Common App Essay Tip: Writer’s Block

By BMC BloggerMay 12, 2025

Writer’s block is no joke! It happens to the best of us, so don’t get too frustrated if some days you just can’t get in the groove with your writing. When it strikes, try using these ideas to help jumpstart the process:

  1. Remove all distractions: Put your phone in the other room, close out all the browsers on your computer, close the door, put on some headphones, give your laptop to your parents, and spend an hour with just pen and paper.
  2. Set a timer: Don’t spend hours staring at the screen. After removing all distractions, set a timer for 20 minutes and follow the next step.
  3. Write like nobody’s watching: The college process can feel high stakes, and the pressure can make you feel like every word you put down has to be perfect. If you get stuck, try to “just write.” Forget that you’re writing a college admissions essay; imagine you’re writing a diary entry or a letter to your best friend instead. You can even use bullet points if writing sentences seems too intimidating right now! You can repeat this exercise as many times as needed.

If you aren’t getting anything down in 20 concentrated minutes, it might be time to skip to 4 and 5.

  1. Change of scenery: Maybe you are used to doing all of your writing at your desk or kitchen table or bed or parent’s office. Change it up from time to time, especially if you feel stuck. You might find that the local library or coffee shop, or maybe even a WiFi-free setting like the park, is the place where you really get in the zone. You won’t know until you do some exploring.
  2. Try this mantra: You CAN write your college application essays, and you WILL write them. Take this on as your mantra—or come with your own—then write it on an index card and tape it above the space where you usually work.

Ultimately, the only way to get over writer’s block is… to write! You can do this!

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Common App Essay Tip: Dig Deep in the Brainstorming Phase

Common App Essay Tip: Dig Deep in the Brainstorming Phase

By BMC BloggerMay 02, 2025

Often, the subject that makes for the best essay is the one you least want to talk about. So stay open as you begin the brainstorming process, even to your most sensitive relationships and memories, and notice if there’s a story you’re afraid to tell. Maybe that is your best topic. Most importantly, don’t hold back or self-censor: don’t be afraid to show your messiness and flaws, and know that no story from your life is too small or too silly to include (as long as it’s not from when you were a very small child!).

It takes courage to be vulnerable and imperfect, to admit to your mistakes and regrets. A tip? Be courageous as you brainstorm.

The following questions are some that we use in our 1:1 work, and that you might find helpful to answer as your brainstorm:

  • To start, make a timeline of turning points in your life so far. These could include:
    • confrontations
    • arguments
    • mistakes
    • catastrophes
    • challenges
    • betrayals
    • failures
    • successes
    • life reversals
    • epiphanies
    • breakthroughs
    • beginnings
    • births
    • death

Try to identify 6-8 (or more!) of such turning point moments and write three or more sentences about each. Turning points tend to suggest scenes with dramatic potential in addition to being moments of change and growth, and nearly all the essays our students write revolve around them. Keep in mind that turning points can be minor, like an argument with a friend about who will take charge of an extracurricular project.

  • Describe your immediate family members and your relationship to each one. What makes your family different from other families?
  • List four words you would use to describe yourself and explain why you chose each one.
  • What is something you struggle with and would prefer most people not know about you?
  • What are you scared to write about? Why does it scare you?
  • What do you most enjoy doing with your spare time? Why?
  • What is your greatest weakness? What are you doing to work on it?
  • What do you do better than almost anyone else?
  • What topic or idea (or TV show or book or sport…) could you read about (or watch YouTube videos on) for hours? What makes it so fascinating to you?
  • Do you collect anything? If so, what is it, and why do you feel compelled to collect it?
  • Do you have any rituals or routines that may seem odd, obsessive, or out of the ordinary?
  • Is there any part of your identity that is important to who you are and that you have not mentioned elsewhere?

Think fast:

  • A time when you discovered that you were stronger than you thought: 
  • A time when you realized you were just plain wrong or messed up: 
  • A time you struggled over a tough choice:
  • A problem you solved: 
  • A question that you believe must be answered or a mystery you’re trying to get to the bottom of: 
  • A mark you want to make on the world:

When we work with students one-on-one, we review the brainstorming document, noting the narratives, ideas, themes, and details that interest us the most. It can be easier for us, as outside readers, to notice recurring patterns (for example, how you constantly link your ideas back to collecting objects) or to make new connections between disparate experiences and interests (like between your love for puzzles and your brothers leaving for college). Since it will be harder for you to do this for yourself, you should: 1) wait a week between completing and evaluating your brainstorm, and 2) find an outside reader who can read your brainstorm and give you feedback.

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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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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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