Applying for college anywhere in the world comes with its own set of idiosyncrasies. There are different portals to navigate, a variety of references and certificates you might need to tailor to each school, and an intricate web of deadlines to meet, both for your prospective degree(s) and for any other programs that might come into play during your college education. If you’re intending to apply to college soon, you might already know this!
Floating amongst the sea of documents you must consider for each school, though, there’s almost always a requirement for a personal statement of some kind—some reflection on why you are actually hoping to step into further education.
In the US, the most prominent (and perhaps distinctive) of personal statements is arguably the Common App essay. Hosted on the Common App portal, which facilitates applications to over 1000 colleges via a single ‘common’ application, this essay is the main personal statement a student will write for their application to Common App colleges. It’s a significant part of your application, and it’s important to write an essay that is as strong as it can be.
Before you dive into writing, there are a few key things to know about the Common App essay. Even with that knowledge, getting started isn’t always easy, so we’ll walk you through the essentials and share tips to spark your thinking.
What is the Common App essay? (And some common misconceptions)
At its heart, the Common App essay is, indeed, an essay—that is, a “short piece of writing on a particular subject.”1 In all likelihood, though, it will be unlike other essays you’ve written at school until now.
The purpose of the Common App essay is for you to reflect on a particular experience that was significant to you (this can be of many different kinds!) and then link your learning from it to what you intend to do in a college environment.
In other words, you’ll need to convey answers to questions like the following:
- What was this experience (and what was it like)?
- How did I grow through this experience?
- How does this growth add to my goals for college and my ability to contribute to a healthy academic and extracurricular community at college?
You’ll notice that there were a lot of ‘I’s and ‘my’s in those questions! That’s kind of the point, because this essay is intended to showcase your unique voice and perspective. Still, it can also be unfamiliar or a bit uncomfortable if you’re accustomed to writing third-person essays for high school.
To reframe a bit, the Common App essay falls into the personal essay subgenre. Personal essays are short written works of prose that present a true event with the style and techniques commonly used in fiction. Often, there is both an immediate ‘point’ in the essay’s surface-layer subject and a deeper point or theme which emerges2.
Write the World College Essay Advisor Madison Zuñiga, for instance, wrote a college essay about her piano lessons, before discovering that she was really writing about underlying subjects such as anxiety. For more info about personal essays, check out Madison’s accessible intro (itself a personal essay) on the Write the World blog, published earlier this month!
Examining your own perspective doesn’t demand morbid introspection. Rather, it gives you the opportunity to look out after looking in, showing your understanding of yourself in a way that’s valuable for your goals and future communities.
Another important misconception is that a good college essay requires a tragic or monumental event. This is not true at all! There is depth to be found in the smallest routines and environments of your life, and the ‘size’ of an experience itself doesn’t necessarily correspond to your potential learnings from it.
What are the Common App essay prompts for 2025-2026?
The Common App prompts 25-26 are general in nature and remain fairly similar from year to year. The prompts for 2025-2026 are3:
- 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.
To reinforce the concluding point in the previous section, you’ll see that prompt seven essentially allows you to write on anything!
What is the Common App word count/word limit?
Six hundred fifty words is the maximum word count. This is also probably shorter than essays you’ve written for school, so a strong central focus, succinct expression, and effective transitions are key!
That being said, when you do get to writing, remember that while just adding words for their own sake is a quick way to clog up your main point, there is usually more relevant context and description you can add to deepen the narrative. Don’t be afraid to go near the word limit if you’ve got more to say!
How many essays do I need to write for the Common App?
Just one! One Common App application, one essay. A caveat to this is that some schools may require additional answers to questions specific to their school (‘supplementary essays’). Still, these are usually much shorter and require more straightforward answers.
What can I do to prepare?
Writing a Common App essay—like much writing—is less about the ‘ultimate’ production of words as it is the process of reflection and preparation that precedes it. Given this, there’s a lot you can do to gear up for it, and much of it can be fun! Here are just a few tips.
- Read some successful college essays! Many have been published online, and students also frequently share their own essays on YouTube. Read widely! Not only will you be exposed to useful structures and techniques in college essays, you’ll also catch a glimpse into the diversity of student experience, some of which you may not have thought could be college essay topics.
- Start gathering stories from your life! If you get stuck, try starting with something small or near. What are your summer plans, for example? Are they the same as what you did last year? Why or why not?
- Be aware of the resources available to support you! With all the college essays that have ever been created, there is a wealth of support available. Talk to your teachers, counselors, and peers. If you’re looking for something to guide you through the writing process closely, have a look at our College Essay Writing Course!
- Lastly, get excited! Really. Having to reflect on the experiences you’ve had so far as you approach the close of a chapter, and drawing threads from them to where you might go—supported by a college education—is quite a unique experience. The process of reflecting, synthesising, editing, and expressing in itself will set you up to build critical life-long skills. You might discover things you didn’t know about yourself, or grasp new ways to voice your experiences, or get a new burst of insight into your goals (academic and otherwise).
Write the World’s College Essay Advisors see a lot of this in the essays we review—and really, that’s the idea with which I want to leave you! Because you live every aspect of your life, every aspect of your life holds a story that you can view with your unique lens. There’s no pressure to pick something that perfectly sums you up straight away. Just get thinking, get writing about anything, and infuse it with your point of view. The broader picture of you will shine through, whatever your subject.
References
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/essay
- https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/631090/writing-creative-nonfiction-by-philip-gerard/
- https://www.commonapp.org/blog/announcing-2025-2026-common-app-essay-prompts
About Enling Liao
Enling Liao has been a valued member of Write the World since 2019, contributing her editorial expertise and passion for storytelling. With experience as both a Managing Editor and a web content assistant at two literary magazines, she has developed a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of the writing and editorial process. Her work in these roles has allowed her to help shape diverse voices and narratives.
In addition to her editorial work, Enling is currently pursuing a degree in Data and Government at the Australian National University. Enling is deeply committed to helping students navigate the essay writing process, encouraging them to explore their pivotal life moments and express their thoughts in a clear, meaningful way.
