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Sample Supplemental Essay for College Admissions: Why This College?

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Most college applicants fail to put adequate time into a supplemental college essay. The Common Application's personal essay allows a student to write a single essay for multiple colleges. The supplemental college essay, however, needs to be different for every application. Thus, it's tempting to dash off a generic and vague piece that can be used at multiple schools, resulting in a  weak essay .

Don't make this mistake. Your "Why This College" essay must be specific, demonstrating a high level of interest in and commitment to this particular school. To better understand how to ace this supplemental essay prompt, let's analyze a sample essay written for Oberlin College .

The essay prompt reads:

"Given your interests, values, and goals, explain why Oberlin College will help you grow (as a student and a person) during your undergraduate years."

Sample Supplemental Essay

I visited 18 colleges over the past year, yet Oberlin is the one place that most spoke to my interests. Early in my college search I learned that I prefer a liberal arts college to a larger university. The collaboration between the faculty and undergraduate students, the sense of community, and the flexible, interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum are all important to me. Also, my high school experience was greatly enriched by the diversity of the student body, and I am impressed by Oberlin’s rich history and its current efforts connected to inclusiveness and equality. To say the least, I’d be proud to say I attended the first coeducational college in the country.

I plan to major in Environmental Studies at Oberlin. After my campus tour , I took some extra time to visit the Adam Joseph Lewis Center. It’s an amazing space and the students I chatted with spoke highly of their professors. I became truly interested in issues of sustainability during my volunteer work in the Hudson River Valley, and everything I’ve learned about Oberlin makes it seem the ideal place for me to continue exploring and building upon those interests. I am also impressed by Oberlin’s Creativity and Leadership Project. I’ve been a bit of an entrepreneur ever since second grade when I made a dollar producing and performing The Runaway Bunny for my extended family. I’m drawn to a program that supports the move from classroom learning to creative hands-on, real-world applications.

Finally, as the rest of my application clearly demonstrates, music is an important part of my life. I’ve been playing the trumpet since fourth grade, and I hope to continue performing and developing my skills throughout college. What better place than Oberlin to do so? With more performances than days in the year and a large group of talented musicians in the Conservatory of Music, Oberlin is an ideal place for exploring my love of both music and the environment.

Understanding the Essay Prompt

To understand the strength of the essay, we must first look at the prompt: the admissions officers at Oberlin want you to "explain why Oberlin College will help you grow." This sounds straightforward, but be careful. You're not being asked to explain how college, in general, will help you grow, nor are you being asked how attending a small liberal arts school will help you grow. The admissions offers want to hear how  Oberlin , in particular, will help you grow, so the essay needs to include specific information about Oberlin College.

A strong "Why This College" essay will make a case for why the school in question is a good fit for the student. The case should be made by connecting facts about the school—unique opportunities, educational values, campus culture, et cetera—with the student's goals, values, and interests.

From the Admissions Desk

"We want to see [in the "Why This School" essay] that students understand the unique educational model at High Point University. We know that students have access to more information than ever before and that most colleges focus on the classroom experience. We want students who desire 25% of their time to be experiential ... who want to grow as people of character with strong values and to fully immerse themselves in our life skills education."

–Kerr Ramsay Vice President for Undergraduate Admissions, High Point University

A good way to see if you've responded to the prompt well is to swap out the name of the college you're applying to with the name of any other college. If the essay still makes sense once you do a global replace of the school name, you haven't written a good supplemental essay.

A Critique of the Supplemental Essay

The sample essay certainly succeeds on this front. If we were to substitute "Kenyon College" for "Oberlin College" in the essay, the essay would not make sense. The details in the essay are unique to Oberlin. Demonstrated interest can play a meaningful role in the admissions process, and this applicant has clearly demonstrated that she knows Oberlin well and her interest in the school is sincere.

Let's look at some of the essay's strengths:

• The first paragraph makes several important points. First of all, we learn that the applicant has visited Oberlin. This may not seem like a big deal, but you'd be surprised how many students apply to a large number of colleges based on nothing but the schools' reputations. Also, the student notes that she wants to go to a  liberal arts college , not a larger  university . This information isn't really specific to Oberlin, but it does show that she has thought about the options available to her. The final point in this first paragraph gets more specific—the applicant is familiar with Oberlin and knows the school's socially progressive history.
• The second paragraph is really the heart of this essay—the applicant wants to major in Environmental Studies, and she is clearly impressed with the program at Oberlin. She has visited the Environmental Studies building, and she knows of some of the unique opportunities offered at Oberlin. She has even talked with Oberlin students. This paragraph can't help but make a favorable impression on the admissions folks—the applicant is drawn to Oberlin, and she clearly knows exactly  why  she likes Oberlin.
• The final paragraph adds another important dimension to the application. Not only does the student find the Environmental Studies program attractive, but her love of music makes Oberlin an even better match. Oberlin has a top-rated music conservatory, so the applicant's dual love of music and Environmental Studies makes Oberlin a natural match for her.

Admissions officers can't help but feel that Oberlin is a great match for this applicant. She knows the school well, and her interests and goals line up perfectly with Oberlin's strengths. This short essay will certainly be a positive piece of her application.

A Final Word About Supplemental Essays

The content of your supplemental essay is extremely important, and poor decisions on this front can lead to a weak supplemental essay . But content isn't everything. You also need to focus on the presentation of your ideas. Make sure your essay is entirely free of any grammatical errors, and be sure to avoid common stylistic problems . The admissions officers need to conclude that you are sincerely interested in attending their school and that you are an excellent writer.

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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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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.

Avoid These College Application Mistakes

Courtney Rubin and Cole Claybourn July 26, 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answer the Question

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

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

Start With an Outline

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

Don't Repeat Yourself

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

Narrow Your Focus

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

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

Maintain Your Voice

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

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

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College Supplemental Essays That Worked: Tips & Inspiration

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• application strategy
• college application essays
• expert advice

As summer winds down, it’s time to start thinking about supplemental essays as well! How do they fit into your college application?

College supplemental essays are what makes the application process so challenging. With students applying to 5-8 schools and each school requiring 2-3 additional writing supplements, students are looking at writing 25 essays (including the personal statement!) in 4 months time.

That doesn’t end up being a lot of time, especially given the effort that goes into  brainstorming, writing and editing each essay.

While it’s tempting, students shouldn’t reuse application essays. Most supplemental essays prompts are tailored to the university and reflects what the university is looking for in their student body. Thus, you should also tailor your response to the schools you’re applying to in order to demonstrate good fit.

Supplemental essays may initially seem tedious, but they offer applicants a great opportunity to share more about themselves. You can elaborate on your extracurriculars, your interest in a specific major, your cultural background, or just something unique about yourself that’s not represented in your academics or resume.

Here are 5 supplemental essay writing tips to help you make the most out of them and craft a winning application:

Supplemental Essay Tip 1: Bigger Picture

View your application holistically. Don’t just focus on your personal statement or your supplemental essays, or even your SAT/ACT score as individual components of your application. If they are reviewed by the admissions office altogether, you should aim to do the same. Think of the bigger picture.

Why is this important? To make sure you’ve highlighted everything you want to about yourself in your application. Think strategically about your grades, test scores, classes you took, extracurriculars and recommendation letters—what will each of these components highlight about you? These are things that reflect your high school career that you can no longer change. So consider these anchoring points that you can build off of. 

Is there a particular passion of yours that isn’t readily apparent from reviewing other parts of your application?  Maybe you want to devote more room to discussing a specific major you want to pursue. Or perhaps it’s an extracurricular you dedicated 4 years too that didn’t get much airtime in your personal statement. While your personal statement should highlight the most integral part of your identity, your supplements are a great place to elaborate on aspects of your candidacy that more fully develop you as an applicant. Remember to tie your essays back to why you’re a good fit for the schools you’re applying to.

Read more: UChicago Supplemental Essay Prompts 2018-2019

Supplemental Essay Tip 2: Do Your Research

Supplemental essay prompts are developed by the university’s admissions office, and are often inspired by past successful applicants. You can tell a lot about a university based on their supplemental essay prompts and what they want to know more about from their applicants. In order to respond accordingly, it’s important you do your research.

Research comes in many different ways. You can explore and read the university website or blog, follow them on social media channels, reach out to professors or current students, or visit campus. The point is to learn as much as you can about the school you’re applying to. More than being able to respond to the essay prompts, it’s crucial to make sure you’re applying to the right school for you. Consider incorporating details from the information session or the overnight stay that highlight aspects of the school that appeal to you. It’s also an opportunity to discuss a fact that may be lesser known or speak to an experience that’s personal to you; the more specific you can be about your interest in the school, the better.

Supplemental Essay Tip 3: Know Your Essay Prompts

Universities that require additional supplemental essays usually come in 4 categories of prompts. They will either ask you to respond to one of these prompts, or a combination of the following:

1. ‘Why Us’ School Specific Supplement

This is probably the most common supplemental essay question that is required. With increasing applications every year, universities want to be able to set applicants apart based on why they want to attend their institution. Do applicants really understand what the university stands for? Do they know what the campus culture is like and would they be a good fit? And finally, if accepted, how would they contribute to university’s community?

This is where your research is important. Based on your understanding of the university, respond in relation to your own strengths. This then ties back to thinking about the bigger picture. Is there a quality that makes the university a great fit for you and vice versa? Or a specific major you’re interested in that would be best studied at this institution? This is how all these different elements come together!

Big universities with many different undergraduate schools and colleges will typically offer this as their only additional supplement. If you need help on this particular supplemental essay, here are some tips and examples for the Why NYU supplemental essay  and the Why Cornell supplemental essay . 

2. Extracurricular Supplement

Some universities will ask you to elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. This is a great opportunity for you to share more about your extracurricular resume, especially if you haven’t been able to highlight too much of it in your personal statement. If you come across this supplement, choose the extracurricular that was most important to you, or perhaps the one you’d like to continue to pursue in college.

Admissions offices ask for this supplement to see how you’ve engaged in your community, what you enjoy doing outside of the classroom, and what you’ve learned by participating in it. College isn’t just about going to class, so they want to see how else you’d potentially engage with the rest of the student body if given the opportunity.

This supplement is often disguised as a community question. For example, how have you contributed to your community and what would you contribute to our community? Schools like MIT  and Princeton  both ask for this supplement.

3. Unique Question Supplement

This supplement is usually the one that stumps most applicants. Universities will offer multiple thought provoking essay prompts for applicants to respond to. While it gives students a lot of freedom to be creative and share something different about themselves, it also takes up a lot of time when they are brainstorming and responding to this prompt.

The most stressful part of the process is just breaking down the essay prompts to figure out what they are really trying to ask you. Take Boston College’s supplemental essay prompts  for example. All the prompts are 2-3 sentences long and cover a lot ground. Follow our blog to get the breakdown of all the different supplemental essay prompts. It’ll make it easier for you to choose which one to respond to, and what to write about.

Finally, don’t forget to think about the bigger picture. Go back to the qualities you want to show off with your application and see if there is an essay prompt that gives you the opportunity to do that.

4. Short Questions

Last but not least, there are the short questions. A few universities will have a few questions for you to list out your favorite film, book, website, role model, and so on. This is another way for the admissions office to learn more about you as an individual. Don’t agonize over these short questions and waste too much time on them. Just be genuine about who you are and let your voice come through in how you answer these (meaning word choice and tone). It’ll read authentically to the admissions officer if you do. 

Supplemental Essay Tip 4: Be Genuine

If there’s one advice that is constantly reiterated by people in the college admissions field, it’s this: “Be Genuine.” It seems intuitive, but it is a hard to do when you are trying to appeal to these selective universities to choose you over thousands of other applicants. It goes without saying that you certainly should not lie about anything in your application, and also be careful you’re not exaggerating any of your achievements. When applicants try to make certain activities sound more impressive than they are, this often backfires. Same goes for trying to sound too mature or intellectual; if your essay doesn’t sound like your writing, it’s easy to spot (admissions officers have been doing this a long time!). Give the admissions officers a chance to know the real you, and they, too, will give you a chance at their university.

Read more: UNC Chapel Hill 2018-2019 Essay Prompts

Supplemental Essay Tip 5: Pay Attention to Detail & Plan Ahead

At best, you won’t have any supplemental essays to write (woohoo!). At worst, you’ll have 24 additional writing requirements. So, finalize your school list and create a list of supplemental essay prompts you have to respond to. You don’t want to find out late in the game you’ve missed a prompt for one of your schools, and have to scramble last minute.

One more time: think about the bigger picture. Consider all  the major themes you want to convey with your essays, then attribute them accordingly to each essay prompt. Look at your application as whole and strategize what you should emphasize in what essay. It’ll be helpful to plan ahead, so it doesn’t feel like you’re starting fresh every time you begin a new supplemental essay—you have a plan.

Don’t slack off just because these are “supplemental” essays. They should receive the same kind of attention as your personal statement. Get your friends, family or a trusted teacher to proofread them. Everything you submit with your application should be meaningful and impactful. Make everything count.

If there are any additional supplemental essay prompts you need help breaking down, comment the school name below! For supplemental essay examples, you can now search by supplemental essay topics on our search page. Or, you can check out our curated packages to find what you’re looking! For further access, upgrade to our  premium plans  offer different levels of profile access and data insights that can help you get into your dream school. 

About The Author

Frances was born in Hong Kong and received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University. She loves super sad drama television, cooking, and reading. Her favorite person on Earth isn’t actually a member of the AdmitSee team - it’s her dog Cooper.

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Supplemental Essays Guide: How to Write, Tips & Examples

Reviewed by:

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Reviewed: 9/11/23

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

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

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

Let’s get started!

What are Supplemental Essays? 

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

How Important are Supplemental Essays?

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

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

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

What are Colleges Looking For in Supplemental Essays? 

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

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

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

How to Write Different Supplemental Essay Prompts

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

The “Why Us?” Essay

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

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

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

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

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

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

‍ “Why Us?” Essay Sample from Columbia University:

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

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

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

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

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

The “Why This Major?” Essay

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why This Major" Essay Sample from Yale:

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

Why this essay works: 

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

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

The Adversity Essay

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

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

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

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

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

Adversity Essay Sample from Harvard University:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Community/Diversity Essay

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

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

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

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

Community/Diversity Essay Sample from Duke University:

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

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

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

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

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

The Extracurricular Essay

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

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

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

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

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

Extracurricular Essay Sample from Yale:

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

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

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

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

Why this essay is successful: 

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

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

College Supplemental Essay Length 

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

Short Essay

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

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

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

Medium Essay 

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

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

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

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

Long Essay 

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

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

How to Write School-Specific Supplemental Essays? 

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

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

These guides will help you write stellar essays!

FAQs: Supplemental Essays

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

1. Do Colleges Care About Supplemental Essays?

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

2. What to Include in Supplemental Essays?

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

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

3. When Should I Start My Supplemental Essays?

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

4. Are Supplemental Essays Hard?

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

5. How Do I Start Writing My Supplemental Essay?

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

6. Where Do You Submit Supplemental Essays? 

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

Final Thoughts

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

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

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

Good luck with your essays!

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Blog > Essay Advice , Supplementals > How to Write a Why This Major Supplemental Essay (with Examples)

How to Write a Why This Major Supplemental Essay (with Examples)

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Alex McNeil, MA Admissions Consultant

Key Takeaway

Great Why This Major essays convince the reader that you really know why you want to study something in particular. They blend stories about experiences with a more reflective tone about what a subject means to the writer. 

This post is one in a series of posts about the supplemental essays. You can read our core “how-to” supplemental post here .

What is a Why this Major supplemental essay?

The "Why this Major" college essay is one of the most common types of supplemental essays you'll encounter while applying to college.

It asks you to talk about your academic interests and to comment on the major or majors that you're considering at the school in question. Here's an example of a Why this Major prompt:

Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections.

The Why this Major is similar but not the same as a more general "academic interest" essay . This essay requires you to focus on the college major and its specific offerings. So writing about the broader academic climate of a particular school will not suffice.

In this post we're going to talk about how to approach a Why this Major essay strategically. We'll look at how to do school-specific research for this type of essay and go into some great examples from this genre of college essay.

Why this Major Essay Strategy

Like with other genres of supplemental essays, the best place to start is usually figuring out what admissions officers are really looking for by assigning this essay.

A college experience involves a lot of things outside of the classroom, but universities are first and foremost places of academic learning. And your learning experience will likely be defined by the major you end up pursuing. Why this Major essays ask you to consider your learning trajectory through the lens of a major.

This may seem obvious, but the focus on major has implications for your school research (which we'll get to in a moment) and on your goals for the essay.

When admissions officers read these essays, they're looking for evidence of three things:

1) Academic Fit

Any essay focusing on academics, whether a Why Major essay or a more general academic interest essay, is a tool for admissions officers to gauge your academic fit with the school.

As we've discussed more deeply in other posts , academic fit ( or school fit) is one of the biggest criteria that admissions officers use to evaluate candidates. At most highly selective schools, applicants are assigned a numeric score that measures their "fit" with the institution and its offerings. These scores are built directly into the calculus schools use to determine who gets in and who doesn't.

One of the main reasons schools require supplemental essays is to gauge school fit. And Why Major essays, out of all supplemental essays, are one of the best ways for an admissions officer to get a sense of whether you fit with their school's offerings.

That being the case, your Why Major essay needs to make a case for school fit. It needs to show that you're educated about the specific academic opportunities offered by the school and that you have a gameplan for taking advantage of those resources if you were admitted.

In other words, the Why Major essay is your chance to show that you would be an effective member of the school's academic community.

2) A sense that you've researched what a given major offers you in particular

Why Major essays, as I've mentioned, are importantly different from more general "academic interest" essays. For one thing, they ask you to talk specifically about majors.

This distinction matters a lot. Being able to talk coherently about a major requires you to have done some research. You need to have a sense of what kind of courses are offered (or required) in the program, what concentrations might be offered within the major, and any other major-specific resources and details might be relevant.

What's the difference between a molecular biology major and a biology major? Well, if you're writing a Why Major essay for a school that offers both, you should probably have the answer to that question on deck.

Again, admissions officers reading your Why Major essay want to get a sense that you've thought about what it would mean to study something particular. Maybe the major you're looking at has a senior capstone where you're able to go into the field and do research. Amazing, write about that!

3) Intellectual curiosity

On a more general level, the Why Major essay is an opportunity to showcase intellectual curiosity and a willingness to explore. It can be an essential part of your application narrative .

Even though majors are somewhat specific, there's still plenty of room for interdisciplinary study and exploration. Why Major essays are a great place to talk about the questions you don't have answers to, but that you'd love to explore through a particular major or intersection of majors.

In a Why Major essay, much of these three goals will be accomplished through school-specific research. We’ll talk about how to do that in a moment.

One thing to mention before we move on: because Why Major essays are tied to specific academic programs, you’ll want to avoid spending too much time (any time?) talking about the larger culture of the university. That might be appropriate in a more general “why us” essay, but not here.

How to do Why this Major Essay school research

When you're doing a Why Us essay, you might start your school research by looking at the school's "about us" section or their mission statement.

Why Major essays will require you to start your research at a more focused level, likely on the homepage of the major or department that you're writing about.

So let's start there. If you aren't sure which major you want to write about (totally normal) your first stop might be to poke around the different academic offerings at the school.

Once you find a major that you're interested in writing about, go deep into the homepage for the major. Your goal should be to find information about the major that you can use to build your "case" for school fit. Ideally, the details you pull out will relate in some shape or form to past experiences, internships, research experiences, etc., that are part of your resume.

Some places to start the search:

• Faculty : I usually suggest that students take a peek at the faculty page for the major and spend some time reading through faculty bios. Most bios will give you a clear sense of the professor's research interests. Your goal should be to find someone who has a research interest/focus that aligns with something you'd be interested in studying. You don't need to have done related work in the past for this to be effective. What matters is that you can create a plausible case for working with that professor to study an area of common interest.
• Coursework : Another necessary stopping point as you do your major interest is the coursework page for the major or department. This can be tricky to find at some schools. You can usually find it by googling "[School name] [major name] courses"—"Pomona college biology courses," for example. Once you find the course page, look for a course or two that, again, fits your research or academic interests. You don't have to have a clear research interest in mind. It's always OK to lead with curiosity and with questions. When referencing a course in your Why Major essay, for example, you can talk about the kind of questions that course X would help you explore. This is an honest way to demonstrate fit and interest without having to pretend that you have things more figured out than you do. Take note of a course or two that appeals to you. These are great points of reference for these essays.
• Learning objectives : Another invaluable piece of information for a Why Major essay is the department learning objectives page. Usually, majors and departments will spell out the kind of skills they hope their students will have gained by the time they finish their major. These objects are like mini mission statements, but particular to each major. Taking time to digest the learning objectives, and reflecting on them in your essay, is a great way to show you've done your research and that you align with what the school or program is looking for.
• Lecture Series : Another good way to authentically demonstrate research and fit with a major is to look at the events that the program has hosted recently. Most majors / departments will host some form of lecture series, inviting speakers to share research or thoughts about interesting topics. Scroll through recent events until you find one that sounds interesting, then bring it up in your Why Major essay. P.S., it doesn't really matter how long ago the event was. Even if the lecture was held in 2015, it's still fair game to say that "you'd love to be involved in talks like..."
• Internships : Finally, you could look at the opportunities that the major / department sets up for its students outside of the classroom. Some academic programs focus heavily on getting their students into the workplace by facilitating internship placements.

Overall, your goal should be to find authentic, relevant pieces of information that build a case for your fit with the major. If you have major-relevant experiences on your resume, and you can find particular professors, courses, or opportunities that synergize with your experiences — even better.

Remember, though, that your Why Major essay shouldn't just be a list of references to the department. While you should probably check out professors, courses, and all of the above for all of your Why Major essays, you probably SHOULDN'T include all of those categories in any one essay. Be strategic and sparing — drop references that are truly relevant to you and get at areas of authentic curiosity and interest.

How to write a Why this Major supplemental essay

OK, we've talked about strategy and research — but how do you actually structure a Why Major essay?

I usually recommend finding a universal hook that relates to your academic interest. A hook is one of the most useful and versatile tools you can build for yourself while writing college essays. Here's an example of a good one:

Hooks do two things. First, they get the essay off to an engaging start by providing a touch of action. Second, hooks create a narrative bridge to an academic subject, embedding an intellectual topic in the real context of your life.

A hook doesn't need to be long — in fact, it shouldn't be. Why Major essays are NOT about telling a story: they're about answering the prompt and showing that you've done your research.

Once you have your hook, your next step might be to reflect a bit about the major area you've chosen to write about. You can talk about when and why you became interested in the subject. This might mean giving a brief recap about an experience you've had that relates to the major area. This section shouldn't be too long, just enough to give some background about your relationship to the field of study.

Next, you're going to transition into the bulk of the essay, where you talk about the major in question. This section is where you'll talk about the things that interest you most about the major and what you'd hope to accomplish studying it.

This is likely where you'll be introducing the research you did. You can talk openly about the courses you'd want to take, the professors you'd learn from, and the opportunities the department / major would offer you. If you've had past experiences relevant to the major, you should frame your research as an opportunity to build on or go deeper into those experiences.

This is a great time to bring up questions that you'd hope to explore as a student in the major. What are you curious about? What could you see yourself researching? It's OK to not have all the answers, and to say this in your essay, but do your best to suggest a possible area of exploration that would occupy your focus in the major.

Finally, you might want to focus on how the opportunities offered by the major will support your vision for who you want to become after graduation. Maybe you want to have a career in sports psychology, or go on to study medicine in graduate school. Don't be afraid to talk about how the major will set you up to explore these pathways and figure out what's right for you.

Talking about future-you can be a great way to give admissions officers a sense of your fit with the major. If your goal is to go into the medical field, and you know that a particular liberal arts college's biology program sends 87% of graduates on to graduate school, you should definitely bring that up as a reason for applying. It shows maturity, a sense of clarity about what you want for your future, and it'll give a reader the sense that you've done your homework.

Connecting your interest in the major with your vision for your future is always a good look. It shows that you're connecting the dots between the academic pathway right in front of you and your longer-term goals.

Why this Major Supplemental Essay Example

Example essay: gen-z votes.

27%.((Intriguing hook.))

That((In this paragraph, the writer shows clear knowledge of their field of interest.)) was the number of voters aged 18-29 who voted in the 2022 midterm elections. That number was actually up about 7 percentage points from 2018, which saw the highest voter turnout in a midterm election in 100 years.

Gen Z is showing up. And I believe my generation will save our country.

My peers and I are the most diverse and progressive generation the world has ever seen. We are ready to combat climate change and mass shootings, protect healthcare and promote mental health, and fight global warming. And, unlike previous generations, our youngest voters are showing up at record numbers – but it is still too low.

That’s why I started my organization, Gen-Z Votes. What started as a class project morphed into a multi-high school movement, then a statewide campaign, and now leads me to apply to the political science major at Michigan((The writer explicitly connects their accomplishment with the reason they want to major in political science at Michigan.)) . I am also excited to explore the liberal arts curriculum in LSA and learn more about philosophy, economics, and communication.

When recruiting peers to help lead Gen-Z Votes, I quickly learned two things: different members had different political priorities and also brought different strengths to the table. When we needed someone to meet with the superintendent to inform them of our plan to organize a walk out to protest gun violence, Brian’s ease in communication made him the man for the job. When we designed posters for a voter registration drive, Julia put her graphic design skills to work.

Similarly, I find that the global issues we care about cannot be addressed by one perspective((Clear strengths: initiative and collaboration)) . If we want to combat climate change we need scientists but we also need to recruit philosophers, musicians, and writers to the cause. I am excited to explore the broad curriculum at Michigan, join the UMICH Votes organization, and bring my breadth of experience to politics after Michigan.

Want to see even more supplemental essay examples? Check out our  college essay examples post . 

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How to Write Every Type of Supplemental Essay

What are supplements, school-specific guides and examples, why are supplements important, intellectual curiosity, drive to improve one’s community, determination and resilience, school fit / how you are a particularly good match for a school’s specific culture, where can i find each colleges’ supplements, the 5 main types of supplemental essays, “why do you want to attend [x] school”, “why are you pursuing [x] major”, “how have you overcome challenges or adversity”, “tell us about your….intellectual interests, most meaningful extracurricular activity or community you belong to, background and/or identity…etc.”, "out-of-the-box", consultations, related guides.

• How to Create a Balanced College ListLearn to balance a college list effectively with this guide. Discover safety, reach, and match schools through clear examples, and get advice to develop your customized balanced college list.Read GuideA Quick Guide to Merit Scholarships

Most colleges and universities will ask you to submit, at minimum, one extra essay in addition to the 650 word personal essay. While your grades and test scores lie at the foundation of your college applications, supplements are a key part of the writing “package” that college admissions officers review to decide whether to admit you to their school. Supplemental questions require a range of answers, some as short as 30 words, others, multiple full length essays of up to 1,000 words.

We’ve put together guides for all the top schools! Our school-specific supplement guides go in-depth on how to answer every top school’s supplemental essay question(s), complete with examples!

Your personal statement and supplemental essays are your opportunity to tell your story and let admissions officers hear your voice. Admissions officers rely upon essays to get a sense of your personal characteristics, unique qualities, and your potential to thrive as a student on their campus.

Colleges are looking for students who are outstanding academic performers. That being said, in the holistic review process, they are also looking for evidence of:

The goal of the supplement is to answer one question: “Why are you an especially good match for our school, and not better off at a similar one?” The best way you can improve your odds of admission is to showcase your unique qualities and make a case for why you belong at the colleges you’re applying to through your supplements.

On the other hand, a weak supplement can inadvertently convey disinterest in a school, a lack of care or time invested into the application, and overall is a missed opportunity to help you stand out from other applicants.

If you are not sure where to find prompts for your colleges’ supplements, check colleges’ official admissions websites and the Common App . You’ll typically find prompts for supplements hiding in different nooks and crannies of the Common App, usually under “Writing Supplement” but sometimes under “Questions→ Writing” or “Questions → Activities.” Supplements often take time, research, and multiple drafts– they matter greatly, so as always, start early and seek as much help and as many resources as you need!

Below, you’ll find guides for how to write each school’s specific supplements! Before you jump into the writing process, however, read through our strategic advice for writing winning supplemental essays.

Although it may seem that colleges require an overwhelming amount of writing, bear in mind that most of the supplements you will have to write can be categorized into common categories. This means that you can use the very similar answers to answer similar questions asked by different schools. Strategically recycling your writing will help make your application process much more efficient!

The main types of supplemental questions that come up again and again are:

While you should make sure to tailor your essays very carefully to each school’s prompt and offerings (if your “why school” essay is too interchangeable, for example, it runs the risk of being generic or superficial), reusing the basic structures and stories of your common supplements is a smart strategy.

Other supplements may be much more “out-of-the-box”, such as UChicago’s famous Extended Essay prompts , or other schools’ unique questions about inspirational figures, lists of your best-loved books and media, your favorite snacks, and other esoteric topics. Some of these may be harder to recycle, but surveying all of the prompts for your supplements in advance of drafting and looking for patterns may even reveal recurring unusual prompts–for instance, both Yale University and the University of Virginia ask you to create and explain a hypothetical college course that you could teach.

Your interests will change, but the values of a university are unchanging . If you’re serious about that school, you should know those values. Log on to that university’s website and look through as much material as you can – their mission statement, the college’s leadership, their history, student publications, even their YouTube channel. Talk to as many current students from that school as possible; visit the school and talk to students around campus if you can. While there’s no need to quote their mission statement in your supplements, your writing should be informed by the same kind of mindset and values that you and the university share.

If you are looking for even more guidance on how to respond to common supplemental questions or are seeking out the right strategy for a particular school’s supplement, Command Education offers several resources. Check out our article on “How to Write College Supplements” and read our school-specific supplement guides below to learn how to convince your dream school you’re the right fit for them!

Command Education’s experts take the guesswork out of the college admissions process.

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3 Standout Barnard Essay Examples

Barnard College is not only one of the oldest women’s colleges in the country, but also one of the few that remains all women. Students can, however, take classes and even major at Columbia University, which is located just across the street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

With a very low acceptance rate, Barnard is incredibly selective. When applying to such a competitive school, writing strong essays is one way of ensuring that your application will stand out.

In this post, we will share three Barnard essays written by real students. We will break down what each essay did well and where there is room for improvement to give you a clearer idea of what approach you should take with your own essay! 

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Read our Barnard essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts. 

Essay Example #1

Prompt:  At Barnard, academic inquiry starts with bold questions. What are some of the bold questions you have pondered that get you excited and why do they interest you? Tell us how you would explore these questions at Barnard. (300 words)

There are some questions that can’t be answered through classes. 

Why does cereal taste better in a cup? 

How many bottles of kombucha can I brew in my dorm room? 

Is hitting snooze self care or sabotage? 

These are questions best answered after midnight, half delirious in the dorms as you struggle through math homework. 

Shower questions though, tend to lend themselves more to philosophical discussions. 

Is it ethical, even hypocritical, to make pro-recycling posters out of printer paper? 

If the Bible says everyone is a sinner, why is homosexuality seen as “more sinful”? 

Is it anti-feminist to study primarily male philosophers? 

I’d love to explore these questions at Barnard, in classes like Philosophical Problems of Climate Change, Philosophy, Justice and Social Activism, or Sexuality, Sin and Spirituality, though I’m more certain the discussions would carry on as I sit in Hewitt with friends, discussing how climate change is inherently tied to capitalism and why oat milk is better than almond milk. 

But Barnard would also allow me to explore other facets of my interests. Through classes in the Political Science department like Colloquium on Gender and Public Policy, I can explore questions like how does race and gender affect policy, and how is race and gender affected by policy? I’d also take classes in the English department, seeking to answer deep questions like how can I channel my experiences regarding heavy topics like generational trauma or climate change through art? The class What’s Your Story Anyway?—Trauma Resistance through Creative Writing would help me do just that. 

In short, the multifaceted nature of Barnard, from classes themselves to the way students are encouraged to be more than one thing; student, activist, leader, makes it so exciting to me. Given the chance, I’d love to be bold at Barnard. 

What the Essay Did Well

This essay is captivating, entertaining, and perfectly encapsulates this student—not an easy feat to accomplish in under 300 words! The student could have easily picked one or two questions, but instead she enriched her essay with quirky questions to make for an exciting hook, and then delved into an array of more serious questions that perfectly aligned with the opportunities at Barnard. Opening the essay with cereal, kombucha, and snooze buttons humanizes her and draws in the reader with humorous topics we can relate to.

The philosophical questions are beautifully interwoven with related classes that would provide her with the answers; this is a concrete way to demonstrate exactly how you will explore your questions at Barnard. Again, she offers up five different philosophical questions in the latter half of the essay, and each reveals a new layer of her personality.

The use of succinct and detailed questions allows the reader to gain insight into what this student finds important without lengthy sentences explaining their interests and values. “ Is it ethical, even hypocritical, to make pro-recycling posters out of printer paper?” shows us their passion for climate justice and protesting with the posters they make. We might conclude they are religious and possibly have an identity that contrasts with their faith from this question: “ If the Bible says everyone is a sinner, why is homosexuality seen as “more sinful”?”

Because this student chose her questions with intention, each one brings a new element to the essay and helps the reader piece together all the different aspects of her personality.

What Could Be Improved

While this essay is very strong, one thing the student could have considered is including opportunities at Barnard besides exclusively referring to classes. She was able to draw very strong connections between her questions and the classes, but discussing other resources at Barnard that would allow her to explore her questions would have demonstrated even more interest in the school. Discussing a club or a professor who might know the answer to her question would be a nice way to incorporate other aspects of the campus community into the essay to show how well this student would fit in.

Essay Example #2

Prompt: Pick one woman — a historical figure, fictitious character, or modern individual — to converse with for an hour and explain your choice. Why does this person intrigue you? What would you talk about? What questions would you ask them? (300 words)

She loved so fiercely that she carried her husband’s calcified heart with her wherever she went.  Her most famous work is responsible for countless spinoffs, discussions, and derivations, approached from every angle. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, pioneer of the sci-fi genre, daughter of anarchist feminists, Gothic badass, and perpetually star-crossed lover, represents to me the multiplicity of womanhood. 

We remember her today for her intellectual prowess in the literary and political fields. Less often noted is the fact that her irrational, Romantic instincts guided her throughout her life. Both were instrumental in her character, as I know they are in mine. Thus, our conversation  would revolve around the relationship between head and heart. 

Growing up, I struggled to reconcile my ambitions with what I deemed the “irrational” side of me. My emotions and impulse contradicted so greatly with my goal to be the “strong female  protagonist” of my own life, someone who could compartmentalize a publicly infallible and privately sensitive persona. 

But I’ve learned since from women like Mary that my vulnerabilities can and should be an asset. We could discuss how her experiences as a mother and daughter shaped Frankenstein the same way that I draw on my experiences to deepen my extracurricular passions, how her life was guided by pursuits of both love and intellectualism, how I’ve learned that even my academic or public responsibilities are inextricably tied to my identity as a woman, how we contain multitudes — emotional, intellectual, vulnerable, strong — that are all crucial to our  conceptions of womanhood.

From the very first sentence, the author uses vivid, engaging language to draw her reader in, and it continues through the essay. The first paragraph is a strong hook that builds suspense and anticipation before we are even told who the famous figure is. Not only does her description of Shelley’s distinguishing features at the beginning reveal what the author means by her representing the “ multiplicity ” of women, but it also reveals the traits that are most important to this student like being a feminist, a badass, and a lover.

After hooking her reader with a lively description of Shelley in the first paragraph, the author clearly states her personal connection to Shelley. Additionally, here the author uses simple, direct language. In this instance, that is a good choice, because the dichotomy she is describing is fairly complex and she has to ensure her reader understands her meaning.

The essay ends with her concisely summarizing Shelley’s impact on her own life: Shelley has helped her accept that there are many ways to be a woman, and that womanhood is not defined by any one attribute.  This final line gives the reader a clear takeaway, which is incredibly helpful, as they would have no problem answering what the essay was about. When your reader finishes your essay, they shouldn’t have any confusion about what you were trying to communicate. 

One weakness in this essay is it is too vague at times, thus it would benefit from the inclusion of anecdotes or elaboration about this student. For example she says, “ I draw on my experiences to deepen my extracurricular passions ,” and “ I’ve learned that even my academic or public responsibilities are inextricably tied to my identity as a woman ” but the reader has no indication what those experiences are or how this student learned about her responsibilities being linked to her gender.

Let’s take the third paragraph as an example to see how anecdotes could improve this essay.

The current phrase at the beginning of the paragraph, “ growing up ”, is generic and uninformative. Consider instead something along the lines of “ I have often struggled to reconcile my ambitions with what I deemed the ‘irrational’ side of me. Despite my desire to be the ‘strong female protagonist’ of my own life, I couldn’t help but feeling intimidated when I walked into my first debate practice and immediately realized I was the only girl. My public persona may have been infallible, but privately I worried that I was being overly sensitive. ”

Essay Example #3

Prompt:  What factors encouraged your decision to apply to Barnard College and why do you think the college would be a good match for you? (300 words)

There’s a certain energy palpable at protests, each chant a powerful reminder that you are not alone in a seemingly futile fight- it’s why I love organizing. On Barnard’s campus you will be sure to find me teaching environmental education with Sprout Up (gotta start them young), or even protesting through the streets of New York. *Fun fact I may have marched through Wall Street with a “no economy on a dead planet” sign at one point. A power move if you ask me.

Barnard’s history of trailblazing through boundaries, creating space for *revolutionary* ideas and actions comfort me, knowing that however far I try to push boundaries, to create change, Barnard will give me the space and support I need to accomplish my goals, especially with the help of the Athena Center. 

Despite my love for grassroots activism, I often feel frustrated in the weeks following a protest; despite overwhelming support for change, be it climate action, BLM, Indigenous sovereignty, it often feels like our cries fall upon deaf ears. In order for substantial change to occur, leaders and policymakers need to reflect the diversity and interests of the public. As an Asian American woman, I seldom see myself reflected in leadership. Studying at Barnard will equip me to be that leader, a role model for the next generation of girls, Asian or not.

Having the tools to understand both the science and ethnography of issues like climate change is something I believe will be invaluable to study in the Environment & Sustainability program. Using the knowledge I gain from classes like BC3932 Climate Change, Global Migration & Human Rights in the Anthropocene , which bridges my interest in anthropology with the environment, I can be a better informed leader, learning from the past to preserve the resources we still have. 

Something that sets this essay apart from typical “ Why School? ” essays is how the student’s interests and anecdotes are weaved through the essay along with the offerings at Barnard. Many students follow a basic structure with an introductory anecdote, elaboration on their interests, and then conclude with listing a slew of opportunities at the school that relate to their passion.

By incorporating Barnard from the first paragraph to the last, it makes the school feel like an integral part of this student’s story and allows her to connect each part of her identity to the school. This makes for a much more fluid and easy to follow essay. We aren’t bombarded with a list of the student’s passions and then asked to recall them when she discusses resources at the school. We can see her passion for protesting and then get told exactly what activities she will join on campus to fulfill that passion. Then we move onto her thirst for breaking boundaries and are told about a leadership center she wants to engage with. Each idea is secluded and given the space it needs to be fully understood. 

Another positive aspect of this essay is how the student is honest about who she is, for the sake of both adding humor and establishing significance. “ Fun fact I may have marched through Wall Street with a “no economy on a dead planet” sign at one point. A power move if you ask me,”  is a great sentence from the way it’s framed as a fun fact, to the emphasis on the may, to calling her own actions a power move. On the flip side, “ As an Asian American woman, I seldom see myself reflected in leadership ” brings a sense of solemnity to the essay. The author is being forthright with her identity, and the struggles with it, so the reader can appreciate where her motivation stems from.

It would be nice if this essay had a conclusion that wrapped up the essay, rather than leaving it as is with no sense of closure. We know—word counts are the worst. This essay is at 299 of 300 words, so to add a conclusion would require cutting down on other words or reworking sentences to save space.

One area that could be reworked is this sentence: “ Barnard’s history of trailblazing through boundaries, creating space for *revolutionary* ideas and actions comfort me, knowing that however far I try to push boundaries, to create change, Barnard will give me the space and support I need to accomplish my goals.”   It could be shortened by providing a concrete example, instead of talking about boundaries as hypotheticals, like this: “ As the first female captain of the Ma thletes, I saw the need to challenge the status quo—something which Barnard encourages.” 

Simple changes like this to make the essay more concise would give the author 20 or so words to write a quick one-liner to conclude the essay and express how Barnard will allow them to become the person they have always dreamed of.

Where to Get Your Barnard College Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your Barnard College essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

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Supplemental College Essay Prompt Examples

What is a supplemental essay?

While most students know that all colleges expect them to write a Common App essay, also known as a Personal Statement, parents and students are not as familiar with the supplemental college essays they need to write. Besides the central personal statement, every student needs to respond to supplemental college essay prompts. In this post, we are sharing everything you need to know about supplemental college essay prompts as well as supplemental college essay prompt examples and ways to think about the prompts. These essays or questions are called supplemental essays.

How many supplemental essays do I need to complete?

Depends on the schools you are applying to. Some schools require no supplemental essays while others require many. Schools like Stanford, Yale, Johns Hopkins and Tufts have many supplemental essays. Other schools like Arizona State University, Drexel, Northeastern have no supplemental essays at all. Schools like Harvard and Princeton will require additional essays that look much like the Personal Statement and some students may have to write two, three or even up to four 650+ word additional essays. This is especially true for students applying to Honors Colleges at universities.

Are supplemental essays as important as the personal statement in college admissions?

Supplemental essays are very important to the application. Supplementals offer students the opportunity to highlight fit factors for a university and show off the interesting person that they are. Supplementals offer students the chance to speak to research-based work (always a plus!), service projects, community work, and passion areas.

What are common supplemental essay topics?

Supplemental essays for each school often repeat. The most common supplement questions are: 1) Explain why you chose your major? It is good to have a major to talk about here. For students who are undecided, it is better not to center the essay around being undecided. Picking a major and highlighting an interest in it can actually serve a student well. Other questions schools commonly ask are : 2) Tell us about an extracurricular you do just for the fun of it. It is important to actually create a strong outline for these essays and do serious research and thinking before writing. Investing time in planning these responses, sharing novel experiences and showing very specific knowledge will help students stand out from peers with generic responses. 3) Why us? This requires school-specific research and work figuring out where the student connects to the school. 3Students often want to lean into university, student and campus life. The campus is an immediate go-to for students on these prompts-the mountains or the city, the lakes and trees on campus, playing on a team, etc.

What schools want in response to this essay prompt is to know that students are going to use the most resource-rich time of their lives thoughtfully over four years. Students can start this essay by making a list of areas they will look forward to academically –professors and research opportunities with them, classwork, special academic programs offered uniquely on the campus they plan to attend, and more. Students can connect the school to their own meaningful experiences during high school. For example, students applying for engineering should mention high school engineering projects they have worked on over summers or during the school year. Many students have gone through Boeing’s program or Project Lead the Way in school. They might have completed an engineering camp like UPENN Summer Engineering or Cooper Union Summer STEM. It is important to highlight that work in the “Why Us?” essay to connect to ways one might contribute to specific university programs.

What makes a good supplemental essay?

A strong supplemental essay will be more technical than narrative. There are a few golden rules for the supplemental essays: 1) First, each essay should be about a different topic. Students should not repeat or talk about the same things. This is a chance to really show the admissions committee who you are and repeating answers about the same topic is a missed opportunity. 2) Present your adult self-committees are less interested in hearing about things like reading Harry Potter or watching TV as a favorite extracurricular in student essays. They want to hear about research, playing music, reading physics books voraciously, engaging in math for fun. They want to understand what makes you tick academically more than personally and casually. This doesn’t mean the essay responses cannot be quirky or fun. But, they should be packed with information showing off your areas of academic strength, too.

What are the supplemental essay questions from the top 10 schools in the country for this year?

-Princeton University Supplemental Essays

Princeton has many supplemental essays. Responses range from 50 to 250 words.

1) Briefly elaborate on an activity, organization, work experience, or hobby that has been particularly meaningful to you. (150 words)

2) At Princeton, we value diverse perspectives and the ability to have respectful dialogue about difficult issues. Share a time when you had a conversation with a person or a group of people about a difficult topic. What insight did you gain, and how would you incorporate that knowledge into your thinking in the future? (250 words)

3) Princeton has a longstanding commitment to service and civic engagement. Tell us how your story intersects (or will intersect) with these ideals.(250 words)

4) What is a new skill you would like to learn in college? (50 words)

5) What brings you joy? (50 words)

6) What song represents the soundtrack of your life at this moment? (50 words)

7) Princeton also requires students to submit a graded written paper as part of your application.  Learn more .

-Harvard University Supplemental Essays

Harvard offers a brief space for students to highlight one area of particular importance extracurricularly alongside a lengthier essay that resembles the Common App in nature. Harvard allows students to write on a topic of their choice allowing them to choose from one of the following topics:

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

– Columbia University Supplemental Essays

Columbia has many supplement questions that ask students about their interests in reading, academic and cultural interests. Because Columbia has a lengthy series of requirements in the Common Core, their admissions committee evaluates whether students will be interested enough in the core curriculum through some of their questions.

List Questions:

• List the titles of the required readings from academic courses that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school. (75 words or fewer)
• 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)
• We’re interested in learning about some of the ways that you explore your interests. List some resources and outlets that you enjoy, including but not limited to websites, publications, journals, podcasts, social media accounts, lectures, museums, movies, music, or other content with which you regularly engage. (125 words or fewer)

Short Answer Questions:

• A hallmark of the Columbia experience is being able to learn and live in a community with a wide range of perspectives. How do you or would you learn from and contribute to diverse, collaborative communities?  (200 words or fewer)
• Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia. (200 words or fewer)
• Please tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the areas of study that you noted in the application. (200 words or fewer)

– Massachusetts Institute of Technology Supplemental Essays

MIT has a series of short answer essay questions:

• 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? (250 words or fewer)
• Pick what field of study at MIT appeals to you the most right now, and tell us more about why this field of study appeals to you. (100 words or fewer)
• 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. (200–250 words)
• At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc. (200–250 words)
• Tell us about the most significant challenge you’ve faced or something important that didn’t go according to plan. How did you manage the situation? (200-250 words)

-Yale University Supplemental Essays

• Students at Yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. Many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Please indicate up to three from the  list  provided.
• Why do these areas appeal to you? (125 words or fewer)
• What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)
• What inspires you? (35 words)
• 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? (35 words)
• You are teaching a new Yale course. What is it called? (35 words)
• Yale students embrace the concept of “and” rather than “or,” pursuing arts and sciences, tradition and innovation, defined goals and surprising detours. What is an example of an “and” that you embrace? (35 words)
• Yale’s extensive course offerings and vibrant conversations beyond the classroom encourage students to follow their developing intellectual interests wherever they lead. Tell us about your engagement with a topic or idea that excites you. Why are you drawn to it? (250 words)
• Respond to one of the following
• 2A. Reflect on a community to which you feel connected. Why is it meaningful to you?  You may define community however you like.
• 2B. Reflect on something that has given you great satisfaction. Why has it been important to you?

Additional supplemental essays can be found on university websites by clicking on the links below:

Stanford University Supplemental Essays

University of Pennsylvania Supplemental Essays

California Institute of Technology Supplemental Essays

Johns Hopkins Supplemental Essays

Northwestern University Supplemental Essays

Duke University Supplemental Essays

Dartmouth College Supplemental Essays

Brown University Supplemental Essays

Vanderbilt University Supplemental Essays

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Supplemental Essay Prompts: Breaking Down the Most Common Questions

Padya Paramita

September 24, 2020

College applicants often underestimate the importance of supplemental essays and mistakenly put them off until the last minute. However, you should know that they make up a crucial component of your application. 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. So, don’t underestimate the supplemental essay prompts that await you.

There are certain common patterns in supplemental essay questions that you might recognize across different colleges. Many admissions officers want to know why you’re interested specifically in their university. Others might want to know about the impact you’ve made in your community. To help guide you through the different types of questions, I’ve outlined the categories of common supplemental essay prompts, examples of schools that use them, and tips for students in order to optimize their chance of  receiving an acceptance letter.

Why School Essays:

The most common type of supplemental essay prompts is the “why school” essay. Let’s take a look at how different colleges frame this question this year.

Barnard College : What factors influenced your decision to apply to Barnard College and why do you think the College would be a good match for you? [Max. 300 words]

Tufts University: Which aspects of the Tufts undergraduate experience prompt your application? In short, Why Tufts?’ [100-150 words]

Northwestern University : Other parts of your application give us a sense for how you might contribute to Northwestern. But we also want to consider how Northwestern will contribute to your interests and goals. In 300 words or less, help us understand what aspects of Northwestern appeal most to you, and how you'll make use of specific resources and opportunities here.

For any of these prompts, 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.

Why Major Essays:

Next, we have the “why major” essays. For prompts such as these, you must prioritize clarity and precision when explaining your interest and background that make you a strong candidate for your intended major, as well as detailed knowledge of the school and its programs. Some example essay questions are:

University of Illinois: Please provide an essay that explains why you chose your intended program of study. What interests you the most about this major? Please be specific - those evaluating these essays are highly interested in your response. If Undecided, what areas of study do you look forward to studying in college? [50-500 words]  

Bucknell University: Please explain your interest in your first-choice major/undecided status and your second-choice major, should you opt to list one [Max. 250 words]

Start with an idea or a problem that you find most compelling within your intended field to show your unique approach to the discipline. Use your response to explain your academic interest — not your major. Your major should be determined by your interest, instead of your interest by your major. Connect your past experiences and academic activities to your interest. How did your intellectual curiosity develop out of your activities? Identify which major or program would best help you explore your interest before sitting down to write the essay and then explain why.

Why School + Why Major

Sometimes, supplemental essay prompts may combine the “why school” and “why major” questions. Schools that do so are:

NYU: We would like to know more about your interest in NYU. What motivated you to apply to NYU? Why have you applied or expressed interest in a particular campus, school, college, program, and or area of study? If you have applied to more than one, please also tell us why you are interested in these additional areas of study or campuses. We want to understand

- Why NYU? [Max. 400 words]

University of Michigan: Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests? [Required for all applicants; 550 word limit]

For prompts such as these, you must divide your essay into two parts. Admissions officers don’t just want to know why you’re applying to the university generally; they expect you to go into greater detail about the campus(es), school, and major you’ve picked. Think about what makes you excited to attend college in the campus you’re applying to. But, don’t  just fixate on the location, because your main focus should be explaining why the particular university is the best institution to pursue your interests and goals, rather than the campus setting. Then dive into the major. Think about specific resources that are available within your chosen department that you can’t find elsewhere.

Notice that this type of essay should mainly cover academics. A university’s clubs and student organizations may make it an alluring place for you, but the question explicitly asks about your choice of study. Look through the website and think about what you can write that won’t be common in other students’ essays. Is there a professor whose research resonates with you? Would a particular psychology or sociology class perfectly fit in with your 10-year plan? Remember that admissions officers are trying to figure out why you’d make the most of your experience on campus. So, talk elaborately about how you would take advantage of the facilities and give them a sense of the ways in which you’d make a valuable addition in the classroom.

Essays on Your Activities

Another really common set of supplemental essay prompts involve asking you to expand on one of your activities, or questions that ask which activity you would pursue for the rest of your life if you could only pick one. Some example prompts are:

Harvard University : Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. [Max. 150 words]

Vanderbilt University : Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. [200-400 words]

California Institute of Technology : Describe three experiences and/or activities that have helped develop your passion for a possible career in a STEM field. [10-120 words each]

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 numbers 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.

The bigger the scale of impact the more impressive it is. Not only should you write about an involvement that appears on your activities list, but you should choose one that appears high up since it needs to be an activity that looks really important to you. The best extracurriculars cannot be explained fully in the small amount of space they give you in your activities list description. 150 characters including spaces is hardly enough to explain the impact you have had in your most important extracurricular. Use your response to expand on what kind of leadership you demonstrated in the activity. If it’s something new you started, expound on why are you’re so motivated to spend time on it and what relationships you built along the way.

Identity Essays

Some supplemental essay prompts want to hear more about your background — who you are, where you come from, what unique perspectives you can bring to the college. The key to this essay is to capture a part of you that you haven’t necessarily talked about in your personal statement. Example prompts include:

University of Washington: Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of the UW. [Max. 300 words]

University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill: Expand on an aspect of your identity (for example, your religion, culture, race, sexual or gender identity, affinity group, etc.). How has this aspect of your identity shaped your life experiences thus far? [Max. 250 words]

University of Pennsylvania : At Penn, learning and growth happen outside of the classroom, too. How will you explore the community at Penn? Consider how this community will help shape your perspective and identity, and how your identity and perspective will help shape this community. [150-200 words]

Colleges want to gauge how you would add to the diversity of their campus. Remember, the word “diversity” doesn’t only include factors that are out of your control such as race or ethnicity. If you want to talk about your cultural or religious community - since your familial background is one of the topics that many of these prompts have primarily encouraged - that’s great! But if you believe it wouldn’t make you stand out, think about a community that you’ve found thanks to an extracurricular activity or work experience. No matter what community you choose, you shouldn’t dedicate all of your words to your explanation of the premise. 

This essay should be about you — think about how your perspective has been shaped by the community, and vice versa. How would you be different had this community not existed? Make sure you haven’t elaborated on this part of your profile elsewhere in your application. This essay is a great way of providing more context on something meaningful, that admissions officers wouldn’t easily be able to guess.

Short Responses

Some colleges have a list of shorter questions that they expect you to answer in one line, or a couple of phrases. These can trip you as you might be used to seeing questions that ask for at least a couple paragraphs in answers. Schools that ask shorter questions among their supplemental essay prompts include:

Columbia University : For the four list questions that follow, 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. Please respond to each of the three short answer questions in 200 words or fewer.

• List the titles of the required readings from academic courses that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school. (150 words)
• 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. (150 words)
• List the titles of the print or digital publications, websites, journals, podcasts or other content with which you regularly engage. (150 words)
• List the movies, albums, shows, museums, lectures, events at your school or other entertainments that you enjoyed most during secondary/high school (in person or online). (150)

Princeton University : A Few Details:

• Your favorite book and its author
• Your favorite website
• Your favorite recording
• Your favorite source of inspiration
• Your favorite line from a movie or book and its title
• Your favorite movie
• Two adjectives your friends would use to describe you
• Your favorite keepsake or memento
• Your favorite word

If you know that you’ll be applying to one or more of these schools, keep a running list of your brainstorming. Give yourself time to really think about your answers — you want to distinguish yourself from the competition. Discard your first 5-10 ideas — these are usually too obvious, too common, and too cliché. As you come up with new entries, scrutinize the implications of your answers. What does each answer contribute to your reader’s understanding of you and your interests? Avoid obscure answers as those might not convey much about your profile. Think about what is important for your reader to know about your answer in order to understand its relevance. Keep the goals of your overall application in mind — how does each answer contribute to your persona, interests, or activities?

All of your short answers could follow a particular theme — your answer to questions about your favorite movie or TV show could be a great way to show that you’ve pursued your academic interests through more than just schoolwork. Or, you could highlight a passion outside your intended major, such as sports or cooking, by mentioning relevant books or magazines. Don’t list big names such as The New York Times as your favorite website or publication just because you think it sounds impressive. It will probably be one of the more common answers anyway. Go through your browser history, DVD collections, music library — to determine answers that are true to you.

Supplemental essay prompts are designed to help colleges understand why you’re a perfect fit for their institution. Take advantage of the common question patterns to understand what schools look for from the different prompts, then convey how you would uniquely contribute to campus and make the most of the school’s resources. You got this!

Tags : supplemental essays , supplemental essay prompts , common supplemental essay prompts , supplemental essay prompts 2020-2021

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MIT Supplemental Essay Examples

Knowing what to write for your MIT essays might be difficult, but the process is made much easier by reading over MIT supplemental essay examples.

Checking out sample college essays gives you a good grasp of what supplemental college application essays should look like.

It also helps to read up on how to write a college essay . However, while learning through instruction is good, pairing that instruction with examples lets you see the practical application of that knowledge before attempting your own essay.

This article contains sample essays for the current MIT supplemental essay prompts.

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

Article Contents 15 min read

Mit supplemental essay example #1:.

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.

Word Count: 250 words or fewer

Example Essay #1:

The place where I live isn’t the worst community in our city, and I’m thankful that crime is relatively low, but it’s still pretty run-down. If you want to find employment, our section of town is not for you – even more so if you’re looking for a good job; anything you’d think of as a “career” doesn’t exist here.

We couldn’t afford aspirations; we were too busy worrying about where the rent and grocery money was coming from.

One day, I started asking myself, “Why can’t our neighborhood have jobs and nice houses? Why can’t we have hope be something other than tomorrow’s disappointment?”

I’m dreaming big these days. I want to be a community leader – a local politician. I know this is strange, but I’m not worried about the national right now, I’m worried about the municipal – making sure that everybody gets enough in my city.

I got in touch with several alderpersons on my city’s council and asked how I could help my neighborhood. They spoke with me and one of them asked if I could address my city’s government at a meeting. I prepared a speech about my neighborhood’s poverty and delivered it. Then I volunteered with the reelection campaign for the alderperson who recommended me.

The place where I live is who I am, and who I am today will let me be somebody better tomorrow, if I choose to aspire to hope, and dream of every place being the nice part of town.

When you’re little, you don’t understand why your parents are getting divorced, you only know that they are. You beat yourself up over it, then you come to accept it, but it takes a while to see the silver lining.

I’m not saying it’s “good” that they split up, although I recognize that it’s at least better for them. After a while my mom and dad even got remarried. Then something weird happened: I didn’t have evil step-parents from fairy tales.

In fact, not only were my step-parents not evil, they were lovely people who really cared about me. My step-mom is a psychiatrist, and hearing about how she helps patients has inspired me to learn about therapy.

My step-dad works as a police officer. The world of law enforcement is a harsh one, especially on the psyches of law enforcement officers. Learning about that hardship from my step-father, and thinking about how my step-mother helps people, has led me to study psychology. I want to practice therapy for police officers and participate in research, looking for methods to keep stressors away and heal officers who have suffered as part of their “routine” jobs.

My family is big – four parents and eight grandparents, and a lot of love – and that largess has opened my eyes to a calling in the world that I otherwise might not have found. I think that’s most why I want to help find healing for others: I know the opportunities that healing can create.

Be sure to check out some MIT interview questions , too!

Example essay #3:.

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.

Wondering how to write your supplemental college essays?

Pick what field of study at MIT appeals to you the most right now, and tell us more about why this field of study appeals to you.

Word Count: 100 words or fewer

My neighborhood is run-down and hangdog. Buildings are collapsing, practically on top of the homeless who could use a place to stay. I am sad for the people who have no place to go and for the beauty in design that is decaying all around.

I want to restore my neighborhood. Architecture and design are my academic interests, because they help restore neighborhoods and cities into communities where everybody has a place. I hope to redesign and give a new life to my neighborhood. With the help of MIT’s Architecture and Urbanism program, my dream is bound to come true.

Example Essay #2:

The current state of economics is more complicated than ever.

Hustle culture is burning people out. Job-seekers complain of a lack of good employment, while prospective employers complain of a lack of worthy candidates. We are abandoning traditional work models, payment models – even the concept of money is being tinkered with since the advent of cryptocurrencies.

These innovations require new technology, business models, and currencies; I will embrace this future at the Economics program at MIT, and help blaze the financial trails we will all someday walk.

We are meant to be a nation of liberty and unity, so much that we made it our motto: e pluribus unum. But tribalism and division have been on the rise – we are more divided as a nation than ever.

Recently I have seen people striving to start good-faith conversations. On a new political podcast, for instance, opposing politicians discuss instead of argue.

The arena of political science has never been more dangerous, divisive, or exciting. I need to help keep our nation of “many” as one nation. I will start my journey at the Political Science department at MIT.

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.

Word Count: 200-250 words

I take the path less travelled, if I may reference Frost for a moment. When it came to choosing a sport, I couldn’t just do any sport, so, I chose HEMA: Historical European Martial Arts.

This is the study of the longsword, the mace, the dagger, and the rapier. It is as much a study of history and anthropology as it is exercise. All of the moves and strategies come from old manuscripts, many of which need decoding to get into a recognizable language.

Connecting with the past in such a way is a fun, engaging way to learn history and get exercise – and it is considerable exercise! Swinging a longsword about, or fighting with shields and arming swords, often while wearing armor, is no easy task.

The community of HEMA is a welcoming and wonderful one. I found out about HEMA in a video somebody posted to my social media only to discover that there is a chapter near where I live. I went around to ask about classes, and they were very friendly and affirming.

There is always more to learn, too, whether knowledge of circumstances for the various manuals, different fighting styles, or a variety of weapons. Through HEMA, I fuel my mind, exercise my body, and am part of a friend-filled community of historical combat buffs.

When the wind is up, I cannot wait to go to the park with my latest kite.

As a kid, my mum and dad would take me kite-flying. I’d have done it every day, and no matter how old I got, I still wanted to fly.

Soon I was trying to do maneuvers too complicated for my dinky little kite, and I begged mum and dad for a better one. I got one for my birthday, but even that much more advanced model didn’t satiate my desire to vicariously soar above the park. I realized that the kites we bought from the store do not exactly meet my vision of how I wanted my kites to perform. This meant that I would need to start designing my own kites.

It took a lot of trial and error, and my father and I almost destroyed one of my special kites trying to improve it, but we eventually got the hang of it. After that, we started “modding” more kites, and I have now built three myself, special kites designed for specific maneuvers. It takes a lot of problem-solving to get there, but figuring it out and flying those kites is so rewarding.

It’s almost like I’m up there with the kite, floating on the wind. It’s relaxing, challenging, and a wonderful way to spend a day.

My love of poetry came from my love of hip-hop music. 

One evening, I found myself in a café in a basement – one of those places with steps leading below street-level, into a room that reminds you of how you think a speakeasy would look. It was slam-poetry night, and my friend Trisha was performing. He told me it was just like hip-hop.

I was in awe of my friend and his group, spitting lines that were fierce and which moved me deeply. I got involved with the group and was soon writing my own stuff. My verses were clunky at first, but they were mine; I was learning to express myself.

Every aspect of slam poetry fascinated me: rhythm, metaphor, stress, and the ever-elusive emotions between the lines.

Slam poetry is wonderful, but in my study of the art, I came to love other verse forms. The slam poet group’s leader told me to check out the Elizabethan sonnets for some tight beats – she was referring to the about iambic pentameter, which led me to a love of a form of poetry with one phrase – tight beats. Something that my English teacher didn’t accomplish with a whole class unit.

My favorite poems I have encountered are haikus. The all-encompassing focus on syllables makes the rhythms of masterfully-written haikus flow in my mind’s ear.

Poetry is my passion. I can’t wait to put down verses, whether for a slam poetry night, and some just for my journals at home.

At MIT, we bring people together to better the lives of others. MIT students work to improve their communities in different ways, from tackling the world’s biggest challenges to being a good friend. Describe one way in which you have contributed to your community, whether in your family, the classroom, your neighborhood, etc.

My dad’s a smoker, and mom’s always on him to quit. I don’t mind too much – I understand that it’s hard to quit – but he chucks his cigarette butts everywhere, and I hate that.

One day I’d had enough of it, and when he whipped his cigarette butt out the car window, I actually spoke up and chewed him out for littering. He wasn’t happy about that, and it made the car ride home unpleasant.

But the next day, he came and apologized, saying I was right. That event inspired by responsibility to our community, and I decided to help gather up trash in our neighborhood. I volunteered with the city, got a little grabber and a garbage bag, and started picking up litter, including a bunch of cigarette butts, many of which were, statistically-speaking, my dad’s.

I felt good, and encouraged my family to come out with me. Dad was the first one to cave, and we actually had fun, talking and picking up litter. But we needed more help. I’m fourth out of five kids and I convinced most of my siblings to join in as well.

Dad and I wound up bonding a lot, chatting about life and sharing our news at the side of the road, plucking debris from the street. He doesn’t smoke as much, either, but I don’t know if that’s because of me or just that he hates picking up his old butts.

The bullying at our school, and in my class in-particular, had boiled up. It wasn’t uncommon to see one or more students in tears because of some cruelty or other, a lot online, but plenty of it live and in-person.

I stayed out of it as much as I could. I didn’t want to be a target.

My friend Mark got it bad one week. Somebody decided to start accusing him of being “the problem” whenever anything went wrong, calling him cursed. He lost a lot of friends that week, and though I didn’t abandon him, I didn’t stick up for him like I should have.

That festered in me. I hated feeling helpless, so, after the Christmas break, I came to school with a purpose. I went straight to our teacher and asked what I could do to help stop bullying, besides just not participating in it. We came up with an anti-bullying campaign. We knew posters wouldn’t do it alone, so we created a program where bullied students could come forward safely and anonymously. We put together a mechanism for dealing with accusations, and the school was very supportive.

It was slow going at first, but gradually we saw a lowering in the amount of bullying being done in our class and across the school. I might not have been able to stop Mark getting hurt, but I did my best to stop it happening again.

I’m a soup kitchen volunteer. My mom said it’d be good for me to volunteer and see what poverty did to people. I wasn't thrilled about it. I was fifteen and had better places to be, or so I thought.

What I found out was that there are people who need a lot of help, and it just took one shift for me to know that I was coming back. I needed to be there, helping people, because where else are they going to get help?

Community aid programs are often underfunded, and our community has a severe dearth of available funds to help people in need. Support for the local food banks and shelters is low in our municipality. Volunteering is an integral part to bring a little humanity into these people’s lives.

I’m not going to pretend it’s sunshiny, because it’s not: it’s harsh. But I can help make my neighborhood a better place. I can give people food and comfort.

What matters is making a difference. I can’t make a huge difference right now, unless you’re one of our customers – then I’m making up the difference between a night of comfort and one of despair. Small differences still make a difference, and I want to help my community however I can.

Tell us about a significant challenge you’ve faced or something that didn’t go according to plan that you feel comfortable sharing. How did you manage the situation?

The sixth letter in the alphabet shouldn’t make your stomach feel like a frozen stone is rolling around in there, but the F on my test paper was doing that. I was trying to envision a future I could actually look forward to.

Yes, that’s a bit dramatic, but I’d never gotten an F before, and my brain was panicking with the non-future into which I had cast myself. Chemistry had beaten me.

I kept that F from my parents as long as possible, assuming a furious volley of punishments and lectures would be my comeuppance. I couldn’t have anticipated the reaction.

“Hm.” A syllable which sat there for a long time before dad said, “Well, what are you going to do about it?”

It hadn’t even occurred to me that there was a next. I was busy with melancholic despair; I forgot about “what next?”

My parents asked if I wanted to switch the course, but I want to study the sciences, my answer was no. Mom helped me put together a new rubric for studying and I stuck to it. My next text was a C+. After that? An A.

Failing a test taught me something more valuable than any class ever did: how to dust myself off, know what I really want, and try again with everything I have in me. Ultimately, my only failure was giving up on myself and focusing on one failure. My lesson is learned, and from now on, I will always focus on what I can do next.

I was unable to breathe, or even move, really, and covered in dust. I was one, big bruise all over my body. Samson was responsible, having thrown me to the ground for the seventh time that day.

Samson had come to the stables with a warning that this would happen. He was a problem horse, young, headstrong, and seemingly impossible to train. For days I tried the approaches that had worked on other horses, but worked on Samson.

The barn owner was in one day, watching me fail. She called me over and said, “He’s stressed because you’re stressed. Try to be calm. When you’re calm, go over there and don’t ask anything of him. Just be there with him. See what happens. Make some offers, but don’t do anything he doesn’t want to do.”

I went over to Samson and patted him, and he stepped in. Little by little, I’d make a move and he’d make a move. He got nervous when I tried to get on him, so I backed off. I didn’t ride him that day, but eventually, after a few days of just making friends, the good advice worked. Samson was soon a great riding horse, and one who had tremendous empathy with his rider.

Too often we go to people with our stresses, needing them to be something they aren’t. I try to remember to expect less and just be there. The results are great. When you don’t pile on, you never get thrown off.

I had said, “Yes,” because I always said, “Yes,” regardless of how busy I was. That was how I wound up on the track team, mathletes, and a dozen other things I had no time for. I was stressed out and in denial.

This time, I had said, “Yes,” to organizing a fundraising event to buy new instruments for the school’s music program. A variety show seemed like a good idea until it became clear that somebody would have to organize talent, balance schedules, as well as create decorations, and everything else for the event. Guess who this “somebody” was?

Mr. Kowalski had offered to help and I’d said, “No.” I should clarify that I always said, “Yes,” when taking on responsibility, but “No,” when it came to delegating. I felt I wouldn’t be pulling my weight.

My grades were slipping, I was losing sleep, and the fundraiser almost collapsed: no new instruments for the band. Mr. Kowalski came back, luckily for me, and offered his help again. Learning my lesson, this time I did not miss my chance for getting help. The fundraiser got back on track. He didn’t take over, but gave me the assistance I needed to get it done without punishing myself too much.

I learned how important it is to ask for help and delegate responsibility. I learned that being a good leader or project head doesn’t mean being a superhuman who handles it all.

And I learned how to better employ the word, “No”.

Want more tips?

Please note that the supplemental essay section has an additional-information text box within it. MIT suggests that students can use this box to tell them anything you think they really ought to know.

MIT says it is optional, but we would advise you to take advantage of the extra space; give yourself every opportunity to stand out as the perfect applicant and to be unforgettable to the admissions committee.

In MIT’s case, they are required for your application, but even if they weren’t, as with the additional-information box, we would still counsel you to take any option that can make your application soar.

No. In fact, MIT says specifically that this is not a writing test, and encourages applicants to, “Be honest, be open, be authentic – this is your opportunity to connect with us.”

That doesn’t mean you should use colloquialisms or ignore spelling and grammar, but it does mean that you won’t need to worry about a specific style, or avoid the use of the first-person – which you will be using most of the time – or cramming in citations.

However, remember that this is still an essay, so your submission must follow the academic essay style, with a strong introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

If they fit with your schedule, yes, but MIT doesn’t give preference to early applicants.

Check with other schools you would like to apply to, see what their application schedules are like, and build an application schedule that works best for you.

Do note that some schools don’t allow you to submit multiple early applications. MIT is not one of those schools, but they do specify that you must respect exclusivity rules from other schools.

There is a lot you can do, but starting with reading up on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a good start.

Beyond that, finding good mentors will benefit you tremendously, and using university and college admissions consulting will cover all angles and give you the best edge you can find.

Potentially, yes. How to get into college with a low GPA is harder, but not impossible.

Grades are only one puzzle piece that you’ll be sending to MIT, and their reviewing panels and admissions boards won’t just reject your application because of low grades. They provide an “additional information” section on the application which will allow you to provide insight into anything you need to explain on your transcript.

No. Don’t let the name fool you, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a wide variety of courses across disciplines, and they have programs for all kinds of students.

Most students with family incomes below $140,000 (US) do not pay tuition. According to their website, 82% of MIT’s students graduate debt-free.

In short, MIT offers robust financial aid, and can be very affordable for students from all income brackets.

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