The Common Application Opens August 1, 2026: Time to Pick an Essay Prompt
Why the “Topic of Choice” Common App Prompt Works Best
Since you’re reading this, it tells me that you are on top of your college application and specifically your essays.
Good job! Based on my 15 years of working as a writing coach with these dreaded essays, you’re getting a head start over most students.
The other good news is that the Common Application opens shortly on August 1, 2026. This means you will know exactly your topic options for your Common App essay.
The prompts for the Common App essay have not changed in several years, and are staying the same this 2026-2027 season.
There are still seven prompts to pick from.
As in past years, I advise students to read through all seven prompts. If one of them sparks an idea, consider writing your essay about it.
That said, I believe you should write about the topic that best helps you reveal what sets you apart from other students, showcasing some part of both your personality and character.
Luckily, the seventh prompt allows you to do just that: Write about whatever you want. It’s called the “Topic of Choice” prompt.
In fact, last year, more students used the “Topic of Choice” prompt than any of the others.
According to the Common Application web site, 28 percent of students last year opted to choose their own topic.
Here’s the breakdown they shared:
- Topic of choice: 28%
- Facing adversity: 23%
- Personal growth: 20%
- Background, identity, interest, or talent: 18%
- Intellectual curiosity: 5%
- Gratitude: 3%
- Challenging an idea: 3%
Besides championing the Topic of Choice prompt, I like the intention of the Facing Adversity prompt as well. Any chance to share a problem (challenge, obstacle, mistake, conflict, set-back, etc.) in your essay will set you up perfectly to share how you dealt with it and what you learned. This is Common App essay gold!
And remember, you don’t need a tragedy or crisis to write about facing adversity. Problems come in all shapes and sizes, and often the most everyday are the most interesting to read about. An argument with your mom while driving to ballet class. Mixing up your orders while working at a hamburger joint. Learning your feet may be too big to be a prima ballerina.
The Common App topics I would avoid are Gratitude and Challenging an Idea. Of course it all depends on the student, but I’ve found that these two Common App prompts tend to steer students toward less focused, less memorable pieces.
Also, make sure you don’t write directly to a prompt, as in picking it apart and simply answering the questions. These are unlike most Language Arts/English prompts or other more formal academic essay prompts. No one is going to grade you on how well you “addressed” the questions.
The point of these prompts is literally to “prompt” an idea or topic that you can write about that will help the colleges put a personal face on your application.
This entire blog is about teaching you how to do this.
Here are some of my favorite posts to help you get started:
What Makes a College Application Essay Great?
#Selfie: 5 Ways It’s Like Your College Application Essay
How to Write Your College App Essay in 3 Steps
You got this. And congrats for getting off to an early start!
How to Answer the Disagreement Supp
How Do You Fight?
Tips and advice on how to answer the Disagreement Supp Prompt
Although it’s tempting, I’m not going into the loaded politics behind the new flurry of supplemental essay prompts that want to know how you handle conflict. They are called the Disagreement supp prompts.
(Okay if you really want to know: It has to do with the political fallout after our Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that universities and colleges could no longer use race as a basis for their admissions decisions. This is a complicated subject and you’re free to delve into it using Google or AI.)
The good news for you, college-bound students, is that you don’t need to understand the reason these Disagreement supp prompts are showing up on admissions applications, including schools like Harvard, Yale, Boston College and Duke.
But if you need to answer one of them, you should spend time crafting a well-considered and well-crafted response.
Politics aside, a prompt that asks you to show how you handle yourself when faced with someone you disagree with is a great one.
If written well, it can reveal how you handle adversity. And also what skills, values and personal qualities you use in the process.
No matter why, it’s great that colleges care and want to see how you get along with other people—especially those who don’t share your opinions, beliefs or values.
This real-life skill set will not only help you thrive during your college years, but become even more important once you enter the workforce and venture into more serious relationships and commitments.
It’s part of being emotionally intelligent.
Here are some tips on finding a strong disagreement story for your disagreement supp:
Start by finding a past conflict. Look for one that had high stakes, in that you potentially had a lot to lose. Choose a time you got into some type of argument, debate or confrontation, ideally one where something happened. (You can start your essay sharing this moment.)
Find one where you took a position. Don’t stay neutral and general. This is not about winning the argument necessarily; what’s more important is HOW you held your ground. And then how you were able to see and evaluate yourself in action.
Make sure to represent your opponent or adversary with respect. Show yourself staying open-minded and logical, as opposed to angry or arrogant (it’s okay if you had to manage some negative emotions, but make sure they didn’t get the best of you).
End with reflecting on the interaction and examining what you learned from it—about yourself, about others and about life in general. You didn’t have to win the debate or completely resolve the conflict. It’s more about how you managed it. You don’t need to show this experience fundamentally changed you somehow; it’s more likely it shifted your thinking or helped you refine your own beliefs or values. Share how and why. And most importantly, why this mattered.
Look for conflicts outside your academic life. I wouldn’t use one from your debate team or about a topic involving your school (unless it’s really interesting or unique). Avoid stereotypical debates over politics—like do you hate or love Trump, or do you stand with Palestine or Israel. Trust that everyday conflicts can make the best topics, since they usually represent a larger issue. Conflicts with peers or family members are ideal since they will be highly personal—which is always great for any of these essays.
So those are some ideas on finding a juicy conflict for your disagreement supp.
Now here are some ideas on how to structure your essay:
Start by describing the conflict. No need to give a lot of background—just what it was about, who was involved and where it happened. Maybe include a snippet of dialogue that captures the essence of the conflict. “I don’t think you should ever come over to my house again,” my friend told me. Keep this as succinct as possible, like a couple of sentences. Don’t let the whole essay become a description of the conflict.
Then shift into how this conflict made you feel in that moment (this makes it feel highly personal and shows your level of concern or passion). Quickly go into how you made your case, and share the counterpoints from your opponent as well. Make sure to give your opponent enough credit so the debate stays viable and interesting.
Now step away and look back on that interaction. Reflect on how you handled it, what qualities or skills you used, and how it ended. What did you learn from this exchange? Did you win or lose—did it matter? Did you surprise yourself in any way? Did you shift your thinking or perspective? Are you conflict-averse and need to learn to assert yourself better, or are you argumentative by nature and need to learn to be more measured and less rigid?
End by talking about what you learned and how you envision using these lessons in your future, in college and beyond. Remember, you can even lose the argument and still end up the winner—all depending on how you handled yourself.
The disagreement supp is my new favorite. You will be lucky if you have to answer it. Use it as your chance to show not only how smart you are, but also that you know how to get along with even the most challenging people.
It’s called grace under fire.
We all need more of that these days.
Good luck!
Should You Still Avoid AI in College Application Essays?
Don’t Get Stung By AI in Your College Application Essay
I first warned readers here about using AI for writing college admissions essays back in February 2023.
Over three years later, AI has gotten way better at writing.
But when it comes to your college application essays, it’s still toxic.
AI can still be helpful in some ways, such as helping you brainstorm topic ideas and final editing (polishing/copyediting), but you must do all your own actual writing.
Or your essays will backfire on you.
My initial 2023 post, Can ChatGPT Write Your College Application Essay?, discussed my thoughts after testing out the new ChatGPT with some sample writing.
I didn’t go into the ethical debate over AI use—namely, it is plagiarism—but warned students away for other reasons.
I truly thought they could—and should—write more effective essays themselves.
Even though these LLMs have gotten way better at writing anything, I stand by this opinion. I even feel stronger about it now.
The whole point of a personal statement is to help students stand out from their competitors, and to provide the admissions deciders highly personal information about students, so they can choose those who will be the best fit for their school and for you.
If you don’t represent yourself accurately, including what you have to say about yourself and how you say it, your personal statement will be pretty worthless.
Your essay(s) can be packed with big words and have an “impressive” voice (sounding like an adult even), and seem like an accomplished piece of writing—but that’s not going to help you.
Because it is not YOU.
I can’t imagine how tempting it must be these days to just type in a bunch of information about yourself, include some personal stories and give the LLM specific directions about what you want it to write—and voila, out pops a coherent essay that sounds and flows like you think it should.
You could be done with these stupid essays in a half hour or less.
I wish it were that simple. The truth is your AI-generated essay will be hurt you—and your chances at your target schools.
Not only will it not set you apart from other students since it will be generic drivel, but it robs you of the opportunity to let your dream schools see who you really are—what you have done, how you did it and why it matters. And most importantly, it also flattens how you sound explaining all this about yourself on paper. It’s called your writing “voice.”
There’s also the little problem that you could get caught.
All colleges and universities that I know of have explicit policies about AI in college application essays. It’s a huge NO. They also run them through detector apps, though highly unreliable, that could snare your essay, even if you try to cover your tracks with, say, a humanizer app. (Can you see how crazy this all is?)
If they see you have copied and pasted any AI generated content in your essay, you’re automatically out of the game.
I believe the process of writing about yourself in these essays—thinking about your past, digging out interesting real-life stories and reflecting on what you have learned—has its own intrinsic value. But I know that personal growth is not a high priority at this point for over-loaded, stressed-out college bound students.
At this point in your life, your focus is on landing a great college. There’s plenty of time to get to “know yourself” later. I get that.
So trust these other reasons to resist the AI temptation and do your own work.
I believe there are other ways to enlist AI if you need extra help, such as brainstorming topic ideas, researching related information and even copyediting (for spelling, typos, grammar, etc. ONLY).
To stay on the safe side, don’t use a single word, sentence or paragraph from your pal Claude or whatever platform you use.
AI writing is getting better and better, and it’s more difficult than ever to tell apart from human-generated work. Someday students might be off the hook for writing these essays.
But until then, just do the work, and try to enjoy, or at least value, the struggle.
Like it or not, you’ll learn a little about yourself and strengthen your ability to THINK!
That is something no AI machine can do for you. At least not yet.
Welcome to Essay Hell!
Welcome friends!
I’m in the middle of updating my Essay Hell site here. Sorry for any inconvenience!
During this process, I’m leaving up my Blog (you can find tons of helpful info on how to write your essays!) and access to information about my services and other resources (in the right column). Please be aware that my blog posts are dated and make sure the information you want is relevant and accurate.
I’m still offering all my tutoring services, both private (in person in Laguna Beach or via Zoom) as well as workshops.
For all you aspiring writers who want to improve your skills beyond crafting college application essays, I have expanded my services to work with you as well.
I’d love to help you learn a powerful narrative-writing skill set that you can use for any personal writing, like personal essays, scholarships, grants, journals, legacy writing, memoirs, etc. I’m also an editor who can help you brainstorm, organize, and help polish your work.
Just send me an email and let me know what you want help with and I’m sure we can find a way to work together!
My email for personal writing clients: j9robinsonlb@gmail,com
Also, I recently launched a Substack newsletter where I’m sharing my opinions, ideas and advice on personal writing, with a focus on the role of AI.
Find me at Write Good.
Thanks for your patience! And I look forward to working with you either on these dreaded college app essays or any other writing adventures.
Best of luck to you!
Race is a Terrible College App Essay Topic
Feeling Pressure to Write
About Race?
Don’t Do It!
Colleges and universities can no longer use your race as a factor in determining whether to accept you to their schools, since the landmark Supreme Court ruling on June 29th abolished most of Affirmative Action in our country.
Although schools are supposed to be colorblind now, many admissions officers are still on the prowl for minority students who can maintain the diversity on their campuses.
Being Black, Hispanic or Native Indian can still be a huge advantage in getting admitted to your dream school, especially the most competitive ones.
Since you no longer will be asked to check a box about your race, you may want to find other ways to let them know your heritage if you are a minority.
The most obvious place is in your college application essays.
Revealing your Race and Writing about Race are Very Different
That said, I would think twice before writing about the topic of race in general.
There’s a big difference between revealing your individual race in the context of what you have to say in your college app essay and writing about the nature of race or race-related issues as the central topic in your essay.
If you want to let your schools know your race, you can weave in details that will tip them off.
Mention that you were the first Black to join your local birdwatching club.
Or that you often cross the Mexican border in Texas on weekends to visit your grandmother.
Another example would be to talk about how you trained to dance in your first Powwow.
My main message here is that you can allude to your heritage in your essay–if you believe that will give you an advantage–but I don’t think tackling the larger subject of race will help you.
In fact, I think it could hurt.
As I say all over this blog, the main goal of your college application essay to find personal stories to share that will help you stand out from the competition.
The last thing you want is to write about topic that everyone else is using.
And this year, that could very well be the topic of race.
Why?
When the Supreme Court ruled to ban schools from using race as an admissions factor, the main Supreme Court Justice who pushed for this had a lot to say about the admissions process and specifically what students could write about in their essays.
And most of what he said was very confusing. (Not to mention, why does he have the authority to tell students what to write about, in these applications or anywhere? The ruling that effectively banned affirmative action is targeting those at colleges and universities who make the acceptance decisions, not the students who are applying.)
Bad Advice from the Top
In a nutshell, Chief Justice John G. Roberts told the court that it would be okay for schools to ask student applicants to discuss how race (ie discrimination) has affected them in their essays. At the same time, he warned schools not to use the essays to glean students’ individual race to use as a factor in their acceptance.
Yes, a very mixed message.
And one that was blasted out all over the national media.
But just because Roberts had a lot to say about race in college essays–saying that you can write about it in a very specific way–doesn’t mean you should write about it.
He was mainly defending his decision; not worrying about your chances of getting into your dream school.
Here’s one of his quotes on this subject: Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion [eg via their college app essay] of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. … A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student’s courage and determination. Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that student’s unique ability to contribute to the university. In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual — not on the basis of race.
I believe what Roberts didn’t understand is how admissions officers use these essays.
Or the fundamental fact that schools can only control what they ask students to write about (via essay prompts); they have no control over what students actually write.
At a time when many schools have dropped using standardized tests in the admissions process, the college application essay has become one of the last remaining tools admissions officers can use to select one student over the other.
At the most competitive schools, it’s even more important since so many students share almost identical applications filled with stellar grades, extracurricular activities and impressive accomplishments.
An effective college application essay (personal statement for The Common Application and other applications) must help a student stand out from the competition.
If an essay uses an overdone topic or theme (such as race), the college admissions officers can have a hard time using it to differentiate the writer from other students.
There are many topics that have traditionally been over-used, everything from writing about a torn ACL to a dying beloved grandfather.
Savvy college admissions consultants steer students away from these hackneyed topics for good reason.
Now we have the top judicial leader in the land telling students to write about race.
Ugh!
Pick a Topic that Works Best for You!
Chances are there will be multitudinous college application essays on this topic.
For that reason alone, these essays will not do their job for their authors–no matter how brilliantly they share their personal stories of discrimination or insights on the history of race in our country.
Of course, there could be a few that have an original twist or a personal story that jumps out at the reader.
I feel bad for college admissions officers who could be bombarded with essays on race this year, and lose that critical tool in understanding the unique personalities and character of their applicants–so they can pick the ones they feel will be the best pick at their school.
There are a million other topics out there that will help you showcase your individuality and greatness.
Keep your goal in mind while applying for schools at the top of your mind: you want to get accepted.
So unless the way race has impacted you in your life has been your most life-defining issue and you can find a compelling story to share to illuminate it, pick something else!
If you believe your admission chances could be boosted if a target school learns your race, feel free to weave in information about yourself that will clue them in. If you think it could hurt your chances, leave it out.
I assume colleges and universities are scrambling to adjust their applications and even essay prompts. So keep an eye out for any advice they are sending out in upcoming weeks and months, and hopefully you will get more clarification on this issue. (It’s possible schools will now include a new prompt asking students to write about how race affected them–but I doubt those essays will help admissions officers make their admittance decisions.)
In the meantime, don’t panic and keep your eye on the ball, and start brainstorming the perfect topic for YOU!
Good luck!
How to Write about Race in the College App Essay
How to Write about Race
in your College App Essay
Post Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court knocked down Affirmative Action today.
This landmark ruling means colleges and universities will no longer be allowed to use race as a factor in who they admit.
Technically, there will no longer be race-based boxes to check on applications.
Whether you like this or not, the fallout in academia and the college admissions industry will be immediate and confusing.
Without the help of Affirmative Action policies, education officials still pursuing student diversity are expected to start using the college admissions essays as a way to discern students’ racial backgrounds–even though schools are now supposed to be colorblind in their selection process.
My understanding after reading the first round of news articles about the ruling is that it still allows schools to invite applicants to share “how race affected” them in their college application essays.
It’s a massive gray area, however, as to how far they will push these efforts when it comes to interpreting and enforcing the new ruling.
Should You Write About Your Race?
On the other end of the admissions process, students will need to decide if they want to use their college application essays to reveal their racial background, and/or as a platform to discuss “how race affected” them.
To me, this decision mainly depends on whether a student believes their race could help or hurt their admission chances.
And if and how they want to play this high-stakes game.
Photo by Miles Peacock
.
Up until now, it was generally considered an advantage if a student was Black or Hispanic, since predominantly white colleges and universities pursued more diversified student bodies in recent decades.
Students who were Asian, however, often found their ethnicity worked against them as they often comprised the highest percentage of applicants, and were turned down despite being among the most academically competitive. Especially at the most prestigious schools.
Sadly, many of my Asian students felt pressure to try to downplay their racial and even cultural backgrounds in their essays, even though those were often fascinating and life-defining influences in their lives.
Overall, I believe Asian applicants will benefit from this new “colorblind” mandate, and get the fair shake they deserve from colleges and universities. Especially the Ivies and other highly competitive schools.
It’s a pretty sick system when the message for college-bound students amounts to this: If you are a desired minority, such as Black, Hispanic or Native American, find a way to let your schools know this, using your college app essay if necessary to tip them off. If you are Asian (especially Chinese or Korean), a demographic many schools feel inundated with, keep your heritage on the low down. Of course, if you are white and privileged, especially having Legacy at a school, you are still sitting pretty. (Personally, I hope these glaring inequities are the final cue for colleges and universities to scrap their discriminatory legacy programs. Harvard and Yale, why not start with you?)
That said, if you do want your target schools to know your racial background, how do you write about it in your college application essay?
I assume you can’t get in trouble since it’s the schools that have been banned from using race in their admissions decisions. If you choose to share your race with them, that is not illegal. It’s up to them how they choose to solicit and use that information.
Personally, I don’t think a student should use their race as the main topic of her or his main college app essay. It’s too broad and generic, and would not be effective in setting you apart from other applicants.
However, if you want the school to know your racial background, you can feature that information in the background of your essay, especially if you share a personal story or experience about a quality or activity related to your racial background. (This is based on the advice from a Supreme Court Justice; see below)
Photo by Alexander Gray
There are other ways to more subtly reveal your racial background in your essays, if that’s your goal. Often telling details are naturally woven into your storytelling anyway. For instance, you could mention that your family attended the only all-Black church in your small town. Or that your parents were born and raised in Mexico City. Or share the time your grandmother brought you to your first Pow-wow.
If college admissions officers are actively looking for information about your racial background in these essays, little details like these will deliver the message loud and clear.
How Far Can You Go?
Here’s the best guidance we have so far in how to think about writing about your race in your essay, straight from the Supreme Court Justice most adamantly against affirmative action:
(This is from a story in The New York Times by Stephanie Saul. The link works if you are a subscriber, but it’s behind a paywall.)
In the decision striking down affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote, “Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university.”
However, the chief justice also took a shot across the bow at anyone who might be thinking that the essay could be used as a surreptitious means of racial selection.
“Despite the dissent’s assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through the application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today,” he wrote, underscoring, “What cannot be done directly cannot be done indirectly.”
Not sure this clarifies things that much. This will be up to the colleges and universities, and their lawyers, to figure out.
Meanwhile, my best advice is to find a college application essay topic that helps you reveal what makes you tick, and share experiences that have defined how you learn and what you most care about. If those are related to your racial background, and/or you want to work in details that reveal your racial background, go for it!
Or just leave it all out, and keep them guessing.
Don’t let all this distract you from your main goal: to write a college application essay about what makes you unique and special.
Whether that involves your skin color or not is up to you.
Good luck!
How to Use ChatGPT for a College Application Essay
ChatGPT Can’t Write Your Essay for You;
But Here are 5 Ways It Can Help You Write Your Own
I wrote a previous post about how the new AI bot called ChatGPT would not be able to write your college application essay for you.
At least not yet, and possibly never.
But I believe this writing, editing and research tool can be a powerful help to brainstorming, outlining, drafting and editing your college admission essays.
And it will be especially helpful to any college-bound students who are not confident in their writing skills, as well as international students who are writing in a second language.
I love how this tool can act as a fairness leveler for these essays and the application process!
And it will only get better with time. read more…
Can ChatGPT Write Your College Application Essay?
Sorry, Artificial Intelligence Won’t Save You
From the Dreaded College App Essay.
Yet.
When I first heard about ChatGPT, and how this new artificial intelligence bot could write college essays for students, I thought, “Ugh oh, looks like my no one is going to need my services anymore” for help with their college application essays.
Apparently, the bot generates essays that can fool teachers and even Turnitin.com. Yikes!
Of course, the education world is freaking out. There’s talk of returning to pen and paper for essay assignments.
At the moment, the ChatGPT model by Open AI is free. So I tried it out.
(See below what it wrote when I entered: “Write a college application essay”)
My goal was to see if ChatGPT could write a viable college application essay.
Based on my results, it failed.
Why? read more…
My 2022 Essay Primer to Get You Started
Are you stuck in Essay Hell yet?
The season is upon us. Woot woot!
Finding a great topic can be challenging.
And then turning that into a written piece that sets you apart from other college applicants, and reveals your unique personality and character, even harder.
But let me show you a way to make the process simple, and effective.
Start here: Think of a time you faced some type of problem. read more…
Exciting Pre-College Conference this Summer in San Diego!
I’m excited to work with students this summer who get to attend the My Pathway to College pre-college experience in sunny San Diego. During the weeklong conference, which will be held on the gorgeous campus at the University of San Diego (the private liberal arts college; not to be confused with the University of California at San Diego campus), I will take students through the process of writing their college application essays.
We will start with my popular, interactive brainstorming exercises that help students find that magic topic to help their applications stand out among the pack. Then I guide them to craft narrative-style, slice-of-life essays that showcase their unique personalities and character.
They will practice the most effective writing techniques, such as anecdotes, to power their essays and bring depth and meaning. At the end, they will learn tips and advice on self-editing and polishing their work. The goal is that students come home with a completed personal statement essay (often known as the “CommonApp Essay,” which they can use with their Common Application and other college or university applications.
To me, one of the best ways to help students decide where to apply to college is to spend time on campuses. This conference goes one step further, and invites students to actually live at one of the top liberal arts college campuses with other college-bound friends, where they will live in student dorms and dine together.
I have had the pleasure of working with the sponsor of the conference, Jennifer MacLure, an independent college admissions counselor from My Pathway to College, in the past, and am confident she and her team will create an exciting, supportive and productive environment for her lucky students.
Check out the video (above) that she put together on this conference so you can learn more about it, and if it’s something you or someone you know would be interested. Good luck!
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