Common App essay highlights the personal background of the applicant and connects the admissions committee with you. The essay is a mandatory requirement while applying to universities in the USA, Canada, China, Japan and several European countries via Common App online portal.
The common Application essay must be written within 650 words. Common App essay comprises 7 prompts from which you are supposed to pick one. These essay prompts vary every year. This is a chance for applicants to show their real self in front of the admissions committee.
Common Application essays are read by countless universities and colleges. So you should make your essay dynamic according to the requirements of the majority of universities. You need to keep your essay precise and to the point.
Looking for a Common App Essay Samples, Click here:
Structure and Tips for Writing a Common App Essay
The three simple approaches to a great Common Application essay are:
- Brainstorm (build, and collect ideas)
- Get your act together (organise and structure those ideas)
- Write. Edit. (Present those ideas efficiently)
Brainstorming
It is very important to write an essay that is close to your heart and that will engage the admissions committee throughout while reading it. One way of understanding what topic you should write on is to start questioning yourself as a part of building ideas. Ask yourself:
- Who are you?
- What are your greatest strengths?
- What makes you different from others?
- What incident changed your life and will forever remain in your heart?
- What is important to you?
Getting your Act for Common App Essay Together
Be as creative as possible and structure your ideas in such a way that the readers will be attentive and entertained throughout reading the essay. Arrange your sentences in an appropriate manner and express yourself clearly. Structure all your puzzled and scattered ideas and make them fall into place by highlighting major plots and sidelining the others.
For example: suppose you had a tragic car accident which made you realise the value of living. Describe it in a way that the readers can feel your pain through your writing and understand your grief. Remember it’s a personal story and you need to bring out your real emotions and execute the essay.
Writing and Editing the Common App Essay
After building and structuring your ideas, it is time to express your raw emotions through your writing. Don’t edit and write at the same time. Wait until the end to edit the essay otherwise you will get confused. The following tips will help you write a great Common Application essay.
- Don’t use fancy words. Make sure your essay is easy to read and understand.
- Keep it simple and effective
- Avoid clichés. Don’t use unnecessary quotes.
- Use specific examples from real life to support statements
Keep your essay limited to 650 words. Revise the draft of the essay numerous times. Edit and proofread yourself and proofread from your friends, teachers again.
Choosing on the Right Prompt
- Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, please share your story.
This prompt allows students to open more in terms of their individual identities, backgrounds, cultures that they come from, along with individual talents. This gives the university an overall idea of the student’s family, values, and individuality as a whole. - 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?
The second prompt is quite transparent in terms of overcoming failures and challenges in an individual’s life. Applicants can take a lot of ways to answer this prompt, and thereby open up a lot of themselves as well. - Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
This prompts applicants to talk, yet again, about themselves in the real world. Beliefs or ideas are something that is very individualistic, and therefore this prompt asks applicants to answer in a similar manner. - 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 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.
There are a lot of ways to answer this particular prompt, which has been newly added in the Common App essay for the year 2021. This one wants applicants to keep kindness and gratitude in their minds when applying for the admission procedure. - Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Growth is talked about a lot these days and therefore has become an important parameter to judge an individual. Applicants can very easily answer the fifth prompt and help the universities understand them in a manner that reflects their own achievements, and growth. - Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging it makes you lose track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
The world is an oyster proves right for the sixth prompt, which enables students to talk about their interests, which can be myriad! The most important part of answering this prompt is to also be equally intellectual. - 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 last prompt helps applicants to be as imaginative as they want, literally giving them the freedom to express themselves as free birds. This prompt, on the other hand, can also be very tricky to choose!
Steps to Pursue a Prompt
After choosing the right prompt, applicants can follow these steps to plan and complete the Common App essay:
- Before attempting the prompt, it is very much essential to brainstorm on the instances, anecdotes, stories, tone, and what not. Applicants can jot everything down for the starters.
- Too much information can also be a very big disaster, and so it is very important to organise and declutter all the irrelevant information.
- Writing down the essay is the final step, which can be followed by editing and thereby proofreading.
Things to keep in mind while answering a prompt: Writing an engaging essay is not as easy as it seems, the Common App essay is so powerful that it might take the application to heights unimaginable, and therefore there are certain tips that are crucial for writing the Common Application essay:
- Try to be specific and to-the point throughout the essay
- Always choose active voice and not passive voice
- Never tell about a situation, always show instances
- Add work experience, co-curricular, leadership and entrepreneurial activities
- Write a 950 word essay and cut it down to 650 words
- Revise your drafts as if checking someone else’s drafts
Common App Essay Samples and Instances
Let us now share some instances and samples that can be really helpful for international students pursuing the Common Application essay:
- Some powerful starting lines
Some of the powerful starting lines that have been world famous look something like:
“ I almost didn't live through September 2001”
“ I have a secret,..” - Start with a distinct and unique story using imagery
“I sat on a cliff, imagining my life. How would it look, free as a bird? I say to myself, ``or busy as a bee? The bustling city lights again ring down my ears, am I trapped somewhere?” - Express real feelings and talk about real life instances
Applicants can discuss about real life problems that they are facing:
“ I was baffled when I saw my mother still, pale, and numb. I knew I had to do something to keep her alive. Pursuing a career in neurosciences wasn't always a dream I wished to come alive, yet it has become of utmost importance.”
Given below are some Common App essay samples.
Common App Essay Sample 1
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When I was a little girl, I wasn't so sure of what those little coloured sticks were, “some kind of painting pens” I had thought. Little did I know I would be using those sticks to paint my own world some day. I started loving make up as soon as I realised it could do wonders to not just faces, but lives. A K-drama fan, it never occurred to me that the drama, “True beauty” had the power to change my life. Leaving behind scars, both mental and physical, and living a life without caring about what others say, was the most empowering learning for me. Inspired by the protagonist in the dramas, I knew my story was just so similar, and I had to take my life’s steering wheel in my own hands, without thinking what others would say. I hate people who bully, for I have been bullied in the past, makeup for me, at that time was liberating. I could feel people looking at me in awe, I felt “wanted”. I loved that sort of attention, along with the good grades of course. One day i went to my teacher, and i told her i want to pursue makeup as my career, she was reluctant at first, “Are you sure?”, she asked me. A discipline not related to science, is definitely not easily chosen by Indian high school students, and for me to choose it at a very young age, and be so sure about it, was even a shock to not just her, but also my parents. My parents, though were very supportive for me to choose this path, maybe they knew I would succeed. Coming to the answering question, makeup is what I find the most captivating, as it liberates me, it makes me who I am, makes me want to fly in the sky which is above all. Most importantly, it makes me free, and makes me want to live all the dreams that I want to. And therefore, I want to learn more about this discipline in a more technical manner. I want to go deep, and create something no one has created, and achieve a myriad of unimaginable milestones. |
Common App Essay Sample 2
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My aim in applying for this undergraduate program is to become one of the best Pediatricians in the future. I have found myself to be entirely mesmerized by the medical field since I was a child coupled with my strong desire to always look after the wellbeing of others. I love Chemistry, Biology, and other subjects that are related to the medical field. This zeal has also been fueled by my overwhelming desire of working in the medical field alongside the curiosity of knowing in full detail, the way the human body works. I realized my dream of being not just a medical doctor but a Pediatrician when I was younger. As the eldest child in a family of five, I have always been 'burdened' with the duty of taking care of my younger ones more often than I thought was necessary. However, I had no slightest idea that this seemingly uninteresting task, will one day metamorphose into a life goal. As time went on, I became more concerned with taking care of my siblings and I was so good at it that neighbors often brought their toddlers for me to babysit during the holidays. As the years grew by, I developed my caring abilities, as I learned the simple actions and some easy medical techniques in taking care of babies and younger ones. I believe my strong desire to become a Pediatrician was born out of this childhood activity and this desire has only grown stronger every day. I have completed Biology at A-level as well as obtain my A-grades in my final year results in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. I am a Nigerian who attended Princes Hugh School and graduated with the best result from my class. I won the award for the best Science fair quiz competition last year where I greatly excelled in Biology and Chemistry. I once had a challenge when we went for an excursion at the Legacy Mother and Child Hospital in Lagos State, and we were asked by a nurse who was our guide, why rooms at children's hospitals are decorated with colors and toys. I thought hard for a moment and I gave the correct answer. This was quite easy for me because when I was younger, I was always asked to either sing or play with children to make them happy, distract them, or do things that align with their playful and cheerful nature. More so, one of my aunties is a nurse. Whenever she comes visiting, I spend most of the time asking her questions about how the human body operates, how drugs are administered, the importance of each form of drug administration, the importance of each mode of drug application, etc. I always lose track of time whenever I read blogs about childcare, antenatal, postnatal, and children's health. I find them intriguing and engaging and all these are backed up by my love for children too. As an individual, I see myself as one who is friendly, committed, calm, enduring, and caring. These qualities have helped me to discover my goal and purpose and urged me forward in actualizing them. I have faced several medical-related challenges in my life so far, and in all of them, I have been able to scale through because I have always relied on my instincts and childhood experiences in dealing with children and the human body. These occurrences, my relative successes with them, along with my academic prowess in Biology and Chemistry have proven to me that I am meant for this field and I would be glad if my application is considered. Best regards Paul Nathaniel |
FAQs
Ques. How to impress the admissions committee by your Common App essay?
Ans. The Common App essay must be deeply personal and should include some significant event of your personal life, that event might be an achievement, tragedy, difficulty, success etc.
Ques. What are the best tips to write a good Common App essay?
Ans. Tips to write a good Common App essay are:
- Plan from beforehand and collect your ideas
- Structure those ideas into a story
- Frame those ideas and start penning down
Ques. What do universities look for in an applicant’s Common Application essay?
Ans. Universities look for unique stories in the common app essay that will help them understand the candidate beyond his test scores, grades and academic qualifications. The candidate should write about his personal background and stories that had a great impact in his life.
Ques. Should I include it in my common app essay?
Ans. Include your personal story depending upon the prompts you choose. The prompts will give direction to your writing and will help you write significant details rather than unnecessary ones.
Ques. How will a common app essay help me in the admission process?
Ans. A common app essay can influence the admissions committee decision and increase your chances of getting accepted in the university of your choice. It connects the committee with you and your life and gives them a wonderful chance to know you besides your test scores, grades and other academic experiences.
Ques. How to make my common app essay unique?
Ans. The only way to make your common application essay unique and stand out is to write intimate details about your life and present it in a unique way. Don’t write cliché stories, write stories that are close to your heart and you feel that it needs to be told.
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