Keep your application close to your heart, and tell the admissions review board about an adverse event you've struggled through to make it where you are today. For example, write about how your father died your junior year of high school, but you've managed to still keep your grades up while being a crutch for your mother and learning how to get by without him. Or write about how your younger brother has autism, which has been a struggle not only for him, but for the family as a whole, to figure out how to live with the disease. Everyone has a story; use yours to your advantage when applying to the college of your dreams.
Write your Common Application college essay on the person you admire the most. Perhaps that person is President Barack Obama, for breaking the racial barrier to become the first black president of the United States. Or maybe you have always admired J.K. Rowling for the way she went from being a single mother to worldwide sensation with her "Harry Potter" series. Whomever you choose, write your essay so it impresses upon the admissions counselors that these people have helped shape who you have grown up to be.
Write your Common Application essay about a cause you feel deeply about. If it is your dream to travel the world to help people who have suffered after natural disasters such as the earthquakes in Haiti or Japan, or people who suffer from the AIDS epidemic in Africa, write your essay about how your dream of being a doctor would ultimately lead you to joining Doctors Without Borders. If you grew up in run-down areas of big cities such as Chicago or New York City, write your essay on how you plan to join community organizers to rebuild the neighborhoods to make them safer places to live once you get your degree in urban development.
Aspire to be a musician? Write your Common Application essay on how your love of music began when you were 3, sitting with your mom and dad listening to their favorite albums. Write how you and your friends started the first punk band in your small town, but by the end of your high school career, you were not only performing at shows, but promoting them as well. If your passion lies in literature, describe the first time you remember reading a book that transported you to another time and place. Use your essay to do the same to admissions counselors.