<p>See: <a href="https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CA4/EssayStatement.pdf%5B/url%5D">https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/CA4/EssayStatement.pdf</a></p>
<p>Changes for 2013-2014:</p>
<p>-- NEW essay prompts to be announced March 1st. "Topic of your choice" will no longer be an option. Instead, applicants must choose one of five prompts and write about a specific topic.
-- NEW stricter enforcement of the 500 word limit, possibly with a character limit.</p>
<p>I am SO glad I’m finished with this whole process before these changes. Seriously, my personal statement was 800+ words; I would have worked myself to death trying to trim down another 300. </p>
<p>I don’t see why CA has to enforce the limit - how many words a student uses can itself be used in judgement. If a kid writes 1000 words but doesn’t use the additional 500 words to say something meaningful, then that says something about him. If someone wants to risk it because he thinks he has something really profound to say, let him.</p>
<p>And really, no topic of your choice? That’s ridiculous. The point of the application is to allow applicants to show off the best things about them. The lack of essay choice hinders this significantly. I’d be surprised if Harvard doesn’t find some way around this, like announcing that you can still write whatever you want, and just pick any “option” on the common app.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this is true or not, but I heard that the essay prompts will change every year. If so, I feel really bad for future applicants.</p>