

This year alone, more than three million students, parents, counselors, and teachers have used the Common App platform to apply to college, explore financial aid and scholarship options, or submit supporting recommendations (2017-2018 Innovations in Common App). The 2017-2018 Common Application platform went live last week, and no doubt, your school counselor will point you to the many musings about the Common App personal essay—what worked, what didn’t, the definition of each prompt, which prompts are better than others, and most importantly, what those admissions officers are looking for in these 650-word expressions of each applicant. However, the one thing they won't share is that the prompts of the Common App don't really matter.

Here’s Why

The essay’s true purpose is to tell admissions officers what they don’t know about you—the applicant—and hear this: something that isn’t represented anywhere else on the application. Rather, the personal essay should reveal something about what makes you unique—your passions, objectives, hobbies, and interests while giving admission officers a glimpse into your personality.  Reading your essay should give admissions officers a taste of what it would be like to have a conversation with you. So, what are you going to give them? What will you offer?

"Begin with the end in mind."

-Stephen Covey 

What’s Next: Ignore the Prompt

Yes, really. At Whitehead Learning Group, we deem this strategy of ignoring the prompt as “Brainstorming Backwards.” And we’re going to tackle this via four simple steps:

1.     Review the Common Application essay prompts to get a general feel for them.

2.     Forget about the prompts. (Truly. Don’t worry—we’ll circle back to them).

3.     Collect your best stories and review your characteristics. What isn’t conveyed in the application already? What pivotal experiences have shaped you into the person you are today? At Whitehead Learning Group, that’ll be our first step during the initial session.

4.     Resurrect those prompts (told you we’d be back) Now, read each prompt with your essay topic in mind.  Select the prompt that most closely aligns the story you aim to tell (narrowed down from Step 3). You’re now telling a story that both portrays you in your best light as well as meets all of the Common App requirements.