Choosing a prompt for the common app :)

College Essays
1

I’m trying to choose between the following two:

PROMPT #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.

PROMPT #4: Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

I’m quite alright with writing, enough that I can pull off both to what I think would be an equal effect for the topic I’m thinking of. It relates to a part of my identity, discrimination/intolerance in my community, and my own work/aims for social change (maybe it sounds cliche, but it’s where my voice will come out best).

I know that the first prompt is the so-called general one, “share your story”. It seems easiest to answer and write for, and that’s a hot factor for me. I’m quite drawn towards number four as well though, because I can link it very well to my story. It’s the new question and from intuition I could say that it’ll stand out more than writing for the first one which has a popular appeal (I could be wrong though, who knows?).

So I’m feeling somewhat lost on which to choose. They both have their own small benefits, but is there a meaningful difference in terms of the things I’m considering right now? Thank you all!

2

I don’t think that much focus is given to which prompt you pick as much as what your story actually is.

There are certainly people who will talk about their identities in #1. From what I’ve read, it’s generally about them learning to accept something about themselves, their culture, family, etc. The prompt will naturally also include people who just want to talk about personality traits, hobbies, etc.

But it sounds like it’s not just the identity that’s meaningful to you, but the issue that you want to change not just for yourself, but for other people as well (I’m speculating). So I think that would fit #4 very nicely.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which one you choose. If you can’t decide, try writing the essay first and then matching it to a prompt.