Whew! We’ve been running through all seven Common App essay prompts to provide you with the information you need to pick the one that is right for you and to answer it as well as possible. Now we’re at #6 out of 7, so we’re almost done!

Congrats! You’ve made it to number five! That’s right; we’ve been going through the list of and so you can make the best possible decision on which one to pick and how to tackle it once you do. We’re now at number five, which means we are in the final stretch.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep repeating it: we ignore the essay prompts. However, we also understand that for kids that are ‘going it alone’ or who will have to vie with 30 other students for hands-on help from a teacher, the essay prompts can serve a very important purpose. They offer direction and they provide structure, so we’re breaking them down, one-by-one, just for you.

We have a secret to share. We totally ignore the Common App essay prompts. It doesn’t matter which kid we are working with or what kind of story they have to share. We believe in starting with a blank page—not a prompt. However, we also know that not every kid gets to work with us 1) because we are a specialized service and 2) because there are just so many hours in a day and only so many days before applications are due. We started this blog so that we could speak to the kids who don’t have a hands-on helper during this process, and we understand that, like our posts, the Common App essay prompts may not make it smooth sailing, but they do give you a place to start.

The biggest (and most frequent) complement we get on this blog is that we’re not selling things—we’re asking and answering questions. Yes, we are a company that provides intensive college admissions support, but it’s impossible for us to work with everyone. The next best thing is to make sure that everyone has the right information.

So, your application is finally starting to come together but the essay is still hanging over your head. Writing a common app essay can seem daunting, especially at first. The goal is to zero in on a fresh topic--to add an additional piece of information--that gives admissions officers an idea of who you are and what differentiates you from the rest of the applicants.

Need some inspiration for those Common App essays? For starters, you need to keep in mind that your goal is to give the admissions committee a glimpse into how you think. Here is a list of our favorite ideas:

The hardest part of any writing project is the first sentence. Staring at a blank white page can be terrifying, especially when the stakes are as high as getting into your dream school. One of the things we do at TKG is guide students through writing stellar college essays, but there are some things you can do at home to help you get through that initial rut.

Some say that the college application essay is formulaic. If that were to be true, the stereotypical formula would go like this: Typical high school experience + dramatic interpretation attempting to raise the stakes + a grand takeaway that is often along the lines of “and then I realized that life has meaning beyond becoming homecoming queen!”

We talk a lot about topics to avoid. Avoid writing about death, avoid writing about grandparents, avoid writing about volunteer experiences, and avoid things that could be read as you trying to ‘impress’ the reader — we want to engage the reader, not to show off. And then, sometimes, there is a way of bringing together a handful of those “don’ts” to create a piece that is engaging, beautiful, and that does one of our favorite things: it proves that even our rules aren’t really rules at all, they’re guidelines.

This year was a year of outstanding essays from our students. We’re a little biased, but we truly were deeply impressed. While the college application process can be far less than inspiring, our kids were willing to push themselves, dedicate the time needed to develop not just this one piece, but as writers overall, and produce essays that showed their hard work.

Common App essays are the wild card of the college application process. You can write about anything, but it needs to appeal to every school you’re applying to. Good luck. The number of options can be overwhelming, and the stakes can be anxiety-inducing, which together can result in some pretty terrible essays.

Here’s a question we get a lot: “So, what’s the absolute best essay you’ve ever read?”

The real answer is very long and it's never just one essay. We’ve read and helped write a ton of “best essays,” and that’s what we always say when people ask us that. Also, every person’s “best essay” looks different. The reason they ask us that question is because they want the secret to success. Unfortunately, we can’t give them that because the secret to success is a lot more than just the essay, but we will say that the essay is far and away the part of your application to pay the most attention to (you know, after you’ve aced your classes and tests) because it’s your chance to show your personality. The worst that any top student can make is relying on their grades and scores to set them apart. They won’t. But, your essay will.