Common App essays may seem easy, but many students don’t know the best way to write one.

Knowing the tricks to write this essay can boost chances of acceptance significantly.

The Common App refers to the general application that almost every college in America accepts; therefore, writing as well-written an essay as possible can reduce stress when applying to many different universities.

The main point of the essay is to give insight into the applicant, characterizing him or her deeper than the face-level questions the rest of the Common App asks such as demographics and family.

Thus, the most important tip is to be personal; show the admissions department who the applicant truly is.

Common App gives the applicant the choice of one out of seven prompts. Below, each prompt will be listed, explained, and broken down into tips that best show how to attack it.

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.

This prompt is perhaps one of the most personal of the seven, so your answer should be personal.

This prompt requires you to choose something you think your essay will be “incomplete without.” Therefore, you can talk about yourself in ways that simply aren’t possible anywhere else in the application.

Second, write about something unique to you; don’t write about how you think you are smart or funny or anything like that. Talk about that one impressive talent you’ve spent years perfecting or that interest you’ve studied forever. For example, if you have ever placed in a professional yo-yo tournament that you spent years preparing for, include that in this essay, for it’s not every day an admissions counselor reads about that.

Third, choose one very specific thing; don’t write about your whole family lineage or all of your favorite hobbies. Talk about that one interesting fact about your family that sets it apart or where you grew up that made life hard. For example, if you were adopted from another country, talk about how that has impacted you and how you may have struggled with that, for that sets you apart from the rest of the applicant pool.

Overall, the reason you are including this information is to show how a specific part of your identity or past has shaped you.

The college probably won’t care that you know how to yo-yo, but it shows them your work ethic, how you can dedicate significant time and effort to something you love, and how you have mastered a new skill through that. Moreover, including how you were adopted won’t get you pity points; it will show the university admissions department how you can face adversity and mature through overcoming it.

To ace this Common App essay, keep it personal, keep it unique, and keep it specific. After going into detail, be sure to explain how your topic has shaped you.

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 essay prompt accomplishes the same goal as the first prompt; however, it asks about an impediment you have faced in your life, so your answer should focus on one significant event that either changed your life or changed your character.

In this prompt, you are asked to detail an obstacle that Common App implies is “fundamental to later success.” Therefore, you must talk about an event that considerably impacted you.

Second, choose an event based on its impact, not on its inherent significance. You don’t need to talk about how your family member or friend died; it doesn’t need to be a huge event. It just has to have made a huge impact on you. For example, if you once made A-B Honor Roll, you could write about that and how it made you work harder than ever.

Third, just as in the first prompt, choose one, specific event. Don’t talk a little about a bunch of events that may have impacted you; talk in serious detail about one event that left a mark on you. For example, if you were denied entrance to honors English your sophomore year, detail how that humbled you and drove you to strive to make it your junior year, and include if you achieved that goal.

Largely, this Common App essay is to show how you have grown through adversity.

The college you want to get into most likely won’t care that you made A-B Honor Roll, unless it affects your GPA; they want to hear how that changed your mindset. This setback may prompt you to try in school when you previously might not have; therefore, include how it drove you to work harder. Moreover, the university cares less about how you were denied entrance to honors English and more about how that negative reinforcement drove you to excel that year in on-level, striving for that goal of making it into honors.

To ace this Common App essay, choose an event that significantly impacted you, choose an event that may not be inherently significant, and choose one, specific event. Tie it all together by explaining how it changed you for the better.

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

This Common App essay prompt is similar to the previous one in that they want to see maturation and growth; however, in this essay, you should focus on an instance in which you were forced to seriously think about one of your beliefs or a widely agreed upon idea.

In this essay, you are asked to write about a period of growth in the way you think sparked by one instance in which you “questioned or challenged a belief or idea.” Therefore, you must talk about an event that caused you considerable rethinking.

Second, ensure that the majority of your essay is about your rethinking and your eventual decision. You don’t need to talk about something extremely impactful in itself; they want to see that a small spark can cause a wildfire inside you. For example, if you have been Catholic your entire life, but one day you went to mass and didn’t believe it, write about that, including how you went through a time of research and deep thinking and your eventual decision.

Third, just as before, keep it specific and singular. You shouldn’t talk about how a series of events drove you to reconsider how you’ve been thinking about the world. Talk about one, specific event. For example, if you once didn’t care about school and a teacher called you out, you can write about that; however, you must include how it caused a realization in you, leading to a change in your thinking in school.

Saint Paul’s English teacher Kim Gardner believes this is one of the best prompts to answer. “This essay allows you to demonstrate your ability to learn and grow, to show your openness to new ideas and information, which is essential to education.”

On the whole, this essay is to show that you have gone through a change in thinking.

The college you are applying to will most likely not care that you one day didn’t believe in the Catholic faith, unless it is a Catholic university; they will just wanna see why. Articulating a change in thought process can set you apart from the rest of the applicant pool by showing the college that you don’t just blindly believe what you have been told your whole life or that you can take criticism. Furthermore, the college probably won’t care that you were called out by your teacher for your apathetic demeanor in school, they will wanna see how that led to your positive self-change.

To ace this Common App essay, choose an event that led to a change in thinking, focus on the change instead of the event, and keep it specific to one event.

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

This prompt is new to this year, for one of the previous prompts was rarely answered. Therefore, answering it could potentially prove beneficial in setting you apart.

This prompt is straightforward; they aren’t trying to trick you. They want to see growth and reflection.

To answer this prompt simply choose a time that someone did something for you that meant a lot to you. It doesn’t need to be some grandiose gesture someone made; it can be something small or simple. For example, it could be that you were anxious before the football game, and your teammate prayed with you and helped you get in the zone. This small interaction led you to play the best game of your season, scoring three touchdowns.

Second, one of the most important parts of nailing this prompt is to reflect on this interaction. Don’t simply list what happened and then end the essay; highlight how the gratitude toward that person and his or her gesture made you feel. In the football example, you may had been feeling down or doubting your ability, which led to your pregame anxiety; however, that teammate’s encouragement led to you setting season records for yourself. Include how this changed how you felt towards that teammate and his gesture. Potentially include how you could go out of your way to do the same for others, making it a tradition.

Overall this essay is to show the college that you can appreciate the little things and that you can reflect on why someone’s kind gesture means so much to you. The university will most likely not care that your teammate helped calm you down before the game, but they will care that you can articulate why you appreciated his help. Furthermore, they will see the reflection and growth you show in this essay as a sign of a quality candidate.

To ace this Common App essay, choose a time when someone’s kind gesture made an impact on you and reflect on why it meant so much to you.

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

This prompt is very similar to previous ones in that they want to see something that changed you; however, in this prompt, you must focus on the before, during, and after of an event that caused significant change or growth in you.

What is unique to this prompt is the fact that you must also talk about how it caused “a new understanding of yourself or others” so you must not only include how it changed your view of the world or your ideals but also how it affected your introspective view, and potentially that of those close to you.

Second, what is paramount is the inclusion of your entire change, from before, during, and after. Dr. Jennifer Bernstein, the Founder and President of Get Yourself Into College, Inc. and decorated college admissions advisor, sees students fail to include the “during,” even though this is what colleges most want to see:

“Many students leap right over the ‘process’ part of the essay. They want to jump from the ‘before’ to the ‘after’ because they feel the process–the ‘middle’ or ‘during’–isn’t exciting or dramatic… However, mere ‘before and after’ narratives aren’t as compelling to admissions officers as those that feature the ‘during.'”

For example, if you lost a friend or loved one and you had to come to terms with how to process the grief of this loss and how to navigate your mental health, use this prompt to discuss your growth. Before the loss you may had never thought about your mental health, and after you may have had trouble talking about the loss. The “during” Bernstein talked about would be how you eventually tried to talk about it, having trouble doing so. You would end with how you now have learned more about mental health and can talk about it, continuing to grow daily.

Overall this essay is to show them how you can grow as a result of a significant event in your life. The university doesn’t want a static candidate; it wants a dynamic one. They want to see how you failed but that your determination kept you going. The most important part about your story to the admissions department won’t be that you lost your friend, it will be that you were forced to grow as a person after that.

To ace this essay, include how your view of yourself and others was changed, and detail the change in the stages of “before,” “during,” and “after.”

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?

This essay prompt is very similar to the first prompt, but instead of asking you to talk about a talent, it prompts you to talk about one of your favorite ideas or topics.

They want to see what makes you tick, how you think, and what engages you so much “that it makes you lose track of all time.” Therefore, to best answer this prompt, choose one of your favorite topics, one that you know a lot about.

Second, choose your topic based on how much you know about it, not how smart it sounds or how interesting you think the admissions department may find it. They want to know about you, so choose what you like. For example, it could be that you love fantasy football and you spent years studying it, even making a draft guide every year and a podcast periodically to aid others in their leagues. Write about the countless hours of research you’ve spent researching and how it has made you better in your own league.

Third, avoid writing it as an academic essay. This essay is about you, not about the topic you choose. Don’t devote all of the essay to discussing the idea, spend most of your time talking about why it engages you so much. Far too often students hardly answer the last two questions or skip them entirely. Therefore, to combat this, try not to describe the concept the entire essay. For example, if you find climate change interesting and want to write about it, avoid discussing what it is and why it occurs. Show off your interests, your intelligence, and your curiosity.

Overall, this Common App essay prompt is to allow you the chance to show off what engages you like nothing else can. The university most likely will not care that you are a fantasy super nerd, they will care that you have put countless hours into it though. Your work ethic for something you weren’t even required to do will stand out, making you seem like a more qualified applicant. They may care that you know a lot about climate change, but they will care more that you can show why you care about it.

To ace this essay, choose one of your favorite topics, base it on how much you know about it, and keep it personal, avoiding writing it as an academic essay.

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.

My serious advice: do not use this prompt.

The Common App reports that 24.1% of applicants choose this prompt; therefore, choosing it makes you blend in with millions of other applicants.

Moreover, it isn’t creative; it doesn’t follow any of the prompts the Common App crafted for their applicants.

Finally, using this prompt allows you to cheap out of doing any extra writing work, and they know that. You can simply submit an essay you’ve already written in an academic framework and be done with it. The Common App puts this prompt to trick students, with 24.1% falling for it.