If you have a child in high school and are beginning to look at colleges, you will soon discover there are three different options for applying. The first is the good old fashioned way – applying directly to each college using their college application form. Second is using the Common Application. Third, which is relatively new, is using the Coalition Application. Each application has its own strengths and weaknesses, and may or may not be accepted by your chosen colleges. (Read about all three of those options here.) Each of these admission options usually require college application essays. Read on to find out more about how you can prepare your teen to write great college application essays.

Practice College Application Essays Junior Year

The Common Application announces their essay prompts each year. Help your child practice with these college application essay prompts if you have a junior! You can use these topics to help your child practice their essays, and have time to perfect them before they are submitted to college during senior year.

When practicing these college application essays, keep a few things in mind.

1. The essay is a first-person true story written by your teen.
2. The essay must be self-reflective and technically perfect.
3. The word limit on the essay is 650 words.
4. The best essay introduction might make your grandmother gasp if she read it. The best essays include details specifically tailored to each college.

Common Application Essay Prompts 

Here are the 2020-2021 Common Application Essay Prompts:

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.
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?
3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
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.
5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
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?
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.

All of this assumes your child can write a reasonably good essay when they are motivated and have some help from a parent, of course. If you need some help with teaching them to write an essay, you'll find some ideas in the article Help for Homeschool Essay Writing.

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