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The Common App essay is a crucial component of the college application process. Writing this essay allows you to submit your application to multiple colleges and universities at the same time. When applying to such a vast range of schools, you may be wondering what to keep in mind when writing your essay so that it has a lasting impact on admissions officers. This post is here to give you some criteria to be mindful of when writing the Common App essay to ensure you tackle all aspects that admissions committees are looking for.
Common App Essay Criteria
While there are no official criteria given by Common App as each institute's admissions committee may have its own set of guidelines, we have prepared a recommended checklist below of things to keep in mind when writing your essay.
Personal Insight and Reflection
Ensure that your essay is authentic to you and reflects your story.
Write about your genuine thoughts, feelings, and experiences rather than what you think admissions officers want to hear.
Include specific anecdotes that are relevant to the story you are telling in your essay.
Discuss how your life experiences have influenced your values and beliefs.
Reflect on challenges you may have faced and the lessons you learned from them.
Provide evidence of how your past experiences have influenced your future goals and aspirations.
Demonstrate personal growth and explain how your lived experiences have changed your view of the world.
A good example can be found here.
Clarity and Focus
Choose a specific theme or story to be the main focus of your essay. Discussing one theme or story in-depth gives admissions officers a better insight into you than vaguely discussing 3-4 different topics.
Ensure that your essay has a central theme that is cohesive between the introduction, body and conclusion of your essay.
Ensure your descriptions are clear and concise. Avoid being overly wordy as this distracts from the main message you are trying to convey through the essay.
A good example can be found here.
Structure and Organization
Start off strong with a hook that catches the reader's attention. For more details on how to structure a good hook, check this post here.
Ensure you have a good thesis statement that highlights the main theme of your essay. For more information on how to structure an introduction, see this post here.
Ensure that each body paragraph focuses on a new aspect related to the main theme of the essay. Each body paragraph should have a mini conclusion that wraps up the main point of that paragraph.
Write a strong conclusion that effectively brings together the main points discussed in the essay and leaves the reader with a focused ending to the essay. For more details on how to write a strong conclusion, check out these posts here and here.
A good example can be found here.
Relevance to the Prompt
Ensure your essay directly addresses the prompt within the word limit of 250-650 words.
Give in-depth explanations and examples related to the prompt as this will make your essay more personal and unique.
Avoid going off-topic or addressing aspects of multiple prompts. Stick to writing your essay strictly based on the prompt you have chosen.
A good example can be found here.
Impact on the Reader
Aim to leave a lasting impact on the reader. Ensure you have a strong introduction to catch the reader's attention and an engaging conclusion to provide closure to the reader and remind them of your main message.
Highlight evidence of personal growth, realizations about yourself or the world, lessons learned from challenges, and future aspirations. These aspects leave a lasting impact on the reader as it gives more personal insight into your character and makes you more memorable.
A good example can be seen here.
Writing Style and Proofreading
Maintain a consistent tone (formal/informal) and voice (active/passive) throughout the essay.
Write in a tone that is relevant to the matter being discussed in your essay. More serious topics should be written with a formal tone, while lighthearted topics can have a playful or informal tone.
Proofread your essay multiple times to check for grammatical or spelling errors. Use a spellchecker to make sure you are submitting an essay that is free from errors that could make it look unprofessional.
Avoid run-on sentences as they can distract the reader by having too many ideas within the same sentence.
A good example can be found here.
We hope that this guide has helped you identify the criteria to keep in mind when writing the Common App essay. Good luck with your college applications!
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