What’s The Common App Essay All About?

By BMC BloggerApr 28, 2025

The school year is winding down, which means it’s time to start working on college admissions essays. This month, we’ll share some excerpts from our book, The Complete College Essay Handbook, starting with some personal statement tips!

First, what exactly is a personal statement like the Common Application essay?

A personal statement is a creative essay of 650 words or less that reads like a short story, memoir, or novel—not like an academic essay, textbook, or newspaper article. The best personal statements tell a story that culminates in a meaningful realization and offers the reader a glimpse of a mind in the process of thinking.

The personal statement is not the place to brag about accomplishments (student body president, team captain, founder of a schoolwide service project), or about how amazing you are (“I’m a world-changing revolutionary!”).

Although people you don’t know are going to read it, the personal statement is not a public form, like a school-wide speech. The personal statement is an intimate form, like a secret. It is the place to be honest, vulnerable, and raw, to reveal mistakes and weaknesses, to open up about an experience you’d only tell someone you were really close with, to explore what you struggle with and what scares you.

The personal statement is not “about” an event or achievement. It is about the psychological and emotional processes that occurred “behind the scenes.”

The same story, told from one angle, can be impersonal whereas, from another—told with a focus on the process rather than the outcome—can become deeply personal. Here are a few examples to help explain what I mean.

  • NO (Impersonal): The story about how you got elected student body president and a detailed account of everything you plan work on once in office
  • YES (Personal): The story about your internal struggle to overcome a crippling fear of public speaking in order to run for student body president
  • NO (Impersonal): The story about how you changed lives by raising money for an orphanage in Africa
  • YES (Personal): The story about how you decided to start raising money for an orphanage because you yourself had been adopted and always struggled with the fact that your birth parents had abandoned you
  • NO (Impersonal): The story about how tearing your ACL was hard because you couldn’t play football or see your friends for a few months
  • YES (Personal): The story about how tearing your ACL gave you the time to reflect on who you are and you realized you didn’t want to just be an athlete so you started writing poetry and made new friends at school

Notice how all of these negative examples focus on the superficial event: I was elected; I raised money; I tore my ACL. By contrast, the positive examples explore the story behind the event—what was going inside of the writer that either led to this event (the student body president and orphanage examples) or the internal change that resulted from it (the ACL example). They also explore intimate, potentially difficult topics.

Since the personal statement is a creative essay at its heart, there is no set formula for success—however, our process and essay samples will give you the tools and examples you need to write your own standout personal statement.

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Talking To Teens About College

Talking To Teens About College

By Brittany MaschalApr 17, 2025

The college process often amplifies anxiety among teens and their parents, yet stress is inevitable. The goal is to manage it healthily, according to Lisa Damour, a clinical psychologist, author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, and host of the Ask Lisa podcast.

Lisa joined Jeff Selingo on a special 30-minute edition of “Next Office Hour” last week. Let’s all give the episode a listen. Some top takeaways:

Accept discomfort. Parents should acknowledge emotional stress as normal. “We cannot prevent emotional pain in our teenagers. Rather, we should help them manage discomfort when it comes,” Damour said. The focus should be on helping teens cope constructively, like allowing space for healthy distractions or emotions rather than harmful habits

Encourage healthy coping. Crying, spending time with friends, physical activity, and mindful rest are all beneficial ways teens can process stress. Parents should be alert only when teens use costly coping mechanisms like substance use or self-criticism.

Reframe high school. Teens should focus on cultivating genuine interests and strengths rather than solely trying to impress admissions officers. Enjoying downtime without guilt is crucial for mental health.

Recognize parental roles. I loved Lisa’s analogy of the Pit Crew vs. the Tow Truck. Parents often feel pulled between supporting their kids (pit crew) and pushing them (tow truck). Constant towing suggests a teen may not be ready for college, highlighting the value of considering gap years or alternative pathways.

Dealing with rejection. College admissions isn’t always meritocratic. When teens face rejection, validate their feelings but emphasize they’ll thrive by focusing on what they can control.

The big picture? Parents and teens often overestimate how much college prestige matters.

If you don’t follow Jeff Selingo, you should. See past issues and subscribe to his newsletter. You can also find him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Threads if social is your thing!

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2025–2026 Common App Essay Prompts + Changes to Additional Info Section and Old “COVID” Question

2025–2026 Common App Essay Prompts + Changes to Additional Info Section and Old “COVID” Question

By Brittany MaschalFeb 28, 2025

The main CA essay prompts are the same, but there’s an updated “challenges and circumstances” question, which replaces the old COVID-19 question. The post from the CA is below:

We are happy to announce that the Common App essay prompts will remain the same for 2025–2026. 🎉

Based on positive feedback from students, counselors, teachers, and colleges, we’ve decided to keep the essay prompts unchanged. We will continue to explore trends in prompt selection across different student populations and use those insights to inform future updates.

Students will see two changes to the optional “Additional information” questions as of August 1, 2025.

  • The current “Community disruption” question will be updated to a “Challenges and circumstances” question. The new question language will expand to capture a broader range of impacts students may experience. The word/character limit will remain the same (first-year app 250 words max, transfer app 1250 characters max).
  • The “Additional information” question word/character limit will be reduced. The first-year app limit will be reduced from 650 to 300 words max. The transfer app limit will be reduced from 3500 to 1500 characters max.

We are making these changes after conducting listening sessions and consulting with our member, counselor, and student advisory committees to ensure we gather diverse perspectives and input. Students in the first-year app who have text in their “Additional information” question that exceeds the reduced word count limit after August 1 will see an error message alert letting them know they have exceeded the new max. They will not lose anything they have written prior to August 1, but they will need to go back and adjust their response. In the transfer app, student responses to the “Additional information” question prior to August 1 will not roll over.

Here is the full set of essay prompts for 2025–2026.

  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.
  2. 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?
  3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
  4. 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?
  5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
  6. 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?
  7. 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

This is the updated “Challenges and circumstances” question language students will see beginning August 1, 2025

Sometimes a student’s application and achievements may be impacted by challenges or other circumstances. This could involve:

  • Access to a safe and quiet study space
  • Access to reliable technology and internet
  • Community disruption (violence, protests, teacher strikes, etc.)
  • Discrimination
  • Family disruptions (divorce, incarceration, job loss, health, loss of a family member, addiction, etc.)
  • Family or other obligations (care-taking, financial support, etc.)
  • Housing instability, displacement, or homelessness
  • Military deployment or activation
  • Natural disasters
  • Physical health and mental well-being
  • War, genocide, or other hardships

If you’re comfortable sharing, this information can help colleges better understand the context of your application. Colleges may use this information to provide you and your fellow students with support and resources.

Would you like to share any details about challenges or other circumstances you’ve experienced?*

(   ) Yes

(   ) No

Please describe the challenges or circumstances and how they have impacted you.

 

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Colleges That Are No Longer Test Optional – Updated March 2025

Colleges That Are No Longer Test Optional – Updated March 2025

By BMC BloggerFeb 15, 2025

Colleges have continued to roll back test-optional policies. We will update this post as more policy changes are made for fall 2026.

Auburn (testing STRONGLY preferred; required with under a certain GPA)
Brown
Cal Tech
Cornell
Dartmouth
Georgetown
Georgia Tech
Harvard
JHU
MIT
Ohio State
Penn
Purdue
Stanford
University of Georgia
University of Florida (state-wide)
University of Miami
UNC Chapel Hill (required with under a certain GPA)
University of Tennessee (state-wide)
UT Austin
Yale

For 2027: Vanderbilt, Wisconsin (Madison) = which means they prefer scores now…

We have also found it beneficial to send high scores to most other test-optional schools in the top tier, especially if you are applying to a selective major (engineering, comp sci, data science, business, hard sciences) or attend a high school where the majority of students test and test well:

Vanderbilt – test preferred
Northwestern – test preferred
Duke
Princeton
Columbia
Rice
WashU
Notre Dame
Carnegie Mellon
Tufts
Emory
USC
Boston College
Boston University (exception: General Studies)
NYU
Clemson
Case Western
Villanova
University of Chicago
University of Michigan – test preferred
University of Wisconsin – test preferred
University of Virginia
University of Illinois
University of Maryland

Reach out to us if you’d like help with your application strategy and deciding if you are a good candidate to apply test-optional.

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New UC data dashboard sheds light on admissions for each academic discipline

New UC data dashboard sheds light on admissions for each academic discipline

By Brittany MaschalNov 15, 2024

This is very cool! 

From the University of California:

Our researchers collect and analyze all kinds of information about the world. We also track all kinds of UC stats, many of them available on detailed public dashboards in the online UC Information Center.

This fall, UC published a new data dashboard that shows how many first-year students apply to and are admitted at each campus by academic discipline. Until now, UC published the overall first-year admission rates for each campus. The new dashboard expands that by providing additional detail on admissions by academic discipline. For each broad area of study, you can see the admit rate, along with how many students applied, were admitted and ended up enrolling. The dashboard lets you see the admission rate for a discipline versus the overall campus admission rate. You can look at just one campus, or you can compare disciplines across UC’s nine undergraduate campuses. (A separate dashboard shows transfer admission rates by major.)

The goal of the dashboard is to offer the public more transparency into UC admissions. Being able to compare the selectivity of disciplines and campuses gives applicants an additional piece of information in their process and a more refined understanding of the competition. That said, the dashboard shouldn’t be used to assess any particular student’s chances of admission.

Continue reading about the new data dashboard in this October 18 article and explore the dashboard yourself.

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Fall College Admissions Pathways via Summer Programming

Fall College Admissions Pathways via Summer Programming

By Brittany MaschalNov 13, 2024

Colleges are starting to market their summer programming as a special pathway to fall admission—guaranteed admission in some cases. Expect to see more of it as schools continue to get creative about their enrollment management tactics.

Read more about Guaranteed Orange here (Syracuse).

Read more about UChicago’s Summer Student Early Notification here (University of Chicago)

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Born This Way Foundation – Youth Advisory Board Application

Born This Way Foundation – Youth Advisory Board Application

By BMC BloggerOct 23, 2024

The information below is from the Born This Way Foundation:

Born This Way Foundation, at its core, is an organization informed, shaped, and led by the young people with and for whom we do this work. Young people want to build a kinder and braver world, and know how to do so, and it’s up to us to connect them with the platforms and resources they need to make that future possible. Apply to join a visionary group of leaders ages 15-24.

Our 2023 Youth Advisory Board cohort showed kindness is action, and that action is undeniably linked with our mental health and wellbeing. This group of global leaders launched their own nonprofits, community projects, media platforms, technology solutions, and more; all in service of mental health advocacy and building kinder environments where young people can thrive. They teach us every single day that there is no one way to be kind, to show up for your own and others’ mental health, but each path you take is valid and necessary for our collective wellbeing.

We hope you’ll consider clicking here to apply by our deadline of Tuesday, November 26, or sharing this link with a young person in your life so they can be part of this incredible experience: bornthisway.foundation/advisory-board-application.

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Why Extracurriculars are Essential, Not Extra

Why Extracurriculars are Essential, Not Extra

By BMC BloggerOct 16, 2024

Sharing a JHU CTY Online Event (that applies to everyone!). Your extracurriculars are very, very important when it comes to applying to college, not because you need a laundry list of interests and accomplishments, but because they show admissions officers what you care about, how you engage with your community, and what excites you intellectually and academically.

We place so much emphasis on what advanced learners learn in school, but what they learn outside of school is also important. Join CTY executive director Amy Lynne Shelton, PhD, as she talks about why learning outside of school is critical and how families can make the most of this time to help their advanced learners develop skills, explore new interests, and learn what they love.

More information and register here.

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2024-25 Merit Scholarship Deadlines

2024-25 Merit Scholarship Deadlines

By Brittany MaschalSep 12, 2024

College Kickstart compiles a sampling of schools with explicit deadlines, along with some stats to help you gauge the size and breadth of the institution’s merit offerings. In some cases, like Boston University and USC, there is a hard deadline. At other schools, like Indiana University and many other public institutions, it’s a “priority” deadline.

Important Note: There are many schools where an RD app must be received EARLY to be considered for merit. This is why it is so important to keep making progress on your application essays after your first set of deadlines in October or November. Read the application institutions for every school on your list to see if there is a merit deadline that is earlier than the application deadline.

Read more on the College Kickstart blog –> https://www.collegekickstart.com/blog/item/keeping-vigil-on-2024-25-merit-scholarship-deadlines?idU=1

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Insights on Test Optional Admissions

Insights on Test Optional Admissions

By BMC BloggerAug 27, 2024

In an op-ed published in Inside Higher Ed, David Blobaum, the director of outreach for the National Test Prep Association and the co-founder of tutoring company Summit Prep, argues that it is in college hopefuls’ best interests to submit test scores, even if a school does not require them.

When accepting – or rejecting – applicants, admissions departments cite often-clandestine “institutional priorities” having to do with students’ backgrounds or areas of expertise. According to Mr. Blobaum, however, “Rhetoric and reality often diverge.”

He contends, unequivocally, that “test-optional institutions have a preference for students with high test scores” and that students applying to test-optional colleges and universities are less likely to be admitted if they do not submit test scores. “If a college does not value SAT or ACT scores, then the college would not use those scores.”

Citing data from Dartmouth’s watershed report, which led the institution to return to test-mandatory admissions, Mr. Blobaum argues that traditionally marginalized students have the most to gain from submitting test scores: “a disadvantaged student with an SAT score between 1450 and 1490 is 3.7 times more likely to get admitted if they submit their score than if they withhold it.”

To support his argument, Mr. Blobaum explores a few key examples of elite institutions that recently were or currently are test-optional:

  • Yale had a three times higher admit rate (6 percent vs. 2 percent) for students who submitted test scores over the past several years compared to those who didn’t.
  • According to Cornell’s internal research, “submitting test scores significantly increases the likelihood of admission (to its) test-optional colleges.” The institution labeled it “prudent” for students to include test scores with their application package.
  • Even though Duke claims that choosing not to submit SAT or ACT scores “will not impact (a student’s) admissions decision,” 81 percent of newly enrolled students at Duke submitted some combination of SAT and ACT. Furthermore, Duke’s admission website goes as far as advising students to “buy a study guide and begin taking practice SAT or ACT tests.”

These examples are compelling, and make clear that standardized test scores can certainly act as key differentiators between candidates who are otherwise qualified for limited class seats. These differentiators are particularly important for hyper-selective schools where the ratio between applicants and enrollment offers is especially stark.

Mr. Blobaum approached this topic with an eye toward the most elite institutions; his observations, therefore, despite their potential relevance at Ivy Plus schools, may not capture the admissions landscape at less selective—but still excellent—colleges and universities. Furthermore, Mr. Blobaum’s argument sometimes strays from hard data; he, perhaps controversially, claims that admissions departments “often outright lie” and bases some of his reasoning on the fact that “it is just common sense.”

Source: Denied? That Top College Lied (Inside Higher Ed)

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