Seguí viajando por todo Egipto, las grandes pirámides de Giza, crucero por el Nilo, y viajes a Luxor y Aswan. And just as my parents expect much from me, the first of my family to attend college, I have grand expectations for this field of study. These characters stood out, they were interesting, I even wanted to know more about them! After shifting from excuse to excuse as to why I did not submit my writing, I finally recognized the real reason I had withheld my common app short essay I was scared, common app short essay. Math was, and still is, yet another way for me to freely express my creativity and different way of thinking without constraint.
Common App Essay Examples
Published on November 19, by Kirsten Courault. Table of contents What is the Common Application essay? Prompt 1: Background, identity, interest, or talent Prompt 2: Overcoming challenges Prompt 3: Questioning a belief or idea Prompt 4: Appreciating an influential person Prompt 5: Transformative event Prompt 6: Interest or hobby that inspires learning Prompt 7: Free topic Frequently asked questions about college application essays, common app short essay. The Common Application, or Common Appis a college application portal that is accepted by more than schools.
Within the Common App is your main essay, a primary writing sample that all your prospective schools will read to evaluate your critical thinking skills and value as a student. Since this common app short essay is read by many colleges, avoid mentioning any college names or programs. Instead, save tailored answers for the supplementary school-specific essays within the Common App. Regardless of your prompt choice, admissions officers will look for an ability to clearly and creatively communicate your ideas based on the selected prompt. Some students have a background, identity, interest, common app short essay talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it, common app short essay.
If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Round off. Back handspring. Double back layout. Instead, I jolted off the floor, landing out of bounds. I heaved common app short essay heavy sigh and stomped over to the bench. Coach Farkas saw my consternation. You could do them in your sleep! That was the problem. I common app short essay dreaming of tumbling and missing my landings, waking up in a cold sweat. The stress felt overwhelming. I walked home from the gym that had been my second home since fourth grade. Yet my anxiety was increasing every time I practiced, common app short essay. She sat down across from me. Why does it matter anymore? Or have you not noticed? I started gymnastics right after Dad left. The coaches said I was a natural: short, common app short essay, and flexible.
All I knew was that the more I improved, the more confident I felt. Gymnastics made me feel powerful, so I gave it my full energy and dedication. The floor routine became my specialty, and my performances were soon elevating our team score. The mat, solid and stable, became a place to explore and express common app short essay internal struggles, common app short essay. Over the years, no matter how angry I felt, the floor mat was there to absorb my frustration. The bars, beam, common app short essay, and vault were less forgiving because I knew I could fall. My performances in those events were respectable. But, the floor? Sometimes, I had wildly creative and beautiful routines, while other times were disastrous.
Sadly, my floor routine had never been consistent. That Common app short essay afternoon, I slipped into common app short essay empty gym and walked over to the mat. I sat down and touched its carpeted surface. After a few minutes, my cheeks were wet with the bitter disappointment of a dad who only showed up when it was convenient for him. I ruminated on the years of practices and meets where I had channeled my resentment into acrobatics and dance moves, resolved to rise higher than his indifference. I saw then that my deepest wounds were inextricably entangled with my greatest passion. They needed to be permanently separated. While my anger had first served to launch me into gymnastics, before long, I had started serving my anger. Anger is a cruel master.
It corrupts everything it touches, even something as beautiful as a well-choreographed floor routine. I changed my music days before regionals. Instead, I chose an energetic cyberpunk soundtrack that inspired me to perform with passion and laser focus. Dad made an obligatory appearance at regionals, but he left before I could talk to him. I stuck every landing in my routine. Anger no longer controlled me. I was finally free. This essay shows how the challenges the student faced in caring for her autistic sister resulted in an unexpected path forward in her education. 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? My baby sister was born severely autistic, which meant that every detail of our home life was repeatedly adjusted to manage her condition. I was five years old when Mindy was born. For the first ten years, I did everything I could to help my mom with Mindy. But Mom was depressed and would often stare out the window, as if transfixed by the view, common app short essay. Dad was no help either. He used his job as an excuse to be away from home. So, I tried to make up for both of them common app short essay rescue Mindy however I could whenever she needed it.
However, one day, when I was slowly driving Mindy around with the windows down, trying to lull her into a calmer state, we passed two of my former classmates from middle school. They heard Mindy growling her disapproval as the ride was getting long for her. Marabeth brought her pet monster out for a drive! After that day, I defied my parents at every turn. I also ignored Mindy. I even stopped doing homework. My high school counselor Ms. Martinez saw through it all. My brother has Down syndrome. It was really hard growing up with him as a brother. The other kids were pretty mean about it, especially in high school. It must have been the way she said it because I suddenly found myself sobbing into my trembling, cupped hands. Martinez and I met every Friday after that for the rest of the year.
Her stories of how she struggled to embrace living with and loving her brother created a bridge to my pain and then my healing, common app short essay. She explained that her challenges led her to pursue a degree in counseling so that she could offer other people what no one had given her. I thought that Mindy was the end of my life, but, common app short essay of Ms. My choice. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? I took a step backward and tried not to appear as off-balance as I felt. In my excitement, I had blurted out more information than my father could handle:.
As soon as I had said it, I wished I could recall those words. How could I forget that 26 years earlier, he had been the starting wide receiver for the state-champion Tigers on the same field?! Still, when I opened the email on that scorching hot August afternoon, I was thrilled that five months of practicing every possible major and harmonic minor scale—two octaves up and two octaves down—had made the difference. I had busted reed after reed, trying not to puff my cheeks while moving my fingers in a precise cadence.
I knew he had heard me continually practicing in my room, yet he seemed to ignore all the parts of me that were incongruous with his vision of manhood:. I never had to wonder what he valued. For years, I genuinely shared his interests. But, in the fall of eighth grade, I heard Kyle Wheeling play a saxophone solo during the homecoming marching band halftime show. During Thanksgiving break, I got my mom to drive me into Omaha to rent my instrument at Dietze Music, and, soon after, I started private lessons with Mr. Before long, I was spending hours in my room, exploring each nuance of my shiny Yamaha alto sax, anticipating my audition for the Marching Tigers at the end of the spring semester.
But not all the guys played football. Some were in choir and theater. Quite a few guys were in the marching band. We never talked about it again, but that fall, he was in the stands when our marching band won the state championship in Lincoln for the second time, common app short essay.
fraud essays
Prompt 4: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has your relationship to gratitude changed over time, either recently or in an earlier period of your life? What events spurred this change? What are you thankful for in your life right now? Make a list of things, people, or circumstances for which you are grateful, no matter how big or small. You might even complete this exercise daily over a period of several days or weeks, similar to a gratitude journal. Prompt 5: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. They say a piece of short fiction is about a moment after which nothing will be the same again.
Have you lived through one of those moments? What was it? Forget medals, victories, grades—what intangible, off-your-resumé quality or moment of your life are you proudest of? Tell the story of the day that happened. Prompt 6: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. What do you get up to? Set the scene: what rooms are you in in your house, or are you in your house at all? Where do you go? What do you bring with you? What activities have you self-started—that is, what have you done without ever being told to? Tell the story of the first day you started doing that thing. What do your friends come to you seeking help with? Tell the story of a time when you think you did a great job of helping another person.
Now, to make sure you stay humble, tell the story of when that person helped you. At the end of this brainstorming exercise, our students, Ramya, Anita, Josh, and Michael, will have discovered even more things not on their resumé that can expand what all they might write about. Freewriting is one of the fun parts, so the more you can do it, the better. There are a number of ways to approach freewriting, and all of them are meant to keep you limber, loose, and free. Work in these for the summer. No need to get precious—no fancy Moleskines here, and no laptops or tablets unless you are physically unable to write by hand.
Writing which is different from a tapping-on-a-keyboard-kind-of-story. For one thing, there is no delete button, making the experience more lifelike right away. What are you going to write about during those six minutes? But why did I love playing this role of attorney? Was it the theater? The chance to finally argue without getting in trouble at the dinner table? Write in big letters and double-space. Let your hand roam free. Allowing your writing to breathe away from you can prevent you from committing one of the cardinal sins of personal statement-writing—but also all writing!
Respect your process and let these things sit. And if you spend your summer warming up and training for the main event, you can start rereading your body of freewriting by the end of July. Recommended reading: The Ideal College Application Timeline. In an ideal world, you can start writing and planning for your college essays the summer before your senior year. But many students have prior commitments that make following a six-month June—December timeline difficult. Six months—June to December ideal if you are applying early action or early decision anywhere :.
Week two of August: Complete second draft here is where the major revision work comes in. Beginning of September: Seek feedback, if you have not already, from a trusted admissions counselor, English teacher, or other advisor. Now you have October to complete your secondary essays. First two weeks of August: Brainstorm and work with prompts. First week of September: Complete first draft of Common App personal statement. Week two of September: Complete second draft here is where the major revision work comes in. Beginning of October: Seek feedback, if you have not already, from a trusted admissions counselor, English teacher, or other advisor. Now you have the second two weeks of October to complete your secondary essays for anywhere you are applying early with a November due date, and the rest of November to complete any remaining secondary essays for schools with December and January due dates most regular decision deadlines.
One month—October to November for regular decision schools :. Third week of October: Complete first draft of Common App personal statement. Last week of October: Complete second draft here is where the major revision work comes in. First two weeks of November: Complete third and fourth drafts. Mid-November, before Thanksgiving break: Seek feedback, if you have not already, from a trusted admissions counselor, English teacher, or other advisor. Now you have December to complete any remaining secondary essays for schools with December and January due dates most regular decision deadlines.
Mega crunch time—starting in November in case you get started on your application really late and are down to less than one month, use the following timeline :. In addition, seek feedback between your second and third drafts, if you have not already done so, from a trusted admissions counselor, English teacher, or other advisor. Related reading: How to Write Great UC Essays. Thank you! Your guide is on its way. In the meantime, please let us know how we can help you crack the the college admissions code.
You can also learn more about our 1-on-1 college admissions support here. What notes should your essay hit? Here are some characteristics that a good Common App Essay topic contains:. Anecdote and specificity. Your essay will always go beyond the anecdote, but an anecdote offers a reader an easy, smooth way into your personal statement. A good Common App Essay topic can relate, as much as possible, to a particular anecdote, story, or even scene. It was July, and our older brother had just gone to college, leaving the two of us alone at home together for the first time. A good essay begins at a specific point in time and revolves around a specific event. An essay without an anecdote or specific story is an essay topic , not an essay.
So, pull from your freewriting: where did you find yourself writing about a particular event, story, anecdote, or point in time? That gives you a character, a place, and a plot—all crucial elements of an essay. Tension, conflict, and opportunity to show growth. Because your topic needs to display your ability to grow and show change over a period of time. If Josh has always had a perfect relationship with his sister, well—first, no one will believe that, and second, Josh is not really telling a story. Then Josh would tell us about what changed as soon as the brother left, and in there he might find an opening anecdote. Another way of thinking about this is: your essay is about how your past influences your future, or the way you think now.
Michael has settled on his grandfather teaching him to surf. Some connection between your past, your present, and your future. Before you even start writing, think about whether your potential topic is influencing the way you think about the present, and, crucially, the future. Take Michael, again. Does that matter? Not as long as he tells us how surfing influences him—as he did in extracting a wider lesson. Students often ask us: Should I not write about a dying grandparent? About coming out? About the meaning of my name? About politics? That also means that buried beneath many clichés is some authentic, particular, and personal relationship you have to your topic. But wait. There is one big rule.
Be humble. So now, make a list of everything that seems like a fruitful topic. Ramya could try to write something about medicine. Or she could write about soccer, dance, or speech. So we decide that Ramya is going to write about the Patriots. Essay 2: Anita on the outdoors and poetry. The obvious thing—and the thing most teachers and advisors told Anita to do—is write about mock trial. It would be a good opportunity to give the admissions committee some insight into her psychology behind the success. So instead Anita decides to write about a wilderness solo she took in North Carolina on a school trip, and about how it influenced her relationship with poetry. Josh did some writing about his relationship with his sister and his brother, and that might find a home in the secondary essays.
He found himself writing a lot about mistakes, public performance anxiety, and the pressure to get a piece just right. Remember that if you are applying early action or early decision to schools, your deadline will come at the start of November, whereas regular decision applications will generally have December and January deadlines. At words, each of these will be best understood as a five-paragraph essay, so a basic structure stays the same, but the way things begin and end will not. The Specific Experience Essay: This module is one of the most flexible and powerful types of essays. It begins with a scene, memory, or anecdote, and then tells us what that scene, memory, or anecdote continues to mean to the writer.
Resolving the Specific Experience Essay requires a student to point to some kind of realization garnered as a result of the experience. or epiphany, and in fact, it can come later. The trick Michael and Anita each pull off is spinning the experience forward so that it means something for the rest of their lives. Anita goes small with her reflection: she talks about how she learned to see art, and artful experiences, in her everyday life, and in small, quiet moments this is especially good for Anita because it expands her away from just the hyper-intense mock trial competitor she might come across as. So, what if he started each paragraph with a different mini-moment of him playing piano and making a mistake? Paragraph 2: My second time messing up—I am thirteen, and… etc.
The Circular Essay: In this essay, the writer begins with a scene or image or concept and then will circle back to that scene or image or concept before the end of the essay in order to make sense of the initial opening. This essay deploys suspense. How did I get here? The Mini-Odyssey Essay: The last classic and powerful module is the good old problem-driven essay. In this type of essay, our hero you, the writer meets a challenge in the first paragraph, and then the essay is devoted to showing us how it is solved. So Michael might distribute the narration chronologically, showing us first the bad news the problem , then zooming out to reflect, then showing us how he faced it addressing the challenge , probably failing to adequately face it perfectly the first time, and then eventually facing it successfully the solution.
Those are just a few more narrative possibilities for structuring your essay. Outlining works great for some people as a pre-writing tactic, and we always recommend it. For others, it can be harder than simply getting down to writing. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? The heart of it takes place in a sports bar, and she may seem, on paper, to the admissions committee, to be an unlikely diehard football fan. So we begin at the bar and Ramya sets the scene with an anecdote:. It had been a rough week at school—drama with my friend group, hard tests, orchestra practice, exhausting soccer drills—but I knew where I belonged on a Sunday.
At Dee's Sports Bar in San Jose, with my dad, watching our team…. She also tells us about Dee's itself, taking the chance to show the admissions committee that she has narrative skills in just noticing things:. By the end of the football season, the staff knew what we wanted to sit… we were loyal to Dee's, just as we had to be loyal to the Patriots, even when they seemed to be letting us down. In telling this as a story, Ramya has given the admissions committee a human being to relate to from the jump. Newspapers call the same thing a nutgraph, and academic papers might refer to it as your thesis statement. All these terms point to one thing: this is where you shout, HEY! THIS IS WHAT MY ESSAY IS ABOUT!
Dee's is where I learned to be loyal—to my team, the Patriots, from across the country—but also to my father, to my friends, and to myself. Body paragraph 1: In this paragraph, Ramya will tell us something more about loyalty, and why it matters. Ramya needs to advance that—to tell us something that shows maturity, shows an ability to reflect and introspect that will come in handy in college and adulthood…. Body paragraph so she uses her next paragraph to make a bigger point: what other types of loyalty being at Dee's on a Sunday causes her to reflect on. And even after outlining, many people fail to follow their outline. This is a very compelling strategy!
Tears streamed down my face and my mind was paralyzed with fear. Sirens blared, but the silent panic in my own head was deafening. I was muted by shock. A few hours earlier, I had anticipated a vacation in Washington, D. My fear turned into action as I made some of the bravest decisions of my life. Throughout her surgery, I anxiously awaited any word from her surgeon, but each time I asked, I was told that there had been another complication or delay. Relying on my faith and positive attitude, I remained optimistic that my mother would survive and that I could embrace new responsibilities. My mother had been a source of strength for me, and now I would be strong for her through her long recovery ahead.
As I started high school, everyone thought the crisis was over, but it had really just started to impact my life. My mother was often fatigued, so I assumed more responsibility, juggling family duties, school, athletics, and work. I made countless trips to the neighborhood pharmacy, cooked dinner, biked to the grocery store, supported my concerned sister, and provided the loving care my mother needed to recover. Each day was a stage in my gradual transformation from dependence to relative independence. I now take ownership over small decisions such as scheduling daily appointments and managing my time but also over major decisions involving my future, including the college admissions process.
Although I have become more independent, my mother and I are inseparably close, and the realization that I almost lost her affects me daily. Each morning, I wake up ten minutes early simply to eat breakfast with my mother and spend time with her before our busy days begin. I am aware of how quickly life can change. My mother remains a guiding force in my life, but the feeling of empowerment I discovered within myself is the ultimate form of my independence. Though I thought the summer before my freshman year would be a transition from middle school to high school, it was a transformation from childhood to adulthood.
This essay feels real and tells readers a lot about the writer. It has drama, it has emotions, and it has the reader wanting more. And, when you keep going, you get to learn a lot about a very resilient and mature student. It is simply a fact that they have proven! Sometimes writing about adversity can feel exploitative or oddly braggy. This student backs up everything they say with anecdotes that prove and show their strength and resilience, rather than just claiming their strengths. When I read this essay, I want to cheer for its writer! And I want to be able to continue cheering for them perhaps, if I were an admissions officer, that would make me want them at my school!
Armed with a red pen, I slowly walked across the room to a small, isolated table with pink stools. Swinging her legs, my young student beamed and giggled at me, slamming her pencil bag on the table and bending over to pick up one of her toys. Natalie always brought some new toy with her to lessons—toys which I would sternly take away from her and place under the table until she finished her work. At the tutoring center where I work, a strict emphasis on discipline leaves no room for paper crowns or rubber chickens. Today, she had with her a large stuffed eagle from a museum. As she pulled out her papers, I slid the eagle to the other side of the table.
She looked eagerly around, attempting to chat with other students as I impatiently called her attention to her papers. I cringed—there was no wondering why Natalie always had to sit by herself. She was the antithesis of my academic values, and undoubtedly the greatest adversary of my teaching style. As the lesson progressed, Natalie became more fitful; she refused to release her feathered friend, and kept addressing the bird for help with difficult problems. We both grew increasingly more frustrated. Determined to tame this wryly, wiggling student, I stood my ground, set on converting this disobedient child to my calm, measured ways of study.
Much like myself. Both the eagle and I were getting nowhere in this lesson—so we hatched a quick plan. Lifting the eagle up in the air, I started reading in my best impersonation of an eagle, squawking my way through a spelling packet. The result provided a sense of instant gratification I never knew I needed. Despite my ostensibly dissatisfied attitude toward my students, I did not join the tutoring center simply to earn money. I had always aspired to help others achieve their fullest potential. As a young adult, I felt that it was time for me to step out of the role of a pupil and into the influential role of a teacher, naively believing that I had the maturity and skill to adapt to any situation and help these students reach their highest achievements academically.
For the most part, the role of a stern-faced, strict instructor helped me get by in the workplace, and while my students never truly looked happy, I felt that it was part of the process of conditioning a child to learn. Ironically, my transition to adulthood was the result of a stuffed animal. It was indisputable that I always had the skill to instruct others; the only thing needed to instruct someone is knowledge of the subject. However, it was only upon being introduced to a stuffed bird in which I realized that students receive the most help not from instructors, but teachers. While almost anyone can learn material and spit it back out for someone, it takes the maturity and passion of a teacher not only to help students improve in their students, but also to motivate them and develop them into better citizens.
From my young pupil and her little bird, I have undergone a change in attitude which reflects a growth in maturity and ability to improve the lives of others that I hope to implement in my future role as a student, activist, and physician. In this essay, the student effectively explores their values and how they learned them! then identifies these values through a reflective conclusion. While the writer humbly recognizes the initial faults in their teaching style, they do not position their initial discipline or rigidity as mean or poorly intentioned—simply ineffective. My favorite part about this essay is its subtlety. The complexity of this narrative comes through reflection. The final sentence of this essay ties things up very nicely.
Readers are left satisfied with the essay and convinced that its writer is a kind human with a large capacity for reflection and consideration. That is a great image to paint of yourself! My family has always been one to keep to themselves; introverts with a hard-working mentality—my father especially. He was stoic and traditional; I was trying to figure out who I was and explore my interests. His disapproval of the American music I listened to and my penchant for wearing hand-me-downs made me see him as someone who wanted to restrain my individuality. That explains why I relied heavily on my friends throughout middle and high school; they liked me for who I was.
I figured I would get lonely without my friends during quarantine, but these last few months stuck at home gave me the time to make a new friend: my father. It was June. One morning, however, it was not the chirping of birds or the laughter of children I awoke to, but the shrill of a saw. Through the window screen, on the grass below, my father stood cutting planks of wood. It was not until the next day, when I was attempting to work on a sculpture for an art class, that the sounds of hammering and drills became too much to ignore. Seeking answers, I trudged across my backyard towards the corner he was in. On that day, all there was to see was the foundation of what he was building; a shed.
My intrigue was replaced with awe; I was impressed by the precision of his craft. Sharp corners, leveled and sturdy, I could imagine what it would look like when the walls were up and the inside filled with the tools he had spread around the yard. Throughout the week, when I was trying to finish my sculpture for art class—thinking about its shape and composition—I could not help but think of my father. Art has always been a creative outlet for me, an opportunity to express myself at home. For my dad, his craftsmanship was his art. I realized we were not as different as I had thought; he was an artist like me. My glue and paper were his wood and nails. That summer, I tried to spend more time with my dad than I have in all my 18 years of life. Our reunion has changed my perspective; instead of vilifying him for spending so much time at work, I can appreciate how hard he works to provide for our family.
When I hear him tinkering away at another home project, I can smile and look forward to asking him about it later. This is an outstanding example of the great things that can be articulated through a reflective essay. As we read the essay, we are simply thinking alongside its author—thinking about their past relationship with their father, about their time in quarantine, about aspects of themselves they think could use attention and growth. By centering us in real-time, the student keeps us engaged in the reflection. The main strength here is the maturity we see on the part of its writer.
She steamed small buns in bamboo baskets, and a light sweetness lingered in the air. Although the mantou looked delicious, their papery, flat taste was always an unpleasant surprise. My grandmother scolded me for failing to finish even one, and when I complained about the lack of flavor she would simply say that I would find it as I grew older. How did my adult relatives seem to enjoy this Taiwanese culinary delight while I found it so plain? During my journey to discover the essence of mantou, I began to see myself the same way I saw the steamed bun.
I believed that my writing would never evolve beyond a hobby and that my quiet nature crippled my ambitions. Ultimately, I thought I had little to offer the world. In middle school, it was easy for me to hide behind the large personalities of my friends, blending into the background and keeping my thoughts company. Although writing had become my emotional outlet, no matter how well I wrote essays, poetry, or fiction, I could not stand out in a sea of talented students. When I finally gained the confidence to submit my poetry to literary journals but was promptly rejected, I stepped back from my work to begin reading from Whitman to Dickinson, Li-Young Lee to Ocean Vuong. It was then that I realized I had been holding back a crucial ingredient—my distinct voice.
Over time, my taste buds began to mature, as did I. After I ate the mantou with each of these factors in mind, I noticed its environment enhanced a delicately woven strand of sweetness beneath the taste of side dishes: the sugar I had often watched my grandmother sift into the flour. The taste was nearly untraceable, but once I grasped it I could truly begin to cherish mantou. As I acquired a taste for mantou, I also began to strengthen my voice through my surrounding environment. With the support of my parents, peer poets, and the guidance of Amy Tan and the Brontё sisters, I worked tirelessly to uncover my voice: a subtle strand of sweetness.
Once I stopped trying to fit into a publishing material mold and infused my uninhibited passion for my Taiwanese heritage into my writing, my poem was published in a literary journal. I wrote about the blatant racism Asians endured during coronavirus, and the editor of Skipping Stones Magazine was touched by both my poem and my heartfelt letter. I opened up about being ridiculed for bringing Asian food to school at Youth Leadership Forum, providing support to younger Asian-American students who reached out with the relief of finding someone they could relate to. I embraced writing as a way to convey my struggle with cultural identity. Now, I write and speak unapologetically, falling in love with a voice that I never knew I had.
It inspires passion within my communities and imparts tenacity to Asian-American youth, rooting itself deeply into everything I write. Today, my grandmother would say that I have finally unearthed the taste of mantou as I savor every bite with a newfound appreciation. I can imagine her hands shaping the dough that has become my voice, and I am eager to share it with the world. Additionally, as they describe the journey to find a voice in their writing, they definitely show off their voice! The clear introduction provides a great image and draws us in with an intriguing question. When the student describes their first published poem, however, their writing gets a little more stilted.
This is a common error students make when writing about their achievements. This would make the essay feel more cohesive, centering entirely around concepts of voice and style. What factors shape the depth and allure of a literary character? This is the exact question I asked myself as my eyes riveted on the white pages covered with little black letters. I was reading my old novels. Each of them repetitively portrayed the hero as intelligent and funny, and the antagonists as cold and manipulative. I came to the appalling realization that my characters were flat, neither exciting nor original.
In his famous work The Picture of Dorian Gray , Wilde deconstructs the psyche of his characters. The persona of Dorian Gray is so complicated a psychologist could analyze it for hours on end! Inspired by this character, It was my turn to explore good and evil into characters to make my stories more enthralling. I skillfully played with vice and virtue, separating, merging them… My latest novel is the fruit of this exercise. I chose to set it in 20th century London. Insanity, religion, depravity and love are merged into each character, reflecting Edwardian London.
As I reflected on my work, I realized vice and virtue altogether made them more human and credible. These characters stood out, they were interesting, I even wanted to know more about them! After rewriting, erasing, typing, and thinking countless times, I realized writing is a unique exercise. Nothing is definite when you are holding a fountain pen, hearing its screeching sound on the white paper and watching the ebony ink forming letters. Everything I imagined could happen: white pages are the only place the mouse eats the cat or the world is taken by a zombie attack!
This exact exercise of diversifying my characters satisfied my relentless curiosity. As I was writing, I was aiming to change the usual narratives I had previously traversed. I loved experimenting with countless personality traits in my characters — minutes flowing, my hand dancing on the paper as my mind was singing words coming alive…. There were times where my hand just stopped writing and my mind stopped raging. I was inspired by Zola, A. Carter, Fitzgerald, the Brontë sisters… I could observe the different reactions of their characters, and reflect on mine theoretically. But it was only part one of the work: I then had to write, sometimes aimlessly, sometimes frantically, always leading to fresh ideas — I was exploring the practical, trying, erasing and rewriting.
Both theory and practice are required to gain intellectual independence and experience, in writing and more globally: before I can change a character, I have to understand it. Before we can change the world, we have to understand it. The main strength of this essay is the authenticity of the topic the student chose. Writing is something that captivates them, and that captivation shines through—particularly through their fourth paragraph where they geek out over specific plots and characters and their fifth paragraph where they joyfully describe how writing has no limitations. Admissions officers want to see this passion and intensity in applicants!
The fact that this student has already written three novels also shows dedication and is impressive. The main weakness of this essay is its structure. Ironically, it is not super captivating. image of them being frustrated with their own writing then being inspired by Dorian Gray. This would look something like:. The only thing more painful than seeing failure in the fruits of your labor is not seeing a path for improvement. I had written three novels and numerous short stories, and all I could come up with was funny and intelligent heroes going up against cold and manipulative villains.
What kind of writer was so consistently cliche? On the third night, I wandered over to my bookshelf. Dalloway caught my eye it has such a beautiful cover. I flipped through. I picked up The Picture of Dorian Gray and decided to just start reading. By the end of the night, I was captivated. An introduction like this would flow nicely into the student describing their experience with Dorian Gray then, because of that experience, describing how they have altered their approach to writing. This essay is a great example of how important it is to pick a topic that truly excites you.
It also illustrates how important it is to effectively structure that excitement. It distinctly reminded me of the awestruck feeling I had when I witnessed the churning waves of a windy night by the ocean the previous weekend; I lost track of time gazing at the distant moonlit border dividing our world from the ever-growing black void. She explained to me I could never reach the end of the ocean because the harsh line I had seen was actually an illusion called the horizon — there was no material end to the ocean. For a mind as young as mine was, the idea of infinity was incomprehensible. This idea is why the ocean captivates me — no matter how much you discover, there is always more to explore. Prior to viewing that episode, I relied on the ocean as an outlet — I fueled all of my emotions into studying marine organisms.
Once I learned of its grave future, I delved into the world of environmental activism. This path was much more disheartening than studying echolocation — inevitable death due to climate change took a toll on my mental health. I attended two climate strikes in November of my sophomore year. Following the strikes, I joined Sunrise Movement Sacramento, a youth-led climate justice organization advocating for the Green New Deal. While analyzing legislation and organizing protests were significant takeaways from my experience with climate activism, they were not the most important. The more I learned about our modern society, the more hopeless I grew that I could see any significant change within my lifetime. However, this hopelessness comes in waves; every day, I remind myself of the moment I discovered the horizon.
Or the moment I first dove into the beautiful waters of the Hawaiian coast and immediately was surrounded by breathtaking seas of magnificent creatures and coral gardens — life felt ethereal and beautiful. I remind myself that like the ocean, the vast majority of the universe has yet to be discovered; that distant border holds infinite opportunity to learn. In a universe as vast as ours, and life as rare as ours, individuals still choose to prioritize avarice over our planet. Despite this grave individualism, the ocean reminds me every day there is hope in the fight for a better world.
Finding the ocean fascinating is not unique to this student. Tons of kids and adults, too! are obsessed with the ocean. What this student does is take things a step further as they explain their curiosity about the ocean in relation to their pain about the destruction of the environment. This capacity for reflection is great! The main weakness of this essay is the lack of reflection when the student discusses environmental activism. Remember, a lot of students write about environmental activism, but not a lot of students write about an emotional connection to the ocean as an impetus for environmental activism.
Scalding hot water cascades over me, crashing to the ground in a familiar, soothing rhythm. Steam rises to the ceiling as dried sweat and soap suds swirl down the drain. The water hisses as it hits my skin, far above the safe temperature for a shower. The pressure is perfect on my tired muscles, easing the aches and bruises from a rough bout of sparring and the tension from a long, stressful day. The noise from my overactive mind dies away, fading into music, lyrics floating through my head. Black streaks stripe the inside of my left arm, remnants of the penned reminders of homework, money owed and forms due. As long as the hot water is running, the rest of the world ceases to exist, shrinking to me, myself and I. The shower curtain closes me off from the hectic world spinning around me.
In the midst of a hot shower, there is no impending exam to study for, no newspaper deadline to meet, no paycheck to deposit. It is simply complete and utter peace, a safe haven. The steam clears my mind even as it clouds my mirror. Creativity thrives in the tub, breathing life into tales of dragons and warrior princesses that evolve only in my head, never making their way to paper but appeasing the childlike dreamer and wannabe author in me all the same. That one calculus problem that has seemed unsolvable since second period clicks into place as I realize the obvious solution. The perfect concluding sentence to my literary analysis essay writes itself causing me to abruptly end my shower in a mad dash to the computer before I forget it entirely.
Ever since I was old enough to start taking showers unaided, I began hogging all the hot water in the house, a source of great frustration to my parents. I imagine someday, when paying the water bill is in my hands, my showers will be shorter, but today is not that day nor, hopefully, will the next four years be that day. Headaches magically disappear as long as the water runs, though they typically return in full force afterward. The runny nose and itchy eyes courtesy of summertime allergies recede. Showers alleviate even the stomachache from a guacamole-induced lack of self-control. Honestly though, the best part about a hot shower is neither its medicinal abilities nor its blissful temporary isolation or even the heavenly warmth seeped deep into my bones.
The best part is that these little moments of pure, uninhibited contentedness are a daily occurrence. No matter how stressful the day, showers ensure I always have something to look forward to. They are small moments, true, but important nonetheless, because it is the little things in life that matter; the big moments are too rare, too fleeting to make anyone truly happy. Wherever I am in the world, whatever fate chooses to throw at me, I know I can always find my peace at the end of the day behind the shower curtain. This essay is relatable yet personal! The writer makes themself supremely human through discussing the universal subject of showering.
That being said, an essay about showering could easily turn boring while still being relatable. And, at the end, the student lets us know that that is exactly why they love showers. Showers are more than meets the eye! The one major error that this writer commits is that of using a trite transition. Steam whooshed from the pot as I unveiled my newest creation: duck-peppercorn-chestnut dumplings. The spicy, hearty aroma swirled into the kitchen, mingling with the smell of fresh dough. Grinning, I grabbed a plump dumpling with chopsticks, blew carefully, and fed it into the waiting mouth of my little sister. Her eyes widening, she vigorously nodded and held up five stubby fingers. I did a little happy dance in celebration and pulled my notebook out of my apron pocket.
Duck-peppercorn-chestnut: five stars. In my household, dumplings are a far cry from the classic pork and cabbage. Our menu boasts everything from the savory lamb-bamboo shoot-watercress to the sweet and crispy apple-cinnamon-date. A few years ago, my sister claimed she was sick of eating the same flavors over and over. Refusing to let her disavow our family staple, I took her complaint as a challenge to make the tastiest and most unconventional dumplings to satisfy her. With her as my taste tester and Mum in charge of dough, I spent months experimenting with dozens of odd ingredient combinations. First-year essay prompts. Common App has announced the essay prompts. Below is the full set of Common App essay prompts for 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. 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.
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