For many students, a decent GPA, good SAT/ACT scores, high school ranking, and recommendations will be enough for admissions. Maintaining a high GPA itself can be a challenge for many, but what about for students aiming for very competitive schools? Superficially, applicant data begins to look very similar at elite schools simply because nearly everyone will have excellent GPAs, test scores, and a few glowing recommendations from one or two extracurricular events. These are strong packages, set apart only by the quality of the accompanying essays that are submitted. 

You can choose between the Common App or Coalition platforms for your applications. Common App serves a far greater number of institutions, but we offer grading services for both as well as for competition submissions. Once you enter personal data into the platform, you will have a list of topics to choose from. The topics – even the word length requirements – are similar and can be prepared alongside each other, as evaluators are essentially looking for the same thing: an essay that helps them go beyond other materials and understand who you really are. 

Here is a list of this year’s topics:

Of all the things in your application package, your essay is the component that you’ll have the most control over. The topics themselves are released one full year in advance, and some of them have been on the Common App for many years. Building out a strong essay that showcases your enthusiasm and personality will help your application shine. Even freshmen can get started simply by reading sample essays from winning submissions. Here’s a Master Plan that you can use as you prepare.

Once you’re ready to start working on your application essay, there are a few things to keep in mind: 

#1 Correctly understand the prompt

This may sound obvious, but understanding the prompt and writing your essay to answer the topic correctly is crucial. That’s why breaking down each prompt is important before you start planning. You should choose a topic because you feel it best conveys who you are. Avoid knee-jerk reactions like “that’s not me,” or “that’s too hard.” Get a good understanding of what each prompt requires before you make that decision. To help, we have a Common App breakdown series that looks at each topic. The insights can be directly applied to Coalition essays as well. 

#2 Plan ahead

You have, at the very least, one full year to build out this essay. However, if you’re a rising junior, you can still prepare the exact same way as a rising senior, but, the difference is you could have seven essays prepared for when the new topics launch. At that point, you only need to decide if you are going to go with one of the essays you already prepared, or if you will spend an entire year doing a fresh essay for one of the topics that changed (remember, 1-2 topics used to change annually, but that pattern stopped in 2019). Give yourself enough time and brainstorm each topic like it’s the only one available. This will ensure you’re thoroughly prepared for all topics. 

As a rising junior or senior, you will have a rough estimate of your GPA and target schools. Make sure to visit school websites to see what their requirements are. Once you’ve done that, look for successful sample essays to get a better understanding of what type of essays are favored by admissions folks at those schools.

#3 Content vs. grammar

You have to think of this essay as being scored on two separate points. The content is important in that it’s the actual substance. Who are you? What drives you? What do you envision for yourself? Your ability to speak to the personal journey you take to discover the answers to these questions shows the level of critical thinking appropriate for competitive schools. Common stories run the risk of being lost in the crowd. The approach to content should always be how to write my fingerprint in essay form – an essay that only I could write.

For grammar, it may not need to be absolutely perfect. A misplaced comma, or a forgotten capital may not cause that much damage if the content is strong, but if the errors disrupt the flow or are jarringly bad, you will lose points on your writing ability.  

#4 Make every word count 

Making every word impactful is not easy. You need to focus on the audience, brainstorm, write it out, revise it, work on transitions, change the phrasing, remove redundancy, and focus on tone. This can’t happen in a couple days. Once you’ve figured out the essay, work on making it better by improving individual words and phrases. Remember, top schools are looking for a specific kind of essay – it’s not a secret; they want unique, well-written essays. The reality is you’re trying to write an essay that will stand out from thousands of others using the same list of topics. Give yourself the time to prepare and avoid waiting until the last minute. Doing these four steps as far out in advance as you can will make the difference between a GREAT essay and all the other good essays in the same stack. 

If you’re ready to get started, take a look at the 4 components that help build a good essay.