Can You Submit Different Essays On The Common App

Spending the summer agonizing over which Common Application essay prompt to choose? You're not alone.

Choosing Your Common App Essay Topic

Choosing an essay topic is no easy task. It can seem like such an arbitrary choice: talking about one particular moment or one specific extracurricular activity when you've had so many more experiences. In fact, how do you even quantify which experience is more important than another? The good news is there's a way to tackle this.

Common App Prompt #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.

The Core of the Essay Prompt

If you had one story you could tell that would let someone know who you are, what would that story be? At its core, that's what the Common App Essay Prompt #1 is asking you. The Common App gives you some guidance, so you can choose a story that relates to your background, identity, interest or talent.

Let's break these different 4 options down and give you examples to work with:

A. Background

Background Common App Essay Tips & Advice

Your background might be the foundation for your values and interests. The culture you come from, the type of upbringing you had, the religion you have faith can be what gives admissions officers the most insight to who you are as a person.

Background topics: family heritage, family separations, low-income background, traveling family, religious background, immigrant family

You may have read many examples from this essay prompt, where the student has had to experience some challenging moments because of their family background. Do not feel pressured to skip this essay prompt just because you didn't have a difficult time. As long as your background inspired you or shaped you to be who you are, then it's a good choice for you to write about it.

Similarly, don't be afraid to tackle background topics that may be overused. There are many students who have written about their family heritage and students who have talked about the impact of their parent's divorce. While it's true that these are very common background topics, your experience and how it impacted you is still unique to you. Your family heritage may have inspired you to major in a language or a history. Your parent's divorce may have forced you to find solace in music. When it comes to your personal story, don't compare it to others. AS the saying goes, don't compare your chapter 1 to someone else's chapter 10.

Background Common App Essay Example:

Essay Excerpt from KingCooper

Mathematics, Georgetown University '14

"I never knew pain so palpable. The shock, the hurt, the abandonment was bone-chiseling. The man who has been there for all my ups and my downs had just walked away. I was jettisoned. I was thirteen.

My father had been everything to me. He introduced me to the world of literature, kindled my passion for soccer, and encouraged me to chase my dreams. He was my inspiration, my fountain of energy. When he walked out on my mother and me, I was facing an emotional abyss. I did not know I had it inside me. The internal struggle was long and hard. However, self preservation eventually triumphed over self pity. Insights and lessons gained in history and literature have also brought me solace."

KingCooper's profile is free! View her successful Georgetown application file and see how AdmitSee can help you with your application.

Essay Example Feedback:

The student decided to write about her parent's divorce and how that shaped who she is. The takeaway here is how she doesn't write very much about the divorce itself. She frames the Common App essay with her family background, using it the divorce as a talking point to share more about who she is. She dives into her perspective of her parent's separation, thereby showing off her thought process and her empathy for others.

B. Identity

Identity Common App Essay Tips & Advice

You'd be directly speaking to who you are and what that identity represents. So, truthfully, no student is going to choose to write this unless they feel super strongly about it. It can be an identity you are extremely proud of representing. It can also be an identity you've struggled with.

Questions to ask yourself: How do you see yourself? What is the image your portray? How do others see you? How do your peers identify you? Is there a checkbox you've always ticked off?

Identity topics: Being a twin/triplet, adopted child, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious identity, stereotypes

Based on the topics, you might be thinking: "how is identity different from background?" Take religion for example. You might come from a very religious background, but you might not identify with being a religious person. In this case, you can probably choose to talk about your religion as your background or as your identity, but the way you frame your essay would be a slightly different. From the background standpoint, you'd more likely write about your values and how that upbringing impacted you. From the identity standpoint, you may rather want to write about how you feel about being seen as a religious person, how others treat you, or how your parents treat you if you felt differently.

Identity Common App Essay Example:

Essay Excerpt from GoQuakers

Business Management, University of Pennsylvania '19

"Identity is a tricky subject for an identical twin. I should know, as I have navigated my entire life with my own personal clone. There are countless examples in which people have called me Melissa and called her Lindsay. It is additionally awkward when relatives, and even teachers, mix us up. On the other hand, I am grateful that we have a private language, can finish each other's sentences, and at times are convinced we can read each other's minds."

Want to write about your identity?Unlock GoQuaker's Penn successful application file for inspiration!

Essay Example Feedback:

GoQuakers dives right into her identity of being a twin. She immediately lets the reader know she is an identical twin, and the pros and cons of that identity. This gives her a lot of space to write about what sets her apart from her twin and demonstrate who she is as an individual: her interests, her perspective, and her personality. And that's what you want in a college application essay: the reader to know what it'll be like meeting you before he or she even does.

C. Interest

Interest Common App Essay Tips & Advice

Is there something that you are so interested in that it defines who you are as a person? The list of topics for interest can go on and on. It is completely dependent on what you are passionate about, and there are just so much people can enjoy doing.

Interest Topics: interest in the arts: playing the piano, singing, learning the guitar; interest in the sciences: research, robotics; athletics, politics, debate

What you should be careful with this writing about an interest is it shouldn't be a summary of why you like it and how you pursued it. It should be a story about how this interest shaped who you are. What has it taught you? Did it introduce new values into your life? Did it change your perspective? Or, has it always been a constant in your life? Why is it so important that it's the one thing people need to know about you?

Keep those questions in mind, and when you touch on why you like it and how you pursue your interest, you'll hopefully be able to bring more insight and depth into your Common App essay.

Interest Common App Essay Example:

Essay Excerpt from Lia_Columbia

Creative Writing, Columbia University '14

"I want to write a banned book.

Admittedly, reading banned books is not as subversive as it used to be. Gone are the days when physical books banned from import or snatched from the classroom are passed from friend to friend. Still, I see myself making an impromptu appearance at a Wichita School Board meeting to defend my book, passing picketers demanding its removal from school library."

Is there an interest you want to write about? View Lia_Columbia's application essay to see how she did it!

Essay Example Feedback:

This essay excerpt is different from the first two, because she doesn't start by saying "I have an interest in writing". Instead, she begins her application essay with a bold statement. Her introduction - I want to write a banned book - is simple and bold, which immediately draws the readers in. Now, you're wondering why? As she explains her reasoning in the body of the essay, she is also sharing why she is interested in writing. It shows us a glimpse of who she is, how writing has influenced her choices, and how she uses it to express herself.

D. Talent

Talent Common App Essay Tips & Advice

What are you insanely good at? What is your individual talent? Talent is somewhat similar to interest, in that there is a wide range of things you could be good at. Don't limit yourself to thinking about school subjects or crazy "impressive" talents like being a top-performing classical pianist. That's certainly a talent, but so is being able to juggle with one hand.

Talent topics: Running, juggling, being a leader, rubik's cube, chess

The danger of writing about a talent is you may be too arrogant or boastful about the subject you chose. If you're good at it, naturally you want to show it off. Again, remember to bring it back to what the full prompt is asking you: share your story. How does your talent relate to it? How did you stumble upon it? Did you have to work at it? Did you give it up at any point? Do you enjoy it? Something you're good at, may not be something you enjoy!

Talent Common App Essay Example:

Essay Excerpt from Thefuzzhead1

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern California '20

"On that afternoon long ago, somewhere in the autumn of the year 2005, I made a decision that irrevocably and immeasurably changed my life for the better. My teacher - whose name is David Tauscher - asked me to trust in him, to believe in myself, and to devote my time to a journey and an endeavor under his guidance so that perhaps I might have a chance of someday creating beauty of my own."

Is there a talent you want to write about? Checkout his full USC personal statement.

Essay Example Feedback:

This essay excerpt is different from the rest because this isn't an introductory paragraph. This excerpt comes towards the end of the essay. The reason why I chose this particular excerpt to illustrate the point I made above. Writing about a talent isn't always just writing about how good you are at something. It is also about whether you're willing to make sacrifices and work hard to nurture the talent that you have. Whether or not you do separates you from others who have the same talent. This excerpt demonstrates that choice and what that means to the student.

Format of the Essay

The format of the essay is up to your creative control. If you have always been a creative writer, you can add additional formatting to your essay that can make it more interesting, like writing it as a script if your interest is in film writing, or writing it as a proof if you're passionate about maths. Be very careful with these intricate formats—they may not always come across on the page. Focus on the content of the essay first, and then worry about this later when you're reviewing and thinking about how to improve your Common App essay.

The main advice is always this: show, don't tell. For any of the topics - background, identity, interest or talent - the purpose of the essay isn't to give a detailed summary about it. You want to use these ideas to frame your essay. They are devices to allow you to launch into a story about who you are.

How to Wrap Up the Application Essay

This Common App essay prompt asks you to share your story, or at least whatever it is up to now. Is the impact of your essay subject long lasting? Is there still opportunity grow and explore? Could there be other things in college that can take you to the next level? Relate it back to the start of your essay, and wrap it up with an idea of hope and future potential.

We hope you find this helpful! If you have any additional questions, please feel free to leave a comment below and we'll get back to you.

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About The Author

Frances Wong

Frances Wong

Frances was born in Hong Kong and received her bachelor's degree from Georgetown University. She loves super sad drama television, cooking, and reading. Her favorite person on Earth isn't actually a member of the AdmitSee team - it's her dog Cooper.