Tackling Common App Essay Structure

What is the Common App Essay?

It is a chance for you to show your unique personality to the college admission officers! While it is called an “essay,” consider it to be more of a creative writing piece. The essays that typically fare the best are narrations of an important life event that somehow impacted/changed you in some way.

Sample Essay Structure

Step 1: Brainstorming

Your first step is, of course, to choose the branding that you want the college admission officer to perceive you as. Are you athletic? Globally aware? Do you participate in a lot of activism? Etc. You can also talk about your philosophy in life. Do you believe that you are capable of doing anything? Why is the cup half full or half empty? Etc.

My branding was that I was a hard-working, never give up athlete. It made a lot of sense that my prompt was going to be:

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?

Instantly, this prompt draws me in because it has so much potential for me to explore. The narration that I would talk about would be an event that caused a setback (aka the problem), how I overcame it (aka the build-up), the success (aka the climax), and what I learned (aka the reflection).

For a detailed version of how to tackle each of the prompt, check out our other document!

Step 2: Introduction

For me, I like to use metaphors in the essay, particularly linking an insignificant experience, like walking on the streets, to the main narration of my story. I would first begin to describe this experience in order to hook the reader:

Toronto's Yonge Street is rigged with mixtures of three sizes of tiles: big, medium, and small. Walking on these organized irregularities was a delight on a tedious Thursday afternoon as I entertained myself by stepping on the big stone tiles- only on the big stone tiles.

This is effective because it instantly grabs the reader’s attention...Why is she talking about walking? How is this going to relate to her prompt? Now, I tie in my metaphor with the main story of the narration, which was my fencing experience:

Obsessed with stepping on the biggest tile, I began to think that stepping on the smaller tiles was an omen of bad luck…..A similar fixed mindset plagued my early fencing careers as I trekked onto a depression of the abominable "small tiles."

When I first started fencing, I loved competing and winning in tournaments. Every weekend abounded with enthusiasm as I rummaged the fencing venues of Toronto for my next "big tile."

Notice how I am making the metaphor between competition and stepping on tiles. The real life insignificance of the tiles serves to foreshadow my eventual release of my obsession for winning.

Step 3: the Conflict and the rising action

A good story always has a conflict that the protagonist must strive to solve.

This was the tipping point because I began to waver in my commitment to fencing-you could call it the "Great Depression" of my fencing career. This championship was an absolute, total disaster.

It seems that the problem of my narration climaxes to this one tournament that was a total disaster. This is where you build the curiosity of your readers. Don’t be afraid to use hyperboles, be dramatic with it! The more suspense you build, the more the reader would want to continue reading.

Step 4: the Climax

Now, it is time for the climax! Which is ironic because my climax was quite anti-climatic. It was a speech that my mom made to me after I lost the very important tournament.

I ran crying to my mother and repeated that I wanted to quit over and over again. She looked me firmly in the eye and said: "My girl is strong. She is tough. Some mountains are harder than others are to climb over, but the amazing thing about my girl is that she never gives up. It is okay to lose, but it is not okay to lose yourself. Learn from it instead."

Very powerful though, the things you can learn from other people.

Step 5: the reflection

Great! So you overcame the setback. What have you learned?

No, it was the setbacks that opened me to fencing's secret mural: the exhilarating strokes of competing balanced with an undertone of eagerness to learn.

Now? I sample the tiles from all around the world, big and small.

Notice how I closed my reflection tying in my original metaphor. I also use transitions, such as now, when I first started, etc, throughout the essay to help deliver the time progression of my story.

Do not be afraid to make similes and other figurative devices to make your essay spark! I really like using oxymorons as a writer, such as organized irregularities to describe the chaos of the tiles, yet they are so neatly laid. These figurative devices create powerful imageries in the reader’s mind that distinguish your essay from someone else's.

Let’s be honest, college admission officers read tens of thousands of essays every single year. Most of the topics that you think are original and unique was probably covered at some point in history. It is the way that you bring your story to life that captures the reader’s attention, and you do that with beautiful, figurative language.