The Common App Essay Guide

What are the common app essay prompts for 2022?

The common app essay prompts for 2022-23 are:

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, 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. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma — anything of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

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 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.

How do I choose a common app essay topic?

To choose the best common app essay topic for you, follow our recommended steps:

1. Read through the topics carefully
2. Make some notes on what you could write about for each prompt
3. Seek advice from family and friends to get their thoughts
4. Expand your ideas by writing down a few more sentences for each topic.

Hopefully this should give you an idea of which prompt you feel you could write most about.

This is the topic you should probably go with, as it's easier to write too much and cut it down, than not have enough to write about in the first place.

How should I start my common app essay?

Whichever common app essay prompt you have chosen, we suggest you start putting together your answer by doing some brainstorming.

For example, for prompt #1 you might think about any after school clubs or activities you're involved in, trips you have taken with your family or friends, and/or any hobbies you have and what you want to achieve from them.

Take a look at our common app brainstorming guide for more detailed advice on each prompt.

How do I write my common app essay introduction?

A great common app essay introduction should have a three way focus: grab the reader’s attention, highlight you as an individual and identify which topic you’re writing about.

For example a good introduction could be: “Last month I organized a street car wash for the special kids fund charity”.

Make sure you are realistic and honest, and use active words to describe feelings and behaviours.

For more detailed advice, please read our common app essay introduction guide.

How do I write my common app essay conclusion?

To write a great common app essay conclusion, we recommend you:

1. Make it memorable
2. Include your future career plans
3. Avoid making jokes or using other humour
4. Ask for feedback from family, friends and teachers to see how it might be improved further.

For more detailed tips and advice, please see our common app essay conclusion guide.

Where can I look at some common app essay examples?

You can see some common app essay examples for all the current prompts here.

These should give you a good idea of what a successful common app essay looks like, and inspire you to write your own.

Please do not plagiarise any sentences or paragraphs from these examples - your essay should be your own work, written in your own unique voice.

It's possible your application will be penalised if you are caught copying someone else's work.

How do I format my common app essay?

Once you have a final, polished draft of your common app essay, you need to make sure it is formatted correctly.

To do this, we recommend you simply use a word processor to format it into clear, logical paragraphs.

This means you can also check your spelling, grammar and word count, before copying and pasting it into the common application form online.

Make sure you preview your essay to check you're happy with the formatting before clicking Continue, and remember that if you struggle to upload your essay correctly, try a different browser, e.g. Chrome, Firefox or IE.

How do I structure my common app essay?

To help you structure your common app essay, we recommend you:

1. Make a plan of what you're going to include in each paragraph
2. Start writing your introduction to set the scene
3. Work through your paragraphs one by one and make sure they flow together nicely
4. Round off your essay with a memorable conclusion that summarises your essay and explains your next steps after university.

For more detailed advice, please see our Structuring Your Common App Essay guide.

What's the common app essay word limit?

The maximum number of words you can submit for your common app essay is 650. It must also be a minimum of 250 words.

If your essays do not adhere to these guidelines, you will not be able to submit your essay online using the common application system.

How do I edit my common app essay?

Since 2015/16, applicants can edit their Common Application essay as many times as they would like after submitting it (in previous years a maximum of three edits was allowed).

We recommend you follow these steps to edit your essay once you have a final draft in place:

1. Check for spelling and grammar (don't just rely on a word processor for this, read it through yourself several times).
2. Look at the punctuation - has it been used correctly throughout?
3. See if all the paragraphs flow naturally together
4. Does it make an impact on the reader and make them want to read the whole essay?
5. Is it a maximum of 650 words long?
6. Have you used active, rather than passive, language in your essay?
7. Proofread it carefully.

For more detailed tips and advice, please see our common app essay editing guide.

Where can I find some common app essay tips?

For more advice on writing your common app essay, please read our tips and FAQs guide, which have lots more information to help you with this stage of the common application form.