We're continuing our dive deep into each of the seven Common App essay prompts and guiding you on how to brainstorm, write, and perfect your Common App essay. As you may know by now, we don’t follow the conventional college essay-writing rules, so what you’ll find here might be fairly different from other advice you’ve seen. But trust us, our methods get results! Today, we’re talking about the newest (albeit, like three years old) Common App prompt, Prompt #4.

Frequent readers of the blog know that we prefer Prompt #7 to all other prompts. What can we say? We love how unstructured she is! But we know not all students feel the same way. We actually like Prompt #4 quite a bit, and it’s a really great vehicle to tell a story (the hallmark of a great Common App essay).

We want to emphasize that your Common App essay is the one part of your application every school will see. It’s also the only section that reveals who you are as a person, beyond the stats and data points. This makes it crucial for your essay to be well-written, thoughtfully crafted, and nearly perfect. If there’s one part of your Common App to really, really, focus on, it’s your essay. Now let’s look at Prompt #4:

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

This prompt is all about warm fuzzies, and we like that! We like upbeat, happy Common App essays, and so do admissions counselors. Imagine this: you’re an overworked 25-year-old, it’s 4:56pm on a Thursday, and you can’t wait to get out of your college admissions job so you can binge-watch Friends while scrolling Tiktok. You’ve already read hundreds of essays today, mostly about students’ grandparents, scoring the winning goal, their best moments, or more commonly, their worst moments and traumas. You’re exhausted, and you have one essay left to read before heading home. And instead of opening up an essay about something awful, it’s a really sweet story about a really kind moment the student experienced. That admissions counselor gets to leave their day on a high note! That’s a good thing for you!!

This prompt was to combat some of the downer-ness of Covid, and we think it’s a good one. There are a few things you should be careful to avoid though with this essay.

This prompt is asking about something someone else has done for you, which means students often fall into the trap of writing their whole essay about that someone else. BZZZT! Write your Common App essay about yourselves, kiddos! The other issue we notice with this prompt is that students often go too wide with it–grand gestures are hard to write about in 650 words. And the third pitfall students often find themselves in, they do not answer the last part: how has this gratitude affected or motivated you. 

Now, keeping these potential traps in mind, you can craft a great essay for prompt #4. Let’s dive into how to brainstorm ideas for this prompt, ensuring you steer clear of the cliche and the overdone.

Common App Essay Prompt 4 Example Topics

Before you even start thinking of actual ideas, remember that the most effective way to tackle this prompt is by telling a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It also might help you to reframe this question a little bit.

The Common App essay should be about you your traits. While you’ll have to have a secondary character in this story, they’re not the focus, you are! What traits or values do you want to highlight about yourself? If you’re stuck, ask your friends and family the five words they’d use to describe you, and look for overlaps in their responses. If 4 out of 5 people say you’re hilarious, that’s a good place to start!

Now, your reframe should be “When did someone do something small (!!!) for me that reminded me I am ___?” with the blank being that trait you want to share. The story shouldn’t just be about someone being nice to you, it should be more deep than that. We want something here that’s an inch wide and a mile deep, as we like to say. Something very meaningful but not too over-the-top.

Another way you could think about this question is through the lens of love languages! If your love language is acts of service, and you really love to cook for your family, maybe your sister preemptively picked up the groceries for you or cleaned the kitchen so you could work your magic. If it’s words of affirmation, maybe you were struggling with a new sport or hobby and someone gave you constructive criticism paired with words of encouragement that helped you level up.

Maybe you got a really thoughtful thank you note (a lost art!)! Or maybe you’re someone who will drop everything to help someone, and someone did the same for you and it made you feel really seen!

Now that you hopefully have some ideas percolating in your brain, let’s talk about actually writing the essay.

Common App Essay Prompt 4 Example Guide

Got your idea? Fantastic! Now comes the real challenge: translating it onto paper. Crafting your Common App essay might seem overwhelming, but don't worry—we're here to help! Let’s break down the process. You have 650 words to tell a captivating story with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. Thankfully, this prompt is begging you to tell a story, so this shouldn’t be too hard to tackle.

Let’s do our examples with our cooking idea – you are going to cook Sunday night dinner, as you are wont to do, and your sister lends you an unexpected hand. As you start your essay, we want you to bring us into the scene with you. Are you driving home from a late practice, realizing you forgot to get groceries or a key ingredient? Are you leaving your bedroom, ruminating on how dirty the kitchen is, dreading the both pre-and-post-cleanup you’ll have to do? You could start with something attention-grabbing like “Chicken, parsley, cream cheese, onion, paprika… dang it. I forgot to get the cream cheese,” and set the scene that way. You’ll want to use a lot of descriptive language as you set the scene! Rely on the senses!

In the middle, this is where the kind action from someone else comes into play. Perhaps you’ve already resigned yourself to having to come up with a new recipe based on what you have, but when you open the fridge, you see a new block of cream cheese right there. You say, “Oh my god! Cream cheese!” and your sister yells back from the couch, “Yeah, I saw we didn’t have any, and I knew you needed some.” See, it doesn’t need to be a huge gesture!

Then, as you go to end your essay, you want to talk about what this kind action allowed you to do. In this case, your sister’s thoughtfulness allowed you to pursue your passion, uninterrupted and unimpeded, for yet another dinner. The kindness someone did should clear the way for you to do the thing you wanted to do, or motivate you to keep trying or start something you’ve been putting off.

And, like we said before, this should be a very positive ending. If the dinner ends up burnt, that’s not a super fun, compelling story!

Now for the practical tips: if you’re struggling with the introduction, consider writing it last. It might seem counterintuitive, but sometimes it’s easier to craft a strong opening once you know how your story concludes. If the perfect attention-grabbing sentence isn’t coming to you, just move on and return to it later.

After completing your draft (which will probably be over 650 words), it’s time to edit. Read your essay out loud to catch any awkward or unnatural parts, then revise accordingly. You might even retype the entire document to help spot errors and improve your writing. Repeat this editing process 3-4 times before seeking feedback from a friend, parent, teacher, or another trusted person. Be mindful not to have too many reviewers—stick to one or two to avoid conflicting advice and feeling overwhelmed.

Once you’ve thoroughly edited and polished your essay, you’re ready to submit it! Good luck!

Prompt #4 is a great one if you’re looking for a structured way to tell a kind, joyous story. Just be careful not to fall into any of the common traps with this essay, like writing it about someone else or not talking about how someone’s kindness impacted you.

We are experts in writing creative and unique college essays. If you need help brainstorming or writing your Common App essay, reach out to us today.