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Common App Reveals 2015-2016 Essay Prompts
Almost every year, the Common Application makes some form of revision to their existing essay prompts. This isn't news for all people, but it may matter to the more than 800,000 hopeful students who use the Common App in their college application process. It may also cause a ripple in the water for the more than 500 universities in the U.S. that accept applications through the Common App channel.
This year's changes are minor. The most marked difference is the removal of the prompt asking students to describe the place where they feel most content. The Common Application claims to have surveyed more than 6,000 students about the existing prompts; that prompt was the least favorite. It has been replaced with "Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve…".
To those in the admissions field, this prompt is resonant of many graduate business school prompts, which demonstrate a decided interest in problem-solving. Such a prompt gives a student an opportunity to travel outside the traditional "describe the world you come from", which may be the easiest to answer, but not always fodder for the most compelling read.
Which is why the changes should matter to students. The readers don't care which prompt you answer. The changes aren't monumental. But the tweaks should serve a primary purpose: to inspire students to write more astutely and distinctively.
Regrettably, readers won't spend hours ruminating over your narrative. They don't have that kind of time. What they need is to be instantly gripped-compelled not to simply cast the essay aside thoughtlessly, reaching for the next.
High school juniors, take note-it isn't too early to start ruminating on your essay topic for the Fall.
To see the updated Common Application prompts, click here. Washington Post
Labels: Common App Reveals 2015-2016 Essay Prompts
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