Common App Essay Resources
by Kathleen M.
The Common App refreshes on August 1, and it is time to review the personal essay prompts for the 2024-25 year. The news shouldn’t come as a surprise that the topics will remain the same as last year. Now is the time to dig in and think about each of the options and make a plan for your Common App Essay!
The IvyBoost Blog is loaded with resources on how to write about each of the prompts:
Prompt 1: Share Your Story
Prompt 2: Learning From Obstacles
Prompt 3: Challenging a Belief
Prompt 4: Gratitude
Prompt 5: Personal Growth
Prompt 6: What Captivates You
Prompt 7: Your Choice
Once you read through the prompts, decide on the one/s that apply best to your story, and read the helpful blog posts, it is time to make a plan. You have your personal collection of resources: your activities sheet, your resume, your transcript, and your brainstorming work. Now it is time to plan the essay.
A Common App Essay should be:
- a personal story about you
- show new information
- up to 650 words as a wordcount limit
- and focused on a value.
Select a value that sets you apart and list possible examples of how you fulfill or define that value. Consider writing an outline that describes how you will proceed from point to point in your essay, or writing a descriptive outline which allows you to express what you want each part of your essay to do.
Either way, as you collect information, plan and begin to write, remember that you are trying to showcase the individual sense of who you are and what makes you you! You are amazing – show the admissions team that by producing an essay version of who you are. This won’t be easy, but it also won’t be the most difficult thing you have ever done.
Let’s get started on those essays and applications and celebrate the real you!
