As a college applicant, you must have worked hard through high school, earned good grades, honed your personality through extracurricular activities, and contributed to the community. However, despite doing every bit to create a strong profile, college admissions can get unnerving.
But, here’s a respite for you – the Common Application process!
The process is logical and intended to save your time and effort by providing a medium to apply to the shortlisted colleges in one go. By leveraging the common application process you can present the best version of yourself to the admissions committee and improve your admission odds.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in to understand what exactly is Common Application and then focus on our critical topic of discussion – Common App Essays!
What is Common Application?
Common Application or Common App serves as a single application to more than 1000 colleges including Ivy League schools, and premier universities like California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Stanford, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, and many more.
For the entire list of colleges using Common App, click here.
Through Common App, you need to enter the requisite information for college applications including your name, demographics, extracurricular activities, and the Common App Essay which is synonymous with your personal statement.
Common App Essay is a wonderful opportunity to convey your unique story to the college selection committee and distinguish you from the other applicants.
What Is the Objective of a Common App Essay?
Several colleges and universities go beyond the usual of analyzing an applicant just based on SAT or ACT cut-off scores or other such academic criteria and focus on holistic admissions instead. It implies that these colleges are more interested in assessing the applicant as a person and not just as a career-driven machine.
All the prospective colleges that use Common App will read your essay to understand your background, character, motivation level, and value as a potential student.
So, if you are aiming to make it to your dream school, you need to focus on your grades, extra-curricular activities, entrance exam scores, and also your personal statement.
Common App Essay Prompts
Common App Essay Prompts are connotative factors to help you spark off a phenomenal essay that exudes your vibrant and unique self to make an impact on the college selection committee. These prompts are usually shared on the Common App platform to help you reflect on your life, achievements, and challenges faced and come up with a unique story that is worth sharing with the prospective schools.
There are seven essay prompts suggested by the Common App for the year 2023-2024. For instance, the first prompt is about sharing your story based on your identity, background, or interests that you would want the prospective colleges to read. The second prompt is about sharing your experience and learnings from any significant setback or challenge you faced at some point of time in your life.
To access the list of seven prompts, click here.
Some Dos and Don’ts to Help You Write a Stellar Common App Essay
- Choose a prompt that interests you the most and helps you create a unique story that everyone would like to know.
- Do not write it as a resume of your achievements, experiences, or challenges. Instead, make it look like a narrative that demonstrates your best qualities and values.
- Research and choose a unique topic.
- Avoid cliche topics that talk about your extracurricular activities, your role model, how you dealt with a difficult class or a personal tragedy, or how you became a better person by doing a certain activity, etc.
- While writing the essay, first create an outline, then pour your heart out, and later remove any redundant or irrelevant information to adhere to the word count.
- Make sure that your essay reflects your tone but is free from grammatical or punctuation errors.
- Also, be careful while using humor in the application essay. It might not always be taken in the right spirit.
- Lastly, be creative, unique, and genuine in your efforts to stand out from the crowd and create a lasting impact on the selection committee.
In essence, Common App Essays are as important as your high-school grades, achievements, and entrance exam scores to better your chances to make it to your dream school.
To write an impeccable and impactful essay, it is best you seek proper guidance from reliable study abroad consultants.
LilacBuds is one of the most trusted, and well-known study-abroad consultants who can guide you well to ace this crucial process of writing the Common App Essay. Also, our experienced tutors and mentors can help you prepare for the competitive exams and all the other aspects that are required for the college admission process.
For more details, click here.
