In Part 1 of this series, we introduced the Common App essay prompts for the 2022-2023 school year, comparing them to the prompts from last year. We also dove a bit into the first Common App essay prompt. Today, we’re discussing the second essay option for this year’s Common App, starting with what they’re really asking and then offering some suggestions for how to get started writing it.
This year’s second essay option is identical to last year’s, and it might seem a little intimidating at first:
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
Reading this, you might think: Yikes. My boring, fortunately-privileged life has had no meaningful obstacles. What am I supposed to write about, that time I choked in the spelling bee in fourth grade? How’s that going to stack up against refugees and survivors?!
We’ve said it before & we’ll say it again. It’s not what, but how you depict it.
Prompt #2: What are they asking?
At first, it might seem like this question is asking you to enter the Suffering Olympics. Your angry, Fox News-watching uncle probably thinks this question is used to circulate “wokeism” or something at the expense of upper middle-class white people. But while he’s belligerently shrieking about bootstraps, let’s take a look at the question. Superficially, the question is actually asking how an obstacle 1) affected you (Note that it’s not effected! Thank you!) and 2) what you learned from the experience – meaning both the obstacle and how it affected you.
The real questions underlying it from the school’s viewpoint, however, are more like this:
- Can this person handle adversity and setbacks, since that’s a big part of college?
- How does this person handle adversity?
- How can this person flip life experiences, especially bad ones, to their advantage?
- How can this person learn experiences, especially ones that occur outside the classroom?
You will want your essay to answer these questions in a way that puts you in a positive light – even if the worst thing that has ever happened to you really was bombing in the spelling bee in fourth grade!
Prompt #2: Ideas to Get Started
So now that you know what the question is really asking, let’s think of some ways that you can get started writing this one besides just brainstorming trauma. Here are some ideas:
- Work backwards. Think of something you’ve learned – a life lesson, how to do something, a new insight – through experience instead of through school. Did any of these examples come about through an obstacle or adverse experience?
- Have you had any failures or adverse experiences that seemed devastating at the time, but that you’re grateful for now? For example, feeling like you dodged a bullet (metaphorically speaking, we sure hope it wasn’t literal, I mean, we hope you dodged it if a bullet was ever in your path, but…you know what we’re saying), or feeling grateful that something nudged you towards a different path – or maybe even something that you now tell as a funny story.
- Can you think of any obstacles you’ve experienced that you did not realize were obstacles until much later? Why is that?
- Can you think of a funny or low-stakes obstacle that taught you a minor, but nonetheless important, life lesson? If so, what is it?
These tips should get you started. Tune in next time when we address Common App essay prompt #3!
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