If you’re back for this installment of “How to Write the Common App Essay” series, it’s probably not your first rodeo. In fact, it could be your fourth-and-counting rodeo. And to that we say: Yeehaw!
We spend a lot of time on our Common App essay guide because it is such an important part of your college application. This piece of writing goes to every school you apply to through the Common App platform, and it’s the place where you get to show your personality, your values, and your unique perspective on the world — to give the admissions officers an idea of who you are beyond a test score and transcripts.
It won’t shock you at this point to hear us say that Prompt #7 is our favorite; our counseling agency is known for thinking outside the box, and that’s why our students stand out and get great outcomes every year. But, as we know about every part of the college application process, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and Prompt #7 doesn’t speak to everybody!
If you’re among those who finds the ~wide open spaces~ of Prompt #7 a bit paralyzing, Prompt #4 — the newest of the bunch that debuted in 2021 — is a pretty good option, in our opinion. So what’s the deal with Prompt #4?
Common App Prompt #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?
Our Assessment
We love the way this prompt sets you up to tell an upbeat, heartwarming story! As you know, regardless of prompt, our advice for nailing your Common App essay is to tell a story. This format allows you to show growth, entertain through narrative, and follow a set course from beginning to middle to end without rambling or getting sidetracked by philosophical musings. 650 words is not a lot, and sharing a short but meaningful anecdote is the best way to get in and out while creating an emotional impact.
On the topic of that emotional impact: part of the reason this prompt rocks is that it’s fundamentally uplifting. In the aftermath of 2020 and widespread pandemic quarantines, most students (and frankly, most people) were still processing the overwhelming stress and fear of the last school year. And, honestly, the world is dark and heavy enough no matter what year it is.
Prompt #4 sets an optimistic tone and invites you to look for good things in your life large and small: unexpected gestures, small acts of kindness, or quiet heroism. These kinds of essays are a breath of fresh air for admissions officers, too, who read hundreds of applications a day. Imagine it, because you’ve been there, too: it’s been a long day of staring at a computer screen, digesting the details of innumerable strangers’ lives, and you’re ready to stretch your legs and shake off the eye strain. In the home stretch of your business hours, think about how refreshing it is for the final essay in your pile to make you smile or even laugh out loud. That possibility? It’s a definitive upside of this prompt.
How to Do It Right
Still, there are potential downsides, too. The good news is that they’re entirely avoidable if you’re looking out for them, so we’ll cover the mistakes you Dz’t want to make now and get it out of the way. The most common pitfalls we see in #4 are 1) focusing too much on the person you’re grateful to and forgetting to bring it back to the impact their kindness had on you, and 2) ignoring the key word in this prompt: “surprising.”
While this prompt is all about giving someone else in your life their flowers, you shouldn’t spend the majority of the essay talking about that person. The beginning might cover what they did for you, but the middle should talk about your experience of it — why it felt so meaningful. This is how you get your perspective and personality across; why were you grateful for this event, or why did it make you so happy? And the end, of course, concludes with a realization of your personal development — how “this gratitude affected or motivated you.”
Those middle and end sections get to the heart of choosing an example that benefited you “in a surprising way.” Readers can’t learn anything about you if your story is predictable; it doesn’t help them understand your nature, thought process, or care for others. “Surprising” might seem like a weird word to use here, but you Dz’t need to reach for a sensational story or a gimmicky plot twist. Think of it this way: if you write an essay about how grateful you were to the person who sold you a winning lottery ticket, that doesn’t really tell us much about you because everyone would be happy to hit the jackpot and become an overnight millionaire. Instead, write about a situation that really highlights your growth and ability to find the good in complex situations.
Getting to Your First Draft
Now that you know what makes a good topic, you’re ready to brainstorm. If you’re unsure how to start sifting through your experiences to find a “surprising” experience of gratitude that fills the bill, we’ve got some questions you can consider to get started.
Do you believe in “silver linings?” Can you think of a time when you experienced a hardship or disappointment that ended up leading you to something wonderful?
Have you ever received constructive criticism that might have stung in the beginning but helped you improve exponentially? What have you achieved, or what good things have transpired in your life, because of how you responded to this feedback?
Has a small act of kindness ever turned your day around? Has that changed the way you interact with strangers?
Viewing your life through the lens of the butterfly effect, try to imagine some of the unexpected or seemingly insignificant factors that led to your happiest memories. Has anyone ever made a small decision that had a huge impact on you? What are the best things that have happened to you by chance? Has that given you hope when you needed it or affected how you approach the future?
Just to show you that your essay doesn’t need to have a dramatic premise to be profound, here’s an example topic. Let’s say you’re having the worst. day. ever. It feels like everything is going wrong —you set off the fire alarm frying eggs before school, which makes you late for your math test (which you have to take on an empty stomach, by the way, because your burnt breakfast went straight into the trash!). You slog through class and cross-country with only the promise of your post-practice Diet Coke to get them through, but when you go to pay at the gas station you realize you left your debit card in your locker and you’re 30 cents short. On another afternoon, this would be a mild annoyance, but on this particular occasion it seems like further proof that you can’t get anything right. You find yourself on the verge of tears when the cashier points out the “leave-a-penny” jar on the counter; they take a quarter and a nickel from it, smile, and tell you not to worry about it and to enjoy your drink.
This might seem like a minor interaction, and technically it is, but it has the potential to make an excellent response to Prompt #4. You can explain how this tiny moment reminded you of the kindness of strangers — not just the cashier offering you comfort when you were at your wits’ end, but every person who walked into the gas station that day and left their spare change, not knowing who might need it later or what purchase they would make. Not knowing whether it would be an emergency or a pick-me-up — just wanting to make someone else’s life a little easier. An admissions officer who reads this essay now knows a lot about you: that you’re observant and thoughtful, that you’re responsive to what you’ve learned when life teaches you something, and that you’re a kind-hearted person who wants to pay it forward. This story didn’t stay with you because of the Diet Coke, of course; it left its imprint because it reminded you that none of us are alone. Now, when you find yourself in a crowd of people, it’s not just a sea of faces; it’s full of individuals who might be just the type to leave their change or one day need to borrow yours. And, yes, every time you stop for a Diet Coke, you make sure to leave a penny.
And there you have it — you’ve got an idea and you’re ready to write your Common App essay! Yes, you’ll need to revise, polish, and seek input before finalizing it, but, once you’ve arrived at a concept and you’ve got a rough draft, the hardest part is over. And that’s something surprising to reflect on with gratitude, in our opinion!
Looking for expert guidance on your Common App essay? Reach out to us today.