tips for writing supplemental essays

How to Write a Supplemental Essay for College Applications

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

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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.

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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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Tips for Writing Supplemental Essays

Ah, those pesky supplemental essays. Just when you think you’ve got your college application pretty much all together, you realize that several colleges where you’re applying want you to write another essay. How should you approach this additional task?

In most cases, supplemental essays are either as important or more important than your Common App essay. Colleges use them in different ways – sometimes to draw out a different side of your personality, sometimes to gauge your level of interest in their institution, occasionally to evaluate some specific quality that is important to their community. Usually, the college’s intent is pretty clear in the questions they ask (so don’t worry about trick questions or reverse psychology). But in every case, the fundamental purpose of a supplemental essay is for an admission committee to learn more about you.

Here are some tips to consider as you craft your supplemental essays:

• Write your Common Application essay early. Most of you will be applying to multiple colleges that accept the Common App, with its choice of seven essay prompts. If you haven’t already begun to craft your “main” essay, now is the time to do that. I recommend having this one more or less finished before your senior year begins – which will leave you more time to focus on your supplemental essays as application deadlines get closer.
• Strategize the order you write your supplemental essays. Research ahead so you know which colleges require supplements and when they are due. Start with the most immediate deadlines (often Early Action or Early Decision), and move to the later deadlines from there.
• Spend just as much time writing and polishing your supplemental essays as you do your Common App essay. This is the biggest pitfall of supplemental essay writing – and admission officers are not impressed when they see evidence you didn’t put as much time and effort into your second essay. (At some colleges, this could even lessen the competitiveness of your application, if they perceive it as a lack of interest on your part.) Plan ahead and give yourself the time you need to brainstorm, draft, edit, and proofread.
• Tell your story. Supplemental essays have the same purpose as the standard ones – to give you an opportunity to share something about yourself. Even if the question is focused on the college, don’t just use this as an opportunity to show your knowledge about the college; use your knowledge of the college to tell your own story. Consider this a second opportunity to share something meaningful about yourself , and consider how you can use this essay to complement your Common App essay and provide a fuller picture of who you are.
• Don’t just list off a bunch of things you learned about the college from their website. While some colleges are looking to see that you’ve done your homework and are familiar with their institutions, you should consider that a secondary purpose for your writing. This is still a personal essay, and needs to be fundamentally about you. (When colleges ask about your fit at the institution, they’re not looking for an essay about the institution – they’re looking for an essay about your fit . That means it’s got to be about you at the core.)
• Answer the question/prompt. It’s okay to repurpose other essays you’ve written, if they are generally in line with the question – but be sure to tailor them, carefully, to ensure they answer the prompt seamlessly. You don’t want an admission officer thinking, “Yep, this student copied and pasted this essay from somewhere else and rewrote the first and last sentence.”

With a little planning and some careful consideration of the advice above, you shouldn’t have any problem delivering some excellent supplemental essays with your college applications. And if you're ready to begin crafting your supplemental essay for Richmond, you can find our Richmond Question prompts in the Application Materials .

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 Supplemental Essays for College Applications

• October 7, 2022
• College Admission Guidance , Parents Must Read , Under Graduate

The main personal statement for the Common Application is one of the essays you will need to write for college admissions. Many schools include their own school-specific essays, also known as supplemental essays. These are additional pieces of writing that give admissions officers the chance to get to know you better.

What are Supplemental Essays?

Supplemental essays are additional pieces of writing required by many highly-selective universities, and they can be just as revealing and important as your personal statement. 

A supplemental essay gives you an opportunity to tell the admissions committee about something you weren’t able to cover in your main essay. These supplemental essays are usually shorter than the main college essay, but they are equally important. 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. 

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. The two most common prompts that are seen are “What do you want to major in?” and “Tell us about a favorite activity.”

Tips for Writing Supplemental Essays

• Begin with an Outline. Every applicant has their own way of writing and is advisable to create outlines. You must brainstorm the personal qualities, skills, or experiences you would like to convey in your supplemental essays.
• Find which of your college choices require supplements . Check the essay list on the International College Counselors website and also on the college websites. From August onward, you will be able to see many questions on your applications as you add a school to your list and fill in your major. There will be prompts you’ll need to answer within the school’s supplemental sections.
• Carefully read the essay prompt.   Some schools ask the reason why you want to attend their college, while others ask about your interest in a particular program or your major.  
• Write about yourself.  Your essay must present information about yourself that will make the college want you. Tell something positive about yourself.  
• Do not repeat.  If you want to reveal something new about yourself in each essay, you can re-mention an activity. However, it must add something that can’t be found elsewhere in your app. Supplemental essays give you a chance to give more information to the admissions committee to further show why you are a good fit for a school. So make sure not to repeat things that already have been covered in your main essay.
• Do your homework.   When a school wants to know the reason for choosing them, give specific details like courses and programs of interest to you at that school. Make sure everything you mention, ties into your goals and interests. You should have a thorough knowledge of the college and what its admissions officers are looking for in their applicants. 
• Smart recycling of your essays.  If two or more colleges have similar questions, don’t hesitate to re-use one of your stories. Do not be careless and paste.
• There are no optional essays  even if a college says the essays are optional.
• Do not exceed the word count.  Many schools do not allow you to submit essays that are over the maximum word count, while many others have minimum word counts which you will need to meet.
• Keep track of the essays you need to write so as not to miss one on the day of submission.
• Narrow Your Focus. The biggest mistake applicants make in supplemental essays is choosing an essay topic that is too big. It is better to do something small and do it well. There are essays with 600-words, 500-words, and 150–250-word or other very short essays.
• Take the help of  College Counselors who can make it easier for you by guiding you on what to write and how to write the essay.

Common Types of Supplemental Essays

Colleges find a hundred different ways to ask a question, but ultimately, the prompt boils down to one of the following common essay themes.

• Why this college?
• Why this major?
• Elaborate on an extracurricular activity or work experience.
• Discuss a community you belong to that has impacted who you are today.

Why this College?

In the “why this college” essay, your answer should focus on qualities and programs specific to that school. Listing or name-dropping will not be enough. Instead, you need to specify why this college is important to you and how this plays out. Read more about How to Write a Great Supplemental Essay “Why This College” .

Why This Major?

The Most important thing to remember is that admissions officers are not looking for a résumé. This of course does not refrain you from discussing your activities and how they culminated in a passion for a specific major. 

Use these activities to tell a story rather than a mere list of achievements. And to do this, you need to share your thought processes as it is the thoughts surrounding an activity more than the activity itself that show the reader your journey to choosing a major.

Don’t ever say that your reason for choosing a major has money-making. Potential, rather tell about how this major will help you achieve your dreams. If you chose to keep it undeclared, that is absolutely fine. Just be sure to list a couple of potential majors, and explain your interest in those. Under no circumstances say you have absolutely no idea, as that will make you look like you don’t care. 

Elaborating an Extracurricular Activity or Work Experience

There may be an activity or work experience in your application that you have more to say about or a story behind it that you want to tell. Like – How did you become interested in this extracurricular? What is your role in the activity or work experience? Why do you do it? Have you experienced growth within the activity over time?

There are endless angles you can pursue here; but in short, you need to show your motivation behind participating in a certain activity or job. Do not repeat something that’s been said elsewhere. If you have already spotlighted an activity in another essay for a given college, don’t write about the same activity. The goal is to share new information and your breadth of experiences.

Discuss a community you belong to that has impacted who you are today

The community you belong to has an immense impact on the person you are today. The term ‘’Community” can mean many things, with many possible approaches to this prompt. You may respond with a community you are linked to through culture, sports, or a club.

You can stress your personal growth or other aspects of who you are as a person—that contribute to belonging to this community. The goal of the essay should cater to how being part of this group has changed or impacted who you are as a person.

Things to Avoid while Writing Supplemental Essays Around Your Community

You should not discriminate against other communities in your response. 

Avoid talking broadly about your community but focus on your place within this community. 

Never use your essay as a platform to complain but you may choose to talk about challenges in a certain community in a refined way. You can talk about how these challenges have shaped you as a person or how you learned to confront these obstacles in a productive way. 

Your essays are your opportunity to tell admissions officers how you want to be remembered by them. If your SAT results were not up to the mark, or you got a low grade on an honors paper, you can neither change your grades nor your scores. But here the essays are entirely in your control.

You have enough scope and freedom to tell your story and what makes you unique. The aim is to make the essay-writing as stress-free as possible. At the end of the day, your essays should leave the reader wanting to have a conversation with you.

You need to show that you’re a multifaceted, mature person with an interesting story to tell. 

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How to Write a Great Supplemental Essay

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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 .

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10 Supplemental Essay Tips for Your College Applications

Padya Paramita

November 15, 2021

With your personal statement hopefully polished and out of the way, it’s time to shift gear to supplemental essays. Different colleges have various characteristics that they look for in incoming students and supplemental essays are often what they use to determine a good fit. At InGenius Prep, we’ve been creating supplemental essay guides to help you work your way through the various prompts that colleges ask students to answer. Alongside addressing the prompts directly, we also have supplemental essay tips we share with you at the end of each article. In this particular blog, we’ve compiled some of the common tips that can apply to different supplemental essays as you continue writing them your school-specific responses.

Don’t repeat your personal statement or your activities list 

Number one on supplemental essay tips is a reminder that an admissions officer has very little time to go through your application and as a reason don’t want to see repeated information. The goal of the essays is to provide further information on who you are and what you’re all about. There’s no point in repeating what you’ve said on the rest of your application because admissions officers want each component to add something new. Colleges such as Princeton have even specified on the longer essay prompt that you must not repeat your personal statement. If you can’t follow these instructions, your application is basically on its way to the reject pile. You don’t want to lose before your essays have even been read!

Be authentic

Sometimes it might seem like colleges are looking for a certain answer that might make you seem intelligent and aware of the world. However, if you write something that isn’t genuinely true to you colleges will not appreciate that! Don’t write about topics or issues that you believe an admissions officer at a top school might want to see. In fact, those answers might just end up being too cliché and not work against you instead. Admissions officers will appreciate it much more if they can feel organic passion and commitment for the things that you’ve described.

Be as specific as possible

Supplemental essays aren’t the place to practice your creative writing skills. Especially for essays with larger word counts, it can be very easy for you to want to fit in as much information as you can in order to maximize your chances of admission. However, admissions officers don’t want to know every single thing about you. They’ve only got a limited amount of time to look through your essays so make sure your responses cover only what is necessary and keep the focus on yourself and how you would benefit from an education at their institution. This is not a place where you want to go off on tangents. Avoid general statements and stick to characteristics and experiences that make you unique.

Cut unnecessary words

Going off of the last point, it’s also important to be specific because many schools have an extremely strict word limit. Yale, for example, has questions that provide you as little as 125 words to write your answers. It can be tricky to get your point across in so little space, but you can’t change the limit. So don’t waste your time sulking or complaining about the fact that you’re 200 words over on your essay, but instead start cutting words. Use a thesaurus, ask a teacher or friend for feedback, and read sentences out loud to see if they still make sense after you shorten them.

Read about what the school is looking for

Different colleges want different characteristics from students. Next on our supplemental essay tips is to read up on these on college websites. For example, Harvard looks for students who demonstrate “maturity, character, leadership, self-confidence, sense of humor, energy, concern for others, and grace under pressure.” When choosing a topic for your supplemental essays, think about how you can bring these qualities forward in your essays. During your brainstorming process, ask yourself whether your topic depicts you as a mature individual, whether you’ve shown that you work well under pressure, and if there are any places you can sprinkle your sense of humor in without it sounding forced. Since a lot of students who apply to colleges like Harvard have strong numbers and extracurriculars, you need to further establish yourself as the perfect fit for the school when writing your supplemental essays.

If there are choices, think carefully about the options

Many supplemental essays ask students to “choose one of the following questions” from a series of prompts. For example, the University of California personal insight questions ask that you answer any 4 out of the 8 questions they’ve asked. In such cases, make sure you choose the four questions that will make you stand out! Focus on showing who you are and what makes you unique and how you can contribute to the particular campuses. If you don’t have a story that fits a particular prompt, choose a different one. 

Conduct research—it will come handy in your “why school essays”

This one is essential among supplemental essay tips. The “why school” essay is perhaps the most common supplemental essay prompt. For these, make sure you’ve conducted your research! Explore the detailed requirements, courses, faculty, and resources available to undergraduates and see how they align with your profile and interests. Emphasize your “demonstrated interest” in the school — drive home that you’re the right fit for this college and vice versa. You might explain how well you understand the mission or educational philosophy of the school or program. You must focus on how one or two particular aspects of the college suit you. Be as specific as possible and make sure that you show your enthusiasm.

Schools can definitely tell if the examples you’ve provided in the “why school” essay are generic or taken from a different response. If it’s relevant to every single college, you’re approaching this essay incorrectly. If there’s information that’s easily found on the first page of the school’s website, you must try harder. The “why school” essay needs to include information that is unique to that particular school. So include names of classes, professors, programs, extracurricular activities, and other specific factors and resources that only exist in that school that you’d take advantage of and elaborate on why.

Don’t write about a college different from the one you’re applying to

Many colleges have schools within their institution that are specific to different fields. Schools such as University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, New York University and University of Southern California all require candidates to select which of the specialized colleges within these universities they would like to apply to. Next on our supplemental essay tips is for you to make sure you’re not writing about a different school within the same campus. For example, if you’re vying for the College of Arts and Sciences at Penn, and your answer is all about business, admissions officers will get the sense that you’re applying to a college you might feel is “easier” to get into with plans of later transferring to Wharton. This will not work in your favor at all. If you want to study business, apply to Wharton and write about Wharton.

Don’t let supplemental essays discourage you from applying to a college

Some schools, such as the University of Chicago have unusual prompts that tend to confuse students. While prompts such as “What’s so easy about pie?” are definitely unusual and undoubtedly tricky, they are not impossible to answer. The school has set a standard for similarly quirky questions and hundreds of students still get in every year. So the minute you see these on the Common App, don’t be tempted to run away and remove UChicago (or any other school you actually want to go to) from your school list. It’s a great school, and if you have a strong application to compete with other top students, don’t miss out on the chance just because the supplemental essays seem a little intimidating!

Don’t underestimate the power of your extracurriculars

The activities essay is one of the most common types of supplemental essay prompts. The reason colleges ask these questions is because they want to know the kind of community impact you’ve made — have you affected the people around you? What kind of impact have you had on your community? And impact isn’t only about the number of people you’ve reached. It’s about how much you’ve affected certain people and which kind of people you’ve connected with and why.

Admissions officers want to know what makes you tick outside the classroom. Don’t just shrug off this essay and repeat information you’ve already included in your activities list. They want to know about your perspective and identity. Your activities could have shifted your views in a way that you might not have even realized before sitting down to write the essay. And you won’t be able to analyze their impact properly if you don’t look at them from a more nuanced angle.

Each essay has to be tailored to your specific context and profile. Even though you may have to answer what you like about a school, make sure you detail how each component can help tie into your unique interests and goals. Follow our supplemental essay tips to make sure you’re hitting all the points necessary to give yourself a great shot at getting into your dream school. Good luck!

Tags : supplemental essays , how to write supplemental essays , college supplemental essays , supplemental essay tips , writing supplemental essays

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8 Tips for Writing Supplemental Essays

Bonus Material: Download the Supplemental Essay Prompts for the 50 Most Selective Colleges

Many U.S. colleges and universities require applicants to respond to supplemental essays. These are in addition to the personal statement or college essay .

Some colleges, even top-tier ones like Northeastern, for example, don’t require supplemental responses. 

Some do but only require one or two short responses. Others, like Princeton University , have 6 supplemental essay prompts!

Regardless, it is possible to take a strategic approach to your supplemental essays, just like the college essay. In this post, we’ve got the 8 tips you need to tackle these additional writing responses with success.

We also give you access to our supplemental essay spreadsheet, which includes supplemental prompts and application deadlines for the 50 most selective colleges in the U.S. Grab it below.

Download the Supplemental Essay Prompts for the 50 Most Selective Colleges

Here’s what we cover:

• Bonus : PrepMaven’s Supplemental Essay Spreadsheet

1) Start planning early

Many students devote the majority of their summer and senior fall to writing their personal statement. Your personal statement is, after all, one of the most important parts of your application. You should put in the time and effort to write a successful college essay .

But many students will forget about supplemental essays, saving them for the end of their application process, sometimes a week before the deadline! 

They often don’t realize just how much work these additional essays require. And if you’ve got 8 colleges on your list with supplemental essays, that’s a lot of writing.

That’s why we recommend that students identify the supplemental essays associated with every college on their list as they are building that list . Students should also note the quantity of these essays per college and their word counts.

When we work with our college essay students, we also help applicants build a timeline for drafting these essays, depending on early or regular decision applications. In some cases, students will start work on their supplemental essays as they are finishing their college essay.

You can find out more about a college’s supplemental essay requirements by adding that college to your list on Coalition or the Common App and viewing “Writing Supplement.” Here’s what that looks like for Princeton University, for example, via the Common App:

We also encourage students to check out our supplemental essay spreadsheet for the 50 most selective U.S. colleges, which you can download below.

2) Identify what the prompt is specifically asking

Many supplemental essay prompts are very specific, as in this one from Virginia Tech’s application:

Virginia Tech’s motto is “Ut Prosim” which means ‘That I May Serve’. We are interested in learning more about your interests and how you have been involved and/or served. Briefly describe a group, organization, or community that you have been involved with. Is this a special area of interest for you, and why? How long have you been involved? What role did you play? What contributions have you made to this group? Were you able to influence others and/or influence decisions for the good of the group?

Others can be very broad, like this one, from Wake Forest University:

Tell us more about the topic that most engages your intellectual curiosity. 

Regardless, identify what the prompt is specifically asking. Because supplemental essays are typically shorter than your personal statement, it’s essential to craft a response that is not off-topic. 

Think about what college admissions officers are likely looking for with certain prompts. 

Do they want to learn about your relationship to service, for example? Your innate passion? Your promise as a scholar? Your authentic voice? Why this college is a good fit for you? etc.

3) Be concise

You likely won’t have a lot of room for many of your supplemental essays. Three of Princeton’s essays, for example, have 50-word limits.

This means that it’s imperative for applicants to be concise in their responses. Every word should be essential. Cut the fluff and don’t be afraid to plunge right in (just as we advise our students do with their college essays).

4) Choose topics you haven’t already discussed in your application

This might go without saying, but it is still an important point. 

Think of your application as a whole, including your personal statement, and consider the dimensions of yourself that you haven’t yet discussed. What else do you wish to highlight, especially when dealing with very broad supplemental essay prompts?

Consider all of the following:

• Personal challenges
• Values and beliefs
• A specific volunteering or work experience
• A meaningful activity or hobby
• Your passions and interests
• What makes you curious
• Your unique personality

This is why colleges have supplemental essays in the first place. They want to know even more about you as a candidate, beyond your personal statement, transcripts, letters of recommendation, and test scores. Be sure to select material that is not fully evident or elaborated in these other parts of your application.

5) Think about that college’s mission statement

This can be particularly vital for supplemental essays that ask why students are interested in applying to that specific school, or how they envision that school helping them with their goals.

College mission statements are usually quite broad. But they do encapsulate that college’s priorities and core values, which can be important to reference in a “Why X College” essay response.

Take Cornell University’s core values :

“Purposeful discovery, free and open inquiry and expression, a community of belonging, exploration across boundaries, changing lives through engagement and respect for the natural environment constitute Cornell’s core values.”

These are very different from Tulane University’s mission statement , which expresses the following: 

“Tulane’s purpose is to create, communicate, and conserve knowledge in order to enrich the capacity of individuals, organizations, and communities to think, to learn, and to act and lead with integrity and wisdom.”

Both provide insight into the values admissions officers are likely seeking in applicants, which can be valuable for crafting supplemental essay responses.

6) Write them even if they’re optional

We mean it! Even if it adds more to your to-do list, we encourage all students seeking a competitive edge to write those optional essay responses. 

Why? It’s your chance to give more meaning to your application and demonstrate that you are invested in applying to a specific school. We’re not saying that if you skip the optional essays you won’t earn admission.

But you will be providing more information for admissions officers to evaluate, which is to your advantage.

7) Recycle where you can

In many cases, it is possible to “recycle” certain supplemental essay responses. Many colleges, for example, require students to briefly elaborate on a meaningful extracurricular activity or work experience in 150-200 words.

Others may allow you to use parts of essay responses you’ve already crafted, with a little bit of tweaking.

We don’t recommend that students copy and paste any of their “Why X College” essays, as these should be tailored to each specific school. But they can certainly reuse certain sentences, templates, and essay structures across their responses.

Regardless of how you choose to recycle, do make sure that every response is authentic and relevant to that particular school and essay prompt.

8) Be specific!

Even if you’re working with a tight word limit, be as specific as possible in your supplemental essay responses, especially for very specific prompts, like the following:

• Why are you applying to our college?
• How will our university’s curriculum support your professional and personal goals?
• Discuss a time where your beliefs were challenged. How did you respond? What did you learn from this experience?

What does it mean to be specific? Incorporate relevant details whenever possible.

In “Why X College” essays, for example, think about mentioning the following:

• Specific majors and requirements
• Actual professors and courses
• Names of programs
• Research opportunities
• Study abroad programs

For more reflective supplemental essays, rely on clear and declarative “I” statements, like the following:

• I firmly believe that ________.
• I learned through this experience that _________.
• I try to guide every action with the following principle: _________.

We’ve compiled the supplemental essay prompts for the most selective 50 U.S. colleges and universities in one FREE easy-to-access spreadsheet!

Here’s what you’ll get:

• The supplemental essay prompt(s) for the most selective 50 U.S. colleges / universities
• Word limits for each prompt
• Application deadlines for each (early and regular)

Kate is a graduate of Princeton University. Over the last decade, Kate has successfully mentored hundreds of students in all aspects of the college admissions process, including the SAT, ACT, and college application essay.

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Highly-selective colleges and universities often require supplemental application materials. These materials help further personalize the admissions process so that each college’s admissions committee has the information it needs to select a vibrant and diverse incoming class. 

In this article, we will look at 10 supplemental essay prompts from top colleges and universities for the 2022-23 admissions cycle. Once you get a better sense of what to expect from a supplemental essay prompt, we will outline key strategies for answering these prompts, as well as provide practical writing tips to help you get started.

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What are supplemental essays and are they important?

Each college has its own sets of values and criteria that it looks for in applicants. This is why determining college fit is so important. By carefully researching each school on your college list and having several clear and compelling reasons for wanting to attend, you will increase your overall chances of admission.    

One way that colleges gauge whether or not a student would be a good fit for their university is by posing unique supplemental essay prompts. This is why knowing how to write a supplemental essay is so important. Most colleges with supplemental essays will have applicants write the “why this college” essay . 

Many selective colleges will require additional supplemental essays as well. In some cases, you will need to prepare an additional five essays per school, so give yourself plenty of time to complete each essay thoughtfully, write multiple drafts, seek out feedback, and proofread. The college application process can feel overwhelming at times, so make sure you brainstorm ways to stay organized during the college application process . 

Although the style and content of the actual prompts can vary greatly, at the core these prompts have one thing in common: They are designed to get to know who you are as a person, what your values are, and whether you demonstrate compatibility with the university’s overall mission. 

How to write supplemental essays

If you’re looking for supplemental essay tips, you’ve come to the right place! In this section, we will discuss how to write a good supplemental essay, by providing several key application essay tips. 

To start, it’s important to remember that the process of writing supplemental essays is similar to the process of writing a successful personal statement . Review components of a strong personal statement to give yourself a fresh perspective before beginning your supplemental essays.

Tips for writing supplemental essays

Supplemental essays are typically pretty brief. This is why it’s important to learn how to write concisely and powerfully. Having very few words to respond does not mean that you should prepare your responses casually or that your responses shouldn’t include lots of details. Rather, approach each word limit creatively. Whether you have 50 words, 200 words, or 500 words, try to use each sentence and detail to your advantage. One of the best ways to do this is to begin by freewriting. Write down everything that comes to mind. Take time to fully flush out your ideas. Then review what you’ve written and see what feels most important. These are the details you will want to highlight in your response.

Some colleges will require three to five additional essays. Maybe even more! This is why it’s important to be prepared and plan ahead. Supplemental essays are an important part of your college application and they require a lot of time and effort. While some supplemental essay prompts may be similar between schools, in general, you want to avoid recycling your college essays. Admissions officers can tell when a student is tweaking an existing essay to fit a prompt.

While some essay prompts are required, others are optional. In general, try to answer each prompt thoughtfully and creatively. After all, it’s no secret that college admissions are highly competitive so it’s great to give your application “an edge” whenever possible. That said, there are times when you should pass on writing an optional essay. If you’re not sure whether or not you should submit an essay for an optional prompt, begin by drafting a response. Then ask yourself if the essay feels forced or genuine. Does the essay convey something new about you that isn’t included in the rest of your application? If the question doesn’t seem to apply to you and you are genuinely unsure what to contribute, you should probably skip that particular essay. After all, no one wants to read an uninspired essay that doesn’t contribute to your overall application.

2022-23 supplemental essay prompts

As mentioned, supplemental essay prompts can vary significantly. Some prompts ask you to respond in 50 words while other prompts ask you to respond in 500 words. Some prompts focus on academics while others ask you to reflect carefully on your cultural upbringing or life philosophies. Still, other prompts will ask you to introduce who you are as a person or discuss something that you enjoy.

Just as supplemental essay prompts vary in style, your responses will also vary. Some prompts will require you to be thoughtful and serious, while other prompts may encourage you to be humorous or creative. It all depends.

Brown University supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Brown University requires three supplemental essays. One of the supplemental essay prompts is as follows:

Brown’s culture fosters a community in which students challenge the ideas of others and have their ideas challenged in return, promoting a deeper and clearer understanding of the complex issues confronting society. This active engagement in dialogue is as present outside the classroom as it is in academic spaces. Tell us about a time you were challenged by a perspective that differed from your own. How did you respond? (200-250 words)

Columbia University supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Columbia University requires the following supplemental materials: 1 list of 75 words, 1 list of 125 words, 3 essays of 200 words each, and 1 short answer of 35 words. One of their supplemental essay prompts is as follows:

For the following questions, we ask that you list each individual response using commas or semicolons; the items do not have to be numbered or in any specific order. No explanatory text or formatting is needed. (For example, it is not necessary to italicize or underline titles of books or other publications. No author names, subtitles or explanatory remarks are needed.)  

List the titles of the books, essays, poetry, short stories or plays you read outside of academic courses that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school. (75 words or fewer)

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Dartmouth college supplemental essay prompt.

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Dartmouth College requires three supplemental essays. One of the supplemental essay prompts is as follows:

“Be yourself,” Oscar Wilde advised. “Everyone else is taken.” Introduce yourself in 200-250 words. 

Duke University supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Duke University requires at least one supplemental essay, with the option to submit an additional two supplemental essays. One of the optional supplemental essay prompts is as follows:

What has been your best academic experience in the last two years, and what made it so good?

Emory University supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Emory University requires two supplemental essays. One of the supplemental essay prompts is as follows:

Emory If you could witness a historic event (past, present or future) first-hand, what would it be, and why?

Harvard University supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Harvard University requires three supplemental essays. One of the supplemental essay prompts is as follows:

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

MIT supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, MIT requires five supplemental essays. One of the supplemental essay prompts is as follows:

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do simply for the pleasure of it.

Princeton University supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Princeton University requires three supplemental essays and three short responses. One of the short-answer prompts is as follows:

Please respond to each question in 75 words or fewer. There are no right or wrong answers. Be yourself!

What is a new skill you would like to learn in college?

What brings you joy? 

What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment?

Stanford University supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Stanford University requires three supplemental essays and five short answer responses. One of the short-answer prompts is as follows:

How did you spend your last two summers? (50-word limit)

UPenn supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, UPenn requires three supplemental essays. One of the supplemental essay prompts is as follows: 

Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge. (We encourage you to share this note with that person, if possible, and reflect on the experience!) (150-200 words)

Yale University supplemental essay prompt

As a part of the 2022-23 college applications, Yale University requires the following supplemental materials: 1 list; 6 short answer questions; 1 additional short essay of 400 words. One of the short answer prompts is as follows:

Yale’s residential colleges regularly host conversations with guests representing a wide range of experiences and accomplishments. What person, past or present, would you invite to speak? What would you ask them to discuss? (200 characters or fewer)

Supplemental essay examples

One of the best ways to prepare your supplemental essay responses is to look at successful past examples. In this section, we will look at three examples and explain why each response is successful. 

This first example was submitted as a part of Harvard’s college application. This essay is in response to the prompt: Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (50-150 words).

Feet moving, eyes up, every shot back, chants the silent mantra in my head. The ball becomes a beacon of neon green as I dart forward and backward, shuffling from corner to far corner of the court, determined not to let a single point escape me. With bated breath, I swing my racquet upwards and outwards and it catches the ball just in time to propel it, spinning, over the net. My heart soars as my grinning teammates cheer from the sidelines. While I greatly value the endurance, tenacity, and persistence that I have developed while playing tennis throughout the last four years, I will always most cherish the bonds that I have created and maintained each year with my team.

This essay uses rich, descriptive language to evoke a clear sense of movement and place. The first paragraph shows a creative and expert control of language, whereas the second paragraph uses straightforward language to highlight key characteristics. Overall, this response is creative, well-balanced, and uses each word to its advantage. 

Source: https://www.collegeadvisor.com/essay-guides/harvard-university-essay-examples-and-why-they-worked/  

This essay was submitted as a part of an MIT college application. The supplemental essay prompt that it addresses is: Describe the world you come from; for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?

We were moving away from my home of thirteen years to go miles and miles away, from my whole life. Worst of all: away from New York City – the only place in the world worth knowing – or so I thought. The town might as well have been called “Miniscule Ville”. I resented every second of it. The real shocking thing to me was almost that anything existed outside of New York City. NYC is a world of its own, with its own pulses and lifeblood. I still think it’s a great place, and I’ll likely at least visit it someday, but right now, I want to visit everywhere. My move humbled me. I began to love nature walks, the friendly camaraderie of the small town, and saw a world I never imagined. I thought I knew it all just because I lived in New York. Here was a great place, hidden from view. I loved experiencing that new world, learning local history, and most of all, learning the life stories of my new neighbors, each one of whom had a fascinating life. My greatest dream is to be a journalist, covering other countries, and learning about new worlds and neighbors. My old perspective feels so limited. If I can share global stories, I can open up my perspective, and I can share those stories with a thousand homes so readers can learn about other perspectives as well. The world is full of different lives. Everywhere is somebody’s home.

This essay covers a lot of material; most impressively, it shows a shift in perspective and its effect on the student’s lived experience. It also clearly explains the student’s academic and professional goals. The tone of this essay is both confident and humble. It demonstrates who this student is as a person, what their goals are, and what they value.  

Source: https://bemoacademicconsulting.com/blog/mit-supplemental-essay-examples  

This essay was submitted as a part of a Duke college application. The essay addresses the prompt: What has been your best academic experience in the last two years, and what made it so good?

Most teachers who taught me talked a big game about wanting students to engage in debate, or “dialectic” as they called it, and to challenge their ideas. In my experience, most of this was a fabrication. The best essay grades and participation marks were found through parroting what was dictated from on high. Did the teacher think such-and-such is the “correct” interpretation of a novel? You did, too, or you lost points. None of that was true for Ms. Jackie Winters. The first essay I sent her came back with the note, “This doesn’t sound like you; it sounds like me.” I asked her about the note, and this initiated a marvelous learning environment, in which I grew faster than I ever have in any other class. Discussions were lively, and the more I presented my authentic views, the more I was respected. My grades were dependent on being backed up by rhetoric, sources, and logic, not by compliance. Due to this engagement, this was the most enjoyable English literature class I had, and I feel like my viewpoints were challenged. I learned to question my ideas and dig into a text for the best results. Best of all, I was putting in more and more effort to find good, quality sources to back up my arguments. I was held to a high standard and shown respect, and I believe that those qualities made for the best learning environment possible

This essay clearly shows a shift in perspective and the effects it had on this student’s ability to think, speak, and write critically. Structurally, this essay uses an anecdote to introduce and contextualize a topic, but the essay itself isn’t overly narrative. Rather, the student explains, in detail, how this teacher’s encouragement and guidance have influenced their willingness and ability to engage with the source material and academic discourse.

Source: https://bemoacademicconsulting.com/blog/duke-supplemental-essay-examples  

Key takeaways and moving forward

Supplemental essays are an important part of your college applications. In fact, they are a key factor in what college admissions officers look for in an applicant . Highly-selective colleges and universities use supplemental essays to further personalize the college admissions process. After all, thousands of qualified students apply to Ivy League institutions each year and only a small fraction are admitted. Supplemental essays allow you to share more about who you are as a person and as a student. Use each prompt as an opportunity to add something new to your college application. If you feel like you could benefit from professional guidance throughout this process, reach out to learn more about our services .

Frequently asked questions and answers

Still have questions about supplemental essays and the effects they have on college applications? Review the following frequently asked questions and answers for further insight on supplemental essays. 

How important are supplemental essays?

Supplemental essays are an incredibly important part of your college applications and should be properly prioritized. If a college didn’t care about your response, they wouldn’t ask you in the first place. Put plenty of time and care into your responses. Write several drafts, seek out feedback, and always proofread.

How long should supplemental essays be?

Always follow directions. Colleges will specify how long each supplemental essay should be, usually right after the prompt itself. Depending on the college, and the prompt, a supplemental essay’s word count may range anywhere from 50 to 500 words.

Do supplemental essays change every year?

It all depends on the college. Colleges often reuse past prompts, but there are no guarantees. This is why it’s important to plan ahead and make a list of supplemental essay prompts early on in the college application process.

Are supplemental essays required?

Sometimes colleges will have both required and optional supplemental essays. That said, the essay prompts are clearly labeled. In short, each college will specify whether supplemental essays are required. 

Do all colleges have supplemental essays?

No, not all colleges have supplemental essays. Highly-selective colleges, however, often require at least one additional essay.

• December 14, 2022

Supplemental Essay Guide for 2022-23 Prompts

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Kennedy Hamblen

I'm Kennedy, a literature nerd and creative writer from the outskirts of Memphis. I'm also a senior here at Dartmouth. When I'm not working in admissions as a senior fellow, I'm a student employee at the library and a research and teaching assistant in the English department. I love music (I collect vinyl!) and analyzing teen drama TV (think Riverdale and Pretty Little Liars). I'm currently applying to law schools. I've had such a great time at Dartmouth and am excited to share that with you!

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Five Tips for Your Supplemental Essays

Kennedy's d-plan, fall hanover, nh.

Professor McCann is my advisor, but that's not the only reason I took this class. Since it was a senior seminar with only 9 students, we got to dive deep into the fascinating material, including with Victorian-era pulp fiction books, advertisements, and psychological treatises, plus some good old fashioned canonical works like The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dracula. [Fun fact: I've read Dracula three times at Dartmouth... it's an English department favorite!]

Winter Hanover, NH

This was an off term for me, but I love Hanover so much I hung around anyways! I worked for admissions and Baker-Berry Library, read a ton of J.G. Ballard, and stared out the window at the snow for an embarrassingly long amount of time. I also visited my parents in Tennessee during Christmas.

Spring Hanover, NH

Professor Nachlis went out of his way to act as an unofficial pre-law advisor for all of us in this class, not only by introducing us to some of the most pressing issues in American government, but also by dedicating the final two weeks of class to a module called "Should you go to law school?" A question I was asking myself!

Summer Hanover, NH

Another off term again, and this time I'm working full-time for admissions as a senior fellow! I'm also doing a lot of preliminary reading for my honors thesis. Anyone heard of Friedrich Kittler's Discourse Networks? Well, I'll have read it twice by the time this term is over.

I love writing. I love toiling over a sentence. I love sitting down to an empty Word document. However, people who love writing are like people who love running marathons—they look crazy to everyone else.

So, if you're a high schooler and you're struggling to write your Common App essay, your supplemental essays, or anything else for your college applications, you're not alone. Far from it. And writing is even harder under pressure—for many of you, college application season will have more pressure than my InstantPot cooking rice! (Ok, technically I own a Ninja Foodie, but it's a pressure cooker , that's the joke).

Your essays have to present you to the admissions committee. They have to explain what drives you. They have to show your writing skills. And they have to be interesting. That's a lot of demand for essays with word counts of under one thousand. If you're applying to Dartmouth (and I really hope you are!), you're tasked with writing some extremely short supplemental essays. Like, really short.

I struggled a lot with the Dartmouth supplemental essays because of their word limit. Brevity is not a strength of mine, if you can't tell. But you would be shocked what some good editing and a bit of preparation does for you. It is , in fact, possible to say everything you want to in 250 words, or even 100. I'm going to give you some tips for your college essays that will help you make the best of your limited words.

1) Start early, and start by writing everything down.

When you write your first draft—that is, the first version of your essay—don't think about word limit. Don't even go back and delete sentences yet. Just write. Get out everything you want to say in that essay. If it's the Why Dartmouth essay, go ahead and pontificate for hundreds (or thousands?!) of words. Then save the document somewhere you can easily find it later, and close it. Seriously. CLOSE IT. And go do something else. Ideally, this step will happen at least a month before your application is due, but even if you've just begun and it's a week until the deadline, this strategy can still work.

2) Remove the obvious stuff.

Reread your work after a good night's sleep—ideally, you'll reread it after a week or even more of not looking at it. Having fresh eyes helps you spot what you know you don't want in there. Maybe you're starting all your sentences with "I love" and that needs to change. Maybe you've got some cringey or unhelpful nonsense in there. Maybe you misspelled Hanover. Now's the time to change that stuff. Make sure, however, that no important content gets removed. If you have a poorly written sentence, but it contains an important idea (for example: about what draws you to Dartmouth), move it to another document and try to rewrite it. You don't want to lose any of those ideas; they can always be reformulated into better sentences.

3) Trim out repetition, "nothing words," and fluff.

Trimming repetition is essential for essays with a hard word limit. Repetition is anything that gets said twice—any idea, any phrase. If you've said it once, the admissions committee will notice it and take it seriously, so don't worry about saying it again.

"Nothing words" can mean words that don't pack a punch, or words that aren't strictly necessary. We all write (and talk) with them, including myself in this very post! But I don't have a word limit, and you do, so you should remove them. Good examples are adverbs and adjectives that don't change the meaning of what they modify (above I used "very," for example, which can usually be removed... so can "usually"); long phrases that don't mean much ("so on and so forth" is something I say a lot, but I would edit it out of any essay); and phrases that can be replaced with something shorter (turning prepositional phrases like "suburbs of Memphis" into adjective-modified nouns, like "Memphis suburbs"). This is a good way to eke out one or two words at a time, which can free up more space than you realize.

And finally, remove any detail that does not contribute to the purpose of the essay. Say "my cousin" instead of specifying that he's your mother's sister's son. Or delete that sentence about your dad having trouble with the rental car when you came to visit. This bit is the hardest. You're often understandably emotionally attached to these details; they're part of your life, after all. If you can convey the emotion succinctly with one or two words without telling the whole story, that is a great way to strike a compromise between the emotional impact you're adding with details and the word limit you're honoring by removing them. Instead of mentioning that your dad had issues with the rental car, for instance, you could say "We had an exhausting journey," or that your dad was "travel-worn." You get the idea.

4) If you want, get weird with it!

Not too weird, of course—you're presenting yourself as a young adult ready to face the challenges of living alone and rigorous studies. However, I get a lot of questions about the form of these supplemental essays that can be answered with one sentence: "If we don't say no, you're allowed to." The word limit and prompts are intentionally the only restrictions we place on applicants (and you'll notice our prompts are often quite open-ended—that's intentional). You can write a poem, or just five words, or a stream-of-consciousness essay. But beware: in some ways, the more abstract or artsy you get, the harder it can be to pull off. If you try to do something like the above, make sure you know why you're doing it.

But there's an easier way to get weird with it, and this method also helps you cram in as many ideas as possible despite the word limit. You don't have to be strictly grammatical. Your essay can even be list-like. My Why Dartmouth essay wasn't made of full proper sentences. Instead, it was a list of things I loved about Dartmouth, separated by semi-colons. I love a good semi-colon. This way, I avoided wasted words on "I love" and "Dartmouth has" and got right to the meat of things.

5) Focus on the differentiators.

Many schools are on the quarter system, but no one else has the D-Plan. Many schools have quads or green areas, but no one else has the Dartmouth Outing Club or the Dartmouth community that makes sitting on the Green with someone you've just met so special. Many schools have low student-to-faculty ratios, but few pair high-level research and small classes like we do. Don't mention good things that all the other universities have too; that would be a bit like saying "I want to go to Dartmouth because they give out Bachelor's degrees." Yeah, that's a great motivation—but not for Dartmouth specifically .

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 3 key tips for writing successful tufts supplemental essays.

College Essays

Tufts University has a selective acceptance rate— less than 10% in 2022 . You'll need a strong application to stand out from other applicants, including stellar essays. Luckily, this guide is here to help you out!

In this blog post, we'll cover everything you need to know about the writing portion of Tufts University's application, including what prompts are available and how to answer them.

Feature Image: Jellymuffin40 /Wikimedia Commons

If you want to study at Tufts' Ginn Library, you'll need strong essays. Nurcamp /Wikimedia Commons.

What Should You Know About the Tufts University Essays?

Tufts University uses either the Common or Coalition Application, so choose the one that works best for you . Each one has unique essays, so be sure you follow the correct prompt for whichever application you're using.

Both applications have their own writing sections that you'll need to respond to. These essays are more general than the Tufts essays, but it's still important to follow guidelines and aim to impress with them . They're part of your application, and deserve your best effort! The Common Application has one set of prompts to choose from and the Coalition Application has another , so do some reading ahead of time to plan for which one you'll answer if you need to fill out both applications for different schools.

What Prompts Does the Tufts University Application Have?

Tufts University requires you to apply to a specific school within the university during your application. This shouldn't be a problem if you already know what major you'll be applying to, and Tufts recommends not applying as undecided .

The application should give you the correct set of prompts for whichever school you apply to, but you can also check on Tuft's website .

If you're applying to the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering, or 5-year Tufts/NEC combined degree, you'll have two essays. One is a classic "Why Tufts?" essay with a Tufts-specific twist, and the second prompt allows you to make your choice of two options.

For applicants to the BFA or 5-year BFA+BA/BS combined degree program, you'll also have two prompts. The first is, again, a classic "Why Tufts?" essay question, while the other asks you to to respond to one of three questions. 

What Are the Tufts University Prompts?

Because the prompts vary between different schools, there's a lot of information to cover for how to write the ideal Tufts essay. But Tufts does provide some helpful advice —"Think outside the box as you answer the following questions. Take a risk and go somewhere unexpected. Be serious if the moment calls for it, but feel comfortable being playful if that suits you, too."

In short, be yourself . Tufts doesn't just want to hear your academic qualifications, nor do they want to hear their qualifications as a good school recited to them—they already know!

For School of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering, and Tufts/NEC Degree Applicants:

You have two essays to write for this section. Both are required, but the second prompt offers you three potential choices.

Prompt #1: The "Why Tufts?" Essay

The first prompt, which you have 100 to 150 words to answer, reads:

Which aspects of the Tufts undergraduate experience prompt your application? In short, "Why Tufts?"

This is a pretty straightforward question—it's a version of the popular "Why This College?" essay . You wouldn't be applying to Tufts if you didn't already know that you wanted to go there, right? But always be aware that every other student applying to Tufts also knows that it's a good school. You can't just list qualifications back them; you have to dive a little deeper than that.

Tufts wants to know here is not just what attracts you to the college, but also what you'll bring to it . Let your enthusiasm and fresh ideas shine!

Having said that, a great essay is going to show admissions counselors that you've done your research. Be sure you point to specific parts of the "Tufts undergraduate experience" in your writing! For example, maybe there's a specific professor you want to work with, or a unique program that only Tufts offers that's a great fit for you. The more specific you are, the more you'll show admissions counselors that you're serious about becoming a student at Tufts.

Prompt #2: The Free Choice Essay

The second prompt is a little more complex. It also has a word count of 200 to 250, but includes three options you must choose from:

Now we'd like to know a little more about you. Please respond to one of the following three questions.

A) It's cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity?

B) How have the environments or experiences of your upbringing – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – shaped the person you are today?

C) Where are you on your journey of engaging with or fighting for social justice?

These three prompts are a great way to tell the admissions office more about yourself, particularly if you have extracurricular interests that you haven't had the opportunity to discuss yet.

Any of these prompts is a great choice, but you can only choose one. Here's a breakdown of who each prompt is a good fit for:

• Prompt A: If you're an intellectually curious person, this is a great fit for you. People that fit this mold will engage in learning opportunities outside the classroom and constantly be on the hunt for knowledge. If you're the type that reads news before school or watches documentaries for fun, this is a good prompt for you!
• Prompt B: This is a good all-around prompt! Generally speaking, most people will have some experience that helps them answer this prompt well. Having said that, this prompt requires you to be thoughtful and introspective. You'll need to understand how your experiences and background have shaped the person you are today.
• Prompt C: Social justice is an important topic in 2021, and Tufts admissions officers are interested in students who fit with the university's mission of an "inclusive and collaborative" environment. If you have been part of the social justice movement, this would be a great prompt for you.

Keep in mind these are just suggestions. If one of these prompts jumps out to you as a perfect fit, run with it.

If you can't find this key on your keyboard, you'll have to invent it!

How to Answer Prompt A

In this prompt, Tufts wants to hear about your curiosity and interests. There are two ways you can approach this essay, each of which has its benefits and drawbacks.

First, you can choose an intellectual interest you have that relates to your future major. For example, say you're majoring in biology because you want to be in drug development. If that's the case, you can talk about a specific aspect of drug development that gets you excited. Maybe it's developing new vaccine production methods that use plants instead of animals, or maybe you want to develop new drugs to treat chronic illnesses like multiple sclerosis.

The trick here is being specific and letting your passion shine through, then tying all of that back to your future studies at Tufts. Don't be afraid to talk about a class you can't wait to take, or a project you hope to explore while you're in school. Just make sure that you're balancing talking about why you're curious with your academic plans. You don't want this to sound exactly like your "Why Tufts?" essay!

The second way you can approach this topic is by choosing something you're curious about that's a passion of yours, even if it isn't related to your major. This has the benefit of showing you're curious about more than just your major field, which is something admissions counselors are looking for.

For example, maybe you want to major in kinesiology, but you love social media and you're curious about how it impacts the ways we behave. You don't have to be majoring in psychology or computer science to write about this topic if you're passionate about it! The trick — and drawback — to going this route is making sure you're still connecting this passion back to your plans as a potential Tufts student. Maybe this curiosity has made you want to join the Tufts Psychology Society so you can learn more about how you can use human behavior and social media to help motivate people in your future career as a physical therapist.

How to Answer Prompt B

This prompt is asking you to write about how your background has shaped your character. Admissions counselors are looking for essays that showcase your thoughtfulness, especially in terms of how your experiences impact you as a person. This is a chance for you to highlight parts of your personality and identity that might not otherwise come across in your admissions materials.

If you choose this essay prompt, you'll want to spend some time figuring out which aspect of your background you want to focus on. Luckily, the prompt gives you a few ideas (family, home, neighborhood, and community) to start with, but you're not limited to those! Maybe you want to talk about an after school program you were a part of, or a sports team you played on for your entire childhood. As long as this experience or environment played a substantial part in your upbringing, it's fair game.

Whatever you choose, make sure you're choosing one thing . Don't talk about your family and your neighborhood and your community. This essay isn't long enough to cover all of that material! Instead, pick one thing and get specific. Explain why was this experience or environment important to you, and go into detail about how it impacted you as a person.

The best answers to this prompt are going to tell a story about your experience that helps readers connect with who you are. Perhaps one of the things that most shaped your character was growing up with five siblings. Tell a story about a specific moment that will help admissions counselors understand what that was like!

And finally, don't forget to connect this back to being a Tufts student by explaining how your character is a good fit for the university. For instance, let's go back to having lots of siblings. Maybe that's taught you to value everyone for their unique personalities because no matter how different you are, everyone brings something special to the table. Because of that, you're excited about making new friends and bringing people together as part of the Tufts community.

How to Answer Prompt C

This prompt is all about social justice. If you're not sure what social justice is, the National Association of Social Workers defines it as "the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities." Put another way, social justice is the fight for equality for everyone regardless of their race, class, or economic status.

To answer this prompt, you'll need to explain how you're learning about, involved in, or fighting for social justice. What steps are you taking to help further this cause in your own life? Note that the prompt uses the term "journey," here. That means admissions counselors aren't expecting you to have this whole "social justice" thing figured out! So don't worry if you haven't arranged a march in your community or taken up donations to help with the Black Lives Matter movement. Admissions counselors are more interested in how you're learning about the social justice movement and making changes in your life to support that cause.

Here's the thing: if you're not part of the social justice movement or aren't comfortable with the idea, do not write this Tufts essay. You're given essay options for a reason! Admissions counselors are trained to sniff out falsehoods, so the worst thing you could do is fib about your social justice work. It's okay if this isn't a good topic for you!

If you do choose this prompt, make sure you start with a story. Did you participate in a march? Have you volunteered with a social justice oriented organization? Telling a specific story about your experience will help readers connect with you as a person. It's also okay if your experience with social justice was talking with a friend about it and realizing that you can do more to support the cause. Like the old saying goes: it's not about the destination — it's about what you're learning in the process.

Also, be honest about what your journey so far. It's okay to say you're still learning, or that the journey has been tough. Admissions counselors value authenticity, and the truth is that fighting for social justice can be hard. Just make sure you're keeping your discussion as positive as you can! Focus on what you've learned and how hard you're trying to make a difference.

And of course, be sure you tie this all back to Tufts. Explain how your understanding of social justice will affect how you participate in your classes and on-campus events. Make it clear that you're going to bring a spirit of equity with you to campus since that's what admissions counselors want to see in future Tufts students.

For BFA, 5-Year BFA+BA/BS at SMFA Applicants:

This section has two required essays. You don't have any choice over which prompts you'll be answering, which eliminates some of the struggle to choose the best option for you.

Prompt #1: The "Why SMFA at Tufts?" Essay

The first prompt, which must be answered in 100 to 150 words, reads:

Which aspects of the Tufts undergraduate experience prompt your application? Why SMFA at Tufts?

This prompt is similar to the "Why Tufts?" essay prompt, but with a slightly different focus. SMFA at Tufts is the School of the Museum of Fine arts program at Tufts , so it's definitely for those interested in the arts.

The admissions office wants to see you demonstrate what exactly draws you to this school over others, and what specifically drives you to seek an art degree . What will you get out of Tufts that you couldn't get elsewhere? How will an art degree enrich your life, and how will you use that degree in the future?

Colleges want to foster intellectual growth in their communities, which is why they ask for more than a standard "this is a good school" answer. They want to know why you want to attend, but they also want to know what you're bringing to the community .

Browsing Tufts and SMFA at Tufts galleries are a great way to get some inspiration. Can you see your artwork fitting in there? What will you offer that isn't already represented?

Think about art that you've created or art that you want to create . How will Tufts help you get there? What makes you want to pursue an art degree, rather than art as a supplement to another field? Clearly articulating your interest and commitment will demonstrate that you're a good fit for Tufts to the admissions office.

Prompt #2: The Art Prompt

The second prompt, also with a 200 to 250 word count, reads:

Art has the power to disrupt our preconceptions, shape public discourse, and imagine new ways of being in the world. What are the ideas you'd like to explore in your work?

This question dives a little bit deeper into your artistic mind. It's not enough to create art that is beautiful on a surface level—Tufts wants to know that you're thinking about your art meaningfully, too .

This prompt is essentially an artist's statement , though it's focused more on your artistic intent on a large scale rather than on an individual piece. Look through some of your favorite art you've created and think about common themes and recurring ideas, even if you didn't intend for them to be there . What concepts are you trying to explore, even subconsciously?

Consider not just what your art looks or sounds like, but also what it's made of and why you chose to make it that way. Think beyond availability or ease of use—always keep the question of "why" in your mind.

Themes are good, but try not to go too general or invent something that isn't there. Much of art is about capturing beauty, so try to think deeper than that. And if you're going to claim that your art critiques or represents something, you need to be able to demonstrate that— analyze what you've created to show how it connects to your themes, don't simply project something over the top and hope that admissions officers don't notice it wasn't really there .

What Do Tufts Essays That Worked Look Like?

Thankfully, Tufts University isn't shy about putting accepted essays online for applicants to browse. While some of these essays apply to older topics, they'll still help you get a sense of what admissions counselors are looking for in excellent students (and their essays).

"Why Tufts?" Essay That Worked

I vividly remember stepping onto the roof of Tisch Library and seeing a group of kids sitting in hammocks, overlooking the Boston skyline. I briefly tuned out my tour guide's presentation and began to eavesdrop. The students covered everything from physics to what they had for lunch that day. When they spoke about physics, they did not speak with pretension; instead they spoke with passion. Likewise, when they spoke about something as simple as lunch, they did so with witty intrigue. Tufts students are as interesting as they are interested. This description not only resonates with me, it defines me.

This essay does an excellent job of answering the questions at the core of the "Why Tufts?" essay. The writer channels an experience they had while at Tufts, detailing how listening in on other students solidified their desire to attend. They use words like "passion" to describe Tufts students, showing traits they also want to channel.

The ending really hits on something important: this student wanted to be part of the student body because the students they overheard were not only interesting people, but also interested . Remember the prompts mention of being "intellectually playful?" This is the perfect way to demonstrate curiosity, interest, and love of learning int he specific context of Tufts .

"What Have You Created?" Essay That Worked

This essay applies to an older prompt that asked students to talk about one of their creations. Here's what this student had to say:

When people talk about building something, creating it, they most often mean something physical. Engineers, architects, and laborers, these are the professions that I think of as making things. I've never been much of a builder, I lack that particular understanding of the world that is required to envision what you will build, and have never been coordinated enough to make much of anything with my hands, but I can create. What I have made is not something you can hold or touch, it spans no gaps and holds no weight, and I can't even claim to have laid a single finger on its construction. My creation is a poem, or rather, poems. Series of letters symbolic of sounds strung together to make words, which are in turn collected into lines and stanzas, pieces of a whole. My poems cannot be touched, but they can touch you; though they won't form a bridge, they can cross a divide; and while you'll never be able to weigh them on a scale, the weight of the ideas they hold can be felt the moment you read them. So I may not be an engineer or an architect or a laborer, but I am a creator. I craft words into meaning, forge lines into rhymes, and sculpt imaginations. So even if I can't hold what I make, I can watch it take shape and see its impact on the world.

This essay does an excellent job of answering the question not just by stating the answer, but by embodying it . It's clear that the student is a writer; their language is vivid, immediate, and playful, demonstrating how strong their grasp is on word meanings and sentence structure.

Importantly, this essay doesn't disparage other disciplines—it interprets poetry using language physical creators might use, such as "spans," "bridge," and "weight.

There's a great deal of creativity and intellectual play in this essay, which serve to set the writer apart from students who might have focused more on the existence of the thing they'd built (a souped-up car engine, for example) than the function of the thing they'd built (a souped-up car engine that reduces carbon emissions, for example).

When tackling this prompt, think about how you, too, can exemplify your creation in your essay .

Think like a dolphin: smart and playful!

Key Points for Your Tufts Essays

Best practices for Tufts essays are similar to other schools, but there are some special considerations to keep in mind.

Pay Attention to Tufts' Intellectual Bent

Tufts makes a point of using words like "playful" and "intellectual." These suggest a curiosity about the world that goes beyond wanting to attend a good school because it's a good school. Keep them in mind as you're writing— how can you demonstrate your own curiosity and interest in the world?

Remember That Tufts Is a Research University

You'll be interacting more with graduate students than you would in other settings . Not only will this give you a leg up in applying to grad school, but it will also grant you the opportunity to think more deeply than if you were only exposed to other undergrads.

Demonstrating an interest in learning from other students and participating in a learning community is a great way to show that you're interested in the unique experience of attending a research university.

Choose the Prompts That Are Right for You

Because Tufts has two different sets of prompts depending which school you'll be attending, be sure you select the right ones. Further, be sure you really maximize each prompt's potential— the rest of your application covers academics, so use your essay to showcase what really makes you stand out .

What's Next?

Before you get started on writing your essays, you'll want to know what kind of admission requirements Tufts has . Great essays are important, but you should also demonstrate academic success!

Plan to get the best scores possible on your standardized tests, too. Reading about ACT and GPA requirements ahead of time can help you plan your academic strategy, as can reading about SAT requirements . Use these guides to get a head start!

Melissa Brinks graduated from the University of Washington in 2014 with a Bachelor's in English with a creative writing emphasis. She has spent several years tutoring K-12 students in many subjects, including in SAT prep, to help them prepare for their college education.

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9 Tips for Writing Exceptional Supplemental Essays for College Admissions

When applying to college, the Personal Statement essay for the Common Application and/or Coalition Application is often only one of the essays you’ll be required to write. Many universities include their own school-specific prompts. These statements, known as supplemental essays, are additional pieces of writing that allow admissions officers the chance to get to know students better.

Here are some helpful tips for writing your best college supplemental essays:

Confirm which colleges on your list require supplemental essays . The supplemental writing prompts can be found on the college’s application. The essay may be found under the section marked “Application Essay Questions,” under “Writing Supplement,” or they can be hidden somewhere else. When you add a school to your list, you can access the prompts you’ll need to answer within the college’s supplemental sections, but make sure to look around. The International College Counselors website  also has a pretty comprehensive list of many of the supplemental writing prompts.

Read the supplemental essay prompt carefully.  Colleges ask a variety of questions. This year, college prompts inquire about your interest in a specific program or major, why you want to attend their college, your community service involvement, your resiliency, your favorite word, and numerous other topics. If the prompt asks about an individual program, be as specific as you can – do your research on the college’s website. Don’t respond by writing about the college as a whole.

Write about yourself.  Every essay is an opportunity to present information about yourself that will make colleges want to admit you. Even in a “Why X School” supplement, you should be sharing something positive about yourself. Even in essays of 20 words or fewer!

Don’t repeat your Common App or Coalition App Main Essay.  Each essay should reveal something new about yourself. You can re-mention an activity you’ve listed on your application, but each essay should add something that can’t be found anywhere else in your application.

Do your research.  When a college’s prompt asks why you want to attend this college, mention specific details like courses and programs of interest to you at that school. Everything you mention, including organizations, should tie into the goals and interests you describe in your application. Learn about the college and what its admissions readers might be looking for in their applicants.

Work smarter: re-use your essays!  If two or more colleges ask similar questions, don’t hesitate to recycle one of your stories. Just check over your work. You don’t want to be careless and paste in a college-specific essay or details for the wrong school.

There are no optional essays.  If a college says the essays are optional, always write them.

Don’t exceed the word count.  Many colleges won’t allow you to submit essays which exceed the maximum word count, while many others have minimum word counts that you’ll also need to meet.

Let us help you.  The expert college advising team at International College Counselors can make essay writing easier by guiding you regarding what to write about and how to write it.

For more information on how to best answer supplemental essay questions or with any or all parts of the college admissions process, visit  www.internationalcollegecounselors.com  or call 1-954 414-9986.

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4 Tips for Writing the Supplemental Essays for UPenn

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by Aja Altenhof in a CollegeVine Livestream. You can watch the full Livestream for more info.

What’s Covered:

• Write an Attention-Grabbing Introduction
• Be Mindful of the Word Count Mindfulness
• Writing Quality: Formal vs Informal

Reread, Proofread, and Reread Again

The University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn) three supplemental short answer prompts are significantly important to their admissions decisions. Below are some tips that will help you make the most of your 200 word count per prompt. 

For more information on UPenn’s supplemental prompts, essays, and writing dos and don’ts, check out our post on how to write UPenn’s supplemental essays .

Write an Attention-Grabbing Introduction 

Your essay’s introduction has to work very quickly at grabbing the reader’s attention. You want to get right into the action quickly and immediately be thought provoking. 

These essays are very short; as a result, you cannot spend as much time developing a hook as you would in the Common App essay, or a more narrative structured essay. Check out this article for more information on how to start a college essay to hook your reader .

Be Mindful of the Word Count

Try and be as close to the word count as possible. Generally 190-195 words can suffice, but 175 is too few words and, in most cases, can be a missed opportunity. 25 words equates to two additional sentences that you could be using to expand on your answer, tell the reader more about yourself, or add more information in your application. 

As you attempt to get as close to the word count as possible, be sure that you don’t include so much information that you go over the word count. Exceeding the word count is a major error when writing any college essay.

Writing Quality: Formal vs Informal 

While you should remember not to include large amounts of information in your essay, also be sure not to sacrifice writing quality in your shorter answers. Reviewers will still be using these prompts to assess your writing ability. You want to be clear and concise, but that doesn’t mean your writing has to be short or similar to your Common App essay . 

Provide a mix of formal and informal answers to your essays. You want to find a balance between conciseness and keeping a style that reflects who you are, what you think, and why by making your writing engaging and interesting to read. Doing this will allow you to express different sides of your personality in different tones in your writing, allowing you to create a really complete picture of who you are as a person and as a prospective UPenn student. This will show what you will bring to their community through your voice and your creativity.

The final tip is to reread your 200 word essays and edit them down to be more concise. You’ve got to accomplish a lot in your 200 words, so the emphasis when proofreading should be on clarity in your writing. You want to make sure that your 200 words are effective and address the prompt in a way that’s going to really grab the reader’s attention. 

Proofreading your essay is important, but when rereading for answer quality, you must be very precise in the context of your answer. It can also help to get a second pair of eyes reviewing your essay, such as those of a parent, teacher, or guidance counselor. The experts on  CollegeVine are also available for Essay Reviews to help lend that competitive advantage. 

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