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Are you applying to college in the US and need to submit your application through the Common App portal? If so, you will need to complete the Common App essay. You may be wondering what to keep in mind when writing your Common App essay to increase your chances of acceptance. This post is here to outline some best practices to follow when submitting your Common App essay to ensure you have a strong application!
Best Practices For Submitting Your Common App Essay
Preparation and Planning
Start early: The essay prompts are usually released in late August of each year, so you should aim to start writing your essay as soon as possible to ensure you have enough time to brainstorm, draft, and edit your essay. The 2024-25 prompts can be found here.
Choose a prompt: Look at all the essay prompts and see if certain topics resonate more with you than others. For an in-depth guide on how to approach the brainstorming process, check out this post here.
Personal relevance: Choose a topic that is significant to you and will allow you to use your lived experience to write an authentic narrative. This makes your essay stand out to the admissions officers.
Create an outline: Creating an outline for your essay helps you get your thoughts organized before you start writing. This can help you create a more cohesive essay.
Content and Structure
Be descriptive: Use examples and anecdotes from your lived experience to bring your essay to life. This makes the essay more engaging to the reader.
Stick to the theme: Pick a theme and stick to it throughout your essay. This allows you to explain the chosen theme in detail rather than cramming many examples or stories in the essay and not being able to fully explain each one.
Have a clear structure: Organize your essay into a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Ensure that there is a smooth transition between paragraphs and that ideas flow cohesively. For more tips on how to structure a Common App essay, see this post here.
Highlight personal growth: Focus the essay on your abilities in terms of how you learn, grow and overcome challenges. This will show admissions officers your desire for personal growth.
Be mindful of formatting: Keep within the word limit of 250-650 words. Ensure your first draft is around 500 words, which gives you space to edit and incorporate any feedback. Make sure you also adhere to the formatting guidelines, as recommended in this post here.
Style and Tone
Use your own voice: Ensure to write the essay using your own voice. Don't try to copy phrases from your friends' essays or exemplars online. The Common App essay is a chance for admissions officers to get to know you outside of academics, so a more informal tone can be used.
Stay positive: Even when describing challenges faced, maintain a positive outlook and focus on how you overcame the problem and what you learned from it rather than focusing on the problem itself. A good example can be found here.
Avoid clichés: Don't include overused phrases or words as these do not make your essay stand out. You should aim to be creative and come up with your own catchphrases. A list of clichés to avoid can be found here.
Use an appropriate tone: Choose a narrative tone that supports the content being discussed in your essay. Most Common App essays are written in a more casual tone as this is meant for admissions officers to get to know you outside of a formal academic environment.
Revision and Editing
Get constructive feedback: Ask a teacher or guidance counsellor to read over your essay and provide constructive feedback. This may help you identify weak areas in your essay that you may not see by yourself.
Edit multiple times: Revise your essay multiple times before submitting the final version. Aim to have at least 2 drafts before the final version.
Ensure your voice is kept: When receiving feedback from others, ensure not to ask too many people for advice as this could drown out your voice from the essay. Aim to ask only 1-2 people for feedback to ensure the essay's voice is your own.
Proofread for errors: Proofread your essay for grammatical, spelling, and syntax errors. Use a spellchecker to be fully sure there are no errors in your essay.
Adhere to deadlines: Check all deadlines posted by Common App and ensure your application and essays are submitted by that time. For more information on the Common App deadline, check this post here.
We hope this guide has helped you understand best practices for submitting the Common App essay. Good luck with your college applications!
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