2017-2018 Coalition for Access Essay Prompts

The 2017-2018 Coalition for Access essay prompts are out.

We’ve been outspoken critics of the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success — particularly in how they so haphazardly rolled out their application. And we surely were not alone. The rollout of the half-baked Coalition for Access application was, to borrow a term from President Trump, “a disaster.” And while the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success hasn’t exactly — at the risk of stating the obvious — become an overnight success story, remaking the landscape of highly selective college admissions, it does still exist…so we’ll share their 2017-2018 admissions essay prompts with our readers.

The 2017-2018 Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success’ essay prompts will remain the same as last year. After a year in which so few students applying to highly selective college applied through the Coalition’s application, it’s no surprise to us that the Coalition doesn’t want to make any more major changes this next cycle. Their shakeup didn’t work the first time…why try to keep shaking things up to no avail, right?

Anyhow, without further due, here are the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success’ 2017-2018 essay prompts: “(1) Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it. (2) 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. (3) 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? (4) What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What’s the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)? (5) Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.”

Does the topic of your choice essay sound familiar? It should. It was, for years, one of the essay prompts for the Common Application. And we’ve long been lobbying Common App. to bring it back.