Common App Essay Prompts 2024-2025 Are Live! Now Go Live (and Notice) Your Life!
Common App Essay prompts are newly released for 2024-2025 college admissions, everyone's most relaxing season of life!
Spoiler alert, the Common App essay prompts are the same as last year, which doesn't mean much to anyone who wasn't applying last year!
Before you freak out (unless you enjoy a good freakout, which, by all means, you do you), I'm writing a post to make you happy.
Note- The Common App website itself offers some basic resources for getting started on the personal essay, to encourage reflection. And this is a good time for reflection and introspection!
When Should I Start My College Essay? Now-- Sort of.
For most students, summer before senior year is plenty early enough to draft the essay proper, with the goal of a very strong draft before September hits.
However, there are things you can do in the Spring of junior year that will lead you towards an incredible, magnetic Common App essay. This requires increasing your awareness, yes, but without trying too hard at all. It is possibly even pleasurable!
I call this, how to write your college essay without writing it.
Gather enough notes, and your college essay will start to crystallise for you. Really.
How to Start Your Best Common App Essay Without Even Trying
My 3-step college essay writing-ish process
- Notice your own thoughts, feelings, actions and passions
- Take Notes (in docs or voice memos)
- Organise your content
What to notice to start your essay...
- Notice your own thoughts.
- Where does your mind go? When you're walking down the street, in your room, commuting? With family, your bestie? Doing something terribly boring?
- How quickly do you turn on something to listen to, and what are you listening to?
- How often are you looking up and out versus down at a device- yes, even while walking? What are you taking in?
OK, my friend. TAKE NOTES.
That's right- on an app on your phone. Or in the voice memos or pocket-size note pad (if you're that cool). Jot down your thoughts as they are.
Date the entry.
Only rule here is you need to be able to find it again, when you're assembling an actual college essay, or sifting through your wild piles of content to do so.
Adding a good subject or topic for each entry can help.
Examples:
- Pigeon mating on Broadway.
- Animal life in urban environments.
- Why I envy pigeons.
If you notice something about what you've noticed? Record that too!
Example: Wow, I seem to always gravitate towards the animals over people!
Other things to notice
- Pay attention to your expression of Passions.
- Ever get in a fight with a peer, because your opinions differed radically?
- Ever have a teacher, mentor or coach who REALLY pushed your thinking- and maybe your buttons?
- Ever found yourself in a discussion or task which you were so involved in you were totally late for something else?
OK, my friend. You know what I'm going to say? That's right- take notes.
Note what was happening, what that other person said, what you were doing and why you were so driven that you didn't mind being late for Chemistry (sorry, I'm sure it wasn't chemistry. That was just the one I was always late for. Love you, Ms. Papageorge!)
- Go deep in your work and play! That's right. You don't need to love every class or every extracurricular equally. Who does? Junior year is a time of intense sprouting and stretching. Of course it's notoriously important for your academic record. But it can also just be important...for you:
- What are the hardest classes you're taking? Why do you care about them so much?
- What new ideas are you wrestling with or integrating?
- How are you pushing your skills on your sports team?
- How hard did you fight to raise money for your club or affinity group?
OK, my friend. You know what I'm going to say? That's right- take notes.
That's it! Your Common App Essay will start to shape itself before you know it.
Recap of the writing-without-really-writing Common App essay process
Your job is to:
1) Read the Common App 2024-2025 essay prompts.
2) File them away in your subconscious mind for a few months.
3) Pay close attention to your life, feelings and thoughts.
4) Document and take notes! (And make that content findable).
Don't get me wrong- there will be a LOT (lot!) of hard work and trying later on. That's the crafting, editing, and revising stages.
But right now, you've got your marching orders, and I believe in you.
Want more? I got you covered with top-notch admissions essay writing support.
Now, really, before you freak out: reach out to me to talk about college essay writing support. It can be creative and incredible, honestly. And I won't lie, like having a baby, or parenting, or creating anything you care about in high stakes situations, it's also really hard. And that's good.
I'm making it so easy. You can book your 30 minute FREE consultation on zoom, HERE.
Here's the me you'll see (not as giant as pic implies, but big in spirit!):
Note- in the image, my happy baby is reading an absolutely fabulous book, called "I Love Me. " College essay writing is a mix of self-examination, self- love, and critical reflection (I'm getting her started early).
Did you book your consultation yet? Or contact us for support to write the Common App essay of your life.
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