When are the college essay prompts for the upcoming application cycle usually released?

Great question! Planning ahead for college essays is a smart move, especially since your senior fall can get busy.

The Common App typically releases its main essay prompts in February or March each year for the upcoming application cycle. For the past several years, the Common App prompts have remained mostly the same, so it’s common (and safe) for students to get started during the spring or early summer even before the new cycle officially opens on August 1st. You can check the Common App website for the current year's prompts, which they post as soon as they're finalized.

For the Coalition Application, prompts are usually shared on their website in the spring as well. In recent years, the prompts have also stayed the same or very similar year to year, so you can usually start working on your main Coalition essay around the same time.

Supplemental essays are a bit more varied. Some schools reuse prompts for years (like the "Why Us?" or "Community" questions), but others update one or more each cycle. Most schools will reveal their supplemental prompts between late June and early August. Some colleges preview their prompts on their admissions websites or blogs before the application goes live, while others release them only when the application portal opens on August 1st.

Here’s a tip for tracking supplement prompts: create a spreadsheet with each college on your list and check their admissions websites frequently. For some schools, admissions social media accounts or blogs are the first places they announce new prompts. For example, the University of Chicago is known for creative supplements, and they usually post new prompts in early June on their admissions blog.

If you’re hoping to use the summer productively, start by drafting your main Common App and/or Coalition essay using last year's prompts as a guide (since they rarely change much). At the same time, make a note to review your target schools' admissions pages periodically throughout June and July to catch the supplement prompts as soon as they are announced. Keeping a Google Sheet or a small notebook for notes and links can make this process much smoother!

As an example: If you're applying to NYU and Vanderbilt, you could check their admissions blogs or prior years’ prompts in June, save links and updates in your spreadsheet, and set reminders to revisit those sites the last week of July before the Common App opens.

Bottom line: You can confidently start the main essays now, and supplement prompts will trickle out from early June through August, so keep an eye out and track them methodically!