Prompt: 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.
What is the prompt asking?
This prompt is the broadest of all the Common App prompts. You can write about anything you like.
What do the colleges want to know through this prompt?
Since this prompt is a choose-your-own story, colleges cannot have hard and fast expectations from you here. Whatever you essay content be, you’ll want to demonstrate some of the same qualities that colleges are looking for in all college essays: academic passion, maturity, resourcefulness, and persistence. You may include your values, times of setback, times of success in the essay.
What kind of topic can be included?
If you have a topic that does not fit in other prompts, this is the best place to include it.
What should you avoid?
Avoiding being eccentric; you are the main topic of your essays, so do not write unnecessarily about other things or people. You should avoid topics or your qualities that have already been incorporated by other prompts.