<p>Hi, I'm preparing for junior transfer to a number of universities in the East coast and have been preparing for the common app essays for days. There is a short response asking to elaborate on one of my activities, and just after that response comes the personal essay which says,</p>
<p>"Please provide a statement(250 words minimum) that addresses your reasons for transfering and the objectives you hope to achieve." Your essay will appear... etc.</p>
<p>I took those words at a face value and went on to detail in explaining the reasons why I made such a decision and what affected me in the course of deciding my major. But today for some reasons I copied the entire writing section in Common App and pasted it on MS Words and it turned out there are actually "essay topics" below the exact question! I thought I was allowed to write just about any topic, but now it seems they GAVE us the topics. </p>
<ul>
<li>Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.</li>
<li>Discuss some issue of personal, local, national or international concern and its importance to you.</li>
<li>Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence</li>
<li>.... so on and so forth for three or four more topics<br></li>
</ul>
<p>What happened to my personal essay question, and were these topics there from the beginning? How couldn't I ever notice this before? I am deadly sure that they weren't there when I first checked the Q.</p>