How do I interpret this prompt?

College Essays
1

I’m questioning the first common app 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.

Now, the best essays I’ve read are over small, quirky things about the student. Just to throw some made-up examples out, I mean things like your strange morning routine or taking the bus everyday or singing in the shower. I love well-written essays over things like this, but they don’t seem to match the prompt. They just don’t seem like part of your background that’s SO meaningful that you have to share it. If I were to follow the prompt, my essay easily would fall into cliche with stuff about a significant hobby or my family.

Were those unique essays all from before the Common App had these standard essays? Or is the prompt so open-ended that you literally can write about seemingly trivial habits and things like that?

I’d like to hear what you all think because I’m honestly not sure how to approach this essay now. Thanks for reading.

2

Don’t focus on what the story itself is. Usually, the writer is trying to illustrate something about himself/herself through the narrative. What is that “something?” That should be what is relevant to the prompt.

For example, maybe the person singing in the shower developed a love for music because of it. However, she never had the courage to sing publicly because she wasn’t very good at it. Now she volunteers with an elementary school choir, and she realizes that the purpose of music isn’t to sound good; it’s a way to connect with others and help them express themselves. So an important part of her personality is that she always looks at the things she does through the lens of “how can this help others?” That is addressing both an element of her identity and an interest.

Just so you know, though, a while back, Common App had a “Topic of your choice” option. Moreover, some supplement essays have a “Tell us something we should know about you” type prompt. So maybe some of the essays really were just completely irrelevant to the current Common App prompts.