Cracking the Common App Essays: A Prompt-by-Prompt Brainstorming Guide
- Krishna
- Aug 29
- 4 min read
Do you think that grades alone determine admissions in the US? Your GPA, test scores, and list of activities can show what you have achieved, but they don’t reveal who you are. That’s where the Common App essay comes in. Think of it as an opportunity to speak directly to the admissions officer reading your file. In 650 words, you get to tell them the “why” behind your journey, your voice, your viewpoint, your quirks, and the lessons that shaped you. Here’s the best part: there is no “right” answer. Authenticity counts far more than perfection. This blog will walk you through brainstorming for each of the seven Common App prompts. Instead of stressing about which one is “best,” focus on which one helps you tell the tale that only you can describe.
Prompt 1: Background, Identity, Interest, or Talent
What makes you, you?
Brainstorming angles:
Cultural identity or traditions that shaped your worldview.
A unique interest or passion you’ve cultivated.
A formative experience, like growing up bilingual or taking on a special role in your community.
Key Question: What part of you feels so central that your application would feel incomplete without it?
For example, you grew up speaking between languages with your family, and it prepared you for the power of communication. Or you spent years playing chess, coding, or rehearsing classical dance. What did you learn from these experiences?
Prompt 2: Lessons from Barriers, Setbacks, or Defeats
Failure is painful, but it’s also where some of the most effective essays come from. Colleges do not expect you to be flawless. They want to know how you leap back.
Brainstorming angles could include:
Academic failure (a failed test, losing a competition).
Emotional challenges (moving cities, losing your mentor, coping with differences).
Even small defeats that had big tasks, like retaining humility from a group assignment gone wrong.
Key Question: What did you learn about yourself that you couldn’t have learned otherwise?
For instance, you didn’t make it into the club the first time. It hurt, but you tried again, stronger, more resilient. Making it the second time meant more because it carried the weight of persistence. Here, you can talk about how hard work paid off. Or else you can also consider how moving out of your hometown compelled you to redefine what “home” means.
Prompt 3: Questioning or Challenging a Belief or Idea
This prompt is about intellectual curiosity and courage. It doesn’t have to be a political or religious issue. It could be any belief, tradition, or assumption you once accepted but later challenged.
Brainstorming angles:
A debate or discussion that reshaped your perspective.
Resisting peer pressure or standing against stereotypes.
Rethinking family, cultural, or community expectations.
Key Question: What belief did you rethink — and how did it transform your perspective?
For example, you can write about questioning gender roles in your community, or standing up when a professor’s assumption didn’t reflect your lived experience. What matters the most is not the argument itself, but how it changed you. What did you learn, and how will you carry forward the learning to the graduate classroom?
Prompt 4: Gratitude for Something Someone Did
This prompt is about appreciation, not just for others, but for the ripple effect their actions had on you.
Possible angles:
A mentor or teacher who unexpectedly guided you.
A stranger’s act of kindness that shifted your outlook.
A parent or sibling’s sacrifice you didn’t notice until later.
Key Question: How did gratitude change the way you act, think, or give back?
You can write about the person who believed in your vision when you had second thoughts and how it transformed you. Or about the neighbour who taught you resilience by example. The essay is not just about them, but it’s about how their impact shaped you as a person.
Prompt 5: Achievement, or Realisation Directing to Transition
This is one of the most introspective prompts. It is inviting you to think and discuss your personal milestones.
Brainstorming views:
A “first time” moment, like giving a speech or entering a competition.
A life event that pushed you toward independence.
Realising privilege, responsibility, or resilience in a new way.
Key Question: What changed in your understanding of yourself or others?
For example, sometimes, losing a title you worked hard for does not break you. It indicates your strength is motivating others.
Prompt 6: Ideas or Vision That Intrigues You
This prompt is for the dreamers, thinkers, and endlessly curious personas. It’s about what thrills you enough to lose track of time.
Brainstorming tips:
A subject you dive into outside of school (astronomy, creative writing, robotics).
A hobby or project that puts you in a state of flow.
A big question you’re always chasing, like “How do narratives shape compassion?” or “What do you think makes AI ethical?”
Key Question: Why does it fascinate you, and how does it shape the way you think or learn?
Here, colleges want to see your intellectual spark. You could build apps for fun before ever taking a coding class, or you could collect oral histories from grandparents because you are fascinated by memory.
Prompt 7: Essay of Your Choice
This is the wildcard. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the ideas that do not fit in the prompts mentioned above.
Brainstorming ideas:
Combining two unique prompts (an obstacle that also shaped your individuality).
Sharing an uncommon story that mirrors your voice.
Key Question: What story do you need to tell, even if it breaks the rules?
This is where risk-takers shine. If your most defining experience was building a treehouse with your cousins or spending summers working in a family store, this prompt lets you tell it your way.
The Common App essay is not about showing off, but it is about showing up. The most powerful essays are not the lists of accomplishments. They are windows into how you think, what you value, and how you have developed. Your essay is your chance to turn an application into a conversation. Use it to make sure the admissions team does not just know what you have done, but who you are becoming.