距美本申请的 EA / ED 只剩下一个月，今年申请的大家，都在忙着编辑文书、再多改一稿、头脑风暴细节、调整活动清单，忙到不亦乐乎的倒计时里，听说还有一小部分少年和少女都还没有开始写文书。

Emmmmm，现在都还没有开始，真的来得及吗？

为了给这部分懒癌小伙伴送福利，这里是美国本科三大系统文书题目的完整版，Common、Coalition 和 UC 系统的全部文书题目都在这里啦，还不快约你的申请顾问破题、头脑风暴和改文书~

Common APP

The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don't feel obligated to do so. (The application won't accept a response shorter than 250 words.)

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

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.

Coalition

Submit an essay on a topic of your choice，650 words (or less)

Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and rewards of making your contribution.

Has there been a time when you’ve had a long-cherished or accepted belief challenged? How did you respond? How did the challenge affect your beliefs?

What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What is the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?

UC

You will have 8 questions to choose from. You must respond to only 4 of the 8 questions。Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.

Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities?

Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?

Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

Things to consider: What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career?

What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?

Things to consider: If there’s a talent or skill that you’re proud of, this is the time to share it. You don’t necessarily have to be recognized or have received awards for your talent (although if you did and you want to talk about it, feel free to do so). Why is this talent or skill meaningful to you?
Does the talent come naturally or have you worked hard to develop this skill or talent? Does your talent or skill allow you opportunities in or outside the classroom? If so, what are they and how do they fit into your schedule?

Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that’s geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you — just to name a few.
If you choose to write about educational barriers you’ve faced, how did you overcome or strive to overcome them? What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who are you today?

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you’re currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, “How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends or with my family?”

Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.

Things to consider: Many students have a passion for one specific academic subject area, something that they just can’t get enough of. If that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had inside and outside the classroom — such as volunteer work, internships, employment, summer programs, participation in student organizations and/or clubs — and what you have gained from your involvement.

Has your interest in the subject influenced you in choosing a major and/or future career? Have you been able to pursue coursework at a higher level in this subject (honors, AP, IB, college or university work)? Are you inspired to pursue this subject further at UC, and how might you do that?

What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team or a place — like your high school, hometown or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community?

Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

Things to consider: If there’s anything you want us to know about you, but didn’t find a question or place in the application to tell us, now’s your chance. What have you not shared with us that will highlight a skill, talent, challenge or opportunity that you think will help us know you better?

如何写好美国大学申请文书？

NACAC 的招生报告显示，大学 Essay 在招生录取重要性方面排名第 6，而同一时刻，成绩和课程往往占据第 1 位。

根据高等教育研究所（HERI）的研究，2016 年秋季入学学期，超过 35% 的大一新生申请了 7 个或更多的学校，而超过 80% 的新生每年至少要申请 3 所大学。

但是更多的申请也意味着更多的学生 Essays。

弗拉格斯塔夫高中的辅导员 Katherine Pastor 说，学生在申请过程中必须要写上 10 篇或更多的 Essays，而这还不包括奖学金申请所需的 Essays。

而这对于要申请大学、同时还要兼顾学校学习的学生们来说，是一种极大的压力，也是一个非常艰巨的过程。

许多学生绞尽脑汁组织语言，试图弄明白到底该在 Essay 中写些什么，如何吸引到招生官的注意，并使自己脱颖而出。而这在无形中大大加重了学生的负担。

关于申请 Essay 写作的事态看上去似乎是失去了控制。但 Ethan Sawyer 则秉持了完全不一样的观念，他将此视为是学生获得创造性的机会。

他也提出来他的 Essay 写作四步骤以减轻学生的负担，他自己称之为“韦恩范式法（Venn diagram approach）”。

Step 1：学生应该先自我创建一个列表，列出所有想要申请的大学，并将把每个大学的申请 Essay 要求输入一个电子表格程序。

“在看到所有上述要写的 Essay 之后，我把他们融合进同一个头脑风暴过程，并确定其中的超级话题（Super-Topics）。”

Step 2：学生应该决定好自己的主要或核心话题，并在此基础上，在 Super-Topics 范围内撰写自己的第 2 篇、第 3 篇、第 4 篇 Essay。

“但我看到多重要求时，我也看到了更大的交叉潜力。我极力鼓励学生玩这样一个游戏，即用一种答案同时回答 2-3 个其他问题。这也增加了更大的创新性机会。”

Step 3：当学生在写作时，应该把所有想要结合在一起的要求信息放在最显眼的位置，这样才能在写这一篇 Essay 的同时，牢牢把另一篇 Essay 也放在心中。

“通过这种置顶方式，不仅能大大节省你的时间，同时也更有可能写出更好的文章。”

Step 4：开始写 Essay，并将其确定为 3-4 篇核心文章。

“所有一切问题的关键在于，学生要把其自身的核心价值传递给要申请的大学。”