Admissions Blog

Undergraduate Admissions Uncensored

  • admissions.blog

2023-2024 Common App essay prompts: the best and worst

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Craig Meister

Write your best Common App Essay: 2023-2024 Edition

Here is a dirty little secret: some of the 2023-2024 Common App essay prompts will bring you down like quicksand while others give you the exact structure and framing that you need to show and tell a story that colleges will love.

In the below thirty-minute in-depth video I grade and rank each of the seven Common App essay prompts in order to help you determine which will give you the best chance of positively differentiating your college application and thus getting you into the colleges on your list.

Sit back, relax (though be ready to take notes), and enjoy this insider’s guide tackling the most important essay assignment of your life so far!

The seven prompt options that first-year applicants have to carefully choose from in order to write one strong Common App essay of up to 650-words are as follows:

  1. 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.
  2. 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?
  3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
  4. 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?
  5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
  6. 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?
  7. 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.

Important Related Links:

The Stats You Need: Most Popular & Least Popular Common App Essay Prompts

Common App Essay: Size Does Matter

Why Your College Application Essay is So Bad

Why Your College Application Essay is Awful

Ultimate College Application Essay Brainstorm

Secret to a Successful College Application Essay First Draft

The Common Application

Do you want one-on-one personalized college counseling? Learn more about my college admissions coaching services here.

**Bonus**: Take my “How to Build an Extraordinary Extracurricular Resume” short course here.

About Craig Meister

Craig Meister is a college admissions expert who, for eighteen years, has had the great fortune of providing personalized post-secondary guidance to students and families from around the world.

Filed Under: Advice & Analysis, Common Application, Essays, Feature

Related posts:

UNC Chapel Hill Releases 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts Common Application Essay Prompts for 2023-2024 Confirmed Most and Least Popular Common App Essay Prompts Yale Releases 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts

Subscribe to our mailing list

Trending Posts

Boston University’s Overall Acceptance Rate Drops to 10.7%

Many high school counselors mean well but…

Tulane’s acceptance rate is 13%. Only 34% are male.

Common Application Essay Prompts for 2023-2024 Confirmed

Amherst College Accepts 9% of Applicants to Class of 2027

Another Reason Why Your Common Application Essay is So Bad

Comparing Undergraduate Life at University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University

How to get into the Ivy League – Ethically

UNC Chapel Hill Releases 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts

NYU First Year Applications Spike 13%

Cornell University Releases 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts

Dear 10th Grader: Don’t Become An Ivy League Reject!

The 5 Most Ridiculously Underrated Colleges in America

WashU Receives Fewer Applications, Releases Regular Decisions March 23

Wake Forest Introduces Exclusive Early Action (EEA)

Wesleyan University Ends Legacy Preferences in Admissions

5 Smart Summer Tips for Wise Rising Seniors

Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action and Upends Admissions Process for Top Colleges

Battle of the Tech Titans: Caltech vs. MIT

Columbia University’s 2023-2024 Supplemental Essay Prompts Announced

Oh, Canada! The Definitive List of Canadian University Application Deadlines

Northwestern Releases Regular Decisions, Class of 2027 Statistics

12 Reasons Scattergrams Lull Students Into a False Sense of Security

You CAN apply Restrictive Early Action and Early Action under the right conditions

Rolling Admission vs. Regular Decision

Making the most of the summer before senior year

30 Summer STEM Camps for High School Freshmen

Top 5 Ways Applying to US Colleges is Different than Applying to UK Universities

The Perfect Gifts to Celebrate Getting Into College

Search Posts By Topic

  • 3 Year Degree (3)
  • Accommodations (2)
  • Admissions Policies (106)
  • Admissions Statistics (73)
  • Advice & Analysis (362)
  • Alabama (2)
  • Amherst (2)
  • AP (5)
  • Applications (78)
  • Applying from India (1)
  • Arizona (4)
  • ASU (1)
  • Austin College (1)
  • Baylor (1)
  • Berry College (1)
  • Boston University (3)
  • Bowdoin (1)
  • Brown (6)
  • Bryn Mawr (1)
  • Business (1)
  • BYU (1)
  • Caltech (3)
  • Canada (2)
  • Career and Technical Education (24)
  • Case Western (4)
  • China (1)
  • CMC (1)
  • Coalition (13)
  • Colby (3)
  • College Counselor (17)
  • College Fairs (5)
  • College Life (34)
  • College List (36)
  • College List Deathmatch (5)
  • College Visit (24)
  • Colorado School of Mines (1)
  • Columbia (7)
  • Common Application (37)
  • Community Colleges (4)
  • Cornell (4)
  • COVID-19 (8)
  • CSU (1)
  • CU Boulder (2)
  • Cybersecurity (1)
  • Dartmouth (5)
  • Davidson (1)
  • Demonstrated Interest (17)
  • DePaul (1)
  • Dickinson (1)
  • Direct Admissions (1)
  • Duke (2)
  • Early Action (35)
  • Early Decision (39)
  • Educational Consulting (1)
  • Emory (1)
  • Engineering (1)
  • Enrichment (13)
  • Environmental Science (1)
  • Essays (45)
  • Europe (6)
  • Exercise Science (1)
  • Exeter (1)
  • Extracurricular Activities (26)
  • Feature (2)
  • Financial Aid (23)
  • First Person (9)
  • Fly-In (1)
  • France (1)
  • FSU (1)
  • Gap Programs (2)
  • GED (1)
  • Georgetown (4)
  • Germany (2)
  • Gifts (3)
  • GPA (4)
  • Graduate School (3)
  • Hamilton (1)
  • Harvard (7)
  • High School (22)
  • Higher National Diplomas (1)
  • HiSET (1)
  • IB (4)
  • IEC (1)
  • IELTS (1)
  • Indiana (3)
  • International (9)
  • Internships (7)
  • Interviews (10)
  • Iowa (2)
  • Italy (2)
  • Ivy League (20)
  • JHU (3)
  • Kettering University (1)
  • Lafayette (1)
  • Law (1)
  • LD (1)
  • Lists & Rankings (3)
  • Majors (15)
  • Marketing (1)
  • Math (1)
  • Medicine (1)
  • Middlebury (1)
  • MIT (6)
  • Montana State University (1)
  • Naviance (2)
  • NCAA (3)
  • New Mexico State University (1)
  • News (89)
  • Northwestern (5)
  • Notification News (3)
  • Notre Dame (3)
  • Nursing (6)
  • NYU (3)
  • Of Note (5)
  • Ohio State (2)
  • Oklahoma (1)
  • Online Learning (3)
  • Open Admission (2)
  • Parents (7)
  • Penn (8)
  • Pharmacy (1)
  • Pitt (2)
  • Popular Posts (11)
  • Princeton (5)
  • Priority (2)
  • Professor of the Month (1)
  • PSU (3)
  • Public Universities (8)
  • Purdue (1)
  • Rankings (8)
  • Reader Questions (11)
  • Recommendations (8)
  • Regular (23)
  • Research (4)
  • Resume (17)
  • Rice (4)
  • Robotics (1)
  • Rochester (1)
  • ROI (3)
  • Rolling (5)
  • Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (1)
  • Santa Clara University (2)
  • Sewanee (1)
  • Skiing & Snowboarding (1)
  • SMU (1)
  • Social Work (3)
  • South America (2)
  • Southwestern (TX) (1)
  • Spotlight Series (1)
  • St. Edward's University (1)
  • St. John's College (1)
  • Standardized Tests (33)
  • Stanford (4)
  • STEM (1)
  • Stevens Institute of Technology (1)
  • Summer (17)
  • Swarthmore (1)
  • TASC (1)
  • Teacher Recommendations (7)
  • Temple (1)
  • Texas (3)
  • Texas A&M (1)
  • Ticker (23)
  • Trending Posts (42)
  • Trinity University (TX) (1)
  • Tufts (3)
  • Tuition (3)
  • Tulane (5)
  • UBC (1)
  • UC Berkeley (7)
  • UC Davis (1)
  • UC Santa Barbara (1)
  • UCAS (4)
  • UCLA (7)
  • UDub (1)
  • UF (3)
  • UGA (3)
  • UIUC (3)
  • UMass (1)
  • UMD (5)
  • UNC (2)
  • United Kingdom (6)
  • Universal College Application (1)
  • University of Chicago (2)
  • University of Dallas (1)
  • University of New Mexico (1)
  • University of Rochester (1)
  • University of Vermont (1)
  • USC (3)
  • UT Austin (1)
  • Utah (2)
  • UVA (7)
  • Vanderbilt (2)
  • Video Game Design (1)
  • Villanova (2)
  • Virtual Visit (1)
  • Wake Forest (1)
  • Wash U (7)
  • Wesleyan (1)
  • Williams (3)
  • Wisconsin (2)
  • Yale (12)
  • ZeeMee (1)

News Tips | Write for Us | Sponsored Posts
All content © 2023 | Admissions.Blog
Terms of Service | +1 410-526-2558

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in