Common App Essay Questions — Application Prompts Examples (2023)

FAQs

Is 500 words enough for Common App essay? ›

The Common App essay word count range is 250-650 words. But just how long should your statement be? Admissions Blog advises aiming for around 500 words.

An effective response to this prompt should briefly discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization. The majority of the essay should focus on how you learned and grew as a result. The event described in this essay can be big or small, and sometimes the smaller events result in essays that are unique and surprising.

The time has come. The Common App essay prompts for 2022-23 have been released and—spoiler alert—they're exactly the same as last year's! 2022-23 college applicants, like those who came before them, will have seven (that's right, seven) essay prompts to choose from.

If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to. However, most college essays have pretty tight word limits anyways.

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit. If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words. You should aim to stay under the specified limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely.

The common app essay prompts mostly stay the same year-to-year, with one or two new options every couple of years. However, these prompts have already been released for the 21-22 admissions cycle ( https://www.commonapp.org/blog/2021-2022-common-app-essay-prompts ), so you can go ahead and start drafting that essay!

The traditional college application essay usually requires an open-ended personal statement in response to broad or general prompts that might have you share a story, reflect on an event, or discuss a topic.

How many Common App essays do students need to respond to? ›

Write only one essay (plus any supplements).

You'll submit one essay through the Common Application for all your schools. Some colleges may ask you to also answer a few supplemental questions.

Even a topic that seems clichéd — for instance, a book you read, a friendship you made, or a memorable moment with your family — can make for an excellent essay topic that shows off your communication skills as well as the personal qualities that colleges like to see.

What is a prompt? A prompt consists of 1-3 sentences raising an issue, or asking a question that you will have to respond to in an essay. Most prompts are given out by your teacher as part of timed exams or as essay prompts for an assignment.

How Many Paragraphs Is 650 Words? 650 words is about 3.25-6.5 paragraphs for essays or 6-13 for easier reading (to allow skimming). A paragraph length typically has 100-200 words and 5-6 sentences.

Writing too much will likely result in your essay being cut off, and writing too little may cause readers to think that you aren't truly interested in their school. If no range is given, remember to stick to 400-600 words. This will give you enough space to demonstrate your interest and help readers learn about you!

Being over the word limit on your college essay is a great problem to have. All writing requires revision, and almost all revision entails condensing.

You've got the people who always go over the word count, and the people who can't get anywhere near it. Many universities apply a kind of 'penalty' if either of these happens. A pretty common one is your mark will be reduced by 10% if you're 10% over or under the word limit.

I doubt that with essays which aren't submitted electronically, tutors actually check the word count on every essay, but if they've got a reasonable amount of experience marking coursework, they'll have a fairly accurate sense of how many pages a 4,000-word essay should have.

Professors do count words for the essay. But, they don't do it manually. Instead, they use a free word counter that does all the work for them. Besides, most of the professors usually allow exceeding the number of words by 10%.

How long should it take to write a college essay? ›

While timelines will differ depending on the student, plan on spending at least 1–3 weeks brainstorming and writing the first draft of your college admissions essay, and at least 2–4 weeks revising across multiple drafts. Don't forget to save enough time for breaks between each writing and editing stage.

Don't be afraid that colleges will pay less attention to The Common App than their own application—they won't. So if you have two or more Common App colleges on your list, use it! [Get help with finding the right school.] A: The Common App facilitates the college application process.

Not necessarily. The majority of the essays are asking for how you responded to a personal experience. One's major may or may not be tied to that experience. In addition, you might be undecided about your future, or, you realize that you, like so many, have many interests.

A reader should be able to learn about at least some of the following: your passions, feelings, perspectives, values, your defeats and/or accomplishments. College essays should also demonstrate your ability to think and organize your thoughts. Above all… make sure you choose a topic you care about.

It is okay to write about mental illness and Depression in your college essay as long as it proves that you're a suitable student. Thus, you should be asking yourself, “how does my experience with mental illness or Depression make me a strong candidate?”

A standout college essay has several key ingredients: A unique, personally meaningful topic. A memorable introduction with vivid imagery or an intriguing hook. Specific stories and language that show instead of telling.

Do colleges check where parents went to college? ›

For example, if you are using The Common Application, the "Family" section of the application will ask you about the education level of your parents and siblings. If you indicate that your parents or siblings attended college, you'll be asked to identify the schools.

Con: It's Easy to Overdo It. While over 700 institutions accept the Common App, it doesn't mean you should apply to all of them. It's easy to forget this though and get caught up in the ease of applying to several schools at once.

The first step to acing the Common App is to fill out the personal information section as soon as possible. It sounds simple, but all college applications require the same details such as name, address, high school, parental information (employment and education), and extracurricular activities.

Poor Presentation & Proofreading

One of the most common mistakes students make when writing their college essays is failing to reread their writing. Looking out for basic spelling and grammatical errors and having someone else read it is one of the best ways to notice mistakes.

Yes, every college essay is read if the college has asked for it (and often even if they did not ask for it). The number of readers depends on the college's review process.

Write down everything that you can think of about yourself: your hobbies, your interests, things you've done, lessons you've particularly enjoyed, books you've read...all that stuff. Don't filter anything at this stage – just write it all down whether it seems immediately relevant or not.

Open-ended prompts can serve as a guide to probe students' thinking and direct their Attention to specific elements in a text. Questions like "Who is the ideal audience?", "Where does this text come from?", and "Who gets to speak and who doesn't?" focus on the purpose, author, and voices in the texts.

Connect your primary text to a secondary text.

Instead of trying to grapple with the myriad topic possibilities within your primary text, add a second text to the mix. Now all you have to do is read through a few journals and find a topic that seems interesting to you.

What is a good topic for a college essay? ›

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time.

500-word essays do not have to be exactly 500 words, but they should be as close as possible. The essay prompt may say “in under 500 words” or “in at least 500 words,” which would state whether 500 is the minimum or maximum word count.

Let's define our terms: Personal statement (PS): When people refer to the personal statement, they're talking about the 650-word Common Application Essay, which all schools using the Common App will see.

The online application won't accept essays that are below 250 words or over 650 words. Your essay must stay within the word count limit. So what should you aim for? The ideal word count for your Common App essay is between 500 and 650 words.

Answer: 500 words is 1 page single spaced or 2 pages double spaced.

The Common App specifies the word limit required for each essay. Even though this has changed over the years–from 650 to 500 words in the past–the current Common App essay word count is somewhere between 250 to 650 words.

As part of the college application process, colleges ask prospective students for a personal essay in order to learn more about them. They want to see context on each student's background, positive traits that the student could bring to campus, and examples of the student demonstrating those qualities.

You don't need a title for your college admissions essay, but you can include one if you think it adds something important.

How much is too much for a college essay? ›

Therefore, it may be stressful if you are applying to such a college since this leaves you with so many options. Having said that, a good thumb of rule is to restrict your essay to a 500-700 word limit.

While timelines will differ depending on the student, plan on spending at least 1–3 weeks brainstorming and writing the first draft of your college admissions essay, and at least 2–4 weeks revising across multiple drafts. Don't forget to save enough time for breaks between each writing and editing stage.

You've got the people who always go over the word count, and the people who can't get anywhere near it. Many universities apply a kind of 'penalty' if either of these happens. A pretty common one is your mark will be reduced by 10% if you're 10% over or under the word limit.

You should be able to write a one thousand word essay in 1 hour to 2 hours instead of 3 hours to 4 hours. To give some perspective on how long it should take a beginner to write an essay, here are some metrics you can use to keep track of how you're improving.

Quick Answer: For an average typer working on an easy project, it takes about 30 minutes to write 500 words. For them to complete a difficult project, it can take up to 5 hours to write 500 words.

It will take approximately 233 minutes to read 70,000 words. A 70,000 word count will create about 140 pages with single spacing or 280 pages double-spaced when using normal 1-inch margins, 12 pt. Arial font, and a standard A4 (letter size) page size.

Your essay must not be longer than 650 words, but it can be shorter. Anything over 500 words is fine, as long as your essay is thoughtful and complete. If your essay is running short, add relevant details and descriptions that help the reader get a better glimpse of the situation and your personality.