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Health & Fitness

The 2014-15 Common App Essay Quick Guide: Prompt #3

Next on the list of the 2014-15 Common Application essay question choices is Prompt #3. Below I break down some of the best ways to answer this prompt, which asks students to talk about the beliefs and ideas that inspire their actions.

PROMPT #3: 
Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

This is perhaps the most challenging prompt of the Common App’s selection. It requires a student to speak passionately about beliefs and ideology, which are amorphous topics that can be difficult to mold into a compact stories. Hence, this is often one of the hardest prompts to steer in a positive, productive direction without traveling into preachy, overly didactic territory. That said, responses to this prompt can be incisive and deeply personal. They can also be quite controversial, and students need to carefully assess the risks of espousing beliefs that might be polarizing for the readers of their applications. If this prompt jumps out at you because you have a very specific story to tell or opinion to voice, run with it. When has your opinion been unpopular? Maybe you worked as an intern on a political campaign caught at the center of a scandal. How did you react? Are you openly gay in a strict Catholic school environment, and what has that meant for how you conduct your life and interact in your environment? Why are you the kind of person who is willing to stand up for what you believe in? What is important to you on a fundamental level of morals and values? These are some of the questions to which this prompt seeks answers and insight.

Did you miss my explanation of Prompt #1 and #2? Fear not! Find them on the CEA website, and stay tuned for my breakdowns of the remaining three prompts!

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