Common App Essay Prompts for the 2024-25 Application Cycle
The Common App, the application system most U.S. colleges use for their application, has released the essay prompts for the 2024-25 application cycle:
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 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?
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that 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?
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.
Additionally, students still have the opportunity to answer the “optional community disruption question,” which allows students to explain how the Covid-19 pandemic affected them.
With these prompts released, students student at least be engaged in the early stages of the writing process. At Ivy Link, we advise students to begin reflecting and brainstorming on these essay prompts in the Spring. This gives students the entire Summer to write, edit, and revise their essays before they submit to Early Decision in the Fall. Under no circumstances should these essays be put off until the last minute. They are an important component in the application.
If your student needs assistance with the brainstorming, writing, editing, or revising process, reach out to Ivy Link!
