In continuation of our common app essay series, we’re diving into the fifth prompt. Most prompts fall firmly into one of two camps: absolutely not or maybe. This prompt started as a hard maybe for us, and then ended in the “Thank U, Next” camp after we did some internal brainstorming. Keep reading for our thoughts:
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
The phrasing of this question is not great. The first problem is the mention of the word accomplishment, which is a bit of a trap. If you’ve accomplished something, and we’re sure that you have, it will more than likely be listed in your activities section. And it should definitely be written about in your specific college supplements. So, avoid accomplishments here. We get that you’ve worked hard, but there’s a place to brag, and your common app essay is not that space.
A second problem: a lot of our TKG clients come to us and say that they would like to respond to this prompt. And more often than not, they want to write about their experience as a freshman at a new high school. This is not a singular experience, in fact, it’s something that most people definitely went through. College admissions officers don’t really want to read about what it was like being the new kid on the block. So, let’s avoid that too.
We sat down and tried to think about what we might write for this prompt, and we had issues. If you did too, we feel you. The third issue with this prompt is that it screams “write about trauma!” If you’ve experienced extenuating circumstances, we’re very sorry. If you feel that your college application cannot be properly evaluated without explaining what you’ve gone through, you should write a separate essay in the additional information section of the common app website. But ultimately, you are not your trauma, or your illness, or your extenuating circumstance. And you should use your common app essay to explain one aspect of your personality by telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
When our clients want to go with this prompt, we ask them about the event or realization that they want to write about. Was it a conversation with a friend, a big move, or the reading of a book that allowed you to see things from another standpoint? If something like this comes to mind, we urge you to keep that in mind and respond to prompt #7. We’ll be writing a guide on how to respond to that prompt soon, so write down your ideas and come back. There are far better prompts to answer than this one, and half the battle is deciding when to ditch a prompt and find one that fits. Stay tuned!
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