Hey guys!
I will be applying to the most selective colleges. I am about to start my application essays. There are a few prompts in the common app and also there is the last one which allows us to create and answer our own prompt. Guys, my question is, will universities consider it bad if I create my own prompt? Should I just stick to the fixed prompts?
I don’t think it’s necessarily “bad” per se. The point behind the prompt is to give you a chance to show who you are.
I think the trap in that last prompt is that it can be too easy for a kid to recycle an old essay-- one that perhaps doesn’t do the job this essay needs it to do.
So if you’re thinking of reusing the essay you used last year to apply to a summer job, make sure it does the job of showing the reader who you are and why you’ll be a great addition to his campus, as opposed to why you would be a great camp counselor.
You’re applying to very selective colleges. You’re in an applicant pool with other highly motivated, bright, hard working kids. Make sure this essay makes the reader want you on his campus.
If your essay does that, it doesn’t matter what the prompt was.