How to Write A TOTALLY EPIC 2017-2018 Common App Essay Prompt 7 on the Topic of Your Choice.

As you're surely aware, the Common Application announced new revisions and essay prompts on the 2017-2018 application. And one of them... is super fun and exciting!

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. 

I've had several students express an interest in this prompt... but almost all ultimately decided on another prompt. Because here's the thing:

The key to this prompt is writing an unforgettably cool topic.

How you make it unforgettably cool depends on you. I'll start this post by listing all the questions/ideas I discuss in this post. Check them out, then scroll down to read about how and why each prompt works -- because not every prompt is relevant for every person, but every prompt could give you ideas and direction for how to approach this essay.
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1. Would you rather build a robot that communicates with you from the International Space Station, or Mariana Trench (the deepest known point in the Earth's oceans)?
2. What is your nickname? Explain its origins.
3. TheHappyTalent.com is really taking off! Why do you want to go to college, instead of pursuing your business full-time?
4. Between iTunesU, Coursera, EdX, and countless other online learning opportunities -- what's the point of college? What do you hope to learn or accomplish on campus that you couldn't do online?
5. What is your spirit animal?

Maybe you're into STEM (science, math and engineering). Last summer, you did an internship at NASA, and this summer, you worked in a lab that explores the ocean floor. Your prompt can be: 

Would you rather build a robot that communicates with you from the International Space Station, or Mariana Trench (the deepest known point in the Earth's oceans)?

And your hook sentence: 

Both.

This way, you can talk about the scientific growth and discoveries you've made in a creative way. Lots of students are going to write about doing science -- but few will take the time to come up with such an interesting prompt. 

(Though, of course, you'll need to follow-up with a sharp conclusion -- which is something I can help with! Check out my Rates & Services page to learn more!)

Or! Say you've got an interesting nickname. One that says a lot about you. Your prompt could be:

What is your nickname? Explain its origins.

Remember: nicknames can say a lot about you. You can go with something like:

"Good workout. See you next time, Next."

My face, flushed and dripping with sweat, scrunches. What did that mean? Did I hear him wrong? But by the time I catch my breath, John has already left the erg room.

A few days later, it happens again -- this time, in the dining hall.

"Hey, Next. They just put some hard boiled eggs on the salad bar, in case you need extra protein."

As Nick strolls away, I see Jen, one of my rowing teammates. "Jen! Why do all the crew guys keep calling me next?"
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She looks at me for a moment, shocked that I don't already know.

"Because they think you're going to be the next Exeter Academy Olympian."

​Oh. ​

And from there, you'd talk about how you got good at the sport or activity, and what your goals are moving forward. 

But in a really cute way. 

You can also be self-depreciating. People love self-depreciating. For example:

Pasty. 

Casper. 

Ghost. 

And basically any other word or phrase that denotes a freakishly white-skinned sapiens.


Then there's the jokes. I take my shirt off at the beach to the inevitable, "Whoa! I'd better put on my sunglasses! You're blinding me with your whiteness!" gag.

I put on a white t-shirt. "Whoa! Where'd you go? I can't see you! It's like camouflage! 

Welcome to my life. 

I'll be honest. If I could trade the tip of my left pinky finger for just a hint of melanin, I would. Heck, I'd even settle for cellulose. At least then, I could be a Jolly Green Giant instead of a haunting apparition.

But I suppose my ghostly whiteness has its advantages. 

Want to talk ghostly whiteness? Contact me.

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From there, talk about skills you've developed as a freakishly white person. Patience. Resilience. A sense of humor. A capacity for scathing comebacks. And, perhaps, an intellectual interest:

During Honors Biology, I learned about 23andMe, a home genetic testing service. I promptly ordered a spit kit, determined to find the gene responsible for my albicant complexion.


Yet, when my results came back, I found myself captivated by the other health and diagnostic information contained in my genome -- and the ease with which I could understand it. I found myself motivated to finish my homework as quickly as possible each night, so I could get back to perusing my 23andMe.

What I took from this wasn't an undying interest in genetics, though that was certainly fascinating. Instead, I learned the importance of both understanding statistics... and presenting the information in clear, fun and accessible ways. 

I had no idea how to do that myself, but I wanted to learn. My first step was signing up for Data Visualization, a ten-week Coursera class taught by a Duke professor. I also applied for several graphic design internships, eventually settling on a position at BlaBlaLab.

That fall, I dropped Calculus so I could take Statistics -- and, most excitingly, I started my own column in the school newspaper. In Jacks Stats, I design weekly infographics, charts, and even cartoons to explain complicated issues in colorful ways. 

​​Or, if you've been running a blog or a website or a company, and you want to talk about that, you could go with something like:

TheHappyTalent.com is really taking off! Why do you want to go to college instead of running your website full-time?

If your business is a big part of your life and all your supplemental and short answer essays are about why you want to be an entrepreneur, admissions officers might wonder: what is this applicant hoping to get out of college. So tell them!

"They say that all of psychology research is really psychology me-search," my AP Psych teacher said on the first day of class. And this has certainly been true for me. 

I was so stoked on my final project, "The Happy Talent: A Prototype of the Playful Adult," which examined the development of leisure skills and playfulness in young adults, that I didn't want it to end with the A I got in the class. 

I wanted to turn it into something. 

[paragraph or two about getting it up and running; costs and sacrifices; payoffs, growth, and other relevant information]

I'll admit: it's easy to get caught up in the excitement. The income. The growth. The social media following. 

But the only way for this company and community to stay relevant is to continue learning -- to be exposed to ideas that challenge what I think I know. To collaborate and engage with people with similar (and very, very different) interests. To gather data through undergraduate research. To learn more about how science, research, and the quest for truth actually work. 

Not to mention developing other skills like [skills that will help you in the long run.]

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And then, of course, a conclusion. What are your goals for your company? How to you expect to manage it and a full course load next fall? What responsibilities will you hand off to others? After graduation, are you going to go back to this pursuit, or try something new? 

As you're thinking about what prompt you want to answer, don't be afraid to be provocative. You could say something like: 

Between iTunesU, Coursera, EdX, and countless other online learning opportunities -- what's the point of college? What do you hope to learn or accomplish on campus that you couldn't do online?

A prompt like this is a great way to demonstrate purpose. It's a great way to show you've done your research, and you understand what you want to get out of your college education. 

Another advantage of a prompt like this is that one thing admissions officers want to be able to envision is you on a college campus, instead of as a little high school student. Paint yourself on this campus. What are you doing? Where are you?

​(For help answering this prompt, Contact Me or check out The Two Biggest Mistakes Students Make on Their College Applications and Going to Stanford Doesn't Mean You'll Get a Stanford Education.)

Need Help With Your Essays? Contact Me!

Another essay topic:

What is your spirit animal?

This would be a great topic for someone who is artistic, silly, spiritual, or outdoorsy. Make sure that you're authentic, though. If you're serious and analytical, this might not be the prompt for you. You could do something like:

100% of my friends would tell you that I'm a dolphin, and I can see why they'd think that: I love scuba diving, I move through the water like a torpedo, and I have an extremely playful, mischievous personality. 

But they are incorrect. 

I'm actually an octopus -- for eight reasons:

1. Chameleons can change their skin color, but octopuses can change their color and texture. 

[Short paragraph about how I have to change and adapt to different situations -- from compassionate when I'm taking care of my younger siblings at home, to a strong but good-humored female leader on an all-male physics team, to a fierce and ruthless competitor when I play water polo]

2. As any aquarist could tell you, octopuses are escape artists.

[Short paragraph about the boxes people have tried to put me and how I've escaped from them.]

3. Octopus intelligence is distributed, not centralized.

[Short paragraph about what makes my thinking and learning style unique.]

Etc.

Need 5 more reasons you're an octopus? Or 1 reason you're something else? Contact Me!

Or... you could write something completely different. Think about some of your greatest accomplishments. Think about some of your silliest quirks or deepest interests. 

Now, what's the most interesting way to possibly frame that?

• If you're still stumped, you might want to check out some of the University of Chicago's current or past prompts:
• Joan of Arkansas. Queen Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Babe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mash up a historical figure with a new time period, environment, location, or occupation, and tell us their story.
• What's so odd about odd numbers?
• How are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? Possible answers involve, but are not limited to, statistics, chemistry, physics, linguistics, and philosophy.
• "A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies." –Oscar Wilde. Othello and Iago. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. Autobots and Decepticons. History and art are full of heroes and their enemies. Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis (either real or imagined).
• Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Milo drives through the tollbooth. Dorothy is swept up in the tornado. Neo takes the red pill. Don’t tell us about another world you’ve imagined, heard about, or created. Rather, tell us about its portal. Sure, some people think of college as a portal to their future, but please choose another portal to write about.
• Vestigiality refers to genetically determined structures or attributes that have apparently lost most or all of their ancestral function, but have been retained during the process of evolution. In humans, for instance, the appendix is thought to be a vestigial structure. Describe something vestigial (real or imagined) and provide an explanation for its existence.
• In French, there is no difference between "conscience" and "consciousness." In Japanese, there is a word that specifically refers to the splittable wooden chopsticks you get at restaurants. The German word “fremdschämen” encapsulates the feeling you get when you’re embarrassed on behalf of someone else. All of these require explanation in order to properly communicate their meaning, and are, to varying degrees, untranslatable. Choose a word, tell us what it means, and then explain why it cannot (or should not) be translated from its original language.
• Little pigs, French hens, a family of bears. Blind mice, musketeers, the Fates. Parts of an atom, laws of thought, a guideline for composition. Omne trium perfectum? Create your own group of threes, and describe why and how they fit together.
• So where is Waldo, really?
• Find x.

Other ideas I've brainstormed:

• If everything was free for ten minutes, what would you take?
• If you could commit one crime and never get caught, what would it be and why?
• What annoys you about people your age?
• If you had to convert to any religion other than your own, which would you pick, and why?
• Is "Old Taylor" really dead?
• What is something that is rude when others do it, but classy when you do it?
• Sansa or Arya Stark?
• What is the future of happiness?

Or literally anything you want. 

Just remember not to let yourself get distracted by the prompts. It's fine to use Sansa and Arya Stark as a framework or setup for your essay, but the essay is about you. Focus on the qualities you and the Stark girls have in common, or what you would have done differently if you were them. 

It's fine to talk about "Old" vs. "New" Taylor -- but you're still trying to impress me. Show off your deep knowledge of pop culture. Show off your understanding of production techniques like gated reverb -- and tie it into your own musical accomplishments. 

It's fine to show off your prose and creativity -- especially if you've indicated an interest in a creative major, like English or Comparative Literature. But you still need to be in these essays.

Questions or comments? Check out my Services page, then Contact Me!