Where can I find the essay topics for colleges?& other questions ( I am a junior)

Applying to College
1

Hi I am a junior and am starting to learn more about applying to colleges. I know that essay is one of the most important part of the process and wanted to get a head start or get a peek on what’s it like. I found the common app essays for 16-17 but I don’t know where to find the essays that I have to write to colleges. (I honestly don’t have a good knowledge on applying process yet) I heard that theres essays for colleges like “Why (college’s name)” or some other essays. So in summary, my questions are…

  1. Where can I find the college essays?
  2. How many common app essays out of 5 do i have to write? Just one?
  3. How many essays do I have to write for colleges?
  4. What exactly is common app website? I made them and added my favorite school but that's as far as I got.
  5. Where can I find the actual application that I have to send to colleges?
  6. I am a Junior and the semester is almost over... What should I do in the summer that can help me to get into my top school? (Notre Dame) maybe volunteering? working?

I wrote A LOT of questions so maybe if you don’t feel like answering all of the questions, answering just the question 1,2,3, would be great. Thanks!

2
  1. They come out on the Common App in August or thenabouts. Schools that don't use Common App post their own applications online around that time too.
  2. Just one!
  3. It depends. Some schools have several supplements, some have zero.
  4. It's the online application used by the majority of US colleges.
  5. Common App is it.
  6. Having a busy, productive summer doing things that matter to you. Experiencing things that are memorable to you and will influence how you see the world. Making yourself more interesting and useful.

Best of luck, @Smittth

3

Since you already created an account you can see what this year’s supplemental essays are for the colleges you are interested. They will probably be the same for next year, but, of course, they could change. (Same for the common essays. They do change once in a while.)

But note, don’t do anything in the application. Unless it’s changed, the Common App closes all accounts around July and opens new in August. So you’ll have to create an account then. If you do anything within the application before then, you’ll lose all your work.

4

There were a couple schools my D applied to that completely changed their essays from last year to this year. I wouldn’t spend any time on supplemental essays until August. Also, some schools do not use the common app. My D applied to 3 that had their own app which was accessible on their websites.

5

Thank you guys! @marvin100 @ClaremontMom @me29034