Applying to a college surely is a stressful and busy period, and if you belong to the majority of enrollees who apply to multiple schools, the pressure only grows. The need to enter your basic data (name, age, address, etc.), transcript, submit your personal statement (you can get help with personal statement from our service or even ask us to “write my admission essay“), and send a supplemental essay to numerous platforms makes the application process tedious and time-consuming.
That’s why each year more students tend to use unified platforms that allow applying to many universities and colleges all in one go.
Over the past few decades Common Application has been holding the leadership among the admission platforms in the US, however starting with 2015 it got a major competitor in the form of the Coalition Application. The aim of this newest application platform is to offer young people better access to higher education and, particularly, to make the process easier for the groups of historically underrepresented students. As of today, Coalition platform allows you to apply to more than 140 schools all over the US. In this post, we want to talk about writing the Coalition essay and the prompts used for the application cycle 2019-2020. The brief Coalition app guide below will give answers to all of your questions.
Which Coalition App Essay Prompts Are Actual in 2019-2020?
Coalition platform decided that in 2019-2020 application period students will be using the same essay prompts as in 2018-2019. All five prompts are designed to reveal an enrollee’s character traits, life priorities, goals, and aspirations. With this task not being easy, the application essay will require thorough planning and creativity to shine among thousands of other works.
If you wonder where to submit Coalition essay, the answer is simple – you’ll need to download it to the Locker tool on your personal Coalition account. This way any college on the platform you apply to will be able to access your essay.
Coalition Essay Word Limit: How Long Your Application Essay Should Be?
An excellent application essay doesn’t have to be too long, no matter which Coalition prompt you choose. Experts and teachers generally recommend that the ideal Coalition essay length varies between 500 and 550 words. However, you aren’t limited to this number and can submit a longer essay if you find it to be essential.
Coalition application essay is the only one you write for this platform; it is accepted by all Coalition member colleges. However, you should keep in mind that some schools may require to write a supplemental essay or a series of smaller pieces – answers to the prompts, each of them being 300-400 words long.
Writing an Essay for Common Application VS Coalition Application: The Key Differences
While both Coalition Application and Common Application platform pursue the same goal – making the application process for students easier – they do have certain differences. If we speak of writing an application essay in particular, the main difference concerns the word limit: while at Coalition you should aim for 500-550 words but can exceed this number if needed, Common platform has a length restriction of 650 words.
Another important distinction is the number of prompts. As mentioned above, for 2019-2020 application cycle Coalition platform kept five prompts. At the same time, Common Application offers seven prompts to choose from.
Finally, we should mention Locker – a safe and unlimited cloud-based storage space, created specifically for Coalition Application. Here an enrollee can update his/her academic progress, starting with the 9th grade. Besides, they can upload their application essay, as well as images, audio, and video files (which is especially convenient for wannabe art students). While you can save your essay on Common platform, there’s no specified storage for that purpose.
Where Can You Find Coalition Essay Examples?
With Coalition essay topics being the same as the last year, you can check the online resources for examples of essays written for each of the prompts. Do not plagiarize! You can use the patterns of the essays for inspiration and as aid for planning your own essay. Besides, you can go to MyCoalition Counselor database and find useful writing tips and instructions given by experts.
Coalition Application Prompts 2019-2020: Helpful Writing Tips
Here are some pieces of advice on writing an application essay given by enrollment managers and counselors who work in Coalition platform colleges.
- The main goal of your essay is to represent yourself. Which traits of character, life priorities, and hobbies make you unique? What will you contribute to the campus community? Avoid focusing on other people (your family members, friends, mentors), better show your true self through interaction with other people, life challenges, etc.
- Creativity and some humor will make your essay shine. When writing, get out of your comfort zone and present a story from the most unexpected angle.
- Start the essay with a powerful, catchy phrase that will grab your audience’s attention immediately and will keep them engaged and interested all the way.
- Once the essay is written, revise, edit, and rewrite it several times. Ask a couple of people you trust to read the essay and tell their opinion. Check grammar and spelling meticulously before you submit the piece.
Where Can You Get Coalition Application Help?
The main goal of the Coalition platform is to aid students in the process of applying to colleges. For this purpose, Coalition has created some excellent tools such as Collaboration Space and MyCoalition Counselor.
- Collaboration Space connects students with counselors, teachers, and parents to ask for feedback, recommendation, and advice.
- MyCoalition Counselor is a database that provides access to a compilation of informative and helpful checklists and articles on successful applying to schools, authored by coaches and admission experts.
You can use these tools to reach out for support and help at any stage of the application process. A team of experts will gladly answer any Coalition application questions. If you experience difficulties with your essay or aren’t sure which prompt to choose, you can ask professional writers from an online custom writing service to assist you. Having a broad experience of helping students and enrollees, they will create an entirely unique application essay that will help you stand out.
