supplemental essay length

Cornell Office of Undergraduate Admissions

Search cornell admissions, cornell first-year writing supplement prompts.

In the online Common Application Writing Supplement, please respond to both the Cornell University essay question and the essay prompt that corresponds to the undergraduate college or school to which you are applying.  

Cornell University Essay Question

In the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War, Ezra Cornell wrote, "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." For over 150 years, Cornell University has remained deeply committed to Ezra’s vision. Explain how your life experiences will help inform your contributions to a learning community devoted to “... any person … any study.” We encourage you to think broadly about your life experiences, including how local (e.g., family, school, neighborhood) or global communities you’ve been part of have helped shape your perspective. (350 word limit)

College- and School-Specific Essay Questions

College of agriculture and life sciences.

Required: Why are you drawn to studying the major you have selected? Please discuss how your interests and related experiences have influenced your choice. How will an education from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell University specifically serve to support your learning, growth, and the pursuit of your goals? (650-word limit)  

Instructions: The optional short-answer questions invite you to share additional information about your background, interests, and experiences as they relate to aspects of the Cornell CALS mission. The content of any responses submitted will be included in the holistic review of your application (which is also the case for any optional additional information submitted as part of your Common Application or uploaded through your Cornell Application Portal once you've applied).

Optional: At Cornell CALS, we aim to leave the world better than we found it, so we seek out those who are not simply driven to master their discipline, but who are also passionate about doing so to serve the public good. Please elaborate on an experience where you had a meaningful impact on people, a community, and/or an environment of importance to you. (200-word limit)

Optional: Cornell CALS is dedicated to purpose-driven study of the agricultural, life, environmental, and social sciences and welcomes students with interests that span a wide variety of disciplines. Given our agricultural history and commitment to educating the next generation of agriculturalists, please share if you have a background or interest in agriculture, regardless of your intended major. An "agricultural entity" for the purpose of this question is defined as cultivating soil, growing crops, and raising livestock (e.g., farm, ranch, greenhouse, vineyard, etc.). 

Select all that apply:

• A primary source of income for my parent/guardian(s) comes from ownership of or employment by an agricultural entity.
• My extended family owns or operates an agricultural entity.
• I have experience working in an agricultural entity.
• I have interest in pursuing a career in an agricultural entity.                                           

Please feel free to share additional details (optional). (100-word limit)

College of Architecture, Art, and Planning

How do your interests directly connect with your intended major at the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP)? Why architecture (B.Arch), art (BFA), or urban and regional studies (URS)? B. Arch applicants, please provide an example of how a creative project or passion sparks your motivation to pursue a 5-year professional degree program. BFA applicants may want to to consider how they could integrate a range of interests and available resources at Cornell into a coherent art practice. URS students may want to emphasize their enthusiasm and depth of interest in the study of urban and regional issues. (650 word limit)

College of Arts & Sciences

At the College of Arts and Sciences, curiosity will be your guide. Discuss how your passion for learning is shaping your academic journey, and what areas of study or majors excite you and why. Your response should convey how your interests align with the College, and how you would take advantage of the opportunities and curriculum in Arts and Sciences. (650 word limit)

Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy

Why are you drawn to studying public policy? Drawing on your experiences, tell us about why you are interested in your chosen major and how attending the Brooks School will help you achieve your life goals. (650 word limit)

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

What kind of a business student are you? Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should convey how your interests align with the school to which you are applying within the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management or the Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration). (650 word limit)

College of Engineering

Instructions: All applicants are required to write two supplemental essays. Each has a limit of 250 words. Essay 1 is required of all applicants. For Essay 2, you must choose between Question A and Question B.

Essay 1: Required response. (250-word limit)

How do your interests directly connect with Cornell Engineering? If you have an intended major, what draws you to that department at Cornell Engineering? If you are unsure what specific engineering field you would like to study, describe how your general interest in engineering most directly connects with Cornell Engineering. It may be helpful to concentrate on one or two things that you are most excited about.

Essay 2: Choose either Question A and Question B. (250-word limit)

Question A: Describe an engineering problem that impacts your local community. This could be your school, neighborhood, town, region, or a group you identify with. Describe one to three things you might do as an engineer to solve the problem.

Question B: Diversity in all forms is intrinsic to excellence in engineering. Engineering the best solutions to complex problems is often achieved by drawing from the diverse ingenuity of people from different backgrounds, lived experiences, and identities. How do you see yourself contributing to the diversity and/or the inclusion of the Cornell Engineering community? What is the unique voice you would bring to the Cornell Engineering community?

College of Human Ecology

How have your related experiences influenced your decision to apply to the College of Human Ecology (CHE)? How will your choice of major impact your goals and plans for the future? Your response should show us that your interests and aspirations align with CHE and your choice of major. (Refer to our essay application tips before you begin.) (650 word limit)

School of Industrial and Labor Relations

Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you. Your response should show us that your interests align with the ILR School. (650 word limit)

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Supplemental Essays Guide: How to Write, Tips & Examples

Reviewed by:

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Reviewed: 9/11/23

Writing stand-out supplemental essays may be your ticket into your dream school. Follow along for our complete guide on writing perfect supplemental essays for college.

If you’re working on supplemental essays, you’ve already spent countless hours perfecting your application. However, even the perfect application must be followed by stellar supplementals to get you into your dream school. That’s right, supplementals are a highly important piece of the application process - so how can you perfect yours? 

In this complete guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about writing excellent supplemental essays, including examples from well-written essays , tips for common essay prompts, and each possible length. To top it all off, we’ve also included answers to the most frequently asked questions about writing stand-out supplemental essays.

Let’s get started!

What are Supplemental Essays? 

Supplemental essays are additional writing samples that you submit along with the rest of your college application. Many high-ranking schools ask for these essays, as they are intended to be more specific than your personal statement. It’s a chance for you to further demonstrate why you are a good fit for the school you’re applying to.

How Important are Supplemental Essays?

In short, supplemental essays are an extremely valuable part of your application. Your application allows schools to see the base of your work ethic through numbers (grades, extracurriculars, awards, and more), but it doesn’t give any indication of your personality. 

These essays are your first opportunity to give your university an idea of who you are and what you are passionate about. 

Excellent essays can tip the scales in your favor, especially for highly competitive schools where most candidates have excellent grades. An in-depth, well-written essay can set your application apart from others.

What are Colleges Looking For in Supplemental Essays? 

In supplemental essays, colleges look for honesty, specificity, and the ability to answer the prompt accurately and succinctly. We will look at several common prompts that colleges often use: 

• “Why This Major?”
• Community/diversity
• Extracurricular

Using these prompts helps college admissions get a better idea of who you are as an applicant.

How to Write Different Supplemental Essay Prompts

Every college has a unique set of prompts they distribute to their applicants each year. However, most prompts follow core formats. Here are some of the most common types of supplemental essays and how to write them.

The “Why Us?” Essay

The “Why Us?” or "Why This School?” essay is one of the most common prompts in circulation. Top schools such as Brown, Columbia, and Cornell have all been known to ask applicants to answer this prompt as part of their application. So, how do you write the “Why Us?” essay? Let’s talk about it. 

When a college asks you why you want to go there, the admissions committee wants to know a few things:

• The specific things about this school that appeal to you (have you done your research?)
• How you will contribute to this school’s college life
• How attending this school will help you achieve short and long-term goals

With this prompt, avoid listing reasons you want to go to the school unless you are directly instructed to do so. This is an opportunity to show the admissions committee how much their school matters to you, what programs and courses most interest you, and how the school will help you develop your passion and achieve your goals. 

You should do thorough research on the school and consider what sets it apart from other colleges on your list . Avoid providing general reasons that could be said about any other college. 

Writing this essay is your chance to showcase why you are passionate about attending this specific school and why it matters to you. Finally, conclude your essay by explaining how and why attending this school will help your long-term goals. 

‍ “Why Us?” Essay Sample from Columbia University:

“Computer science is at the core of my academic passions and my life ambitions. What I value in life is being around brilliant technologists. At Columbia, I have worked with and befriended the most driven and gifted programmers I’ve ever met. In January, I formed a team with three Columbia freshmen for MIT’s annual strategy-game-playing artificial intelligence competition. Ben, Ryan, Koh and I spent the month reviewing matches, debating approaches and tweaking our models. More than once we coded through the night. Their caliber was clear in the subtle insights that their multi-disciplinary backgrounds gave them and they gave me something to aspire to.

I have many interests that lie outside of my intended major but that I want to continue to pursue, and Columbia provides an environment for those diverse passions. Recently, while at a Columbia math club meeting with Ben, I ran into a political science major, Mathieu. He was elated to point out the insights that a love of math granted him in his courses and his conviction encouraged me to explore the peculiar intersection of the two fields.

I love teachers who love to teach. At Columbia, I’ve seen faculty who have a love for what they do and who care about students. While touring, I sat in on a quantum mechanics lecture. Professor Norman Christ strode into the room at eight on-the-dot and jumped into a discussion of WKB complex value approximation. For three straight hours, he guided us through the intricate world of QM without any notes. His enthusiasm brightened that drizzling Monday morning. That I could follow the lecture at all is a testament to his lucid explanations and extraordinary knowledge. When I came to him with questions afterward, he helped me truly understand a topic that initially felt years out of reach.”

Why this is a successful essay: In this essay , the writer starts by talking about their major and how Columbia provides an excellent program. They continue to add how they could positively impact Columbia if accepted. Take note of how the writer lists their key topic at the beginning of each paragraph and then connects Columbia to each topic. 

This student also mentioned that they enjoyed a Columbia professor's lecture, which is an excellent way of showing their deep interest in the school. Showing in your essay that you are passionate about the program and that you’ve done your research can be a point in your favor. 

The “Why This Major?” Essay

Although this prompt is very similar to the “Why Us?” essay, your answer should focus entirely on why you’re passionate about your degree. Think of this essay as an opportunity to tell the story of how you developed your passion. Try creating a timeline before you start writing to help organize your ideas. It should look something like this:

1. The first time I thought about pursuing this major was: __________________                              

2. I started to get more serious about pursuing this passion when:___________________

3. I’m now applying to this program so that in the future, I can: ___________________

Creating a timeline can help you easily convey how important your major is to you and the journey you’ve taken to build upon your passion. 

You can also include, if it applies, what specific things about your school’s program that drew you to your current selection. However, the main focus of this essay should be how you developed your passion for the subject and what you want to do in this field later on.

"Why This Major" Essay Sample from Yale:

“Literature and anthropology are telescopes into the past; philosophy, a prism into the mind. I want to ask the hard questions: Do I have free will? Is meaning lost in translation? Is there eternal truth? What is an “I”? Am I my mind, body or something more? Literature is an empathetic account of the past, anthropology a scientific documentation of human lives. I want to find commonality in lives separated by time and space, find meaning within them, partake in the collective memory of humanity, and interrogate what it means to be human.”

Why this essay works: 

In this short essay example from a Literature and Anthropology student from Yale, the student gets straight to the point. Demonstrating the questions they have that they hope to answer throughout their education is an excellent way to show that you’ve given your major a lot of thought. 

They’ve also captured the true essence of their major in the last sentence by stating they want to “partake in the collective memory of humanity” and “interrogate what it means to be human.” Whatever major you choose, write honestly about what calls you to the subject and demonstrate that you have a thorough understanding of the genre of material you’ll be studying. 

The Adversity Essay

As one of the most challenging essay prompts, the adversity essay presents students with the uncomfortable task of recalling a difficult life experience and explaining how they overcame it. 

For some, choosing an instance of adversity can be the most challenging part of this prompt. Keep in mind that adversity looks different to everyone. Your story doesn’t have to be overly tragic to write a good adversity essay; you simply need to approach your issue from a place of growth. 

One of the main mistakes applicants make when writing the adversity essay is thinking that their adversity story needs to be overly tragic or complex. Instead of focusing on the actual adversity, your essay should mainly focus on the steps you took to overcome the adversity and learn valuable lessons moving forward. 

If a school asks you to write an adversity essay, the admissions committee wants to know how you handle a challenge. If you buckle under pressure, you may not be able to handle the intensity of a heavy workload. 

Therefore, schools want to know that you are capable of facing challenges head-on and have the capacity to learn from your mistakes. 

Adversity Essay Sample from Harvard University:

“When I was a freshman in high school, I didn't care about school or my education. I couldn't see a future where it mattered whether I knew how to say 'how are you' in Spanish or how to use the Pythagorean theorem. Because I couldn't see the point of these classes, I found myself disconnected from the high school experience as a whole, which resulted in low grades. My parents expressed their disappointment in me, but I still couldn't bring myself to care; I was feeling disconnected from my family, too.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I was depressed. I stopped spending time with my friends and stopped enjoying the things I used to enjoy. I was feeling hopeless. How could I get through three and a half more years of high school if I couldn't even get through a semester? I couldn't stand the thought of feeling this way for so long – at least it felt so long at the time.

After a few failed tests, one of my teachers approached me after class one day. She said she also noticed a difference in my demeanor in the last few weeks and asked if I was okay. At that moment, I realized that no one had asked me that in a long time. I didn't feel okay, so I told her that. She asked me what was wrong, and I told her that I was feeling disconnected from school and classes and just about everything at that point.

My teacher suggested I visit my guidance counselor. So the next day, during study hall, I got a pass to visit with my guidance counselor and told her I was feeling disconnected from classes and school. She asked me what my interests were and suggested that I take an elective like art or music or a vocational tech class like culinary arts or computer coding. I told her that I wasn't sure what I was interested in at this point and she told me to take a couple of classes to see what I like. At her persistence, I signed up for art and computer coding.

It turns out art was not my thing. But it also turns out that computer coding is my thing, and I am not sure I would have realized that had I not gone to see my guidance counselor at my teacher's recommendation. After taking computer coding and other similar classes, I had something to look forward to during school. So even when I still dreaded taking Spanish and Geometry, I knew I could look forward to an enjoyable class later in the day. Having something to look forward to really helped me raise my grades because I started caring about my future and the possibility of applying for college to study computer science.

The best thing that I took away from this experience is that I can't always control what happens to me, especially as a minor, but I can control how I handle things. In full transparency: there were still bad days and bad grades, but by taking action and adding a couple of classes into my schedule that I felt passionate about, I started feeling connected to school again. From there, my overall experience with school – and life in general – improved 100%."

Why this is a good essay: In this essay , the applicant focuses on personal development. They begin by addressing their low grades and poor mental health at a younger age and how the experience affected them. The main focus of the essay, however, is how they found the motivation to get back on track and improve their grades. 

The student has taken this essay opportunity to not only explain the poor grades that Harvard will see from freshman year but has also proven that they have the ability to pull through when times get tough. Remember, the adversity essay should focus mainly on how you’ve learned and grown from a negative experience rather than focusing on the experience itself. 

Community/Diversity Essay

Essay prompts that ask about your experiences in your community help colleges to better understand your unique perspective. Many schools aim to cultivate a diverse environment to enrich the student experience and make sure students from all different backgrounds feel welcome on campus. 

Diversity can relate to your ethnicity, culture, birthplace, health, socioeconomic status, interests, talents, values, and many other things. There is no “correct experience” when it comes to choosing a topic here. In this essay, you have the opportunity to celebrate your unique perspective.

Think about experiences that are important to your identity. For example, you could write about your hometown, a family tradition, a community event, a generational story, or whatever feels most authentic to you. 

Keep this essay authentic; avoid fabricating a story or using someone else's experience. This story needs to come completely from you and let your school get some more information on who you are.

Community/Diversity Essay Sample from Duke University:

“The pitter patter of droplets, the sweet smell that permeates throughout the air, the dark grey clouds that fill the sky, shielding me from the otherwise intense gaze of the sun, create a landscape unparalleled by any natural beauty. I have gazed upon the towering cliffs of Yosemite, stood next to Niagara Falls as the water roars, succumbing to the power of gravity, and seen the beaches of Mexico basked in moonlight, yet none of these wonders compares to the simple beauty of an Arizona rainstorm. To me, our rain represents more than humidity and darkness; its rarity gives it beauty. The uncertainty of when the next day of rain will come compels me to slow down, and enjoy the moment.

Out of the three realms of time; past, present, and future, the present is the only one we can experience, and I take advantage of every moment I have. When I pause my running to enjoy a sunset that dazzles the sky with brilliant colors of purple and orange, when I touch my brush to a canvas and focus on my movements in the present, when I drive home after a long day of improving our robot, and decide to drive around my neighborhood to finish “Garota de Ipanema”, which just popped up from my playlist of 700 songs, I am taking advantage of the moment.

So next time it rains, step outside. Close your eyes. Hear the symphony of millions of water droplets. And enjoy the moment.”

Why this is a successful essay: This essay is an excellent example of pulling a unique experience from your life and expressing its importance. The applicant tells a compelling story about their unique perspective on rain in Arizona and does an excellent job of expressing how special the seemingly mundane event is to them. 

The language used here is visually descriptive, which makes the reader feel as if we are experiencing the event with the writer. This is an excellent way to get the admissions committee to feel connected to your story and get a better understanding of who you are and what you enjoy doing in life. 

The Extracurricular Essay

Many schools are interested in how you spend your time outside of the classroom. Extracurricular essays are quite common as supplemental essays, although students often struggle with how to make an entire essay out of their extracurricular activities. That’s why it’s important to brainstorm and create a story.

Think of a problem that arose while you were participating in one of your extracurricular activities, such as:

• Your sports team lost an important player
• You were injured during a dance recital
• Your music group needed funding 
• Your local soup kitchen was at risk of being shut down, etc.

The problem you choose can be big or small as long as it lends itself to a story. Think about the problem and how you took steps to solve it with your team or other members of your community. 

Use your extracurricular essay to show how your passion and motivation extend beyond the classroom. You can choose any activity to write about, as long as it was not during regular school hours or related to a specific course. 

Extracurricular Essay Sample from Yale:

“ Haunted romanticism, ravaged gaze, desperation bordering on lunacy, Saturn Devouring His Son first caught my attention as a bored nine-year-old wandering around a museum, and once again as a high-school student, after catching a glimpse of it in a textbook. 

Because after looking at angelic frescos after more Church frescos, I could not stop myself from flipping back to the tiny printing of this unholy piece. I sought to discover the story behind it—what caused this artist to create something so raw and naked, in the age of staid royal family portraits?

I became immersed in unraveling each bit of the story, how Goya had long transitioned from a royal painter, to a harsh, but veiled critic of society, the desolation that occurred during the French occupation of Spain, the corruption of Charles IV— who was really only a puppet ruler to Godoy. I learned how kingdoms rose and fell—and rose again, how art is unafraid to capture the seditious attitudes of the common people, and how it has endured to teach us of past mistakes.

I fell in love with dissecting the messages from the past, and discovering how we still have not listened to them.”

Why this essay is successful: 

The prompt for this Yale extracurricular essay was “Write about something that you love to do,” and the writer has certainly delivered. Here, the writer goes into detail about why they enjoy going to art museums outside of school. They’ve kept their essay focused on the meanings behind the paintings, giving the reader a deeper understanding of not only what fascinates them - but why it does.

The real key to an extracurricular essay is showing your passions outside of school. There is no right answer; you should simply focus on what interests you and explain why. Try to make the reader feel as if they are there with you. Think about the smells, the sights, and the feelings that surround your extracurricular interest and include them in your essay. 

College Supplemental Essay Length 

All of the essay types above come in different lengths. Some essays will ask only 150 words or less, while some have no word limit at all. Here, we’ll go over how to adjust your writing depending on your word count. 

Short Essay

There is a broad misconception that writing a short essay is “less work,” which we are unfortunately here to squash. Writing shorter-form essays (150 to 500 words) can be more challenging because you have less room to make your point, and your writing must be concise. 

To write an excellent short-form essay, start by brainstorming your ideas and move on to writing once you have a solid idea of the main points you want to include. Avoid fluff, repeating the question, reciting your resume, and run-on sentences. The best short essays are honest and to the point. 

If your essay is too long when you’ve finished writing, go through each sentence and ask yourself: “Could I tell this story without this sentence?” If yes, cut it completely. If you answered no, find ways to subtract unnecessary words. Having a friend help you edit is a great way to find out which parts are making the text longer without lending anything to the story. 

Medium Essay 

A medium essay is a sweet spot. Typically, a length of one to three pages flows easily and allows the writer to include all necessary information without repeating themselves or taking anything away. 

Because of this, make sure not to go over or under the word count. Most students do not struggle to keep their writing within these parameters, so it’s important to respect them. 

Although you have more room in a medium-length essay, your writing should still be concise and flow well without including excess information. It’s always a good idea to have a teacher, friend, or family member look over your story. 

Make sure that when they edit, they are looking for things like grammatical errors, run-on sentences, and unnecessary information. They shouldn’t take too much out of your essay because you don’t want the voice of the essay to change. 

Long Essay 

When tasked with writing a long essay (three pages or more), it can be challenging to continuously provide fresh information and avoid repetition. However, repetition and dragging sentences is the main thing you’ll want to avoid in a long-form essay. To do this, you should rely heavily on planning and your thesis statement.

Your thesis statement sets up your article, allowing you to break the information into parts and tackle each step individually. Brainstorming before you start writing is critical as it ensures you have enough relevant information to fill out the full length of your paper. 

How to Write School-Specific Supplemental Essays? 

It’s a good idea to tailor your supplemental essays to match the expectations of the school you’re applying to. Here are some guides on how to write outstanding essays for specific schools: 

• How to Write the Harvard Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the Vanderbilt Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the University of Michigan Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the Duke Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the Princeton Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the Northwestern University Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the UPenn Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the University of Washington Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the Boston College Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the Cornell Supplemental Essays
• How to Write the Bowdoin Supplemental Essays ‍
• How to Write the Pepperdine Supplemental Essays

These guides will help you write stellar essays!

FAQs: Supplemental Essays

Here are our answers to some frequently asked questions about supplemental essays.

1. Do Colleges Care About Supplemental Essays?

Yes, colleges care about supplemental essays. Your writing gives colleges extra insight into who you are as a person beyond your grades. Strong essays can give you an advantage in your application to many different schools. 

2. What to Include in Supplemental Essays?

Stick to the prompt. Your response should approach each aspect of the prompt while providing genuine information about your life experience. 

Each essay prompt is different, but admissions committees always love to hear a good story. Use descriptive yet concise language to get your points across while transporting the reader into your world.

3. When Should I Start My Supplemental Essays?

You should start planning your essays as soon as you receive the prompts for each. Once you’re confident in your plan, begin writing your essay as soon as you can to give yourself plenty of time to edit before submitting. 

4. Are Supplemental Essays Hard?

For students who are not strong writers, it can be challenging to get started on your essays. However, the most important part of your essay is to remain genuine, tell your story, and be concise. 

5. How Do I Start Writing My Supplemental Essay?

Before you start writing, brainstorm and create a solid plan for what you want to include. This will help you write with ease and remain on track while you’re writing your paper. You can also look at good essay examples for inspiration. 

6. Where Do You Submit Supplemental Essays? 

If using the Common Application, you can submit your essays in the Writing Supplements section. Generally, you will submit your essays along with the rest of your application.

Final Thoughts

Your supplemental essays are an important part of your application and should be given plenty of time and attention. No matter what essay prompts you are given, ensure that you are consistently speaking from the heart and telling a compelling story. 

Keep in mind that your experiences are what make you unique, and you do not have to exaggerate or fabricate anything to craft an excellent supplemental essay.

If you are still struggling with writing compelling essays, you can always seek professional help to get assistance with writing, editing, brainstorming, and overall crafting stellar supplementals. 

Good luck with your essays!

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How to Write a Supplemental Essay for College Applications

Discover tips for tackling writing supplements, and read a sample essay from a current student.

Getty Images

A supplemental essay gives you an opportunity to tell the admissions committee about something you weren't able to cover in your main essay.

Prospective students are usually aware that they must write an essay as part of the college application process . But they may not know that some schools will ask for additional writing samples such as a supplemental essay.

Avoid These College Application Mistakes

Courtney Rubin and Cole Claybourn July 26, 2023

These writing supplements are usually shorter than the main college essay , but they're no less important, experts say.

"Every word counts in getting your story across," says Deborah Davis, president and founder of Davis Education & Career Consultants LLC, based in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Some colleges ask for just one supplemental essay while others may require several.

For example, Wake Forest University in North Carolina had six additional questions for prospective students to respond to on its 2020 undergraduate admissions application. However, a couple of the questions asked applicants to write lists – for instance, a personal top 10 list – rather than a full paragraph or two.

Supplemental essay prompts come in all shapes and sizes. In some cases, schools let applicants choose from several options. For instance, the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill 's fall 2019-20 application included four prompts – such as "What do you hope will change about the place where you live?" – from which prospective students had to select two.

Davis says two of the most common prompts she's seen are "What do you want to major in?" and "Tell us about a favorite activity."

While word counts for supplemental essays vary, they tend to be limited.

Wake Forest has a 150-word limit for each of its supplements, says Tamara Blocker, the university's senior associate dean of admissions. UNC caps applicants' short answer responses at 250 words each, according to the school's website.

In contrast, The Common Application , a platform that allows students to apply to multiple colleges at once, has a suggested 650-word limit for the main essay and 250 words for others.

These types of written responses are more like vignettes or snapshots, rather than full-blown essays, says Stephen Farmer, vice provost for enrollment and undergraduate admissions at UNC.

"I think – I hope, anyway – that students feel the opportunity maybe in the shorter responses to worry less about form and just be a little more open with us," he says.

To help prospective students familiarize themselves with supplemental essays, U.S. News obtained an example from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Ryan Sheehan from Wallingford, Pennsylvania, wrote the short piece and is a computer science major in the class of 2021.

As part of his application, Sheehan responded to the following prompt: "There is a Quaker saying: 'Let your life speak.' Describe the environment in which you were raised – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – and how it influenced the person you are today."

"As the son of two journalists, I have grown up under a lifelong inquisition: How is your room such a mess? Can you please stop chasing the cat? Will you come down from the tree already? Granted, those are all from this past year, but the point still stands. Like any good journalists, my parents have also always had a propensity for uncovering the truth. On the third night that I had my license, I decided to go to the library to study. Before 15 minutes had passed, I noticed the librarian peering at me through the shelves before quickly averting her eyes and whispering, "He's here," into her phone. Even so, regardless of how many spies they've hired over the years, I have always looked up to my parents immensely. However, I have found my inherited inquisitiveness to be a trait most useful in a place far from the realm of reporting: the robotics lab. After four years of spending almost more time in the lab than at home, I have learned that nothing is more important than asking the right questions. As a programmer, I need to be able to communicate with my builders. Come press time, if I don't interview them properly, our robot will invariably end up as a hunk of unresponsive aluminum. To make a machine, the team must work as one. So although I may be writing source code instead of a breaking story, I am glad I had such nosy parents after all."

Karen Richardson, former dean of undergraduate admissions and enrollment management at Tufts who is now dean of admission at Princeton University in New Jersey, explained why she liked this response: "This is a great essay because, in just 250 words, it shows rather than tells the reader who Ryan is and the things that matter to him. It gives us a sense of his family life and academic interests, and it even shows us he has a sense of humor. As an admissions committee, we learned a lot about Ryan in just one paragraph."

Here are five additional tips from admissions officers to help prospective college students craft strong supplemental essays.

Answer the Question

This may seem obvious, but applicants should carefully read a supplemental essay prompt and make sure they understand what it is asking before answering it, Richardson says.

Prospective students may want to reuse an essay they wrote for another college, but that doesn't always work because supplemental questions tend to be more tailored to an individual institution, she says.

Start With an Outline

Applicants may have their own writing process, but Davis encourages those she works with to create outlines. She says prospective students should brainstorm the personal qualities, skills or experiences they would like to convey in their supplemental essays.

Don't Repeat Yourself

Supplemental essays are a chance for applicants to give more information to an admissions committee to further show why they are a good fit for a school, Davis says. So prospective students should make sure they aren't repeating something that's already been covered in their main essay.

Narrow Your Focus

Probably the biggest mistake applicants make in supplemental essays is choosing a topic that's too big, Farmer says. For example, he says prospective students may attempt to settle a complex political issue in just one paragraph.

"I think it's better to do something small and do it well than to do something big and skate over the surface," he says.

Maintain Your Voice

It's a good idea for applicants to ask another person for editing help, but too much input can be detrimental to an essay, experts say. If lots of people – teachers, parents, peers – read and weigh in on an essay, they can weaken how clearly a student's voice comes through in the writing.

"It's great to read something that sounds like it was written by an 18-year-old and not by a machine," Farmer says, "or by someone who's trying to be prematurely middle-aged."

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• College Application

Your Definitive Guide to Supplemental College Application Essays

Including supplemental essay examples to inspire your own.

Supplemental college application essays come in a vast range of topics and sizes and are often the biggest challenge for students after getting through the grueling initial application stages. These essays are crucial in the admissions process, as they provide a more personal and detailed context of your candidacy. They allow you to speak about more specific topics than the more general and broadly-structured personal statement or Common App essay that you submit in your primary application.

In this blog, our college essay advisors go over the general categories and purposes for the various supplemental essays you may have to navigate, and offer examples of short, medium, and lengthy supplemental essays.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

Article Contents 25 min read

Why are supplemental college application essays so important.

Supplemental essay prompts are usually provided directly by colleges as part of the secondary application, after you’ve submitted your primary application. Some colleges ask for multiple essays of varying lengths while others may ask for just one long-form supplemental essay. The specific prompts and word count requirements vary widely between schools. Every admissions committee creates their own supplemental requirements, including secondary essay prompts, to help them form a holistic picture of the applicant and judge how well-suited they would be for their school.

At the outset, it’s vital to understand that the term “supplemental” does not mean optional or second in importance. A supplement fills or makes up for an absence or imbalance, and that’s precisely the role these essays play in your application. Think of it a bit like adding colored paint to a black and white drawing. Your high school resume , transcripts, and test scores have given admissions committees an initial sense of what your candidacy. Supplemental essays, when correctly attuned to the personal statement, create a more nuanced portrait of your as an applicant.

Supplemental essays present a unique challenge as they have to be written in a short period of time, typically in 2 weeks or a month. Colleges send out secondary applications only after receiving your primary application and they provide strict submission deadlines. Additionally, unlike your personal statement, it’s not always possible to write supplemental college essays in advance since colleges frequently change their exact prompts from one year to the next and secondary essays need to always be tailored in response to specific prompts. However, that doesn’t mean you have to wait till you actually receive your specific prompts to start work on the essays.

A good strategy to tackle advance work on supplemental college essays is to spend 2 to 3 weeks writing rough drafts of the most common supplemental college essay types. Depending on the colleges you’re applying to, you can focus on specific prompts they’ve frequently asked in previous years. You can also check out college essay examples to get a better idea of what kind of content you need to come up with.

As you’re working on your primary application in the summer before senior year of high school or in September/October of your senior year, you can spend a few minutes each day brainstorming ideas for the previous year’s secondary essay prompts from colleges you’re applying to and creating a few rough drafts. For instance, most colleges ask for the “why us” essay, so you should definitely brainstorm your answer to that question in advance for all the colleges you’re applying to.

The advantage of following this strategy is that you will probably be wrapping up your primary application, including your personal statement or Common App essay, just as you begin work on your secondaries. Writing an effective personal statement requires a lot of brainstorming, journaling, introspection, free writing, rough drafts, and revisions. In the process, you’re sure to have spent plenty of time identifying key experiences, events, incidents, and people in your life, and also thinking about your own strengths, weaknesses, motivations, ambitions, and failures. Not all of this would have made it into your personal statement, and you can re-use a lot of this rough material as inspiration for your supplemental essay content. Moreover, you would have already honed your structuring and writing skills working on your personal statement, and the basic written communication skills required for the secondary essays are the same.

The goal of this advanced writing process is to have ideas and inspiration ready for when you actually receive your specific essay prompts. All your pre-writing and brainstorming will give you plenty of base material to work with, and rather than starting from scratch, you can spend the critical time before your supplemental deadline tailoring your essays to respond to the specific prompts and word counts. Remember, this is going to be a very busy period for you: while different colleges have different supplemental application dates and timelines, they generally occur within a similar period of time, typically between October and November for early decision programs and December and January for regular applications. So, you’re bound to have some overlap between the secondary essay deadlines for different colleges you’re applying to. You might end up having to work on secondary essays for multiple colleges within the same 1 month period. That’s why it’s all the more important that you complete your brainstorming in advance and create a few rough drafts of essays in response to the most commonly expected prompts.

Now, let’s discuss some general trends and categories frequently used for supplemental college application essays.

How to Tackle Different Supplemental Essays Prompts

While these categories cover the general focus of most supplemental essays, it’s important to note that schools change their secondary and supplemental essay prompts regularly, sometimes every year, and as a result, topics and categories evolve over time. Nonetheless, these are the most common categories both historically and currently.

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind while working on any essay type:

The School-Specific Supplemental Essay

What is it?

As we mentioned previously, this is one of the most frequently used supplemental college prompts. These are typically between 250-350 words in length, although this varies widely from school to school. This is actually one of the easiest types of secondary college prompts to answer. Students don’t usually choose their undergraduate institutions randomly, rather, they make their choice after careful deliberation and research. To answer the school-specific essays, use that research! Schools want to know you’re engaged with their overall mission and clearly understand their place in the world, as well as what you specifically hope to get out of the campus experience aside from a Bachelor’s degree.

Sample essay prompts

Dartmouth : While arguing a Dartmouth-related case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1818, Daniel Webster, Class of 1801, delivered this memorable line: \"It is, sir,\u2026a small college, and yet there are those who love it!\" As you seek admission to the Class of 2026, what aspects of the College's program, community, or campus environment attract your interest? (maximum 100 words) ","label":"Dartmouth","title":"Dartmouth"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

How to write this type of essay

• Provide specific details that tie to an overarching theme : It’s very important to set up the connection between your academic ambitions and what the college has to offer. Think deeply about what you hope to achieve and why you’ve identified this specific college. Back up your thesis with specific details about the college. It’s not enough to say – “I love XYZ college, and I’d love to pursue ABC major there.” The why is crucial. Remember, in this essay, colleges don’t want to see you simply discuss you and your journey; they want to know how that journey led you to them. Back up your claims with details about what attracts you to them, which could be anything from the campus and famous alumni, to the college’s unique values, or their innovative curriculum.
• Go beyond the obvious : This type of essay is, crucially, asking you to do your research and go beyond the obvious. Don’t just talk about a school’s generally known reputation or what’s on their homepage. Instead, try to identify specific projects, academic opportunities, research avenues, extracurriculars, or faculty that interest you, and relate them to your goals.
• Consider what you can do for them : Think not only about why this college is a great choice for you, but why you are a great choice for them. Why do you think you’ll fit into their campus? Are there college traditions you would be proud to continue? Can you contribute to any on-going projects or initiatives on campus? Demonstrate why they should choose you by using a concrete example.

The Extracurricular Essay

In this essay, you may be asked to talk about a particularly meaningful extracurricular activity. You might have already covered the basic details of this activity in the activities section of your application, but supplemental essays dealing with your extracurricular activities get into more overtly personal territory. Remember, the intent here is not to simply get a rehash of your activities section or transcript; rather, in these essays, schools want you to get into the deeper aspects and psychological nuances of your involvement in those activities.

It’s important to keep in mind that most prompts will not directly reference extracurriculars, but the most likely answer to these kinds of prompt will include a discussion of an extracurricular activity. For instance, some colleges ask you to elaborate on an activity where you demonstrated leadership or what helps you explore your creative side.

University of California: 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. (maximum 350 words) ","label":"University of California 2","title":"University of California 2"}]" code="tab2" template="BlogArticle">

• Pick the right activity : It’s important to pick the right activities to talk about in your supplemental essays. Research the school’s website and social media to see their mission, values, and what kind of qualities they value in their matriculants, and choose an activity that reflects these. While you obviously want to remain genuine in your essays, it does not mean you cannot be strategic. Choose an activity you know will resonate with the college you’re applying to. Another tip: If you’ve already discussed one activity in detail in your personal statement, avoid repeating that here. Additionally, don’t pick achievement-oriented activities just because you think this might impress the admissions committee. You’ve already communicated your achievements in the activities section – in this essay, you have a chance to share another side of your personality and show the admissions committee more of what makes you unique. So, you can either focus on activities you are passionate about but haven’t mentioned elsewhere, such as cooking, woodworking, non-competitive chess playing, and so on. Or pick a compelling angle for activities you’ve already mentioned. For instance, if you’ve noted being a musician in your application elsewhere, this essay would be an opportunity to discuss why and how it’s been meaningful in your life, and potentially the lives of others.
• Do not be repetitive : Think of the personal circumstances, feelings, failures, and learnings surrounding your extracurriculars and write an essay that elaborates on one of these aspects. For example, even if you do end up picking your top activity from your primary application to write about, make sure the essay you write covers a unique aspect of your experience that you haven’t discussed elsewhere in your application before. Continuing our previous example, don’t just cover the obvious aspects of musical performance, but get into the psychological impact of performing, and of what specific types or music have impacted you through immersive practice or playing. 

Check out this infographic:

This type of essay is often the hardest for students to navigate, and also comes with the longest minimum word count requirement, often 500 or more words. If you’ve had your head down in the grind of coursework and achievement-oriented activities for most of your time in high school, odds are, you haven’t had a lot of time to engage in community service or collective projects outside of school. In a sense, this is a supplemental essay that requires some advanced planning: volunteer or community service work is a widely-understood key to getting admitted to competitive universities, so you will need something to refer to in this regard. Moreover, in this essay more than any other, colleges want to see an account of meaningful experience rather than a mere description of activities performed. They’re looking for long-term involvement, thoughtful self-reflection, and a clear personal growth journey. It’s a lot to ask from a high school student writing a 500 word essay!

However, part of the brilliance of this type of essay is its flexibility. You don’t need to have built a new community center with your bare hands to have impacted your community. Maybe you’ve participated in a group project that benefitted other students, or maybe you took part in planning a school event. Even a part-time job likely had some impact on your neighbors and fellow citizens. You could also discuss “informal” activities, such as helping your elderly neighbor with her grocery shopping, helping your family with a cultural project, your background as a member of a minority group, and so on. Think creatively about the ways you’ve acted in the world, and from that, determine how those actions have impacted others.

MIT : At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world\u2019s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. (200\u2013250 words) ","label":"MIT","title":"MIT"}]" code="tab3" template="BlogArticle">

• Find what makes you unique : If you’re having trouble identifying which communities you’ve been a part of, or which part of your identity to focus on, try the “what makes me unique?” angle. This is definitely something you would have brainstormed for your personal statement, so bring those notes out! We are all a part of various communities, whether we realize it or not, and we all contribute to them in our own unique way. You might have a unique skill or talent, or maybe it’s a personal quality that helped you deal with an issue in the community. Alternatively, maybe your background and identity are a key part of your life’s journey, and you have many experiences related to that. There’s no “wrong” community you could discuss, whether it’s a Dungeons and Dragons club you created with your friends, the ethnic community you’re a part of, or the neighborhood where you grew up. The key is to identify what makes you unique.
• Focus on your growth journey: The easiest way to discuss community engagement in a “meaningful” way is to focus on how you, individually, found growth and learning through your participation in a larger community, and how you simultaneously impacted them. No matter what the community is, the growth narrative is important. There has to be a clear two-way impact that demonstrates how your engagement and contributions affected those around you.

Create Your Own Class Essay

One of the more creative type of essays, these prompts ask students to come up with their own class, reimagine a whole department, conceptualize their ideal lecture series, and so on. This essay is your chance to show your creative and out-of-the-box thinking, while also expanding upon your academic interests and sharing your passions with the admissions committee. This essay is essentially a more creative alternative to the “why this major” essay.

Boston College : Boston College strives to provide an undergraduate learning experience emphasizing the liberal arts, quality teaching, personal formation, and engagement of critical issues. If you had the opportunity to create your own college course, what enduring question or contemporary problem would you address and why. (maximum 400 words) ","label":"Boston College","title":"Boston College"}]" code="tab4" template="BlogArticle">

• Get creative : You can really use this essay topic to stand out from the crowd. Come up with a creative answer and expand upon it with fun, yet thoughtful details that show your intellectual curiosity and unique perspective on the world.
• Align your answer with the college : Remember, you’re being asked to come up with a course for the specific college you’re applying to. What’s their mission? What kind of curriculum do they have? What type of learning do they value? Find out the answer to these questions and incorporate these details in your essay. For example, if the college you’re applying to values an interdisciplinary learning environment, try to come up with a course that incorporates both science and humanities concepts.
• Use your experience : This prompt is also the school’s way to learn more about your personal goals and experiences. Try to ground your motivation for creating this course in your own life. For example, if you want to create a curriculum that covers the influence of fashion on punk rock culture, try to connect it to your own interests or skills, such as a sewing hobby or your love of underground culture.

The Major or Field of Study Essay

This can be a tricky essay type to handle for college students who are still undecided about their major, which is very natural for high school students. Luckily, not all colleges ask for this type of essay. You can expect this essay mostly from colleges focused on a specific stream of study, who want to know why you’re attracted to that field. Some elite universities, like Ivy League schools , also ask this question because they want to see the applicants’ long-term academic ambitions and how well these fit in with their own mission.

Interested in learning more about how to gain acceptance to an Ivy League School? Check out this video!

Sample essay prompt

MIT: Pick what field of study at MIT appeals to you the most right now, and tell us more about why this field of study appeals to you. (maximum 100 words) ","label":"MIT","title":"MIT"}]" code="tab5" template="BlogArticle">

• Include personal as well as college-specific details : Similar to the “why us” essay, you need to refer to specific details of the college program, faculty, academic curriculum, research opportunities, and campus life. Connect these details with your own experiences and passions and explain why this college or program aligns with your academic or professional interests. Think about key formative events and personal motivators for your interest. For example, if you’re applying to a top science, technology, engineering, or medicine (STEM) college such as MIT, you obviously have a specific passion for one of these subjects. While you can and should expand on your personal ambitions, don’t forget to explain why MIT is the best option to help you achieve them.
• Focus on the long-term : In a way, this type of essay is analogous to the “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” interview question. If you do have a clear plan of how you see your future academic and professional life developing, this essay is where you share it. However, you need to make sure you don’t just spin a beautiful story that isn’t based in reality. Your ambitions should be supported by thorough research, real-world industry knowledge, and a careful consideration of your own strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, don’t just include grand ambitions for the sake of sounding impressive – back them up with personal motivations, or better yet, include concrete, achievable goals. For instance, if you’re applying to the best undergrad business schools , your supplemental essay shouldn’t simply say “I want to be youngest CEO in the USA” or “I want to feature in a 30 under 30 article” – instead, it should focus on specific business interests and goals, for example – “I want to use my leadership skills, business training, and community engagement experience to eventually pay it forward by expanding the economic and business opportunities in my own community.”

The Quirky Essay

This type of essay is meant to catch you off-guard or ask you to write about something not often discussed in the context of admissions. These essays are often among the shortest in terms of length, and generally hope to evince some humor and self-awareness from the writers. Topics for these essays include odd talents, strange experiences, or hyper-specific situational questions like what superpower you’d choose if given the chance. They can also be quite general: Princeton, for instance, includes a prompt asking, simply, “what brings you joy?”.

Princeton: What brings you joy? (maximum 50 words) ","label":"Princeton","title":"Princeton"}]" code="tab6" template="BlogArticle">

• Keep the tone light : When responding to such prompts, don’t get too caught up in trying to be ultra-intellectual, serious, or different from the crowd. Be creative, have fun, and try and show a lighter side of your personality to the admissions committee. Match the tone of the question and don’t overthink this one too much!
• Be genuine : The tricky part about responding to these random and creative prompts is to make your answer humorous while also being as honest and genuine as possible. Sincerity is key – make sure you don’t pick an answer you think sounds funny, or impressive, but that isn’t strictly true and backed up by the rest of your application. For instance, if asked “what kind of bird are you”, if you respond with something like “eagle” and talk generically about your leadership qualities without any specific details, admissions committees will be able to tell you aren’t being genuine. You can give any answer you like here! The important thing is to justify it with real aspects of your personality that add some interesting color to your application.

Now, let’s look at how to structure essays depending on the length. We’ll also go over an example for each essay type. 

Short Supplemental Essay (250 Words or Fewer) Examples

According to our college admissions consulting experts, these can be quite dangerous for some students, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because an essay has a short word count, you don’t need to spend much time on it. This can actually be one of the toughest types of essays, since you have very limited space in which to capture the admission committee’s attention and make your point. When you start writing, you might find that by the time you’ve set up your premise, you’re already done with 80% of the available word count! The key here is to include crisp, well-structured sentences to directly address the question being asked. There’s not really any space for a “hook” here, such as a quote, story, or layered personal experience. Only include a story or a personal experience if the question explicitly asks you too. In just 250 words or less, you won’t be able to describe too complex an event or activity, so just cut straight to the point.

Recommended Structure

• Direct opening sentence : Your first sentence should clearly address the essay prompt and set up the topic. Don’t worry about this being a boring or straightforward strategy – that’s what you need here!
• Specific details to support the topic : Add personal details and self-reflections suitable for the prompt to support your opening sentence. Remember, every word is crucial here so leave out any unnecessary facts and descriptions – stick to what’s relevant. Try and focus on a single experience, reflection, opinion, or topic, as you really won’t be able to do justice to any more. At the same time, make sure you don’t sacrifice flow to brevity. Each sentence should connect smoothly to the next, setting up a logical pathway from your opening thesis to your conclusion.
• Conclusion : Add the key takeaway or reflection and tie it back to the prompt.

To see how a short essay should be structured, let’s take a look at this prompt from Brandeis :

“Justice Brandeis once said, ‘If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold.’ Tell us about something bold that you’ve recently done.”

Here’s a sample answer:

Although painting isn't itself an especially wild or bold activity, showing my art for the first time felt very bold indeed. As someone with a motor impairment, I've never been able to draw well, and found art classes throughout elementary school incredibly frustrating and embarrassing. However, discovering the wide and extremely varied world of abstract art a few years ago, I was finally bitten by the art bug, and began experimenting with acrylic paint. At first, I just learned how to operate the varying dilutions and textures of paint, but over time I became obsessed with the idea of color gradients and shading, and how the paint itself can do a lot of work that doesn't depend on a completely steady hand. I amassed a small stack of canvasses, and this past year asked around at the two art galleries in town to see if anyone was interested in putting some of my pieces up. Fortunately, and to my surprise, one independent gallery offered to show my entire collected work for a month. Not only did I receive a tonne of really positive and encouraging messages from visitors to the gallery, but I even sold 3 pieces! I was honestly terrified at every step of the way, but that first sale was about the most confidence-building event I've ever experienced. It felt bold, but also made me hungry to continue making art and sharing it with others. (237 words) 

Medium Supplemental Essay (250-500 Words) Examples

Shorter than your personal statement, longer than a short answer, these essays require you to balance a logical flow with a crisp central narrative.

While the basic structure of this essay can be similar to the long-form 650 word essay, you’ll need to make a few adjustments to suit the shorter length.

• Opening paragraph : You can choose to add an “anchor experience” for these essays, or you can write it in a more direct style, responding to the prompt and getting straight to the point. It depends on what you want to say and how you want to say it. For example, if your essay is focused on personal experiences, then an evocatively described personal experience could be a great hook. However, if the prompt asks you to provide your opinion about a specific issue or creatively imagine a specific scenario, then getting right to the point is a better idea.
• Main body : Here, you describe your central thesis and add further details to support it. You have to be very efficient with your choice of experiences and even with the details of any experience you chose to include. Each sentence should be in service of the essay prompt. Review this section with the questions “Is this related to the essay prompt? Does this help to answer the question being asked?”.
• Conclusion : The key to an efficient, memorable conclusion of a medium length supplemental essay is economy of words. In a single sentence, you should address the question being asked and also communicate your own central thesis, with a focus on what makes you special. Crafting this conclusion will take you time! First, identify the points you want to make, and then figure out a way to compress them into as few words as possible, without sacrificing clarity.

Let’s check out an example of this type of essay.

University of California: 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? (maximum 350 words)

Growing up as the precocious daughter of hard-working immigrant parents, academic excellence and achievements were always the two key cornerstones of my life. My parents inculcated the importance of doing well in school in me from a young age. After all, it was education that had enabled my parents to escape the poverty and trauma of their homeland and find refuge in this country. With a natural penchant for academics and a love for learning, I never had cause to question this life-long commitment – not until junior year of high school.

That was the year when my parents’ restaurant business took a huge hit, and from a regular middle-class American immigrant success story, we were brought to the brink of bleak poverty. It was a shock to our family that took us through some of the toughest times I’ve ever experienced. We all had to make sacrifices, and one of the most profound changes I experienced in that period was a total shift in my priorities, as I had to work at my parents’ restaurant every day after school to help keep the business afloat. From being a grade-A student, I became a struggling straggler who could barely keep up with tests and exams, much less take on extra credit projects. At one point, I even considered quitting school! The worst part was watching the pain in my parents’ eyes, knowing they couldn’t provide the ideal home environment they had envisioned for me, which they themselves had never received.

However, looking back, I consider that period one of the most significant learning experiences of my life. It tested my commitment to my academic interests, which had previously always been so easy to pursue, and I came through with a system that allowed me to contribute at home and also excel at school. It made me further appreciate the struggles my parents had gone through as immigrants juggling family, work, education, and a major cultural adjustment. And finally, it made me appreciate what a gift and privilege education truly is, and vow never to take it for granted. (347 words)

Want to know a surprising fact? You might actually find the long-form supplemental essays easier to write than their shorter counterparts! These essays are typically 500 to 650 words long, which means you have plenty of space to build a coherent narrative, expand on your thesis, and support it with relevant details. When writing a longer supplemental essay, you can actually re-use many of the same strategies you employed for your Common App essay or personal statement. The basic structure (which we’ll explain in a moment) will be similar, and you can even recycle some of your rejected personal statement ideas to write an exemplary supplemental essay.

You can go for the commonly used 3 to 5 paragraph essay structure here. Include the following:

• Introduction : For longer essays, it’s critical to have a strong opening that hooks the reader and draws them into your narrative immediately. Admissions committees are reading thousands of essays, so you want to shake them out of their “reading fatigue” by capturing their attention with story, personal experience, unique quote, etc. In this paragraph, you should also clearly set up the central thesis of your essay. Critically for supplemental essays, ensure that your central thesis directly addresses or answers the prompt. Tie the “hook” of your opening paragraph in with this central thesis.
• Body paragraphs 1/2/3 : While the 5-paragraph structure is the most commonly used essay format for long-form essays, you can include more or fewer, as per the requirements of your specific narrative. Remember to be selective when you choose the experiences to support your thesis. In these paragraphs, you build on the central narrative you set up in introduction, supported with your self-reflections and personal examples. Include only the necessary details that help to build the central theme of the essay. Your essay should be written in a natural, direct style, but you can try and include evocative details and personal reflections to help communicate your point.
• Conclusion : As with all other supplemental essays, the conclusion is critical. You must include a key takeaway, learning, or crisp one-liner to sum up your answer to the question being asked.

Harvard : An intellectual experience (course, project, book, discussion, paper, poetry, or research topic in engineering, mathematics, science, or other modes of inquiry) that has meant the most to you. (maximum 650 words)

“It is the sandbox of men who care not where they are going; they merely want to know where everyone else has been.”

It’s a hot summer’s day, I’m red-faced, sweaty, and out-of-breath, hunched over a pile of earth, delicately brushing away tiny amounts of ancient mud, and John Bishop’s words suddenly pop into my mind. Our project director, Professor Saltzman, had led a brief session that morning concluding with this memorable quote, and it stayed with me for one clear reason: I felt it perfectly encapsulated my own journey, from a guy who cared too much about where he was going, to someone who now primarily cared about the business of these long, long, dead ancient women and their kitchen tools. The irony of the realization made me chuckle a little, disturbing the earth around the little kitchen mound I was excavating, and then I went back to my gentle brushing, once again fully absorbed.

It was simply not a picture of myself I could have believed merely months prior. From a very young age, I had a vision of myself as a lawyer. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my father and grandfather, carving an illustrious career that would begin, like theirs, at Harvard, and end with me on the Supreme Court. This dream hit a minor snag when, due to a medical absence is junior year, I missed my AP History exam. Mr. Griffin, my history teacher, suggested that I complete a summer archeology program he was affiliated with to make up the credit. And that was how this “minor snag” actually ended up diverting my passions, interests, and ambitions away from law and firmly into the field of archeology.

It wasn’t exactly love at first sight. I was resistant to what I perceived was a distraction from my true interest, the practice of law – I thought then I’d much rather be shadowing my father in a cushy air conditioned office than sweating it out in a desert, digging for broken bits of ancient pottery. But within a couple of days, I found to my surprise that I loved every second of it. The director of the program, Professor Saltzman, liked to walk us through our findings, however minor, at the end of each day. For the benefit of the younger students present, he often delivered lectures expanding upon the critical contextual history of that period. I was amazed at how these small, faded pieces of pottery could tell us so much about the socio-cultural norms of 8000 years ago; from which countries they traded with to what they ate, from their dominant gender roles to the kinds of currency they used.

Most amazing of all, at least to me, was how archeology could actually help envision the lived reality of these people from long ago. Our key findings in that dig were the kitchen utensils of a woman we nicknamed “Leda”, a widowed fisherwoman with two children. Every day, we would discover a new piece of evidence and spend hours classifying, dissecting, and contextualizing it to discover all it could tell us about how Leda lived her life. I realized that all the physical discomforts were worth the thrill of bringing these tiny pieces of history back to life.

In those 4 weeks, I experienced a kind of wonder, and joy in learning, and intrinsically motivated intellectual curiosity, that I had never experienced before in my life. With law, I was primarily attracted to all the perceived prestige and privileges that accrued to the profession; with archeology, the subject matter itself drew me onwards to push past my prejudices and discomforts. Today, I hope to continue to pursue my passion for archeology by continuing my work under Professor Saltzman as an undergraduate at Harvard, and hopefully discover the secret lives of many more Ledas in the future. (643)

The personal statement is a more general essay with a broader scope, typically submitted as part of your primary application, whereas supplemental essays respond to specific prompts and are submitted with your secondary application directly to each school. You only need to write one personal statement (such as the Common App essay) which goes out to all your colleges, and it should therefore never include any college-specific details. On the other hand, each college asks for their own set of supplemental essays, and they may often ask you to expand upon your interest in the specific college, program, or major you are applying to. A personal statement is a single long-form essay of 650 words or more, whereas colleges can ask for multiple supplemental essays that can range in length from 35 to 650 words.

The most commonly used supplemental college essay prompts are:

• The “why us” essay that asks you to discuss why you want go to a specific college
• The extracurricular essay that asks you to discuss your activities, talents, or skills
• The community essay that asks you to expand upon your identity, diversity, community engagement, and so on
• The “why this major” essay that asks you to discuss your specific academic interests
• The “create a class” essay that asks you to creatively design a major or come up with your own class
• The “quirky” essay that can include creative, zany, out-of-the-box, informal prompts

Supplemental college essays can range in length from 35 words to 650 words. Every college has their own prompts and requirements, so you should check the admissions website of your colleges to learn more.

The “why this school” college essay is one of the most common supplemental college essay types. It’s very important to be college-specific in this essay, and to include details of your special interest in the concerned college supported by your knowledge of their unique offerings. You will have to do some research on the college so you can make your essay as specific and unique as possible.

Yes, supplemental essays are a critical part of your application. They help to personalize and flesh out your application, building on your achievements, transcripts, and scores, to show the admissions committee a well-rounded, unique individual. Crucially, supplemental essays are a chance for you to show how well your thinking and experiences align with the college’s missions and values and why you would be an excellent candidate for their program.

A word count of 250 words or less can pose a significant challenge for students. To write an effective short answer, you need to be concise and direct, addressing the question asked while building a logical flow from introduction to conclusion. There’s no space in such questions for fancy opening hooks and elaborate narratives – just stick to the relevant experiences and reflections and always connect back to the prompt itself.

It depends on the topic! It’s not a good idea to copy paste the essay content for college-specific prompts such as “why us” or “why this major”, where the expectation is that you will talk in detail about the unique features of that college which attract you. However, for more generic topics like “what inspires you” or “how did you serve your community”, you can certainly re-use topics and themes between essays. Just make sure you edit each essay to meet the specific word count and include college specific details wherever possible. Additionally, you should always read and understand the prompt thoroughly before drafting your essay. Respond to the spirit as well as the letter of the prompts in your opening and concluding sentences, even if you’ve re-used most of the main body content from another similar essay.

Supplemental college essays certainly afford you greater room to be creative and informal than your personal statement. However, the extent to which this style of writing would be appropriate depends on the prompts. The short answer, zany, creative prompts, are the perfect place to show a lighter side of your personality and introduce a little humor in your application. But an essay about significant obstacles you’re overcome, or your long-term academic goals, might not be an ideal place to get overtly casual and humorous.

You will receive your secondary application directly from the college after you submit your primary application. The deadline to complete secondary applications varies from college to college. Most colleges ask you to submit your completed supplemental application, including essays, within 2 weeks or a month of receiving the prompts. This isn’t a lot of time, especially considering most colleges will be sending out secondary applications in the same rough time period and you’ll have to work on multiple applications at once. However, you can prepare in advance for your supplemental essays by brainstorming ideas and writing rough drafts in response to previous years’ prompts.

Every college has their own unique secondary application requirements. You should check the admissions websites of your colleges to learn more about their specific requirements. Some colleges may ask for just a single 650-word essay, while others may provide 5 or 6 prompts of varying lengths. Generally speaking, most colleges don’t ask for more than 1 or 2 long supplemental essays (500+ words), along with 2 or 3 shorter essays.

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How to Write a Great Supplemental Essay

Zach Skillings is the Scholarships360 Newsletter Editor. He specializes in college admissions and strives to answer important questions about higher education. When he’s not contributing to Scholarships360, Zach writes about travel, music, film, and culture. His work has been published in Our State Magazine, Ladygunn Magazine, The Nocturnal Times, and The Lexington Dispatch. Zach graduated from Elon University with a degree in Cinema and Television Arts.

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Maria Geiger is Director of Content at Scholarships360. She is a former online educational technology instructor and adjunct writing instructor. In addition to education reform, Maria’s interests include viewpoint diversity, blended/flipped learning, digital communication, and integrating media/web tools into the curriculum to better facilitate student engagement. Maria earned both a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature from Monmouth University, an M. Ed. in Education from Monmouth University, and a Virtual Online Teaching Certificate (VOLT) from the University of Pennsylvania.

When it comes to your college application essay, there’s a good chance you’ll end up writing more than one. There’s your main personal statement, and then there’s supplemental essays. These are shorter essays required by some colleges and universities. To learn more about supplemental essays and the different types of prompts there are, keep reading. Or if you’d like to jump directly to our tips section , go right ahead!

Also see:  How to write a 500 word essay

What is a supplemental essay? 

Also known as school-specific essays, supplemental essays are additional pieces of writing required by some universities. They’re designed to give admissions officers a better sense of who you are and why you want to attend their school. Supplemental essays are shorter in length than your main personal statement. Word counts can range anywhere from 25 – 600 words, but most of the time they’re 250 words or less. Some colleges ask for just one supplemental essay, while others require several. 

Related:  How to format a college essay

The “why us?” question

Supplemental essays usually ask something along the lines of “why us?”, prompting students to describe why they want to attend a specific school. It’s a common question that you’ll see asked in various ways. Here’s a few examples from different schools: 

Other essay prompt examples

While the “why us?” question is a common prompt, there are many others out there. Prompts may ask about your favorite book, your biggest inspiration, or something as off-the-wall as pie ( see UChicago ). Here’s a few examples of supplemental essay prompts from various schools: 

Tips for writing your supplemental essay(s)

1. be prepared for anything.

As you can tell by the examples above, supplemental essay prompts can ask you just about anything. That means you probably shouldn’t go in with any preconceived ideas of what you’re going to write about. Rather, be adaptable and willing to take on any question that comes your way. 

2. If you’re stuck, try freewriting 

If you get stumped by a certain prompt and you’re having trouble answering, do some freewriting exercises. Spend 10-15 minutes writing nonstop about whatever comes to mind when you think of the prompt. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or writing complete sentences. You can even use bullet points if that helps. When you’re done, review your writing and see if there’s anything you can elaborate on. You’re bound to find something that can be shaped into an essay.

3. Tailor your response to the school  

This one applies mostly to the “why us?” question. When answering this prompt, you should craft a response that touches on unique aspects of the specific school you’re applying to. Ask yourself what attracted you to the school in the first place. Was it a specific academic program? Was it the campus culture? What about the extracurricular activities ? Whatever the case may be, make sure you clearly indicate why you’re interested in the school and why you’d be a great fit. 

Also see:  Can you use the same essay for multiple colleges?

4. Choose a narrow focus 

Most of the time, you’ll need to find an angle that can be covered in about 250 words or less. That means now’s not the time to take a deep dive into complex topics like politics or race relations. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t still write about something meaningful. You may not be able to tell your entire life story, but you can probably find a specific aspect to focus on. Even if you’re allowed just 50 words, you should find a way to reveal something positive about who you are. Figuring out how to do that is key to writing a solid essay. 

5. Be concise 

Adopting a narrow focus is easier when you’re intentional with your writing. Since the word limit on supplemental essays is usually pretty low, you need to make every word count to get your point across. If you’re struggling to comply with the word limit, comb through your essay and eliminate every sentence, phrase, and word that doesn’t serve a purpose. If it doesn’t add to the story, cut it. 

6. Don’t repeat yourself

The whole point of supplemental essays is to provide a space for colleges to get to know you better. That means you shouldn’t simply recycle content from your main essay or other parts of your application. It’s fine to briefly mention something again, but make sure you’re adding something new that can’t be found elsewhere in your application. If you can write about something completely different, even better!

7. Be yourself 

As cliché as it sounds, the best thing you can do when writing is to be yourself. Remember that these essays are meant to give insight into your character, so use your authentic voice and let your personality shine through. If it helps, write as if you’re having a chat with a close friend or family member . 

8. Ask for editing advice 

Before you turn in your essay, ask someone you trust to give it a read. Even if you’re 100% sure you’ve corrected all spelling and grammar mistakes, a second pair of eyes never hurts. Just try to limit the number of people who read your essay to one or two. Seeking feedback from too many sources may cause your essay to stray from the original focus.

Additional writing resources

• How to Write a 250 Word Essay
• How to Write an Essay About Yourself
• College Essay Primer: Show, Don’t Tell
• How to Answer the Common App Essay Prompts

Additional college admission resources

If you’re working on your college applications, you’ve probably got a lot on your plate. Luckily, we’ve got resources to help you through every step of the college process. Our resources include a guide of how many colleges to apply to , how to find  safety, reach and match schools , and  when to submit your applications . We can help you fill out the Common App  activities  and  honors  sections, and  write a successful college application .

Once you hear back from schools, we can help you  interpret your financial aid award letter , write a  financial appeal , and  apply for scholarships . And even once you’re in college, you can check out our resources on  how to get involved on campus ,  how to save money , get a  work-study job , and  create a budget . Finally, don’t forget to be proactive in paying for your education! Apply for as many scholarships as you qualify for while you are eligible!

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College supplemental essays: everything you need to know.

Your personal statement is one of the most important essays you will write for your college application. It shows a side of you that cannot be captured in your GPA, activities list, or anywhere else on your application. You can spend months crafting the perfect personal statement, honing each word and paragraph to convey exactly the right message.

So, why then do so many schools require that you write additional supplemental essays?

Colleges aren’t looking to overwhelm you with unnecessary extra work. Each supplemental prompt is meant to get a little more information about your interests, your knowledge about their school or programs, what kind of person you are, or any other number of specific subjects.

In this guide, we will review everything you need to know about supplemental essays and how to write the best essays possible.

Click above to watch a video on Supplemental Essays.

What are supplemental essays?

Many colleges find that they want more information about a certain aspect of your experience, knowledge, or personality than they might be able to find in your personal statement or the rest of your application.

If that’s the case, they will include special essay prompts that are unique to their school.

This could be one extra prompt or several—Stanford University has eight essay and short answer prompts.

These essay prompts can be found on each college’s website, and in most cases can be found through a simple Google search (i.e. “NYU supplemental essays,” “Upenn supplemental essays,” etc.). Our blog has plenty of essay guides for these prompts!

How many supplemental essays will I have to write?

Not every school has a supplemental essay requirement.

A good way to predict your potential workload, though, is to expect around one to three supplemental essays per school. Some schools may have more, some may not have any at all.

So, if you are applying to ten schools, then you could find yourself writing around 15-25 supplemental essays of varying lengths on top of writing your personal statement.

That may seem like a lot, and if you haven’t written a lot of essays in high school, it can feel like a daunting amount of writing.

Don’t fret—although it can be a lot of writing, if you start early (many colleges release their supplemental prompts during the summer), and work smart (more on that later), then you will knock them out before you know it.

How long will writing supplemental essays take?

One of the great things about supplemental essays is that only one school sees your work. They also tend to cover only a few types of questions or subjects.

As a result, you can often reuse large swaths of your work for different schools.

When you first start making your way through these prompts, the writing may take a little longer.  After all, you’re writing those first few essays from scratch.  Following those initial essays, the process should become a little easier.

You will get more familiar with the structure of the questions and answers, and you will be able to reuse the most important pieces from your previous essays.

Early on in the writing process, an essay may take you two or three weeks to write. By the end, you will be able to write several essays within a week.

The one type of prompt that you may need to spend a little more time on, though, are the “ why this school ” prompts. These prompts can come in many forms, but the gist of the question asks for things that you like about their school, program, or major.

Here is a sample of this type of prompt from Northwestern University:

• In 300 words or less, help us understand how you might engage specific resources, opportunities, and/or communities here. We are curious about what these specifics are, as well as how they may enrich your time at Northwestern and beyond.

What they are asking for here is research–specific details about professors that you like, or classes you are looking forward to.

Researching these can take slightly longer, but again, once you are familiar with the structure and approach needed for these essays, they will become easier to write.

Get personalized advice!

Does every school have supplemental essays.

Short answer: No.

As you move from safety schools on up to reach schools, the likelihood of the school having at least one supplemental essay prompt increases.

With that said, several notable schools have chosen to forgo supplemental essays, including schools like Drexel University in Philadelphia, or Northeastern University in Boston. So, not having a supplemental essay isn’t always indicative of a school’s quality or reputation.

The number of required supplemental essays can also depend on the program or major to which you are applying.

For example, the University of Pennsylvania has two supplemental essays that every applicant must answer, but they also require additional essays for more specific programs .

Ultimately, you should look specifically at the website of every school to which you are applying and check if they have supplemental essay prompts.

Why are supplemental essays so important?

Supplemental essays represent an opportunity to speak directly to an individual school on your list.

In general, the essays are the only places on your application where you can control how you are presenting yourself. Everything else is simply a collection of accomplishments, experiences, or scores that likely paint a similar picture to several other applicants.

With the essays, you can finally give voice to those more intangible aspects of your personality, passions, and interests, and the supplemental essays help you hone that information one school at a time.

By necessity, your personal statement needs to be more general.  You can’t include details about a specific school in the personal statement because so many different schools will see that same essay.

With a supplemental essay, only one school will see your answer, which means you can tailor your answers specifically to that school, sprinkling in details about their unique programs, instructors, and more.

This is your chance to show each school why you are the perfect applicant for their program, and why they are the perfect school for you.

Why are supplemental essays more important post-COVID?

Supplemental essays have always been important to a school’s decision-making process, but recently, they have become more important than ever.

As you know, colleges use several sources of information to evaluate potential candidates, including standardized test scores, GPA, activities, essays, etc.

However, COVID disrupted this process quite a bit.

As a result of COVID restrictions, many schools opted to offer test-optional applications for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 application seasons. This means that they will accept applications that do not submit standardized test scores like the SAT or ACT.

Some schools and school systems were already looking at phasing out or lessening the importance of testing before COVID hit, and In several notable instances, test-optional has already become a permanent offering.

In theory, this gives applicants who were unable to take a test an equal chance at gaining acceptance.

In practice, the process doesn’t always equal the playing field. Sometimes, schools can place an increased emphasis on the other aspects of the application. For example, a test-optional application might now need a higher average GPA than applicants who have scored high on a standardized test, especially at higher-level schools.

With a shift away from standardized tests, and a larger emphasis being placed on other pieces of the application, supplemental essays have increased in importance.

How can I prepare to write my supplemental essays?

Essay writing can feel like a bit of a slog if you don’t prepare properly.

Follow these seven steps to make sure that you can write the best supplemental essays possible without doubling or tripling your work.

• Look up all of the supplemental essays for each of the schools on your list.

These can usually be found with a simple Google search (i.e. “ NYU supplemental essays ,” “ Harvard supplemental essays ,” etc.).

• Read through each prompt and categorize them by their similarities.

All “why this school” essays go in one category, all essays asking about your interest in your major go into another, etc. Keep in mind that some questions may straddle two or more categories.

• Check each essay’s length. Write the longer essays first.

Some prompts require a short answer of 150 characters or 50 words, others might require 450-500 words long.

Supplemental prompts sometimes try to gauge your interest or excitement for the school or a specific program. Look up specific details and mention them in your essay. This can include professors whose work you admire, classes you are looking forward to, or specific programs and facilities that fall in line with your interest. The more pointed the detail, the more effective it will be in your essay.

• Recycle. Recycle. Recycle.

Use the longer essays to help answer the shorter essays whenever possible. This likely won’t be a one-for-one fit. You will need to edit your essay to make it fit each individual prompt.

• Make sure you are answering every aspect of a prompt.

One school’s prompt may be asking for a personal story of leadership, while another school may want a story of leadership that specifically illustrates your grasp of teamwork. The answers to these two prompts may be similar but not exactly the same. Additionally, some prompts may have more than one question. Answer every aspect of the prompt as completely as possible.

• Be creative!

Sometimes, a school just wants you to flex your creativity. Don’t get stuck in a rut with each essay. Make sure you are writing the most interesting answer possible. If a school gives you a strange and esoteric prompt, then chances are they want a strange and esoteric response.

Using these steps, you will have what you need to complete any prompt a school throws at you.

Conclusion: Supplemental Essays for College

This guide should provide you with all the information you need to know about college supplemental essays.

Not every school has them, but when they do, they can be incredibly important for your application .

Check each school on your list for their requirements, and make sure you read each prompt closely and carefully.  Some of the most common mistakes in these essays can be boiled down to not answering the prompt fully or accidentally ignoring part of the question.

Ultimately, the supplemental essays will be one of the main components of your application. They will take more time to complete than any other piece, and answering them properly and creatively can make all the difference between two potential candidates with similar credentials.

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How to Tackle College-Specific Supplemental Essays

This article discusses college-specific supplemental essays. You can read our guide to acing the Common Application personal essay here!

If you’ve put the finishing touches on your Common Application personal essay, you might be looking ahead to supplements. You also might be absolutely dreading writing them, because why do you have to write so many more essays?

Good news: they don’t have to be so hard! Supplemental essays are typically short in length requirement—you might encounter prompts with word limits ranging from 150 to 400. Many schools require them, and many don’t, so you have some flexibility as to whether or not you’ll be writing extra.

Colleges often use their supplemental essays as a way to find out more about you beyond your grades, scores, and activity list. They are also able to gauge your intent—what you plan to study and why, for instance. So, these essays are your chance to really bring your A-game. Below, find our tips on how.

Make sure your supplement reveals something about you.

Many prompts will ask you to describe an extracurricular activity in which you were involved. It’s easy to pick the most impressive thing you’ve accomplished or the club in which you had the highest leadership position, but make sure that your descriptions also tell us about you! Pick activities that highlight your best qualities. For example, being part of an art club might be something you view as insignificant, but you can actually use that to showcase your organization, attention to detail, and observational skills.

When discussing your activities, write with lively detail.

This shouldn’t read like a resume or a LinkedIn profile—don’t simply list your duties. Paint a vivid picture of a day in your club or sport. If you were involved with the debate team, don’t just tell us that you were responsible for researching and writing arguments—show us what that looked like. Were you up late, scanning sources? What did it feel like to debate your opponent? How does it feel to win?

Try to highlight something that you haven’t yet discussed.

If you already talked about the summer program that inspired you to choose your major in a different essay, now is the time to spice it up. Different parts of your application will showcase different parts of your personality. This means, too, that you don’t always have to discuss an impressive activity. Sometimes, there will be questions about what your favorite movie or book is. Use these to flesh out the image of yourself as a real human with real interests, not just another applicant.

If a school asks you why you want to go there, do your research.

“The programs and opportunities offered at X school are so intriguing to me!” is far too vague—be specific. Admissions officers are seeking students who are passionate about the school. They want to know that you want to be at X school, and they want to know exactly how you’re going to make use of your time there. Take it beyond major and career interest, too—if your school is strong in the health sciences and you’re hoping to pursue a pre-medical track, don’t just say “X school is amazing at health.” Look up professors who lecture in your department. Have they done any research that you’re interested in? Mention that! Or maybe you’re a writer, and one of the English professors wrote a book you love—talk about it. Writing about specific coursework or aspects of the curriculum that appeal to you can be quite effective, too; tell them how excited you’d be to explore the liberal arts through the core curriculum.

We also recommend researching and mentioning school-specific opportunities that you can’t find elsewhere. If the school offers a unique semester-abroad program, for instance, discuss how you wouldn’t be able to pursue that dream at a different college. And finally, talking about campus life can be the icing on the cake. Mention a weird tradition in which you’d love to be involved; describe how you can’t wait to cheer on a sports team and experience that game-day environment.

Approach personalization carefully.

It can be tempting to write one short essay about an extracurricular activity, throw in a sentence about how you’re “excited to pursue X activity at X school”, and then swap out different school names for different applications. But we strongly advise against this. Why? It might be a time-saver, but your lack of effort will show through. You’re much better off doing a bit of research than lazily slapping on one half-hearted sentence. Plus, doing this means you run the risk of accidentally sending an essay with another school’s name in it—if Penn State receives your Pitt essay, you’re definitely not getting in.

Most of all, have fun with it.

Of course, this is much easier said than done. Writing countless essays doesn’t sound fun. But it can be a way to dive deeper, to explore what you’re interested in pursuing at different colleges. It can also be an opportunity to figure out what values and qualities you appreciate most about yourself. Take these supplements as a chance to brag a little. Celebrate yourself and your hard work—you deserve it!

Author: Julianna Chen

Julianna Chen is currently in her second year at Emory University, where she studies creative writing and Chinese. She is the managing editor of Lithium Magazine and a contributing writer for Adolescent.net. When not writing, she is watching a movie or eating a stroopwafel, sometimes both at the same time.

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Whether you're a terse writer or a loquacious one, we can advise you on college essay length. In this guide, we'll cover what the standard college essay length is, how much word limits matter, and what to do if you aren't sure how long a specific essay should be.

How Long Is a College Essay? First, Check the Word Limit

You might be used to turning in your writing assignments on a page-limit basis (for example, a 10-page paper). While some colleges provide page limits for their college essays, most use a word limit instead. This makes sure there's a standard length for all the essays that a college receives, regardless of formatting or font.

In the simplest terms, your college essay should be pretty close to, but not exceeding, the word limit in length. Think within 50 words as the lower bound, with the word limit as the upper bound. So for a 500-word limit essay, try to get somewhere between 450-500 words. If they give you a range, stay within that range.

College essay prompts usually provide the word limit right in the prompt or in the instructions.

For example, the University of Illinois says :

"You'll answer two to three prompts as part of your application. The questions you'll answer will depend on whether you're applying to a major or to our undeclared program , and if you've selected a second choice . Each response should be approximately 150 words."

As exemplified by the University of Illinois, the shortest word limits for college essays are usually around 150 words (less than half a single-spaced page). Rarely will you see a word limit higher than around 650 words (over one single-spaced page). College essays are usually pretty short: between 150 and 650 words. Admissions officers have to read a lot of them, after all!

Weigh your words carefully, because they are limited!

How Flexible Is the Word Limit?

But how flexible is the word limit? What if your poignant anecdote is just 10 words too long—or 100 too short?

Can I Go Over the Word Limit?

If you are attaching a document and you need one or two extra words, you can probably get away with exceeding the word limit by such a small amount. Some colleges will actually tell you that exceeding the word limit by 1-2 words is fine. However, I advise against exceeding the word limit unless it's explicitly allowed for a few reasons:

First, you might not be able to. If you have to copy-paste it into a text box, your essay might get cut off and you'll have to trim it down anyway.

If you exceed the word limit in a noticeable way, the admissions counselor may just stop reading your essay past that point. This is not good for you.

Following directions is actually a very important part of the college application process. You need to follow directions to get your letters of recommendation, upload your essays, send supplemental materials, get your test scores sent, and so on and so forth. So it's just a good general rule to follow whatever instructions you've been given by the institution. Better safe than sorry!

Can I Go Under the Word Limit?

If you can truly get your point across well beneath the word limit, it's probably fine. Brevity is not necessarily a bad thing in writing just so long as you are clear, cogent, and communicate what you want to.

However, most college essays have pretty tight word limits anyways. So if you're writing 300 words for an essay with a 500-word limit, ask yourself: is there anything more you could say to elaborate on or support your points? Consult with a parent, friend, or teacher on where you could elaborate with more detail or expand your points.

Also, if the college gives you a word range, you absolutely need to at least hit the bottom end of the range. So if you get a range from the institution, like 400-500 words, you need to write at least 400 words. If you write less, it will come across like you have nothing to say, which is not an impression you want to give.

What If There Is No Word Limit?

Some colleges don't give you a word limit for one or more of your essay prompts. This can be a little stressful, but the prompts generally fall into a few categories:

Writing Sample

Some colleges don't provide a hard-and-fast word limit because they want a writing sample from one of your classes. In this case, a word limit would be very limiting to you in terms of which assignments you could select from.

For an example of this kind of prompt, check out essay Option B at Amherst :

"Submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay."

While there is usually no word limit per se, colleges sometimes provide a general page guideline for writing samples. In the FAQ for Option B , Amherst clarifies, "There is no hard-and-fast rule for official page limit. Typically, we anticipate a paper of 4-5 pages will provide adequate length to demonstrate your analytical abilities. Somewhat longer papers can also be submitted, but in most cases should not exceed 8-10 pages."

So even though there's no word limit, they'd like somewhere in the 4-10 pages range. High school students are not usually writing papers that are longer than 10 pages anyways, so that isn't very limiting.

Implicit Length Guideline

Sometimes, while there's no word (or even page) limit, there's still an implicit length guideline. What do I mean by this?

See, for example, this Western Washington University prompt :

“Describe one or more activities you have been involved in that have been particularly meaningful. What does your involvement say about the communities, identities or causes that are important to you?”

While there’s no page or word limit listed here, further down on page the ‘essay tips’ section explains that “ most essay responses are about 500 words, ” though “this is only a recommendation, not a firm limit.” This gives you an idea of what’s reasonable. A little longer or shorter than 500 words would be appropriate here. That’s what I mean by an “implicit” word limit—there is a reasonable length you could go to within the boundaries of the prompt.

But what's the proper coffee-to-paragraph ratio?

Treasure Hunt

There is also the classic "treasure hunt" prompt. No, it's not a prompt about a treasure hunt. It's a prompt where there are no length guidelines given, but if you hunt around on the rest of the website you can find length guidelines.

For example, the University of Chicago provides seven "Extended Essay" prompts . You must write an essay in response to one prompt of your choosing, but nowhere on the page is there any guidance about word count or page limit.

However, many colleges provide additional details about their expectations for application materials, including essays, on FAQ pages, which is true of the University of Chicago. On the school’s admissions Frequently Asked Questions page , they provide the following length guidelines for the supplemental essays: 

“We suggest that you note any word limits for Coalition or Common Application essays; however, there are no strict word limits on the UChicago Supplement essays. For the extended essay (where you choose one of several prompts), we suggest that you aim for around 650 words. While we won't, as a rule, stop reading after 650 words, we're only human and cannot promise that an overly wordy essay will hold our attention indefinitely. For the “Why UChicago?” essay, we suggest about 250-500 words. The ideas in your writing matter more than the exact number of words you use!”

So there you go! You want to be (loosely) in the realm of 650 for the extended essay, and 250-500 words for the “Why UChicago?” essay.

Help! There Really Is No Guidance on Length

If you really can't find any length guidelines anywhere on the admissions website and you're at a loss, I advise calling the admissions office. They may not be able to give you an exact number (in fact, they probably won't), but they will probably at least be able to tell you how long most of the essays they see are. (And keep you from writing a panicked, 20-page dissertation about your relationship with your dog).

In general, 500 words or so is pretty safe for a college essay. It's a fairly standard word limit length, in fact. (And if you're wondering, that's about a page and a half double-spaced.) 500 words is long enough to develop a basic idea while still getting a point across quickly—important when admissions counselors have thousands of essays to read!

"See? It says 500 words right there in tiny font!"

The Final Word: How Long Should a College Essay Be?

The best college essay length is usually pretty straightforward: you want to be right under or at the provided word limit. If you go substantially past the word limit, you risk having your essay cut off by an online application form or having the admissions officer just not finish it. And if you're too far under the word limit, you may not be elaborating enough.

What if there is no word limit? Then how long should a college essay be? In general, around 500 words is a pretty safe approximate word amount for a college essay—it's one of the most common word limits, after all!

Here's guidance for special cases and hunting down word limits:

If it's a writing sample of your graded academic work, the length either doesn't matter or there should be some loose page guidelines.

There also may be implicit length guidelines. For example, if a prompt says to write three paragraphs, you'll know that writing six sentences is definitely too short, and two single-spaced pages is definitely too long.

You might not be able to find length guidelines in the prompt, but you could still hunt them up elsewhere on the website. Try checking FAQs or googling your chosen school name with "admissions essay word limit."

If there really is no word limit, you can call the school to try to get some guidance.

With this advice, you can be sure you've got the right college essay length on lockdown!

Hey, writing about yourself can even be fun!

What's Next?

Need to ask a teacher or friend for help with your essay? See our do's and dont's to getting college essay advice .

If you're lacking in essay inspiration, see our guide to brainstorming college essay ideas . And here's our guide to starting out your essay perfectly!

Looking for college essay examples? See 11 places to find college essay examples and 145 essay examples with analysis !

Ellen has extensive education mentorship experience and is deeply committed to helping students succeed in all areas of life. She received a BA from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.

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How to Write a Great Supplemental Essay for Harvard

This article is a first-person account by Elias Miller, a CollegeVine livestream contributor. You can watch the full livestream for more info. 

What’s Covered:

Respond to the prompt.

• Grammar and Sentence Structure

Bring Meaning to Your Writing

Use your word limit.

Any student interested in applying to Harvard can do so via the Common Application, the Coalition Application, or Questbridge. Applicants can submit supplemental essays with their application. In this article, we break down tips and tricks for writing a great supplemental essay. 

Any supplemental essay that you write should directly respond to the prompt. This might seem like an obvious tactic, but many students’ essays fail to accomplish this. A common mistake is taking a supplemental essay written for one school and using it for another prompt for a different school. While you may have a decently written essay to submit, it won’t specifically answer the prompt.

Some students write a supplemental essay that simply doesn’t answer the prompt. Maybe they have a story in their head that they want to share, but it doesn’t work with the essay, or they are trying to be unique. Whatever the reason, it is bad practice not to answer the prompt. Admissions officers will see that you aren’t able to follow directions at the very beginning, and they will assume that you won’t follow directions as a student on their campus. The same rule applies to the word limit. 

Grammar and Sentence Structure  

Good grammar, correct spelling, and sentence structure are crucial aspects of a well-written essay. Vary your sentence length and structure to keep your writing engaging. If you have a series of long sentences, try to follow up with a short sentence so your reader has a mental break while reading. Conversely, if you have too many short sentences in a row, your writing could lack flow and emotion, so be sure to include long sentences too.

Also, try to make good word choices. It is natural for you to get a bit tired while writing essays during the application cycle, but the words that you pick have specific meanings. Words are how we express our thoughts and emotions, so ensure that your words accurately share the message that you want to get across. If you are writing and put down a word that doesn’t feel quite right, a great tip is to put a bracket around it and come back to it a week later. This is an excellent way to approach word choice with fresh eyes. 

Limiting redundancies and repetition is the easiest way to bring meaning to your writing. Part of this means making suitable transitions between sentences and paragraphs. You don’t want to end a topic too abruptly, as that could confuse the reader, but you also want to use your word count wisely. It’s a delicate balance, and a great way to know if you need help with paragraph transitions is by having someone proofread your essay . 

Also, be sure to evaluate your writing. Each sentence serves a purpose, like contributing to the overarching narrative, adding details, and explaining an event or topic. Read each sentence in your essay and glean its purpose. Then, try to categorize that purpose. In the end, make sure all the sentences flow together logically, with no repetition. 

This last tip is relatively straightforward. There aren’t many things about your application that you can use to convey your personality and passions. While your GPA and test scores enable admissions officers to determine what kind of student you are in the classroom, your essays are where admissions officers get to learn who you are. If your essay comes in significantly below the word limit, you are missing out on valuable space. Every sentence you write is a glimpse into who you are, so by not maximizing your word count, you are showing less of yourself to your readers. Your essay doesn’t need to match the word limit exactly, but if you have over 30 words left, you might want to check if any details are missing.

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How to Write the Harvard Supplemental Essays for 2023-2024

Harvard College needs no introduction—its name is synonymous with prestige in higher education. This alone can account for the extremely low acceptance rate, which was just 5.2% (out of 39,000 applicants) for the Class of 2021. But there is a way that applicants can improve their chances of getting into Harvard, and that is to write a stellar personal essay.

What are the Harvard Supplemental Essays?

When applying to Harvard, you are given the opportunity to include supplemental essays to showcase anything you feel was not adequately conveyed through your Common Application Essay . While Harvard’s admissions website indicates that including this essay is “optional,” almost all advisors will strongly encourage you to submit as much information about yourself as you can. Perhaps the fact that over 85% of the Harvard Class of 2019 wrote a supplemental essay might convince you just how important it can be.

Harvard Supplemental Essay Prompts for the 2023-2024 School Year

Each year, applicants find themselves struggling with exactly what they should put in their essays to impress the admissions committee. The Harvard supplemental essay prompts for 2023-2024 are no different. But because Harvard seeks students who are independent, creative, and self-motivated, this open-ended quality makes perfect sense. This essay is essentially a blank canvas on which you can paint some fascinating aspects about yourself in vivid color.

Here are the Prompts for the Harvard Supplemental Essays 2023-2024

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (50-150 words)

Activity essays like this one allow you to say everything you couldn’t fit on your Common App activity list. Make sure to pick an activity that has meaning and one which you haven’t already written about. It’s usually a good strategy to pick something that you’ve been doing for a long time, where you can showcase key qualities like commitment, perseverance, and leadership. If you prefer to write about a job or hobby you just got started on, however, you can still write a compelling essay about why you started, what made you interested in it, and what you have learned in your journal thus far. You should contribute additional context to what the Harvard admissions officers know about you, and you only have a small space to do it in, so use it wisely.

Your intellectual life may extend beyond the academic requirements of your particular school. Please use the space below to list additional intellectual activities that you have not mentioned or detailed elsewhere in your application. These could include, but are not limited to, supervised or self-directed projects not done as school work, training experiences, online courses not run by your school, or summer academic or research programs not described elsewhere. (150 words)

This prompt is pretty easy to understand. Harvard is asking you to list any of your intellectual activities that you have not already included in your application materials. Did you try to build a computer game or app in the last few months? Maybe you interned somewhere that made you interested in a certain industry or line of work. Or perhaps you took an online Chinese course to get ready for an extended trip to China over the summer. Harvard wants to understand what you are getting up to, so let them know and don’t spare any important and exciting details!

You may wish to include an additional essay if you feel that the college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about yourself or your accomplishments. You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics (No word limit; max file size is 2000 KB) .

• An unusual circumstance in your life
• Travel, living, or working experiences in your own or other communities
• What you would want your future college roommate to know about you?
• An intellectual experience (course, project, book, discussion, paper, poetry, or research topic in engineering, mathematics, science, or other modes of inquiry) that has meant the most to you
• How you hope to use your college education
• A list of books you have read during the past twelve months
• The Harvard College Honor code declares that we “hold honesty as the foundation of our community.” As you consider entering this community that is committed to honesty, please reflect on a time when you or someone you observed had to make a choice about whether to act with integrity and honesty. 
• The mission of Harvard College is to educate our students to be citizens and citizen-leaders for society. What would you do to contribute to the lives of your classmates in advancing this mission? 
• Each year a substantial number of students admitted to Harvard defer their admission for one year or take time off during college. If you decided in the future to choose either option, what would you like to do? 
• Harvard has long recognized the importance of student body diversity of all kinds. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, personal development, or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates. 

As you can see, applicants have a LOT of choices in terms of the direction they take when writing their Harvard supplemental essay. Read on for tips on how to approach ANY of these prompts in a meaningful and productive way to get the most out of this important essay and impress the admissions officers.

How Long Should the Harvard Supplemental Essays Be?

Although Harvard gives no explicit word or character limit for the supplemental essay, most accepted students will write between 500 and 700 words (or about a page when written in Times New Roman 12-point font). This doesn’t provide you a lot of room to ruminate at length on your experiences or to write about multiple topics. Therefore, you need to focus on one aspect of yourself (or what the prompt is asking you to write about) and drive it home. But don’t worry about getting it right on your first draft—write as freely as you can and work on re-drafting and revising your essay once all of the important elements have come to the surface. The more time you spend on the essay, the more polished and powerful it will be. Visit Harvard’s admissions website for comprehensive guidelines on writing this essay.

Paint a Picture of Yourself as a Unique Student and Graduate Candidate

When looking over the prompts, consider which one will allow you to write about an aspect of yourself that you didn’t portray in other essays you have submitted. Do not choose the same event, experience, passion, ability, interest, or talent that you used for the Common Application. For instance, if in the Common App Essay you wrote about your love of reading and described some of the books you have read, do NOT choose the Harvard essay about “A List Of Books You Have Read During The Past Twelve Months.” Similarly, if you already wrote about your experience backpacking around Asia last year, choose a different Harvard prompt than “Traveling Or Living Experiences In Other Countries.” No matter how profound or life-changing your experience was, writing about the exact same topic or experience is redundant and will not add to the depth of character you need to convey.

Zooming out, not only should you choose a separate  topic  for your supplemental essay, you should consider choosing an entirely different  perspective  as well. If your Common App Essay is about a past experience, choose the Harvard essay that asks about your future plans. If the first essay is about your impressive abilities, focus the second on how you overcame a challenge or deficit. If in the Common App Essay you have discussed your love of organic chemistry, write in the Harvard essay about your weekly volunteering at the local homeless shelter. In other words, deepen the picture you present of yourself.  Show how you live (and flourish) in many dimensions!

When writing a Harvard essay, applicants must also  stand out from the crowd . Do not think of it as a chance to merely remind the admissions committee about what you have accomplished, to list more details about your stellar academic record, or to brag about some outstanding marker on your resume. You have to dig deeper and WOW them in order for you to stand out in their minds.

Present Yourself Sincerely to Harvard Admissions Officials

Remember to always SHOW your sincerity, your attitude, and your excellence in your admissions essays—do not merely TELL about it. You can achieve this by focusing on actions, using lots of verbs, and by including a great number of  details  and examples as you describe your experiences. If playing the piano profoundly affected your sense of what “work” means to you, do not merely write, “Practicing all the time made me realize how working hard pays off.” Show this correlation between effort and understanding of work via anecdotes and details.

Here is what  showing  looks like (versus telling ):

“Three hours of straight practice a day in our windowless basement, six days a week perched upon a hard wooden bench, aching fingers on the keys, nothing between myself and Chopin but willpower and concentration, the haunting sounds of the hammer on the strings my instant reward for uncountable days and years of effort—all of this flashed through my mind on Jun 19, 2019, as I took the stage for my first Tanglewood recital.”

A detailed anecdote full of action makes it much easier for a reader to accept your assertion that playing piano profoundly affected your life. Readers can trust the feelings and positions you explicitly state only once you have proved them with examples and details.

Show How You Fit Into Harvard’s Unique Culture and Mission

When approaching this essay, it is important to understand that Harvard places special importance on the development of passions and community involvement over pure academic excellence. They also are deeply committed to diversity of experiences and views, and this means that they value curiosity in their students: intellectual, philosophical, social, etc. These values are included in their mission statement, which is “to educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society” via “exposure to new ideas, new ways of understanding, and new ways of knowing,” which is designed to set students on a “journey of intellectual transformation.”

With these institutional objectives in mind, you should focus on how you can best illustrate your curiosity, and your potential for growth and greatness, in your essay. Do this by conveying your passion and showing how your passion drives your potential to contribute to worthwhile advances in society. One way to accomplish this in the essay is to choose a prompt that emphasizes your ambitions or even your plans to use your education. Consider responding to a prompt that explicitly mentions Harvard, or to one that asks “how you hope to use your college education” and become a “citizen-leader.” These provide a great opportunity to showcase those personal attributes that fit the mold of the desired Harvard student.

Explain Why You Deserve to Attend Harvard College

Another aspect to keep in mind is that Harvard is interested in enrolling people who are genuinely  good , in addition to being intelligent, talented, or ambitious. The final line of their mission statement reads: “From this we hope that students will begin to fashion their lives by gaining a sense of what they want to do with their gifts and talents, assessing their values and interests, and learning how they can best serve the world.” The last phrase indicates a person who demonstrates true concern about the world in which they live.

Thus showing strong regard for other people or animals or expressing a sense of duty and honor is a definite plus for the Harvard admissions committee. This is another perspective from which you might portray yourself in your essay—the hardworking, dutiful, kind, compassionate citizen-leader that they want and  deserve  to have, and the one that wants to be part of a like-minded community. But only focus on this aspect of yourself if you can do so authentically and honestly. The worst thing possible would be to lie or come off as disingenuous to the admissions committee. So just be yourself, your whole self, and nothing but yourself.

And before submitting your essay, be sure to get English editing and proofreading services from Wordvice–the best admissions editing service in the business. We offer supplemental essay editing services , as well as a host of revision services for admissions documents, including cover letter editing , personal statement editing , CV editing , and recommendation letter editing .

And try the new free AI Text Editor at Wordvice AI, which features a suite of revision tools including an AI Proofreading Tool and AI Paraphrasing Tool , among others. Best of luck writing this important admissions essay!

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How To Answer Harvard's 2023/24 Supplemental Essays: Tips & Insights

What's New in 2023/24

What are Harvard's Essay Prompts?

How to Answer Harvard's Essay Prompts

General Guidelines

Explore the changes in Harvard's supplemental essay prompts for 2023/24, understand the nuances of each question, and gain insights on crafting compelling responses with our detailed guide, complete with expert tips and links to successful Harvard essay examples.

Harvard's 2023/24 Supplemental Essay Updates: What's Changed?

Gaining admission to Harvard is no small feat, with acceptance rates sometimes plummeting as low as 3% . In such a competitive environment, every component of your application, especially your essay, becomes a crucial tool to stand out to admissions officers.

Every year, top-tier universities like Harvard fine-tune their application process to get a deeper understanding of their applicants. For the 2023/24 admissions cycle, Harvard University has made notable modifications to its supplemental essay questions .

Last year, applicants had a mix of required and optional prompts, with varying word limits, ranging from 50 to 150 words. These prompts touched on extracurricular activities, intellectual experiences, personal backgrounds, and more.

This year, Harvard has streamlined the process, requiring all applicants to answer five questions, each with a strict 200-word limit . The questions emphasize the importance of diversity, intellectual experiences, extracurricular activities, the utilization of a Harvard education, and personal insights for potential roommates.

This shift indicates a desire for more concise, focused responses from applicants, allowing the admissions committee to gain a clearer, more uniform understanding of each student's background, aspirations, and personality.

What Are Harvard’s Supplemental Essay Prompts for 2023/24?

For the 2023/24 application cycle, Harvard University has outlined specific supplemental essay prompts to understand applicants better in addition to the Common App or Coalition App questions. These questions delve into your experiences, intellectual pursuits, and personal insights. Students are required to answer each Harvard-specific question in under 200 words. Here's a breakdown of the prompts:

• Diversity and Contribution : Harvard values a diverse student body. Reflect on your life experiences and explain how they have shaped you and how you plan to contribute to Harvard. (200 words)
• Intellectual Experience : Discuss an intellectual experience that has had a significant impact on you. (200 words)
• Personal Shaping Experiences : Elaborate on extracurricular activities, employment, travel, or family responsibilities that have played a pivotal role in defining who you are. (200 words)
• Future Aspirations : Describe how you envision utilizing your Harvard education in the future. (200 words)
• Getting to Know You : List three things your future roommates should know about you. (200 words)

These prompts offer applicants a chance to showcase their personalities, aspirations, and experiences, providing a holistic view of their candidacy.

Looking for inspiration? Dive into these Harvard essay examples to see what successful applications look like!

How to Answer Harvard’s Supplemental Essay Questions?

This guide aims to help you craft a compelling response that showcases your unique journey and potential contributions to Harvard's diverse community.

As you begin planning responses to each individual prompt, be sure to consider what experiences, reflections, and qualities you want to showcase once you’ve responded to all the prompts:

• Ensure you won’t leave out any important experiences, reflections, and qualities you want Harvard to know about.
• Be sure you’ll avoid repeating the same experiences, reflections, or qualities in the other prompts.

Answering Prompt 1

Harvard values a diverse student body. reflect on your life experiences and explain how they have shaped you and how you plan to contribute to harvard., - 200 words or fewer, 1. understand the question.

Harvard is not merely asking for a list of experiences. They want to understand the depth of your experiences , how they've molded your character, and how you'll use that growth to contribute to the Harvard community.

Since Harvard is telling you they value diversity, consider emphasizing unique experiences or circumstances that highlight the most personal and profound aspects of your personality, values, and perspectives.

2. Reflect on Your Unique Experiences

Consider moments in your life that have had a significant impact on your worldview:

• Have you lived in multiple countries, exposing you to various cultures?
• Did you overcome challenges that forced you to view the world differently?
• Were there pivotal moments in your upbringing that shaped your identity?
• How did interactions with diverse individuals or groups influence your perspectives?

3. Dive Deep into Personal Growth

Discuss the evolution of your perspectives, values, or aspirations.

• How did these experiences challenge your beliefs or expand your understanding?
• What lessons did you derive, and how have they influenced your subsequent actions or decisions?
• What experiences or reflections shape your deepest beliefs and values? — or, shape some deep questions or doubts you wrestle with?

4. Connect to Harvard

Consider how your unique perspective will enrich Harvard's community .

• Will you introduce new viewpoints in classroom discussions or help teams work together more successfully?
• Will you contribute to or initiate student organizations or community projects?
• Will you exemplify certain traits that enhance a vibrant, curious, and inclusive learning environment?

5. Be Concise and Authentic

With a 200-word limit, precision is key. Ensure your narrative is genuine, making your essay resonate with the reader. Avoid generic statements; instead, provide specific examples that showcase your journey.

Harvard's first supplemental essay is an opportunity to showcase the depth of your experiences and how they've shaped you . Reflecting on significant moments, emphasizing personal growth, and connecting your unique perspective to how you'll contribute to Harvard is essential. Remember to be concise, authentic, and ensure your essay is polished to perfection.

Answering Prompt 2

Discuss an intellectual experience that has had a significant impact on you..

This question aims to help you articulate the depth and significance of an intellectual experience and its profound impact on your academic and personal journey.

1. Define "Intellectual Experience"

Before diving in, understand that an intellectual experience isn't limited to classroom learning . It could be:

• A book that changed your perspective
• A conversation that challenged your beliefs
• An experience that triggered a profound insight or understanding
• Or even a personal project or research endeavor

2. Choose a Meaningful Experience

Reflect on experiences that genuinely transformed your thinking:

• Was there a particular course or project that ignited a passion?
• Did a specific book, article, or documentary challenge your pre-existing beliefs?
• Have you attended seminars, workshops, or lectures that introduced you to new ideas?

3. Delve into the "Why"

Discuss why this experience was transformative:

• What preconceptions or beliefs did it challenge?
• How did it expand or deepen your understanding of a particular subject or idea?
• Did it inspire further exploration or study into the topic?

4. Highlight Personal Growth

Describe how this intellectual experience influenced your academic and personal journey:

• Did it guide your academic pursuits or career aspirations?
• How did it shape your values, beliefs, or worldview?

5. Be Authentic and Reflective

Your genuine curiosity and passion should shine through. Avoid using jargon or overly complex language. Instead, focus on genuine reflection and personal growth .

Harvard's second supplemental essay seeks to understand your intellectual journey . It's an opportunity to showcase your curiosity, passion, and the transformative power of learning. By reflecting on a significant intellectual experience and its impact on you, you can demonstrate your academic depth, your own intellectual processes and aptitudes, and intellectual growth.

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Answering Prompt 3

Elaborate on extracurricular activities, employment, travel, or family responsibilities that have played a pivotal role in defining who you are..

This question is designed to help you articulate the significance of experiences outside the classroom and their profound impact on your personal journey.

1. Prioritize Depth Over Quantity

While you might have multiple experiences, focus on one or two that have had the most profound impact on you . This allows you to delve deeper and provide a more insightful reflection.

2. Choose a Defining Experience

Reflect on moments that genuinely shaped your character:

• Was there an extracurricular activity that taught you leadership, teamwork, or dedication?
• Did a job teach you responsibility, time management, or the value of hard work?
• Has travel exposed you to diverse cultures, broadening your perspectives?
• Were there family responsibilities that instilled in you a sense of maturity, empathy, or resilience?

3. Describe the Experience

Briefly set the scene. Whether it's the bustling environment of a part-time job, the challenges of a leadership role in a club, or the nuances of a family responsibility, paint a picture for the reader.

4. Reflect on the Impact

Discuss how this experience influenced your personal growth:

• What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them?
• What skills or values did you acquire or strengthen?
• How did this experience shape your aspirations, perspectives, or values?

5. Connect to the Present

Highlight how this experience continues to influence you:

• How do the lessons you learned guide your current decisions or actions?
• How has it influenced your academic interests or future aspirations?

Harvard's third supplemental essay is an opportunity to showcase experiences outside the classroom that have significantly influenced your personal growth . Reflecting on these pivotal moments and their lasting impact can provide a holistic picture of your character, values, and aspirations.

Answering Prompt 4

Describe how you envision utilizing your harvard education in the future..

This question aims to help you articulate how a Harvard education aligns with your future goals and the impact you aim to make in your chosen field or community.

1. Reflect on Your Goals

Begin by identifying your long-term aspirations . Have a clear vision in mind, whether it's a specific career, a desire to address a global challenge, or a passion you wish to pursue further.

2. Highlight Harvard's Unique Offerings

Research specific programs, courses, or opportunities at Harvard that align with your goals. This could be a particular academic program, research opportunities, or extracurricular activities.

3. Draw a Connection

Discuss how these unique offerings will equip you with the skills, knowledge, or experiences needed to achieve your future aspirations . Make it evident that Harvard is the ideal place for you to realize these goals.

4. Go Beyond the Obvious

While Harvard's academic excellence is a given, delve into the broader Harvard experience. Consider the influence of its diverse community, its culture of innovation, or its commitment to leadership and service.

5. Discuss the Broader Impact

Expand on how you plan to use your Harvard education to make a difference . Whether it's in your community, in a particular field, or on a global scale, showcase your commitment to creating positive change.

6. Stay Authentic

Ensure your response is genuine and reflects your true aspirations. Admissions officers can discern genuine passion and commitment from generic responses.

Harvard's fourth supplemental essay is an opportunity to showcase your forward-thinking approach and how you plan to leverage Harvard's resources to achieve your future goals. By drawing a clear connection between what Harvard offers and your aspirations, you demonstrate a purposeful approach to your education.

Answering Prompt 5

List three things your future roommates should know about you..

This question aims to help you present a genuine and well-rounded picture of yourself, offering insights into your personality, habits, and values.

1. Reflect on Your Personality

This prompt is an invitation to share more about your personal side. Think about the quirks, habits, or values that define you. What are the things that make you, well, you?

2. Balance Seriousness with Lightness

While one point could be a deep reflection of your values or beliefs, another could be a fun fact or a unique hobby. This mix gives a rounded picture of who you are.

3. Be Genuine

Avoid coming up with things you believe the admissions committee wants to hear. This is your chance to let your true self shine through.

4. Consider Your Daily Life

Think about your habits or routines, the music you listen to, or the books you read. These can offer insights into your personality and preferences.

5. Reflect on Past Living Experiences

Have you shared a space with someone before — roommate, sibling, family members, fellow campers?… Think about what made the experience harmonious. Were there particular habits, routines, or guiding principles you followed that were appreciated by those you were sharing space with?

Harvard's fifth supplemental essay is a chance to showcase your personality beyond academics and extracurriculars . By sharing genuine aspects of yourself related to day-to-day living and the many small ways you interact with those around you in more personal spaces, you give a glimpse into your life outside the classroom and what it might be like to share a living space with you.

5 Tips for the "Why This School?" Essay

General Guidelines for Crafting Stellar Harvard Supplemental Essays

1. Understand the Question: Before you start writing, ensure you fully understand what the prompt is asking. Break it down and consider its nuances. This will help you stay on track and address all aspects of the question.

2. Be Authentic: Harvard isn't just looking for high achievers; they're looking for genuine individuals. Your essay should reflect your true self, not what you think the admissions committee wants to hear.

3. Show, Don't Tell: Instead of just stating facts or beliefs, use anecdotes, experiences, or stories to convey your points. This makes your essay more engaging and paints a clearer picture of who you are.

4. Stay Within the Word Limit: While it might be tempting to write more, respect the word limits. It shows that you can convey your thoughts concisely and respect guidelines.

5. Proofread and Edit: Always review your essay multiple times for clarity, coherence, and grammar. Consider also asking a teacher, mentor, or friend to review it.

6. Connect to Harvard: While the prompts might not explicitly ask for it, subtly showing why your experiences, values, or aspirations align with Harvard's culture or offerings can be a plus.

7. Reflect on Growth: Colleges love to see personal growth. Reflect on how experiences have shaped you, lessons learned, and how you've evolved.

8. Avoid Repetition: Ensure that your supplemental essays present new information and don't repeat what's already in your Common App essay or other parts of your application.

9. Be Forward-Looking: While it's essential to reflect on past experiences, also touch on how these experiences prepare you for future endeavors, especially at Harvard.

10. Start Early: Give yourself ample time to brainstorm, draft, and revise. Starting early reduces stress and allows you to approach the essay with a clear mind.

Remember, the supplemental essays are an opportunity to showcase aspects of yourself that aren't evident in other parts of your application . Use them wisely to provide a holistic picture of yourself and why you'd be a great fit for Harvard.

Final Thoughts

The journey to Harvard is more than just academic prowess; it's about crafting a narrative that resonates deeply with the admissions committee. Your supplemental essays provide a unique window into your personality, aspirations, and the distinct perspectives you'll bring to the Harvard community.

Every Harvard aspirant has a story waiting to be told. This is your moment to share yours. Approach your essays with authenticity, introspection, and a genuine passion for your narrative.

If you're wondering whether your essay truly captures your essence or if it stands out from the multitude of applications, our essay review service is here to help. Our team of experts will meticulously review and provide feedback to refine your essay, ensuring it resonates with admissions officers. For further inspiration, delve into our ebook , which showcases essays from students who clinched spots at top universities. And if Harvard is your dream, these successful Harvard essay examples will provide invaluable insights.

For those just starting their college application journey, consider booking a free consultation with our seasoned college counselors. We're dedicated to guiding you in creating an application that significantly enhances your chances of donning the Crimson colors. Harvard is within reach, and we're here to help you every step of the way.

What Makes Crimson Different

Key Resources & Further Reading

• Everything you need to know about US Application Supplemental Essays
• Acing your College Application Essay: 5 Expert Tips to Make it Stand Out from the Rest
• How to Tackle Every Type of Supplemental Essay
• 2023-24 Common App Essay Prompts
• What are the Most Unusual US College Supplemental Essay Prompts?

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Remember, you don't have to navigate this journey alone. crimson provides a comprehensive suite of services, from academic mentoring and test prep to essay assistance, extracurricular guidance, and career mentoring, ensuring a holistic approach to your college preparation journey..

Frequently Asked Questions

Academics and standardized testing, what is your minimum gpa or required sat or act score.

There is no minimum GPA or required test score. At UChicago, the admissions committee considers a candidate’s entire application—academic and extracurricular records, essays, letters of recommendation, and optional testing according to our no harm policy—and there’s no one piece of information that alone determines whether you would be a good fit for the College. You can learn more about this contextual review process here . 

What if my school does not report class rank or GPA?

If your school does not report class rank or have grade point averages, please leave that information blank. UChicago understands that many schools do not report class rank or compute averages as a matter of policy and not having these will not negatively impact your application. Please do not estimate or guess.

What does no harm testing mean?

Submitting an SAT or ACT is optional and not required for admission. In addition to being test-optional, UChicago practices a “No Harm” policy for application review when considering SAT or ACT scores. Any SAT or ACT score submitted will only be used in review if it will positively affect an applicant’s chance of admission. Test scores that may negatively impact an admission decision will not be considered in review. All applicants including domestic students, international students, and transfer students will be reviewed under this policy.

I was unable to take the SAT or ACT due to a test date cancellation. Can I still apply to UChicago?

Absolutely! UChicago is test-optional alongside the no harm test policy, which means that students are not required to share results of the SAT or ACT if you have been unable to test or prefer not to share your scores. This policy is open to all applicants. Further information about UChicago’s testing policy can be found here .

I've taken the SAT or ACT more than once. Should I send all my test scores?

If you have chosen to submit SAT or ACT test scores, UChicago recommends that you send all of your scores and welcomes you to self-report these scores. When multiple scores are submitted, UChicago will superscore both the SAT and ACT, meaning that if you take either test multiple times, your highest individual sub-scores will be combined to give you the highest overall score possible. Please note that UChicago requires an official score report if you are admitted and choose to enroll.

Is there a score cut off at which I should opt out of submitting my ACT or SAT?

UChicago’s no harm testing policy means that students do not need to worry about score cut-offs or other nuanced details of testing considerations. Your test score will only be considered if it benefits your application; that benefit will be based in part on your individual context and other details of your academic preparation. You do not need to worry about anticipating these details and can send in test scores with the confidence that they will not harm your application.

If I had SAT or ACT scores sent before applying, can my application be reviewed without considering these scores?

Yes. If you previously had SAT or ACT scores sent before applying, you can indicate in your application that you wish to have your application considered without SAT or ACT scores.

If UChicago practices a no harm testing policy, in what situation would I ever apply as a test-optional applicant?

Sending your standardized test score to UChicago is a personal choice. While all students are encouraged to submit testing if they have scores to share, you are welcome to apply without testing if it feels like the best course of action for you. The test-optional policy also allows students to apply to UChicago if they are unable to take the SAT or ACT.

Does UChicago not see a value in standardized testing?

Your transcript shows your academic record in the context of your school, but since each school can be very different from another, testing can be useful to see evidence of academic achievement that exists outside of that context.

Will you consider the new digital SAT differently than past SATs?

UChicago does not consider the digital SAT any differently than past versions of the SAT. Like any testing, your scores on the digital SAT will be considered in the context of your many other application materials and according to our no harm testing policy. UChicago will superscore across both variations of the exam.

Can I self-report my test scores or my transcript?

All applicants who choose to submit SAT or ACT scores may share either official or self-reported scores. These students will not be required to submit official score reports unless they are admitted and choose to enroll. Students can self-report test scores through the Questbridge, Coalition or Common Application, through their UChicago Account, or may share a transcript that includes test scores.

All applicants may also self-submit high school transcripts and will be required to submit an official transcript only if they are admitted and choose to enroll.

Do you grant credit for AP and IB scores? For college-level classes taken in high school?

Yes! UChicago accepts scores of 5 on most Advanced Placement (AP) exams and of 7 on certain International Baccalaureate (IB) higher level (HL) examinations for credit; other scores may be accepted in particular subjects. Learn more about accelerated course credit here .

While UChicago is unable to grant transfer credit to first-year students for college-level coursework taken prior to matriculation (including dual enrollment and early college programs), these courses can give students strong experience with rigorous work that prepares you well for the UChicago experience. UChicago also offers placement and accreditation tests to entering students in select subjects to ensure that students can start courses at a level that best suits their prior experience.

Essays, Recommendations, and Supplemental Materials

What types of supplemental materials can i submit.

The most effective supplements share a representative sample of work that is important to the applicant. One to two minutes of a recorded work, two or three high-quality prints of a work of art, the best paragraph or page of a creatively written work, or an abstract of original research are some types of supplemental materials you can consider adding to your application. None of these are required, and choosing not to send any supplemental materials will not disadvantage your application in any way.

What counts as an academic achievement of note in considering what to include in my application?

UChicago reviews every application within the context of a student’s school, environment, and opportunities. If you feel there is something that best highlights your skills, talents, and potential contributions to UChicago—and you have not already included it in your application—please feel free to share it!

Does UChicago require a counselor letter of recommendation?

While UChicago does not officially require a letter of recommendation from your counselor, many school counselors will still choose to submit one on your behalf. If they do, that letter will be considered as a part of the application review.

Can I submit supplemental letters of recommendation?

You may submit one additional letter of recommendation. The writer should know you personally and have worked closely with you in some capacity; this could include a coach, religious leader, group adviser, or employer, to name a few. Please only send an additional letter of recommendation if you feel it represents a unique perspective not shared elsewhere in your application.

Is there a word limit or suggested word limit for the supplemental essays?

Please note any word limits for Coalition or Common Application essays; however, there are no strict word limits on the UChicago supplemental essays. In general 500-700 words for the extended essay and 300-600 words for the “Why UChicago?” essay are good benchmarks, but these are rough guidelines and by no means requirements. The ideas in your writing matter more than the exact number of words you use!

How do I make sure that UChicago has received all of my required application documents?

A little while after the application deadline has passed, you will be able to check to see which application materials have been received and processed by logging in to your UChicago Account . Given the large volume of material submitted every year, there will be a reasonable amount of processing time between when you submit your documents and when they will appear in your account. If anything is missing, you will have ample time to submit or resubmit it without any penalty to your application.

Can I participate in an interview as part of my application?

If you would like to add your voice to your application, you have the option to submit a highly recommended two-minute video profile. Your recording does not need to be extensively rehearsed or polished, and the video does not need to be edited. UChicago does not offer on-campus or alumni interviews as part of the application process, but will accept Glimpse or InitialView interviews in lieu of the UChicago video profile.

Is the video profile required?

The video profile is not required but is highly recommended. A video profile is one more way for us to get to know you and hear your voice (literally!), but it is up to you whether to include one. Students who choose not to submit a video profile will not be penalized in any way. Applicants can upload their video to their UChicago Account under “Portfolio” with the title “Optional Video Profile.” You may upload your video to your UChicago Account at any time, but it is recommended to do so by November 6 th for Early Action and Early Decision I or January 10 th for Regular Decision and Early Decision II.

Does my video need to be produced/edited/scripted?

The option of submitting a video gives students who wish to do so a different medium for developing their voice and ideas. In reviewing these highly recommended video profiles, the focus will be on the content of the video rather than on production quality. Students who submit a video are encouraged to film in a quiet space that limits outside distractions (background noise, music, pet or sibling interference, etc.). While it’s okay to rehearse your message a bit so that you feel confident and ready, it’s helpful to hear these spoken in your normal, conversational voice. Memorizing a script or reading from prepared notes is not necessary and might detract from a sense of your genuine voice.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Do you offer financial aid.

Yes! UChicago meets the full demonstrated financial need of every admitted student through a need-based financial aid package that does not include a loan expectation. Each financial aid package is tailored to the student and family’s particular financial profile.

UChicago requires a few forms and documents in order to offer students an appropriate package. Although US citizens and permanent residents may apply for financial aid at any time, we recommend that they apply for aid at the same time as their application for admission in order to receive an aid decision in a timely manner. Applicants who are not US citizens or permanent residents must apply for financial aid during the application process.

UChicago does not charge an application fee to students who indicate that they intend to apply for financial aid. Learn more about applying for UChicago’s financial aid .

Do you offer merit awards or special scholarships?

Exemplary students are selected to receive University merit scholarships on the basis of outstanding academic achievement, extracurricular achievement, demonstrated leadership, and commitment to their communities. Merit awards are determined by committee on the basis of the application for admission without consideration of financial need.

Merit scholarships can be awarded for four years of undergraduate study or as funding for summer opportunities. UChicago also offers scholarships for first-generation college students, the children of police and firefighters, and the children of Chicago Public Schools educators. Each student admitted to the College will be automatically considered for merit scholarships; applicants do not need to fill out an additional application, with the exception of the Police and Fire Scholarship .

Special Circumstances

I had bad grades or a special circumstance that affected my performance in high school. does this mean i won’t get in.

No one’s record is perfect, and UChicago understands that sometimes students’ transcripts have grades that are not indicative of their academic capabilities when they apply to college. If you have made significant strides in your academic performance, or outside circumstances have caused bumps along the way, please make sure that comes across in your application. The Additional Information portion of the application is a great place to discuss this. UChicago truly embraces a contextual approach to reading applications, and this approach means seeing applicants as multi-faceted individuals rather than one-dimensional students.

I am taking the November SAT or October ACT as an Early Action or Early Decision I applicant, or the January SAT or February ACT as a Regular Decision or Early Decision II applicant. Will you consider these scores?

Yes! UChicago accepts October ACT and November SAT scores for Early Action and Early Decision I, December SAT and ACT scores for Early Decision II, and January SAT and February ACT scores for Regular Decision.

I am interested in participating in a varsity sport. How can I contact a coach?

Contact information for UChicago’s varsity coaches, as well as a survey for students interested in participating in varsity athletics, can be found here .

Does the University of Chicago grant second bachelor’s degrees?

UChicago does not offer second bachelor’s degrees. Please visit the website of the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies for information on post-baccalaureate coursework and non-degree-program coursework.

Can I apply to UChicago for entry in the Winter or Spring Quarters?

Entering students may only begin study at UChicago in the Autumn Quarter.

My school experience was disrupted or changed significantly during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Will this negatively impact my application to UChicago?

UChicago understands that schools around the world made the difficult choice to close or engage in remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many students may have experienced different grading systems or an inability to engage in school in their typical way in the Spring of 2020. UChicago always reviews applicants in the context of their school’s environment and grading practices and will continue to give full consideration to all applicants regardless of the method of grading or assessment your school selected. UChicago is also aware that many students experienced a disruption to their typical level of involvement in extracurricular activities. Rest assured that these circumstances that were outside of your control will not negatively impact your application to UChicago.

I am not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, but have been living in the United States for some time or am in the process of obtaining a green card but have not yet received one. Am I considered an international student?

In UChicago’s contextual review, every student is reviewed specifically within the high school they attend, regardless of citizenship. The only time citizenship is considered in the application process is when it comes to financial aid. For financial aid purposes, you will be considered an international applicant until you receive permanent residency or U.S. citizenship. For further help and questions as they arise during this process, feel free to contact us at [email protected] .

Visiting Campus

Can i tour campus.

Yes! In-person tours and information sessions are available on most weekdays year-round and on Saturdays from March through November. You can explore the visit calendar here to sign up for a specific date and time. The full campus visit guide is available here .

Can I attend a class while visiting campus?

Faculty-led model classes are a great way to get a feel for UChicago classes! These are offered during our Fall and Spring Open Houses which are listed on our website here .

I’m unable to travel to Chicago. How can I learn more about UChicago without a physical visit to campus?

UChicago offers a variety of virtual opportunities to learn more about the University’s academic, extracurricular, and admissions processes here .

Can I choose to take a gap year after I’ve been admitted to UChicago?

UChicago will consider requests to take a one-year gap year from incoming first-year students before June 15. To be eligible for consideration, interested students should accept their offer of admission and place an enrollment deposit (or have a deposit fee waiver in place). Students must then apply for a gap year through their regional admissions counselor and will receive written confirmation from the Dean of Admissions if approved. Gap year requests should include a plan for a full year of structured programming, work, community involvement, or other exploration that could not be completed while enrolled in school. Students taking gap years will be asked to sign an agreement outlining expectations for conduct during their gap year. Second or two-year gap year requests are rarely approved except under unavoidable or well-defined national policies (typically including obligatory national/military service or other similar commitments).

Transfer Applications

Am i eligible to apply as a transfer student.

If you have already completed at least one term as a full-time student in a bachelor’s degree-seeking program at another college or university, you should apply as a transfer student. All other students, including high school students who have taken college-level classes through dual enrollment or early college programs, should apply using the first-year application.

When do transfer students start at UChicago?

All incoming students, including transfer students, will start in the College in the Autumn Quarter.

Can I apply as a student-at-large, and apply as a transfer student later after taking some courses?

If you would like to pursue your undergraduate degree at UChicago, you should apply as a transfer student. Students-at-large will not be eligible for transfer admission.

What classes should I take now that will transfer to UChicago?

To be eligible for transfer credit, courses at minimum must be from an accredited institution that grants bachelor’s degrees in liberal arts subjects similar to those offered in the College at UChicago and you must have received a grade of C or higher (or B or higher in some subjects). However, since many colleges look at transfer credit differently, UChicago encourages students to make curriculum choices based on what they believe is best for their own educational goals. A full description of UChicago’s transfer credit policy can be found here: http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/transfercredit/

Can you tell me which of my classes will transfer to UChicago?

In most cases, courses taken at accredited institutions that meet the eligibility requirements described in the College Catalog and are equivalent in content and instruction to courses offered at the University of Chicago are likely candidates for transfer credit. As a prospective transfer applicant, you should familiarize yourself with programs of study and their class requirements in the College Catalog as well as our transfer credit policy online: http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/transfercredit/transferstudents/

Admitted students will be provided an estimate of transfer credits; in the meantime, the College Catalog is a helpful resource to gain a sense of which of your classes are most likely to transfer credit and should give you a good sense of what your future path at UChicago might look like.

Is housing required for transfer students?

Yes, transfer students are required to live in college housing for their first academic year at UChicago and will complete the housing application alongside incoming first years in early summer.

I am having trouble getting in contact with former teachers. Who can I ask for letters of recommendation?

If you feel that you have not had satisfactory contact with professors at your college or university, you may ask a teaching assistant or lab instructor who may have had more experience working with you to provide a recommendation. A recommendation from a recent high school teacher is also acceptable for those who are in their first year of college, though UChicago recommends at least one of your recommendations come from someone who has worked with you in an academic context in college.

If you have been out of school for an extended period, you may ask a work supervisor or commanding officer (for veterans) to write your letters of recommendation.

I will have earned more than two years of college credit by the time I apply to UChicago. Can I still apply as a transfer?

UChicago does not have a minimum or maximum number of credits that you must earn to be an eligible transfer applicant. However, you should keep in mind that transfer students are required to spend at least two years at UChicago and complete the Core curriculum and at least half their major requirements while in residence. This means you might be spending more than a total of 12 academic quarters (the time ordinarily expected by the Dean of Students) to complete your undergraduate degree if you were to transfer to UChicago.

Can I double major as a transfer student?

You will be allotted a number of quarters that are necessary to complete your degree, taking into account your first-choice major. The number of quarters allotted will build in some cushion so that you can complete your major and all other graduation requirements at a reasonable pace.  This could allow for the completion of a second major or a minor, but this depends on the details. You can petition for an additional quarter of enrollment if it is necessary to complete your primary major or your other graduation requirements.

How much time will I have to complete my degree?

As part of the transfer credit evaluation process, you will be allotted a maximum number of quarters to complete your degree (note: summers do not count in this number). For non-transfer students, this number is 12. For transfer students, this number is discounted, depending upon how many quarters worth of credits are transferring in and how many quarters are needed to complete your degree. (Note: you must complete at least six quarters at UChicago).

What does UChicago offer for adult learners?

The Graham School offers an array of different programs for adult learners who want to access UChicago courses and faculty. You can visit the Graham School’s website and learn more about these opportunities here: https://graham.uchicago.edu/ .

What is the Mid-Term Report, and how do I submit it? What if I don’t yet have grades available for my current college coursework?

The Mid-Term Report collects information about courses in which you are currently enrolled in the spring and can be found in the “Forms” section of your UChicago Account. If you do not plan to enroll in any coursework in the spring when you apply, you do not need to fill out a Mid-Term Report. Please wait to submit the Mid-Term Report until after March 1 so that you can include accurate course information and grades. If you do not yet have in-progress grades to share for some or all of your spring courses, you are welcome to write “NA” or “IP” where it asks for a grade in the Mid-Term Report. To ensure it is included in the review of your application, please submit the Mid-Term Report no later than March 22 for Transfer Early Decision, and no later than April 15 for Transfer Rolling Decision.

What is the College/Transfer Report, and when and how do I submit it?

Transfer students are required to submit a College/Transfer Report indicating their academic standing at their current or most recently attended college or university. The report should be completed and sent via email or fax to our admissions office by a dean, registrar, or academic adviser who has access to your disciplinary and academic records. If using the Common Application, you can download the College/Transfer Report in the “Supporting Documents” section. If using Apply Coalition, Powered by Scoir, you may use the University of Chicago College/Transfer Report .

My school has a policy against completing the College/Transfer Report. What should I do?

In this case, you should obtain an official document, often called a “Dean’s Certification” letter, from your school that verifies your student conduct and disciplinary record. This fulfills the same purpose as the transfer report and is perfectly acceptable as a substitute.

When should I submit my courses for credit evaluation as an applicant?

UChicago recommends that you submit your transfer credit materials when you apply for admission to receive an initial credit evaluation in a timely manner. Students applying in Transfer Early Decision should submit their transfer credit form and materials in their UChicago Account by March 15 and students in Transfer Rolling Decision should submit their form and materials by April 15. The form can be accessed in your UChicago Account after you submit your application.

What is the Transfer of Credit form? And where can I upload my course syllabi?

After submitting your application, you should submit the Transfer of Credit form in your UChicago Account to indicate all courses for which you would like to receive a credit evaluation. Students must include an official course description and upload a syllabus for every submitted course on the Transfer of Credit form. Syllabi should be submitted as “Transfer Credit Syllabi” in the Upload Materials section of their UChicago account. If not specified in the syllabus, students should include other information about the content and structure of the course (e.g., a list of required readings and assignments, lectures, exams, papers, etc.) along with the syllabus as a single PDF for each course.

I don’t yet have grades for my current coursework this spring. Should I still include them in the Transfer of Credit form?

Yes! You should submit all classes you wish to be evaluated for transfer credit, including classes in which you are currently enrolled or plan to take this spring. If you do not yet have grades to share for your current coursework, you are welcome to write “NA” or “IP” where it asks this information.

UChicago asks for a written evaluation from an instructor for any coursework that was taken pass/fail. What does this entail? And how should this be submitted?

If you received pass/fail marks for college or university courses instead of grades, please request that your instructors submit a short, written evaluation of your work to the admissions office. This can be sent from your instructor via email or fax to the admissions office and can simply be a note explaining what your grade would have been if you had received a quality grade, or a very brief summary of your academic performance in the class. This only applies to academic coursework and does not apply to non-credit or partial-credit classes (e.g., a one-credit college orientation class.)

Undergraduate Admissions

Application Essays

Below are essay prompts for the 2024-2025 Common Application. First-time college students (future freshmen) will use the Common Application to  apply to Purdue .  

When applying to Purdue you should use the Common Application.

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? Purdue's own  Online Writing Lab  offers advice on  writing essays for college applications .

The Common Application Freshman Essay Prompts 

Required minimum-maximum word count: 250-650

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?

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

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. 

Purdue Questions 

Respond in 250 words or fewer.

• How will opportunities at Purdue support your interests, both in and out of the classroom?
• Briefly discuss your reasons for pursuing the major you have selected.

University of Chicago 2023-24 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 2

You Have: 

University of Chicago 2023-24 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 2 essays of 1-2 pages each

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why , Oddball

This is it, the infamous U Chicago supplemental application. These quirky prompts have been a rite of passage for generations of applicants, so before you dive in, just remember: if they could do it, so can you! Your goal in writing your Chicago extended essay should be the same as ever: to reveal something new to admissions. It might even help to have a few ideas in mind before reading through your options. These prompts are so specific and strange that, in the end, the key is just to follow your instincts. What speaks to you right away? What inspires you?

Question 1 ( Required )

How does the university of chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to uchicago..

Think of this run-of-the-mill why essay as the overture to your magnum opus (i.e. the Extended Essay). Chicago wants you to cover all the bases – “learning, community, and future” – so as with any why essay, you’d best buckle down and do your homework. The more specific details you can incorporate into your essay, the more sincere and personal it will feel (and be!). Explore both academic and extracurricular opportunities. How will you pursue your interest in oceanography? With a major in biology and a semester in Australia? What research opportunities will you pursue? Will joining the club crew team help you feel more connected to aquatic life despite your midwest location? One thing you won’t find on the school website, though, is that third piece, that “future” thing. Think about where you’d like to be five or ten years from now – your career or the impact you’d like to have or even just a geographic location. How will a U Chicago education help you get there? How will your scholarly and social pursuits help you grow? Show admissions how U Chicago is the bridge between the person you are and the person you hope to be.

Question 2: Extended Essay ( Required; Choose one )

Essay option 1, exponents and square roots, pencils and erasers, beta decay and electron capture. name two things that undo each other and explain why both are necessary., – inspired by emmett cho, class of 2027.

Ah, an essay about balance. Typos and autocorrect come to our mind immediately, and not just because our brains often think faster than our fingers can type! The examples admissions have provided do a great job of showing how you can take this idea in multiple directions and apply it to any discipline. What about pasta sauce and our Tide To Go pens? Not a day goes by that we’re not dreaming of penne alla vodka or pappardelle with arrabbiata and the resulting stains we’ll be wearing for the rest of the night! (Just us?) Use this prompt as a way to go deeper into one (or more) aspects of your life, and remember that the prompt is merely a springboard, a jumping off point. Don’t be afraid to write and see what comes of it—you can always backspace later to undo it!

Essay Option 2

“where have all the flowers gone” – pete seeger. pick a question from a song title or lyric and give it your best answer..

– Inspired by Ryan Murphy, AB’21

Well, well, well, if this isn’t a fabulous prompt for art lovers and philosophers, alike. “What would you do?” (a thoughtful question asked by members of City High). “Are we out of the woods yet?” (a question repeated over and over by Taylor Swift).. “What’s love got to do with it?” (an evergreen inquiry from the great late Tina Turner). Think through some of your favorite tunes and select a question that strikes a chord within you (music puns!), then start writing. This is one of those prompts where your final product can vary greatly from your initial plan—or not! The important thing is not to rush the process; explore the question posed by an artist who has touched you, then leave yourself plenty of time to shape and finetune your writing into a polished essay worthy of submission to the University of Chicago. If you’re lucky, you can finish your draft weeks before it’s due. “Wouldn’t it be nice?” – The Beach Boys.

Essay Option 3

“vlog,” “labradoodle,” and “fauxmage.” language is filled with portmanteaus. create a new portmanteau and explain why those two things are a “patch” (perfect match)..

– Inspired by Garrett Chalfin, Class of 2027

This might just be our favorite prompt of this admissions season, since you can take it in just about any direction you like. If nothing comes immediately to mind, try taking a piece of paper and writing down a list of things you like to do or aspects of your identity that are important to you. This prompt is fantastic because you can use it to write an essay about two areas of your life that may not otherwise intersect in an obvious way and give admissions a chance to better understand who you are in the process! Maybe the two words you choose are “introvert” and “performer,” because the stage allows you to express yourself in ways you never would in day-to-day life, giving you “introformer”! (Which sounds like a really cool robot, just saying.) Or perhaps you are chomping at the bit to write an essay about your experience in the Atlanta ballroom dance community as a proud Latina. “Lattrot?” Whatever two aspects of your identity, personality, or background you choose to write about, remember to have fun with it – and UChicissions (UChicago admissions) will too!

Essay Option 4

A jellyfish is not a fish. cat burglars don’t burgle cats. rhode island is not an island. write an essay about some other misnomer, and either come up with and defend a new name for it or explain why its inaccurate name should be kept..

– Inspired by Sonia Chang, Class of 2025, and Mirabella Blair, Class of 2027

This playful, creative prompt will likely call to those who can think of a few examples off the top of their heads. Maybe you think of fireflies, which aren’t flies (or fire for that matter) at all, but beetles. Do you think they should be renamed accordingly, since words and categorization matter? Or do you think “fireflies” should be kept, since the name has become something bigger than the bug itself, and no one will think fondly of summers at their grandmother’s house catching “luminescent beetles”? Ultimately, your argument will (hopefully) show admissions how your brain works and pepper in a few insights as to the kinds of things you hold dear along the way.

Essay Option 5

Despite their origins in the gupta empire of india or ancient egypt, games like chess or bowling remain widely enjoyed today. what modern game do you believe will withstand the test of time, and why.

– Inspired by Adam Heiba, Class of 2027

Calling all game-fanatics: this is the perfect opportunity to wax poetic about your favorite pastime! Whether you’re convinced that Dungeons and Dragons is here to stay or that cyborgs will be playing Uno in space station community halls in 2123, this is the opportunity for you to make your case. Now, there are some pitfalls that come with this prompt, so beware. Although admissions is asking about games, they really want to get to know the player behind the game (i.e. YOU). Use this prompt to offer admissions more insight into who you are and what makes you tick. Don’t slip down the slope of dedicating too many words to explaining rules and intricacies; instead, reflect on why you love the games you do and why you think gameplay is important to humanity or what is required to withstand the test of time. 

Essay Option 6

There are unwritten rules that everyone follows or has heard at least once in their life. but of course, some rules should be broken or updated. what is an unwritten rule that you wish didn’t exist (our custom is to have five new prompts each year, but this year we decided to break with tradition. enjoy).

– Inspired by Maryam Abdella, Class of 2026

This prompt option will likely jump out to those who have been questioning the silly little things humans do since they were toddlers. Well, here’s your chance to call us out. Maybe you’ve always been an incredibly direct person and consistently puz zled by the way the people in your community communicate between the lines. Or, perhaps there is just one unwritten rule that you’d like to strike down for the rest of eternity (NO MORE TALKING TO STRANGERS ON HIKING TRAILS!). See how you can finesse your response to reveal more information about your interests, goals, and character through an unsavory unspoken cultural agreement.

Essay Option 7

And, as always… the classic choose your own adventure option in the spirit of adventurous inquiry, choose one of our past prompts (or create a question of your own). be original, creative, thought provoking. draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the university of chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.

We love all the prompts from the past —there are so many quirky ones! If this year’s questions aren’t inspiring you, don’t be afraid to peruse the archives to find one that stands out to you. If you belong at UChicago, there is no doubt you will find a prompt that sparks a story within you. 

We’d also like to note that this is a great opportunity for recycling essays. If you wrote a strong longform essay for another school, see if any of the old prompts work in your favor, or make up your own question custom-built for your essay. Good luck! 😊

About Kat Stubing

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