<p>Are the two similar? Here are the two prompts for comparison:</p>
<p>UC #1: Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community, or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.</p>
<p>Common App #1: Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.</p>
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<p>The overall theme of the essay I wrote for Common App's first prompt is that through my situation in life, I learned to be happy and move on regardless of what happens, etc.</p>
<p>I won't have to modify the background description since it fits both prompts perfectly. But I'm not entirely sure if learning to be grateful/happy and discovering the importance of persevering/endurance counts as "dreams" and "aspirations".</p>
<p>Here are some questions that might help you revise your Common App for UC #1:</p>
<p>Who is the person you dream/aspire to be?</p>
<p>How are you going to apply perseverance/endurance and grateful/happy in the future?</p>
<p>Are these the traits you most wish admissions to remember you by: “happy/grateful/persevering/endurance”? If not, what then? How can you rewrite your essay to focus on these new set of traits?</p>
<p>How are the lessons you learned from your world tied to your major, career and/or future goals?</p>
<p>I actually did this for my application. Someone suggested that my common app essay fits well for UC prompt 1. It was about growing up with racism</p>
<p>I’m planning to do this for my application. My essay fits both prompts well. I talked about learning to embrace my hyphenated identity (e.g. Korean-American).</p>