For the common app essay of, “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.” Would Islamophobia make a good idea for this prompt? I plan to major in Middle Eastern studies, so it’s obviously of significance to me. Just want some other opinions 
How have you solved islamophobia/ how do you plan to solve it??
I interpret this prompt more in an aspirational way, and that it doesn’t have to be directly solved by you. I’ve looked at essay tips for all the prompts and for this one, many have said it’s to showcase your interests and critical thinking/problem solving skills. So I would answer it in a hypothetical way and the steps taken would be through combined effort-not just solved by me.
I think that if you’re going to take on a prompt, you should have at least a start of a workable answer to it, and I’m not sure this one has one. We all know the problem, and I don’t think that it’s going away anytime soon.
I would choose a problem that’s more on a personal level. They already know of your interest in Middle Eastern studies I would choose to show a different aspect of my personality.
@names47 I don’t think anyone can comment on your topic until your idea is more developed. I personally think that any topic can be turned into a great essay, but unless you explain some of the solution, the idea comes off as a bit idealistic and possibly immature. If you have any solutions in mind, though, there could be a real wow factor. You just haven’t given us enough info to judge.