Common Application Prompts: The Ultimate Breakdown

The Common Application's personal statement is often the deciding factor between candidates with similar test scores, grades, and extracurriculars: but what makes a candidate's college essay stand out? In this video, we walk you through the seven Common App prompts, explaining what each question is really asking and providing helpful tips on what admissions is really looking for in response. Find the prompts below!
Prompt 1: 0:19
Prompt 2: 2:11
Prompt 3: 4:26
Prompt 4: 5:37
Prompt 5: 7:11
Prompt 6: 9:21
Prompt 7: 11:23
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The Common Application 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. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
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.

[@pitarahm4181]

Excellent breakdown of the topics. Your presentation is clear, logical and lively. This video gives me new ideas and inspiration to share with students who come to me for help with their admission essays.

[@zachariahjohn6972]

This was a huge help!!!

[@labinatasfia624]

If i choose prompt #5... can i write about how i always thought that I was not good enough. And how it affected my life... but then I started to try new things out of curiosity and found that I was actually really good at certain things and how it helped me become more selfconfident and helped me to better understand my talents and also my limitations. And how this changed not only my view towards myself, but others as well?

[@mariamabbas8566]

Did u write it?

[@labinatasfia624]

I tried, but i didnt write it exactly like that in the end. Instead i used the free prompt and wrote how my love for solving puzzles had taught me to Face various challenges that had broken me and helped me rebuild my life, better than before

[@sandeshlamichhane2060]

@@labinatasfia624 can you send me what you wrote please

[@labinatasfia624]

Sure ig.

[@sandeshlamichhane2060]

@@labinatasfia624 sandesh.lamichhane8