College & Career Resources

Helpful College & Career Resources

2017-2018 Common Application Essay Prompts

You can get started now on your essays for next year.

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. [No change]

2. 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? [Revised]

3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? [Revised]

4. Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma - anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. [No change]

5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. [Revised]

6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more? [New]

7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. [New]

College Transitions offers a dataverse with information on Colleges and applying to college: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/.

Coalition Application

More than 100 schools are now using the Coalition Application. Here is a link to the Coalition App.

College Search Engines:

http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ Dept of Education College Navigator

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/ School Search Big Future

http://www.campusexplorer.com/ Campus Explorer

http://www.collegemajors101.com/ College Majors 101

http://www.schoolfinder.com/ School Finder

http://www.imfirst.org/landing-no-video/ I’m First

http://www.quad2quad.com/ Quad 2 Quad

http://www.collegedata.com/ College Data