Caroline Koppelman
Why This College Essay Question Guide and ...

Why do you want to go to school here? If there’s one prompt you are certain to write more than once, it’s this one. This prompt comes in a few different flavors, but at the end of the day, they all want to know why their school is the perfect school for you and why you’re the perfect student for them. No pressure or anything.

Caroline Koppelman
Official Common App Essay Guide 2024-2025

We’ve spent the last few weeks breaking down the Common App essay prompt by prompt, and today we’re going to give you our ultimate guide to writing the Common App essay. There might be seven different prompts, but ultimately, all schools want the same thing from their applicants’ Common App essays: a story.

Caroline Koppelman
Rejected Early Decision from Columbia 2023

Getting a rejection in the Early Decision round is definitely not easy. But the good news is, it’s really just the start, and that one rejection has no bearing on how you’re going to do with other, similarly competitive schools. The thing about Early Decision is it comes alone and it comes first. It’s sometimes easier to tolerate a rejection when it’s preceded by several acceptance letters. College admissions are extraordinarily competitive these days and the Ivies are just more competitive than any other time or place in history. That’s it. It doesn’t get harder. And Columbia in particular has just a 4% acceptance rate! So, if you’ve been rejected in the Early Decision round, don’t despair. We have some advice about how you might go forward. (And don’t worry, it’s really not that much more work!)

Caroline Koppelman
Deferred by Harvard — Now What? (2023-24)

If you’ve been deferred by Harvard, you are not alone. Harvard is notorious at this point for deferring an enormous percentage of early admission applicants. While most elite colleges with early admissions programs, like early decision and early action, only defer students they are seriously considering for the next freshman class, the statistics Harvard has released on early admission suggest that they take a very different approach.

Caroline Koppelman
Writing the “Why This College” Essay

Even though every college has slightly different supplementary application materials, you’ll likely run into a variation of one question more than any other: “Why do you want to attend this school in particular?” It’s every institution’s way of saying, Let’s cut to the chase. Why us?

common app

Common App Essay Prompt 6 Example and Guide 2024-2025

We’re almost through our series on all seven Common App essay prompts, and today we’re talking about Prompt #6. A sleeper hit prompt, we actually really love this one. As you all probably are well aware by now, our favorite prompt is always #7, but we know that a lot of students really value having the structure a traditional prompt offers them. If this prompt is right for you, we think it’s a great one to write.

Common App Essay Prompt 5 Example and Guide 2024-2025

As the summer continues, so does our series on various prompts of the Common App essay. If you’ve spent any time on our blog, you’re probably aware that we’re huge prompt #7 fans—aka, write an essay of your own design, but we know not all students are ready to embrace a structureless prompt. So today, we’re going to give you our takes on prompt #5, and give you some tips and tricks on how to write it.

Common App Essay Prompt 4 Example and Guide 2024-2025

We're continuing our dive deep into each of the seven Common App essay prompts and guiding you on how to brainstorm, write, and perfect your Common App essay. As you may know by now, we don’t follow the conventional college essay-writing rules, so what you’ll find here might be fairly different from other advice you’ve seen. But trust us, our methods get results! Today, we’re talking about the newest (albeit, like three years old) Common App prompt, Prompt #4.

Common App Essay Prompt 3 Example and Guide 2024-2025

We’re back with another post in our series decoding and exploring each prompt in the Common App, and this time we’re tackling prompt #3. Honestly, we’ve typed the word prompt so much it’s lost all it’s meaning, but we press on. Here at TKG, we are huge prompt #7 people (aka, write an essay of your own design) because we love that you can do so much with it. But, we know some students don’t love something so unstructured. Prompt #3 might be a good option for you, but we have some caveats to mention.

Best Common App Essay about a Job

We have many rules of thumb when it comes to writing an excellent Common App essay. That’s because we take all of our clients’ writing—every word that they put on an application—very seriously. College admissions have gotten to be incredibly competitive, verging on absurd. And whether or not you think it’s morally correct that it’s so hard to get into an elite school these days, if that’s where you want to go, you have to stand out above thousands of other qualified applicants.

How to Write the COVID-19 Section of the Common App

As you all know very well, “post-pandemic” refers to the world in the wake of COVID-19 (not a world rid of it). Yes, we’re better equipped to prevent infection, mitigate spread, and treat corona, but the virus is still circulating. Beyond that, the pandemic stopped our old status quo in its tracks and interrupted schools globally, changing — if not entirely suspending — academic development in tandem with extreme social and emotional upheaval.

How to Write A Unique Activities Section for the Common App

It’s time to talk about everyone’s least favorite and most annoying part of the Common App: the activities section. Why is it annoying? Well, first of all, they give you extremely limited space to talk about your extracurriculars. We’re talking less than half a tweet’s worth. Well, only if you’re a regular Twitter user and you don’t give Elon $8 a month, because then it’s like 1/100th of a tweet.

What Goes in the Additional Information Section of the Common App?

There are 24 subsections of the Common App, not including the dozens of other ones within the specific college apps themselves. Thankfully, most of them are straightforward, like activities, grades, testing, demographic data, etc. However, there is one section that seems to trip up even the most resolute high-achieving high school student: the additional information section.

What Is the Activities Section (Supplement) of the Common App?

The Activities section of the Common App is deceivingly straightforward. It asks you to report 10 activities (arts, athletics, clubs, employment, personal commitments, and other pursuits) that are of importance to you. Of course you’re going to report everything that you’ve been up to for the last 3 and change years. This is not optional. Students and parents alike struggle with the activities supplement because you have to condense your activities into a few short sentences and rank them in terms of importance. Fear not. We’re here to help.

How to Write the Common App Essay Prompt #1, 2021-2022

The 2021-2022 college application season is upon us, and we’re here with a series about how to approach and answer all seven of the common app essay prompts. At times, we will suggest things that seem difficult. We’ll write about things that don’t align with what you might have read on the internet. We’ll also let you know when we think it’s best you skip a prompt. We’ve gathered quite a few tips and tricks over the years, and we want to help our blog readers write essays that work. Let’s dive into the first prompt:

Tips for Editing Your Common App Essay

Have you been working on your Common App essay for weeks or months now? Are you feeling stuck, like you’ve written everything you’ve wanted to say but there’s no way to wrap it all up, or are you freaking out because it’s 1000 words and you need to get it down to 650? Whatever boat you’re in, don’t fear. Below you’ll find our basic guide to helping you out of a writing and editing rut so that you can finish your essay and send it off feeling confident it is polished and finally done. 

How to Write the Common App Essay Prompt #3, 2019-2020

We’re moving through these prompts in our series on the Common App essay prompts for this 2019-2020 application season. We’re going through every prompt and investigating, contemplating, and analyzing them down for parts. So many words, so little time! So little direction! It’s a lot. We know. That’s why we’re calling it like we see it with each prompt and giving you a bit of wisdom for if (and when) you’re feeling stuck. Here are our thoughts on prompt #3:

How to Write the Common App Essay Prompt #2, 2019-2020

Welcome to our overview of the Common App essay prompts for this 2019-2020 application season. We’re reviewing each prompt, discussing the pros and cons, and deciphering what it’s actually saying. We know that it can get messy and confusing because it’s overwhelming. It’s particularly overwhelming because you know that your personal essay is the most important part of your application. We’re your Google Translate for the Common App. Read on for the ins and outs of Common App prompt #2.