What Should My Common App Essay Be About 2020-2021?

Juniors, I remember when I finally sat down as a senior in high school to write my own college essay. I looked over the prompts for the first time ever and was stumped. I had no clue what to write about! “I wish they showed the essay options to me when I was a junior” I thought, that way I would have more time to prepare myself.

So here I am, sharing the Common App Essay prompts with you from now, so that come next September, you already have a pretty good idea about what you plan to write about.

What should my college essay include?

Your college essay is a chance to highlight who you are beyond your grades, test scores, and resume. It’s an opportunity to let your creativity and individuality shine through, and to leverage your voice to fashion your narrative as an applicant and a learner. And it has to be compelling enough to separate you from an ever-growing field of applicants. No pressure, right? 

The 2020-2021 Common App essay prompts have been released, and they are broad enough that you could write about nearly anything. Though writing your college essay may seem overwhelming, we are here to help! 

What are the common app essay prompts?

We’ve broken each of the seven prompts down for you below:

Prompt #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.  

Our best advice? Though the prompt gives you a great deal of flexibility, don’t get too broad. Remember that you only have 650 words! Cramming in your life story won’t make a compelling essay. We suggest that you keep your essay tightly focused and highlight one specific academic or extracurricular interest.  

Prompt #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?

This prompt may definitely seem like a riskier choice than some of the others. Recount your failures? Aren’t you supposed to be selling yourself? The key to answering this prompt successfully is focusing on your growth, and not the challenge itself. You may have heard the popular pedagogical term “growth mindset,” which comes from Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The Psychology of Success. Adopt a growth mindset as you think and write about your challenge, setback, or failure, and explain how you evolved from the experience. 

Prompt #3: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

This is another riskier-seeming prompt. We recommend you make sure you are the central focus of the essay, not the belief or idea you challenged. Your essay is not the time to write a polemic against something or someone you disagree with. Instead, concentrate on your decision making process, your actions, and your results. 

Prompt #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.

 This prompt offers you a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate your academic bent and passion beyond your normal coursework. Did something from a class discussion spur you to read more about a dilemma you studied? Have you had the chance to conduct individual research on a question that captivated you?

Should you choose to answer this prompt, make sure you cover both parts: explain the significance of the problem, and the actions that could help you solve it. 

Prompt #5: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Here’s another prompt about growth! This one is very similar to the prompt about failures, except it allows you to choose from a broader selection of catalysts. If you choose to write this essay, make sure that your growth and your understanding are the locus of the essay. Don’t make it a narrative about the accomplishment or event. Also, make sure your essay is adding something new to your application, and not just reiterating what’s on your activities list. 

Prompt #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?

If you choose this prompt, your concept should be something you’ve tackled outside of your routine coursework. The key here is that you’ve turned somewhere else to learn MORE. If you heard about it in class once, thought it was cool, and forgot about it until now, it’s probably not the topic you should write about. This essay gives you an excellent opportunity to highlight your academic interest, which should be both identifiable and clear throughout your application.

Prompt #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.

 This topic is the broadest of them all. It grants you wide-ranging freedom if what you want to share doesn’t match one of the other six prompts. Just make sure to keep your essay organized, and specific, even though the prompt is sweeping. 

 Take advantage of your time at home to begin thinking about possible essay topics. What’s the story you want to tell? 

Finally, some commonly asked questions:

Question: How many words should my common app essay be? How long should my common app essay be?

You are only allowed 650 words. That means you can write, at a maximum, 4 to 5 paragraphs.

Question: How many common app essays are required?

You are only required to answer 1 essay. Some colleges may ask you to write supplemental essays too.

Not sure which prompt will best showcase you as an applicant and learner? 

Contact Morris at morris@revolutiontutors.me to set up a brainstorming session. Also, keep your eyes peeled for more details on our summer essay writing bootcamp, coming soon!