texas christian university essay prompts

TCU Supplemental Essays 2022-23

Located in Fort Worth, Texas , TCU is one of the top 100 colleges in the nation. So, as you prepare to apply, you should think carefully about your TCU supplemental essays. Depending on how you apply, you’ll write 1-3 TCU essays—we’ll expand on each of the required TCU essay prompts in this guide. 

Overall, the TCU essay prompts are designed to help you show the admissions team what makes you unique. In this guide, we’ll teach you how to write Texas Christian University supplemental essays that highlight your strengths. 

Keep reading to learn more about TCU admissions, the TCU application requirements, and the TCU supplemental essays.

TCU Essay Prompts: Quick Facts

• TCU Acceptance Rate: 54% – U.S. News ranks TCU as a moderately selective school.
• TCU Admissions site: 1 required essay
• Common App: 2 required essays, 1 optional
• Texas Christian University Supplemental Essays Tip : In your TCU supplemental essays, highlight how you connect with the school’s mission and values. Do your research to learn more about TCU, and use those notes as you consider the TCU essay prompts. 
• Texas Christian University Application: Students can submit their TCU admissions application through the Common App , Coalition App, ApplyTexas, or the TCU Application. 
• Early Action: November 1 st
• Early Decision I: November 1 st
• Regular Decision: February 1 st
• Early Decision II: February 1 st

Does TCU have supplemental essays?

Yes, TCU admissions requires two TCU supplemental essays on the Common App and one supplemental essay on the TCU Admissions website. Note that overall, the university only requires students to submit a single essay . However, certain application portals may ask for further information. So, be intentional about which platform you use to complete your application.

As stated, unlike at most other colleges, the TCU supplemental essays vary by platform. Logically, many students who are applying to several schools choose to use Common App . However, applying for college directly on the school’s website is another secure and simple way to submit your TCU application and Texas Christian University supplemental essays.

No matter what application platform you use, it is important to understand all the TCU essay prompts and required TCU supplemental essays prior to submitting your application. However you submit them, your TCU essays are a critical part of the TCU admissions process.

How the TCU essays fit into the application process

The Texas Christian University admissions committee describes the TCU application process as selective, personal, and holistic. This means the TCU admissions committee looks at all components of your TCU application to better understand who you are. This includes your GPA, course rigor, extracurricular involvements, and, of course, the Texas Christian University supplemental essays.

Strong TCU supplemental essays are a critical component of a successful college application . The TCU essay prompts are specifically designed to let you show why you belong on campus. Overall, your TCU essays should highlight your values, creativity, and commitment to TCU. 

What are the TCU essay prompts?

Students interested in TCU can submit their TCU supplemental essays and apply through the Common App or the TCU admissions application (TCU’s own portal). 

If you use TCU’s portal, the TCU application requirements include just one essay. Students applying through the TCU admissions application have four TCU essay prompts to choose from. 

The Common App requires two TCU essays and offers a third optional essay. The TCU essay prompts on the Common App don’t give you a choice—instead, you’ll find standard essay prompts to complete. There are no additional TCU essay prompts to choose from.

TCU Supplemental Essays – Common App

At TCU, it is our vision to be a world-class, values-centered university. We value academics, intellectual inquiry, creative expression, leadership, service, diversity, and the appreciation of the human experience. With which one of TCU’s core values do you most align and why? (200 words)

TCU is committed to creating an inclusive campus culture for all people. We have a shared responsibility to enhance our community by encouraging inclusive environments through learning opportunities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Describe how you have already contributed to creating an inclusive environment in your community or how you plan to contribute to an inclusive college environment in the future. (200 words)

Prompt 3 (Optional)

TCU values individuality and believes that students are more than just a GPA and test score. To help us get to know you even better, consider this opportunity to further express yourself. The only limitations are the boundaries of your imagination. Please upload an essay, poem, work of art, or a URL that showcases another side of you.

TCU Supplemental Essays – TCU Portal

At TCU, our mission statement is very important to us. “The mission of Texas Christian University, a private comprehensive university, is to educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community through research and creative activities, scholarship, service, and programs of teaching and learning offered through the doctoral level.” This is integrated into all aspects of the TCU experience. If you were to write a mission statement about your life, what would it be and how does this mission direct your life and goals?

Tell us about the most significant person, experience, or circumstance which has shaped your life thus far. How has he, she, or it influenced your character? How might you use what you have learned to achieve your goals?

Those we call great will usually point to some failure in their lives as a pivotal moment leading them to their successful path. Tell us about a time in your life in which failure propelled you toward success.

In her best-selling novel The Secret Life of Bees , TCU alumna Sue Monk Kidd wrote, “The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.” What matters to you?

In this article, we will focus on how to approach the Common App TCU essay prompts rather than the prompts on the TCU portal. However, if one of the TCU essay prompts on the school’s portal seems like a better fit, consider applying through TCU’s website instead of using the Common App. 

Next, we will cover each of the TCU essay prompts for the Common App in detail.

TCU Essay Prompts #1: TCU’s Values

Prompt 1: At TCU, it is our vision to be a world-class, values-centered university. We value academics, intellectual inquiry, creative expression, leadership, service, diversity, and the appreciation of the human experience. With which one of TCU’s core values do you most align and why? (200 words)

In many ways, the first of the TCU essay prompts is a “why TCU” essay. As a “why school essay,” you should use the first of the TCU supplemental essays to highlight what makes TCU the perfect school for you. In this case, your “why this college essay” for TCU should highlight your connection to TCU’s values. 

“Why this college essays” or “why school essays” are a common type of essay prompt. These prompts allow the admissions committee to learn what makes their school the right fit for a particular student. In this case, strong TCU supplemental essays will highlight why TCU aligns with a student’s core values. 

Unpacking the prompt

The prompt begins by telling the applicant exactly what TCU values on its campus.  Additionally, you can see these values reflected on the TCU admissions website—a good reminder to do your research. Then, this TCU essay prompt asks explicitly about which of TCU’s values most appeal to you.

Strong TCU supplemental essays will make a connection with a few of the values listed in the essay prompt. These include academics, intellectual inquiry, creative expression, leadership, service, diversity, and the appreciation of the human experience. 

Don’t feel pressured to address all of these values in your TCU supplemental essays. After all, you only have 200 words. Instead, identify 2-3 values that you find most compelling. With such a limited word count, you may benefit from picking a set of values that you can discuss in tandem.

For example, TCU values both diversity and intellectual inquiry. A student who also holds these values might discuss how diversity is a necessary component of true intellectual discourse. In your response to the TCU essay prompts, you can also highlight how you’ve displayed these values within your own life. This can add dimension to your TCU application.

Overall, you should use the TCU supplemental essays to highlight your values and beliefs. Next, let’s discuss the second TCU Common Application essay prompt.

TCU Essay Prompts #2: Creating Inclusive Environments

Let’s look at the second of the Common App TCU supplemental essays. Like the first, this prompt asks you to highlight how your values align with those of TCU—but this time, it focuses on inclusivity.

Prompt 2: TCU is committed to creating an inclusive campus culture for all people. We have a shared responsibility to enhance our community by encouraging inclusive environments through learning opportunities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Describe how you have already contributed to creating an inclusive environment in your community or how you plan to contribute to an inclusive college environment in the future. (200 words)

This prompt asks applicants to speak directly about diversity equity and inclusion. Specifically, TCU wants to know how you’ve enriched your community—or will enrich their campus—by promoting diversity and inclusion. Diversity in this context includes race, ethnicity, religion, gender, region, academic interest, and varied learning styles.

Defining diversity and inclusion

When approaching the TCU supplemental essays, you should first reflect on how you define and see diversity equity and inclusion. Think about your family, your high school, and your community. Remember, your answer doesn’t have to address all areas of diversity and inclusion. Once you understand what diversity and inclusion mean to you, it’s time to start looking for examples.

Centering your experiences

In your TCU essays, the admissions team wants to see concrete examples of how you’ve helped create an inclusive environment. 

Review your resume and Common App activities list, and look for things you’ve done that reflect these ideals. Remember, your TCU supplemental essays don’t need to revolve around specific leadership roles or lines on your resume. You may have contributed to an inclusive environment through classroom conversation or a simple interaction with those around you.

Overall, for both of the required TCU essay prompts, you should highlight how your values manifest in your interactions with the world around you. There’s no right or wrong answer to the TCU essay prompts— the TCU admissions team just wants to learn more about who you are and what you believe.

Optional TCU Supplemental Essay

The final TCU supplemental essay is optional. At CollegeAdvisor, we always recommend that students complete all optional essays to stand out. However, this final prompt is not technically part of the TCU application requirements.

Check out the optional TCU essay prompt below:

Prompt 3 (Optional): TCU values individuality and believes that students are more than just a GPA and test score. To help us get to know you even better, consider this opportunity to further express yourself. The only limitations are the boundaries of your imagination. Please upload an essay, poem, work of art, or a URL that showcases another side of you.

Unlike the other TCU essays, the last of the TCU essay prompts gives you a bit more freedom. In fact, it’s not an essay prompt at all—it’s an invitation to share your creative work. 

The last of the TCU supplemental essays can help you stand out in the TCU admissions process by showcasing a side of you that the admissions team may not otherwise see. You won’t find any word limits in this prompt—instead, you have full creative freedom.

However, you should still think carefully about your response to the last of the TCU essay prompts. Look for things to share that would add genuine value to your TCU admissions application. 

TCU Essays and the Admissions Process

The TCU admissions team uses a holistic review process. As mentioned in the TCU Quick Facts, the TCU acceptance rate is 54%, which makes this school relatively selective. While the TCU acceptance rate can change each year, you can expect the TCU acceptance rate to remain selective. This makes the TCU supplemental essays even more important.

However, don’t let the TCU acceptance rate intimidate you. In addition to the TCU essay prompts, you can use plenty of the TCU application requirements to highlight your strengths. 

In addition to the TCU essays, the TCU admissions team requires the following: 

• Application fee
• Official high school transcript
• Counselor evaluation
• Teacher evaluation

Each of these TCU application requirements will contribute to your admissions outcome. 

Additionally, some applicants may need to submit additional materials. For example, international applicants are required to submit an English proficiency test, and Early Decision applicants must submit an Early Decision agreement. 

Does TCU care about essays?

Yes, Texas Christian University cares about TCU essays. In fact, the TCU essays play a major role in the admissions process—so don’t neglect the TCU essay prompts. 

Beyond your Common App Personal Essay , applicants must complete 1-2 TCU supplemental essays (depending on how they apply). These essays ask applicants to highlight how their values align with those of the TCU admissions team. So, in your Texas Christian University supplemental essays, you should foreground how your values inform your interactions with your community. Then, expand on your past experiences to discuss how these same values would help you enrich campus life at TCU. 

Remember, well-crafted Texas Christian University supplemental essays are a great way to increase your admissions odds. 

TCU supplemental essays and the holistic review process

In any holistic application process, supplemental essays can make a major difference. Therefore, your TCU supplemental essays are your chance to speak directly to the TCU admissions team and highlight why you’d be a good fit for their school. 

For selective colleges like TCU, essays can serve as a key way for students to stand out. So, look at each of your Texas Christian University supplemental essays as an opportunity to set yourself apart. 

5 Tips on How to Write the TCU Supplemental Essays

How to write the tcu supplemental essays, 1. get organized.

Want to write strong TCU supplemental essays? First, get organized. Before you sit down to write your TCU essays, take some time to brainstorm. This can help you flesh out your thoughts. 

After you have an idea of the topics you’d like to discuss, make an outline. This will help you respond to every aspect of the TCU essay prompts thoughtfully and thoroughly—and make it easier to write a draft.

2. Perfect the why school essay.

The Texas Christian University supplemental essays don’t look like conventional “why this college essays.” But, make no mistake, at their core, the TCU essays want you to highlight what makes TCU the perfect place for you. 

This one may seem obvious, but many students fall victim to not answering the why school essay prompt. In these essays, you should steer clear of stats like the TCU acceptance rate or college rankings. Instead, you should draw clear parallels between your interests, accomplishments, and values and Texas Christian University. 

For example, if you’re interested in biomedical research, you might discuss how TCU’s unique approach to this field engages you. Don’t just focus on TCU—instead, highlight how TCU directly serves your needs. 

3. Establish “fit”

You’ve probably heard the term “fit” before. Essentially, college “fit” is about finding the right school for your needs—where your values, interests, and achievements align with the school’s ethos and offerings.

So, use the TCU essay prompts to highlight how you would be a good fit for TCU. In your TCU supplemental essays, look for specific examples of programs, values, and opportunities that make TCU the right match for you. Then, focus your Texas Christian University supplemental essays on these factors. 

4. Get creative

Texas Christian University values creative expression. To that end, TCU allows students an opportunity to share their creative work as part of their application. This is one of the more non-traditional TCU essay prompts, so feel free to submit a nontraditional answer to these TCU essay prompts. 

Whether you submit an essay with a satirical tone, an art portfolio, or a video of a musical performance, the last of Texas Christian University supplemental essays lets you show a different side of yourself. If this optional prompt resonates with you, don’t hesitate to highlight your creativity.

5. Find a proofreader

After you have strong Texas Christian University supplemental essays, it’s time to proofread. 

Strong TCU essays will be well-structured, with proper use of grammar and spelling. Find someone you trust to proofread your TCU essays for clarity and syntax. You might ask a parent, teacher, counselor, or college advisor for help. 

Lastly, refer to this Texas Christian University supplemental essays guide often to help you craft competitive TCU essays.

TCU Essays and Additional Resources from CollegeAdvisor

Looking for more essay resources? Before you write your TCU supplemental essays, check out some of our other content designed to assist you with your TCU admissions application and TCU supplemental essays. You can also check out some of TCU’s resources including this webinar with TCU’s Dean of Admissions, Heath Einstein.

Want to write the perfect “why school essay”? This guide can give you more tips on tackling the first of the TCU supplemental essays. At their core, “why college essays” look for one thing—a strong argument as to why you belong at a particular school. Check out our guide for tips. 

Looking for other Texas colleges for your list? Check out our Best Colleges in Texas guide for insights on top colleges around the state. 

The more research you do, the stronger your Texas Christian University supplemental essays will be. Remember, writing a successful “why this college essay” requires you to understand what makes each school unique.

TCU Essay Prompts – Final Thoughts

When reviewing your TCU supplemental essays, keep these tips in mind. The TCU admissions team wants to see how your profile aligns with TCU’s academic resources, university values, and campus culture. So, use your TCU essays to show them—and get one step closer to an acceptance letter .

Do some thorough research on TCU, starting with the TCU admissions website. Setting up a campus visit can also be a great way to explore TCU and learn whether you can envision yourself on campus. It can also give you some details to include in your TCU supplemental essays.

The more you know about your college of choice, the better your supplemental essays will be. However, you shouldn’t just research TCU—you should also think critically about your own interests and goals. The more you know about what you want in a college—and how you can make your chosen college a better place—the stronger your essays will be.

This TCU essay guide was written by AO, Chelsea Holley . Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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Texas Christian University 2020-21 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision: 

Texas Christian University 2020-21 Application Essay Question Explanations

The Requirements: 2 short  essays of 100 words or less; 1 optional creative essay

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Why ,   Short Answer

Think of this supplement as a “lightning round.” Each brief question targets a different part of who you are — from your academic ambitions, to your personality, to your deeper feelings. Prepare to write some short, sharp answers to wow TCU admissions. 

What makes TCU a great fit for you? (Recommended Length: 100 words)

You’ve only got 100 words to show TCU that you’re a match made in heaven! To ensure that each word has maximum impact, take some time to do your research on the school, your chosen major, and any activities that interest you. In any college essay, specificity is key, but in this case you just don’t have time to generalize. Focus on specific aspects of the TCU experience, and don’t forget to connect them to your life! Admissions wants to learn more about you, so aim to show how a TCU education would build on your current interests and pursuits.

(For reference, the paragraph you just read is exactly 100 words.)

How would you describe your personal character? (Recommended Length: 100 words)

Another 100 word shortie, this prompt gives you an opportunity to show a little bit more of your personality. (After all, you didn’t have much space to crack a joke or go off on a tangent in your why essay.) This super general question provides an excellent opportunity for you to tell admissions something they don’t yet know about you. So, focus on a single short story or anecdote about yourself. Go back to the scrap pile for your personal statement. Did you abandon any early ideas because they didn’t quite have enough meat to fill 650 words? What stories do you have left that will show admissions a new side of you? Maybe you have a morning routine that shows how detail-oriented you are. Or perhaps you want to tell a quick story about your first time babysitting your siblings to show what a helpful son and brother you are. Whatever the case, keep it short, specific, and focused on a single theme. 

Optional: TCU values individuality and believes that students are more than just a GPA and test score. To help us get to know you even better, consider this opportunity to further express yourself. The only limitations are the boundaries of your imagination. Please upload an essay, poem, work of art or a URL that showcases another side of you.

In general, we believe you should take every opportunity presented to speak to admissions in your own voice. In this case, we think it’s  extra important because the other two supplemental essays are so short! What have you made in the past year or so that you are especially proud of? What might surprise an admissions officer who has read the rest of your application? While the sky’s the limit, we want to remind you that this is your first impression. If you plan to share a piece of your digital presence, be sure it’s polished and professional.

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Texas Christian University Guide

The Ivy Scholars guide to TCU’s culture, admissions, and other essential information for prospective students and their families.

Fort Worth, Texas

Public religious institution, horned frog, population:, 10,400 (8,900 undergrads), jump to section:.

Statistics Rankings

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About Texas Christian University

Texas Christian University is a private religiously-affiliated school. While TCU is affiliated with the DIsciples of Christ, they do not require students to take classes on the faith or involve themselves with sectarian activities. More than 20 different religions are represented by student groups on campus. With a strong athletic and academic tradition, school spirit at TCU is high.

TCU Statistics

Year founded, 4 year graduation rate:, gender distribution, 60% female, 40% male, acceptance rate:, location type:, schedule system:, student / faculty ratio:, average class size:, demographics:, need assistance with the college admissions process, national rankings.

US News Rankings:

• #38 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs
• #89 Best Value Schools
• #97 National Universities

Independent Rankings:

• #3 Best College Dorms per The Princeton Review
• #7 Best Christian Colleges per Niche
• #8 Best Colleges for Criminal Justice per Niche
• #8 Best Career services per The Princeton Review
• #10 Best Schools for Internships per The Princeton Review
• #16 Best College Campuses per Niche
• #165 National Colleges per The Times of Higher Education

TCU Admissions

• Dates + Deadlines
• Admissions Strategy

Application Deadlines:

Notifcation dates:, early action:, november 1st, january 1st, regular decision:, february 1st.

Acceptance Rates:

• Early Action: 41%
• Regular Decision: 41 %
• Transfer: 58%

Average Applicant Pool: 19,700

Average Number of Applicants Accepted: 8,100

Average Number Enrolled: 2,000

Application Systems: Common App, Apply Texas

Average GPA (weighted):

3.64 weighted.

Comprehensive Breakdown

SAT Scores: 25th% – 1150,  75th% – 1340

ACT Scores : 25th% – 25,  75th% – 31

*Test mandatory. Writing sections optional.

Demonstrated Interest:

TCU does consider demonstrated interest. 

Demonstrating Interest

Recommendation Letter Policies:

One counsellor recommendation and one letter from a teacher are required.

TCU Essay Prompts:

• Choose one from any of the prompts provided by the TCU application, the Common Application or ApplyTexas. Only one essay submission is required.
• At TCU, our mission statement is very important to us. “T o educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community. ” This is integrated into all aspects of the TCU experience. If you were to write a mission statement about your life, what would it be and how does this mission direct your life and goals?
• Tell us about the most significant person, experience, or circumstance which has shaped your life thus far. How has he, she, or it influenced your character? How might you use what you have learned to achieve your goals?
• Those we call great will usually point to some failure in their lives as a pivotal moment leading them to their successful path. Tell us about a time in your life in which failure propelled you toward success.
• In her best-selling novel The Secret Life of Bees, TCU alumna Sue Monk Kidd wrote, “The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.” What matters to you?

Special Notes:

• Freedom of expression page. To quote the admissions page: “TCU values individuality and believes that students are more than just a GPA and test score. To help us get to know you even better, consider this opportunity to further express yourself. The only limitations are the boundaries of your imagination. Please submit an essay, poem, work of art or a URL that showcases another side of you.”
• The John V. Roach Honors College has additional requirements for admission.
• Some departments in the College of Fine Arts require an audition or portfolio submission as part of an application.
• Nursing majors have additional application requirements.

TCU Academics

• Schools & Colleges
• Core Requirements

Special Programs

• AddRan College of Liberal Arts
• Bob Schieffer College of Communication
• College of Education
• College of Fine Arts
• College of Science and Engineering
• Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences
• Neeley School of Business
• School of Interdisciplinary Studies

Core Requirements:

• All students are required to complete the core curriculum, which has three areas of focus: 
• Essential Competencies (12 hours + 6 hours Writing Emphasis)
• Human Experience and Endeavors (27 hours)
• Heritage, Mission, Vision, and Values (18 hours)
• Complete Core Requirements Information

Courses of Study:

• 117 Majors Offered
• Option to double major
• Popular majors include Nursing, Communication & Media Studies, Finance, Economics, and Management Sciences
• Minors Offered

AP Credit Policies:

• TCU awards credit for scores of 3, 4, or 5 on most AP exams, scores of 6 or 7 on IB exams.
• Comprehensive AP Credit Information

Honors Programs:

• The John V. Roach Honors College offers students additional advising and scholarship opportunities, and their own residence hall.
• Departmental Honors (contact individual departments for more information)
• Undergraduate Honors (Dean’s list, graduation [Latin] honors, and honors societies)

Research Availability:

• There are many research opportunities for undergraduates. Students wanting to explore a particular discipline should contact the department directly.

Study Abroad: 

• Study Abroad Options

Business Options: 

• The Neeley School of Business offers 8 different majors, as well as a number of minors, which are also open to non-majors.
• Majors are required to become certified with Microsoft software packages.
• Neeley Fellows have additional enrichment, advising, and career advancement and networking opportunities.

Pre-Med Options:

• The Pre-health Professions Institute works with students in a number of majors to prepare them for professional school and careers in healthcare. It offers advising, volunteer opportunities, and structured coursework.
• Pre-Health Advising
• Pre-Health Society

Pre-Law Options:

• Pre-Law Advising Program
• Pre-Law Society

Additional Specialty Programs: 

• Washington Internships
• The Idea Factory
• Double Degrees

Student Life at TCU

• Campus + Area
• Student Orgs + Athletics

Motto: Learning is Power

Mission and Values:

• Mission: To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community.
• Values: Academic and personal achievement; Intellectual inquiry and the creation of knowledge; Artistic and creative expression; A heritage of service in pursuit of the greater good; Personal freedom and integrity; The dignity of and respect for the individual; Active appreciation for the array of human experience and the potential of every human being.
• Additional Information
• Student Testimonials ( Niche , Unigo , Cappex )

TCU’s Housing System:

The school has several residence halls set aside for Freshmen, who are required to live on campus, as are sophomores. Upperclassmen can choose between traditional and apartment style housing. Many students also live in Greek sponsored housing. There are several living learning communities, for students who want to explore a particular academic or social topic with peers.

Housing Statistics:

of freshmen live on campus.

Of undergrads live on campus overall..

Campus & Surrounding Area :  

• The oak-covered campus is 4 miles from downtown Fort Worth. It is divided into 3 main sections; academic, residential, and Worth Hills. The academic and residential districts are divided by University Drive, which bisects campus. Worth Hills is to the West, and is the location of the football stadium and Greek houses.
• Points of interest on and around campus include the Monnig Meteorite Gallery , the Log Cabin Village , Fort Worth Zoo , and the Fort Worth Japanese Garden .
• Safety Information: ( TCU , College Factual )

Transportation:

• There is a free shuttle system, which runs around campus and into Atlanta, and travels between the two campuses. Discounted public transit passes are also available. 
• Parking Information

Traditions:

• Frog Camp – New students come to campus early to participate in a freshmen orientation and bonding experience.
• Carols by Candlelight – An annual concert featuring carolling in the Robert Carr chapel.
• Senior Sunrise – Graduating seniors get up before dawn to have breakfast together before their final exams week.
• D1 Athletics – Big 10 Conference (Good Men’s and Women’s Basketball)
• Intramural Sports
• Club Sports
• Main Rival: Indiana-University

Greek Life:  

• 30% of the student body is involved in greek life, including social, service, and academic organizations.

Student-Run Organizations

• Organization Database
• Sample Organizations ( Calling in Action Inc , TCU Hillel , Mariachi Sangre Royal)
• 50% of the student body is involved in greek life, including social, service, and academic organizations.
• Frat-based parties and activities are quite common, due to the prominence of Greek life on campus. House and dorm parties also occur.
• There is vibrant nightlife in Fort Worth, both near campus , and more broadly, especially downtown .
• Ranked the #7 party school in Texas per Niche.
• D1 Athletics – Big 12 Conference (Good Football and Women’s Swimming)
• Main Rival: Baylor University

TCU Financials

• Financial Aid
• Scholarships

Yearly Cost of Attendance:

• Total: $66,600
• Tuition and Fees: $51,660
• Residence Hall: $8,340
• Meal Plan: $5,700
• Books and Supplies: $900

Financial Aid:

Grants are awarded based on the student’s demonstrated need, and may vary by year. Some grants have other eligibility requirements. All grants require students to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Many aid packages also include work-study , to help students cover incidental and personal expenses while on campus. Loans are used by many students to cover any gaps in funding.

Additional Financial Aid & Student Loan Information

Scholarships: 

TCU offers merit based scholarships for academic achievement, artistic talent, and athletic prowess. There is no guarantee of scholarship money, due to limited funds, so students are recommended to apply early.

• The school was founded in Fort Worth, moved to Thorp Spring, moved again to Waco, before finally coming back to Fort Worth.
• The school left Fort Worth after their fledgling seminary became surrounded by the now boom-town’s vice district.
• TCU was the first coeducational school in Texas.
• Their rivalry with Baylor is the most even in collegiate football, with TCU leading 55-52-7.
• The horned frog was picked as the school’s mascot after it appeared in the yearbook in 1887.
• TCU competes with SMU over the iron skillet trophy. A SMU student was going to cook frog legs in the skillet before a 1946 game, a TCU student objected, and it was decided the skillet would go to the winning team. They’ve been trading the skillet since.

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Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to write perfect applytexas essays.

College Essays

The ApplyTexas college application contains many essay prompts, and each of the most popular colleges in Texas has different requirements for which essays they expect applicants to answer.

So how do you get advice on writing your best ApplyTexas essays, no matter which school you're applying to? Look no further than this article, which completely unpacks all possible ApplyTexas essay prompts. We'll explain what each prompt is looking for and what admissions officers are hoping to learn about you. In addition, we'll give you our top strategies for ensuring that your essay meets all these expectations and help you come up with your best essay topics.

To help you navigate this long guide, here is an overview of what we'll be talking about:

What Are the ApplyTexas Essays?

Comparing applytexas essay prompts a, b, and c, dissecting applytexas essay topic a, dissecting applytexas essay topic b, dissecting applytexas essay topic c, dissecting applytexas essay topic d.

• Dissecting the UT and Texas A&M Short Answer Prompts
• Briefly: ApplyTexas Essay Topic E (Transfer Students Only)

The ApplyTexas application is basically the Texas version of the Common Application , which many US colleges use. It's a unified college application process that's accepted by all Texas public universities and many private ones. (Note that some schools that accept ApplyTexas also accept the Common App.)

The ApplyTexas website is a good source for figuring out whether your target college accepts the ApplyTexas application. That said, the best way to confirm exactly what your school expects is to go to its admissions website.

Why Do Colleges Want You to Write Essays?

Admissions officers are trying to put together classes full of interesting, vibrant students who have different backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and dreams. One tool colleges use to identify a diverse set of perspectives is the college essay .

These essays are a chance for you to show admissions officers those sides of yourself that aren’t reflected in the rest of your application. This is where you describe where you've come from, what you believe in, what you value, and what has shaped you.

This is also where you make yourself sound mature and insightful—two key qualities that colleges are looking for in applicants . These are important because colleges want to enroll students who will ultimately thrive when faced with the independence of college life .

Admissions staff want to enroll a diverse incoming class of motivated and thoughtful students.

ApplyTexas Essay Requirements

There are four essay prompts on the ApplyTexas application for first-year admission (Topics A, B, C, and D). For Topics A, B, and C, there are slight variations on the prompt for transfer students or those looking to be readmitted. We’ll cover each variation just below the main topic breakdown. There are also several short-answer prompts for UT Austin and Texas A&M , as well as Topic D for art and architecture majors and  Topic E for transfer students only . Although there are no strict word limits, colleges usually suggest keeping the essays somewhere between one and one and a half pages long.

All Texas colleges and universities have different application requirements, including which essay or essays they want. Some schools require essays, some list them as optional, and others use a combination of required and optional essays. Several schools use the essays to determine scholarship awards, honors program eligibility, or admission to specific majors.

Here are some essay submission requirement examples from a range of Texas schools:

• You are required to write an essay on Topic A .
• You also have to answer three short-answer prompts (250–300 words each) .
• If you're applying for a studio art, art education, art history, architecture, or visual art studies major, you'll have to write a short answer specific to your major .
• UT Austin also accepts the Common App.

Texas A&M

• If you're an engineering major, you'll have to respond to  a short-answer prompt .
• Texas A&M also accepts the Common App .

Southern Methodist University

• You must write an essay on Topic A .
• You may (but do not have to) write an essay on Topic B .
• You also have to answer two short-answer prompts .
• SMU also accepts the Common App and Coalition App and has its own online application, so you have the option to pick and choose the application you want to fill out .

Texas Christian University

• You must write an essay on any of the topics (A, B, or C) .
• TCU also accepts the Common App and Coalition App has its own online application, so it's another school for which you can choose the application you want to use.

The essays required as part of each admissions application differ from college to college. Check each institution's website for the most up-to-date instructions.

Three of the ApplyTexas essay topics try to get to the heart of what makes you the person you are. But since Topics A, B, and C all focus on things that are essential to you as a person, coming up with a totally unique idea for each can be difficult—especially since on a first read-through, these prompts can sound really similar .

Before I dissect all of the ApplyTexas essay prompts, let's see how A, B, and C differ from one another. You can then keep these differences in mind as you try to think of topics to write about.

ApplyTexas Prompts

Here are the most recent prompts for Topics A, B, and C on the ApplyTexas application.

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

You've got a ticket in your hand. Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

How to Tell Topics A, B, and C Apart

One helpful way to keep these topics separate in your mind is to create a big-picture category for each one: Topic A is outside, Topic B is inside, and Topic C is the future .

In other words, Topic A is asking about the impact of challenges or opportunities on you and how you handled that impact. Topic B is asking about your inner passions and how these define you. Finally, Topic C wants to know where you're going from here. These very broad categories will help as you brainstorm ideas and life experiences you can use for your essay .

Although many of the stories you think of can be shaped to fit each of these prompts, think about what the experience most reveals about you. If it’s about how your external community shaped you, that'd probably be a good fit for Topic A. If it’s a story about the causes or interests that you're most passionate about, save it for Topic B. If it’s primarily about an event that you think predicts your future, it'll likely work well for Topic C.

(Note: if you are a transfer student writing the essay variation for Topics A, B, or C, keep in mind that these variations still ask you about the outside, inside, or future respectively.)

Your years-long passion for performing in theater productions is an appropriate subject for ApplyTexas Topic B essays.

Now, we'll thoroughly deconstruct everything you need to know about Topic A, the first ApplyTexas essay prompt.

What’s the Prompt Asking, and How Should You Answer It?

This prompt wants to see how a particular external experience as a high school student has shaped you . The prompt uses the phrase "your story," signaling that admissions staff want to know what you believe has had the biggest impact on you.

Step 1: Describe Your Experience

The first part of the prompt is about identifying and describing specific experiences you've had as a high school student. You don't want your essay coming across too vague, so make sure you're focusing on one or two specific experiences, whether they've been positive or negative. The prompt suggests zeroing in on something "unique," or something that has affected you in a way it hasn't impacted anyone else.

You'll want to choose an opportunity or challenge that you can describe vividly and that's really important to you. In other words, it   needs to have had a significant impact on your personal development.

It should also be an experience that has been part of your life for a while . You're describing something that's affected you "throughout your high school career," after all.

Step 2: Explain How This Experience Shaped You

You shouldn't just describe your experience—you also need to discuss how that experience affected you as a person . How did this particular opportunity or difficulty turn you into the person you are today?

It's best if you can think of one or two concrete anecdotes or stories about how your chosen experience(s) helped shape you. For example, don't just say that a public piano recital made you a hard-working person— describe in detail how practicing diligently each day, even when you weren't feeling motivated, got frustrated by particular parts of the piece you were performing, and experienced stage fright showed you that working toward your goals is worthwhile, even when it's hard.

Elaborating on how a specific challenge or obstacle that you faced during your high school career helped shape your current perspective and personality is one option for Topic A essays.

What Are Readers Hoping to Learn About You?

Admission staff are looking for two main things. First, they want to see that you can be mature and thoughtful about your surroundings and events in your life . Are you curious about the world around you? If you've really reflected on your experience, you'll be able to describe the people, places, and events that have impacted you as a high school student in a nuanced, insightful way.

Second, they want to see how you stand out from other applicants . This can be accomplished in one of two ways: (1) you can emphasize how you are somehow different because of your experience and how it impacted you, or (2) you can emphasize how you learned positive qualities from the event that differentiate you from other students. Basically, how did your experience turn you into a special, interesting person?

How Can Your Essay Give Them What They Want?

How can you make sure your essay is really answering the prompt? Here are some key strategies.

#1: Pick a Specific Experience

You'll need to select a particular opportunity or obstacle to zero in on. Opportunities include travel, internships, volunteer or paid jobs, academic events, and awards. Challenges might include competitions, performances, illnesses, injuries, or learning something new. Remember, you'll want to focus on one or two particular events or experiences that have truly contributed to your personal growth .

As you're choosing the experiences you want to write about, think about significant things that happened to you in connection with those events. Remember, you'll need to get beyond just describing how the opportunity or challenge is important to you to show how its impact on you is so significant .

#2: How Did This Experience Shape You?

You then need to consider what about your experience turned you into a person who stands out . Again, this can be about how you overcame the difficulty or how the opportunity fostered positive qualities or traits in you that would make you an appealing member of the college's student body. You want to make sure you have a clear message that links your experience to one, two, or three special traits you have.

Try to think of specific stories and anecdotes related to the event. Then, thoughtfully analyze these to reveal what they show about you. Important adults in your life can help you brainstorm potential ideas.

#3: Think of the Essay Like a Movie

Like a good movie script, a college essay needs characters, some action, and a poignant but ultimately happy ending . When you’re planning out your personal statement, try to think of the story you’re telling in movie terms. Ensure that your essay has the following features:

• Setting: As you're describing your experience, taking time to give a vivid sense of place is key. You can accomplish this by describing the actual physical surroundings, the main "characters" in your community, or a combination of both.
• Stakes: Movies propel the action forward by giving characters high stakes: win or lose, life or death. Even if you are describing your experience in positive terms, there needs to be a sense of conflict or dynamic change. In the anecdote(s) you've selected to write about, what did you stand to gain or lose?
• External conflict resolution: If there's an external conflict of some kind (e.g., with a neighbor, a family member, a friend, or a city council), you need to show some level of resolution.
• Internal conflict resolution: Inner conflict is essentially about how you changed in response to the event or experience. You'll need to clearly lay out what happened within you and how those changes have carried you forward as a person.

Describing your feelings before, during, and after the opportunity or challenge is a crucial element of a Topic A college essay.

#4: Add Details, Description, and Examples

Your essay will really stand out if you add effective examples and descriptions.

For example, imagine Karima decides to describe how learning to navigate public transit as a high school first-year student made her resourceful and helped her explore the city she grew up in. She also discusses how exploring the city ultimately changed her perspective. How should she frame her experience? Here are some options:

I was nervous about taking the El by myself for the first time. At the station, there were lots of commuters and adults who seemed impatient but confident. At first, I was very afraid of getting lost, but over time, I became as confident as those commuters.

I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement walking up the Howard red line turnstile for the first time. What if I got lost on my way to the museum? I was worried that I would just seem like a nuisance to all of the frowning commuters who crowded the platform. If I needed help, would they help me? Was I even brave enough to ask? When the metal doors opened, I pressed my nails into my palms and rushed in after a woman with a red briefcase. Success! At least for the first step. I found a sideways-facing seat and clutched my macrame bag with my notebook and sketching supplies. A map hung above my seat. Pressing my finger to the colorful grid, I found my stop and counted how many I still had to go. I spent the entire train ride staring at that map, straining my ears for everything the conductor said. Now, when I think about the first time I rode the El by myself, I smile. What seemed so scary at the time is just an everyday way to get around now. But I always look around on the platform to see if any nervous kids linger at the edges of the commuter crowds and offer them a smile.

Both versions set up the same story plotwise, but the second makes the train ride (and therefore the author) come alive through the addition of specific, individualizing details , such as the following:

• Visual cues: The reader "sees" what the author sees through descriptions such as "frowning commuters who crowded the platform," "woman with a red briefcase," and "colorful grid."
• Emotional responses: We experience the author’s feelings: she "felt a mixture of nerves and excitement." She wonders if she's brave enough to ask for help. The train ride was "so scary at the time" but feels "everyday" now.
• Differentiation: Even though the commuters are mostly a monolithic group, we get to see some individuals, such as the woman with a red briefcase.

ApplyTexas Topic A Essay Ideas

There's no one best topic for this essay prompt (or any other), but I've included some potential ideas below to help you get started with your own brainstorming:

• Describe a time you organized the people around you to advocate a common local cause.
• Hone in on a particular trip with one or more family members.
• Identify a time when you were no longer in your comfort zone. Describe how you adapted and learned from that experience.
• Discuss being a minority in your school or neighborhood.
• Describe going through a cultural or religious rite of passage as a high school student.
• Elaborate on how you moved from one place to somewhere totally different and handled your culture shock.

ApplyTexas Topic A for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

If you are applying to transfer or to be readmitted, you likely already have some college experience. So in this case, ApplyTexas offers a personal statement option that allows you to write about your life beyond your high school years. This option still asks you to demonstrate what in your experience has turned you into a unique individual. But if, for instance, you left college and now are reapplying, you’ll want to address how some aspect of that experience made an impact on who you are now. Otherwise, follow the advice above for the standard Topic A prompt.

Here’s the current Essay Topic A prompt for transfer applicants:

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. You may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. The statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school or a record of your participation in school-related activities. Rather, this is your opportunity to address the admissions committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and other application information cannot convey.

Next up, let's go through the same process for ApplyTexas Topic B, taking it apart brick by brick and putting it back together again.

What’s the Prompt Asking?

At first glance, this prompt seems pretty vague. "Tell us about yourself" is not exactly the most detailed set of instructions. But if we dig a little deeper, we can see that there are actually two pretty specific things this question is asking.

#1: What Defines You?

This prompts posits that "most students"—which likely includes you!—have some kind of defining trait . This could be "an identity, an interest, or a talent," so you need to express what that defining trait is for you specifically.

For instance, are you an amazing knitter? Do you spend your free time researching cephalopods? Are you a connoisseur of indie movies or mystery novels? Or maybe you have a religious, cultural, ethnic, or LGBTQIA+ identity that's very important to you. Any of these things could plausibly be the main, framing theme of your essay.

#2: How Does That Defining Trait Fit Into "You" Overall?

Even though you have some kind of defining trait, that's not the entirety of you. Essentially, you need to contextualize your defining trait within your broader personality and identity. This is where the "tell us about yourself" part comes in. What does your defining trait say about you as a person? And how does it fit into your overall personality, values, and dreams?

In a Topic B college essay, you could potentially describe your knowledge of chess and how it exemplifies your talent for thinking several steps ahead.

Admissions staff are hoping to learn two main things:

#1: What You're Passionate About

It's essential that this essay communicates genuine passion for whatever you write about. College is a lot of work, and passion is an important driving force when things get busy. Therefore, readers are looking for students who are really engaged in the world around them and excited about specific causes and activities!

#2: How You View Yourself (and How Successfully You Can Communicate That)

A strong, well-developed sense of self goes a long way toward helping you weather all the changes you're going to experience when you attend college. Even though you'll change and grow a lot as a person during your college years, having a sense of your own core traits and values will help those changes be exciting as opposed to scary .

Colleges are looking for a developed sense of self. Additionally, they are looking for students who can communicate messages about themselves in a clear, confident, and cohesive way .

The challenge with this prompt is giving a complete picture of you as a person while still staying on message about your defining trait. You need to be focused yet comprehensive. Let's explore the best ways to show off your passion and frame your identity.

#1: Define the Core Message

First, you need to select that defining trait . This could be pretty much anything, just as long as you're genuinely invested in this trait and feel that it represents some core aspect of you.

It should also be something you can describe through stories and anecdotes . Just saying, "I'm a redhead, and that defines me" makes for a pretty boring essay! However, a story about how you started a photography project that consists of portraits of redheads like you and what you learned about yourself from this experience is much more interesting.

Be careful to select something that presents you in a broadly positive light . If you choose a trait that doesn't seem very serious, such as your enduring and eternal love of onion rings, you risk seeming at best immature and at worst outright disrespectful.

You also want to pick something realistic —don't claim you're the greatest mathematician who ever lived unless you are, in fact, the greatest mathematician who ever lived (and you probably aren't). Otherwise, you'll seem out of touch.

#2: Fit Your Message into the Larger Picture

Next, consider how you can use this trait to paint a more complete picture of you as a person . It's great that you're passionate about skiing and are a member of a ski team, but what else does this say about you? Are you an adventurous daredevil who loves to take (reasonable) risks? Are you a nature lover with a taste for exploration? Do you love being part of a team?

Select at least two or three positive messages you want to communicate about yourself in your essay about your key trait.

In a Topic B essay, a student could connect their long-time passion for cooking to their penchant for adding their unique touch to every project they take on.

#3: Show, Don't Tell

It's much more interesting to read about things you do that demonstrate your key traits than it is to hear you list them. Don't just say, "Everyone asks me for advice because I'm level-headed and reasonable." Instead, actually describe situations that show people asking you for advice and you offering that level-headed, reasonable advice.

#4: Watch Your Tone

It's important to watch your tone as you write an essay that's (pretty overtly) about how great you are. You want to demonstrate your own special qualities without seeming glib, staid, self-aggrandizing, or narcissistic .

Let’s say Andrew wants to write about figuring out how to grow a garden, despite his yard being in full shade, and how this desire turned into a passion for horticulture. He could launch into a rant about the garden store employees not knowing which plants are right for which light, the previous house owner’s terrible habit of using the yard as a pet bathroom, or the achy knee that prevented him from proper weeding posture.

Alternatively, he could describe doing research on the complex gardens of royal palaces, planning his garden based on plant color and height, using the process of trial and error to see which plants would flourish, and getting so involved with this work that he often lost track of time.

One of these approaches makes him sound whiny and self-centered, whereas  the other makes him sound like someone who can take charge of a difficult situation .

ApplyTexas Topic B Essay Ideas

Again, there's no single best approach here, but I've outlined some potential topics below:

• Are you known for being really good at something or an expert on a particular topic? How does this impact your identity?
• Discuss how you got involved in a certain extracurricular activity and what it means to you. What have you learned from participating in it?
• Describe something you've done lots of research on in your free time. How did you discover that interest? What have you learned as a result?
• What's your most evident personality trait? How has that trait impacted your life? (You can ask friends and relatives for help with this one.)
• Relate the importance of your LGBTQIA+ identity.
• Discuss your religious or cultural background and how this defines you.
• Describe your experience as a member of a specific community.

ApplyTexas Topic B for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

The ApplyTexas variation on Topic B is specifically designed for two different possible application situations. The first is for people who are applying as nondegree-seeking or postbaccalaureate students (aka “transient students”). In this case, they ask you to discuss the courses you want to take and what you hope to accomplish if you are admitted. That means they still want you to focus this essay on what you are passionate about, as mentioned above, but they expect that passion to be based on courses the university offers more directly.  

The second is for students who are reapplying after being suspended for academic reasons. In this situation, they ask you to describe any actions you have taken to improve your academic performance and to give them a reason why you should be readmitted. You’ll still need to focus on your positive traits in this variation, so this can be a tricky task. As in the example above, you’ll need to watch your tone and not come across as whiny. Instead, confront the cause of your academic suspension and what you learned from that experience; then, turn it into a newfound strength. Maybe you learned new study habits you can describe for them. Maybe working full-time while you were suspended improved your work ethic. Whatever you choose, show how a negative situation changed into a positive learning experience for you, and focus on the better person you are now because of it. 

Here’s the current prompt for Essay Topic B for transfer applicants:

If you are applying as a former student and were suspended for academic reasons, describe briefly any actions you have taken to improve your academic abilities and give reason why you should be readmitted. If you are applying as a nondegree-seeking or postbaccalaureate application, briefly describe the specific objectives you wish to accomplish if admitted, including the courses in which you would like to enroll.

Now, we can take apart Topic C to get a good handle on how to tackle this future-facing essay.

You've got a ticket in your hand—where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

If ApplyTexas Topic A and Topic B were all about your past experiences, Topic C wants you to give readers a glimpse of your imagined possibilities .

There are basically two potential approaches to this question. We'll break them down here.

Option 1: Describe Your Long-Term Goals

One approach to this prompt is to use your essay as a chance to describe your long-term goals for your career and life .

For some students, this will be a straightforward endeavor. For example, say you’ve always wanted to be a doctor. You spend your time volunteering at hospitals, helping out at your mom’s practice, and studying biology. You could easily frame your "ticket" as a ticket to medical school. Just pick a few of the most gripping moments from these past experiences and discuss the overall trajectory of your interests, and your essay would likely be a winner!

But what if you’re not sure about your long-term goals yet? Or what if you feel like you really don't know where you're going next week, let alone next year or 10 years from now? Read on for Option 2.

Option 2: Demonstrate Thoughtful Imagination

Although you can certainly interpret this as a straightforward question about your future, you can also use it as a chance to be more imaginative.

Note that this entire question rests on the metaphor of the ticket. The ticket can take you anywhere; you decide. It could be to a real place, such as your grandmother's house or the Scottish Highlands or the Metropolitan Museum. Or it could be somewhere fantastical, such as a time machine to the Paleolithic.

The important point is that you use the destination you select—and what you plan to do there—to prove you're a thoughtful person who is excited about and actively engaged with the world around you .

The destination you choose to write about, whether realistic or fantastical, should be clearly linked to a specific goal or set of goals that you wish to pursue or are currently pursuing.

If you're on a direct path to a specific field of study or career, admissions officers definitely want to know this. Having driven, goal-oriented, and passionate students is a huge plus for any college. If this sounds like you, be sure your essay conveys not just your interest but also your deep love of the subject, as well as any related clubs, activities, or hobbies you’ve done during high school.

If you take the more creative approach to this prompt, however, realize that in this essay (as in all the other ApplyTexas essays),  the how matters much more than the what . Don't worry that you don't have a specific goal in mind yet. No matter where your eventual academic, career, or other pursuits might lie, every activity you've done up to now has taught you something, whether that be developing your work ethic, mastering a skill, learning from a mentor, interacting with peers, dealing with setbacks, understanding your own learning style, or persevering through hardship. Your essay is a chance to show off that knowledge and maturity.

So no matter what destination you choose for your ticket (the what ), you want to communicate that you can think about future (and imagined!) possibilities in a compelling way based on your past experiences (the how ).

Whether you take the ideas of "where you are going" and "what you are doing" in a more literal or more abstract direction, the admissions committee wants to make sure that no matter what you study, you'll be able to get something meaningful out of it . They want to see that you’re not simply floating through life on the surface but are actively absorbing the qualities, skills, and know-how you'll need to succeed in the world.

Here are some ideas for how to show that you have thoughtful and compelling visions of possible futures.

#1: Pick Where You're Going

Is this going to be a more direct interpretation of your goals (my ticket is to the judge's bench) or a more creative one (my ticket is to Narnia)? Whichever one you choose, make sure that you choose a destination that is genuinely compelling to you . The last thing you want is to come off sounding bored or disingenuous.

#2: Don’t Overreach or Underreach

Another key point is to avoid overreaching or underreaching. For instance, it’s fine to say that you’d like to get involved in politics, but it’s a little too self-aggrandizing to say that you’re definitely going to be president of the United States. Be sure that whatever destination you select for your ticket, it doesn’t come off as unnecessary bragging rather than simple aspiration .

At the same time, make sure the destination you've chosen is one that makes sense in the context of a college essay. Maybe what you really want is a ticket to the potato chip factory; however, this essay might not be the best place to elaborate on this imagined possibility.

While you can of course choose a whimsical location, you need to be able to ground it in a real vision of the kind of person you want to become . Don't forget who your audience is! College admissions officers want to find students who are eager to learn . They also want to be exposed to new thoughts and ideas.

#3: Flesh It Out

Once you've picked a destination, it's time to consider the other components of the question: What are you going to do once you reach your destination? What will happen there? Try to think of some key messages that relate back to you, your talents, and your goals .

#4: Ground Your "Journey" in Specific Anecdotes and Examples

The way this question is framed is very abstract, so ground your thoughts about your destination (whether it's more straightforward or more creative) in concrete anecdotes and examples that show you're thoughtful, engaged, passionate, and driven.

This is even more important if you go the creative route and are writing about an unusual location. If you don't keep things somewhat grounded in reality, your essay could come across as frivolous. Make sure you make the most of this chance to share real-life examples of your desirable qualities.

Imagine Eleanor’s essay is about how she wants a ticket to Starfleet Academy (for the uninitiated, this is the fictional school in the Star Trek universe where people train to be Starfleet officers). Which essay below conveys more about her potential as a student?

My ticket is to Starfleet Academy. There, I would train to become part of the Command division so I could command a starship. Once I was captain of my own starship, I would explore the deepest reaches of space to interact with alien life and learn more about the universe.

I've loved Star Trek since my dad started playing copies of old episodes for me in our ancient DVD player. So if I could have a ticket to anywhere, it would be to Starfleet Academy to train in the command division. I know I would make a superb command officer. My ten years of experience in hapkido have taught me discipline and how to think on my feet. Working as a hapkido instructor in my dojo the past two years has honed my leadership and teaching qualities, which are essential for any starship commander. Additionally, I have the curiosity and sense of adventure necessary for a long career in the unknown reaches of space. Right now, I exercise my thirst for exploration through my photography blog. Using my DSLR camera, I track down and photograph obscure and hidden places I find in my town, on family trips, and even on day trips to nearby cities. I carefully catalogue the locations so other people can follow in my footsteps. Documentation, after all, is another important part of exploring space in a starship.

Both versions communicate the same things about the imagined destination, but the second essay does a much better job showing who Eleanor is as a person. All we really learn from the first excerpt is that Eleanor must like Star Trek .

We can also infer from version 1 that she probably likes leadership, exploration, and adventure because she wants to captain a starship, but we don't really know that for sure. Admissions officers shouldn't have to guess who you are from your essay; your essay should lay it out for them explicitly and articulately.

In the second essay, by contrast, Eleanor clearly lays out the qualities that would make her a great command officer and provides examples of how she exemplifies these qualities . She ties the abstract destination to concrete activities from her life, such as hapkido and photography. This provides a much more well-rounded picture of what Eleanor could bring to the student body and the school at large.

Eleanor's essay about her desire to explore the final frontier creatively illustrates her curiosity and leadership potential .

ApplyTexas Topic C Essay Ideas

I've come up with some sample essay ideas for the two different approaches to this prompt.

Possibility 1: Your Concrete Goals

• Describe your goal to pursue a particular academic field or career and discuss how specific classes or extracurricular activities ignited that passion
• Discuss how your plans to pursue politics, project management, or another leadership role were fostered by a first experience of leadership (this could be a straightforward leadership position in a club or job or a more indirect or unplanned leadership experience, such as suddenly having to take charge of a group).
• Discuss how your desire to teach or train in the future was sparked by an experience of teaching someone to do something (e.g., by being a tutor or by helping a sibling deal with a particularly challenging class or learning issue).
• Describe your goal to perform on stage, and discuss how your past experiences of public creativity (e.g., being in a play, staging an art show, performing an orchestra, or being involved in dance,.) led you to this goal

Possibility 2: Creative/Abstract Destination

• What would you do if you could visit the world of a favorite childhood book, movie, or TV series? What qualities does that show about you?
• Is there a relative or friend you would like to visit with your ticket?
• Is there a particular historical period you would like to time travel to?
• Is there a destination you've always wanted to go to that you've read about, heard about, or only conjured up in dreams or in a moment of creativity?

Remember to tie your imaginative destination to concrete details about your special qualities!

Topic C for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

ApplyTexas offers a Topic C alternative in case there is personal information you want them to consider along with your application, such as why you are transferring to a new school. They still want you to focus on the future, but they encourage discussing any hardships, challenges, extenuating circumstances, or opportunities that have affected your abilities and academic credentials (in a positive way). They also want you to discuss how these circumstances can help you contribute to a diverse college community. In this case, this variation is not fundamentally different from the ticket question; it just asks for a more specific focus. So if this variation applies to you, use the advice above for question C option one. 

Here’s the current prompt for Essay Topic C for transfer applicants:

There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. Write an essay describing that information. You might include exceptional hardships, challenges, or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, educational goals, or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.

Would you use your ticket to visit Renaissance Italy, a journey you metaphorically hope to take as a history major?

If you're applying to one of several fine arts fields, you might have to write this essay.

Personal interaction with objects, images, and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image, or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

If you’re applying to study architecture, art, or art history, one of the essays you will likely have to write is this one. This essay topic is trying to ask as broadly as possible about an experience with art that has moved you in some way. This means that your options for answering the question are quite varied. So what are the two different parts of this prompt? Let's take a look.

Part 1: Observation and Reaction

Think of a time you experienced that blown-away feeling when looking at something human made. This is the reaction and situation the first part of the essay wants you to recreate. The prompt is primarily interested in your ability to describe and pinpoint exactly what quality made you stop in your tracks. The huge set of inspiring object options the prompt offers tells us that your taste level won't be judged here.

You can focus on a learning experience, which includes both classes and extracurricular activities, or you can focus on a direct experience in which you encountered an object or space without the mediation of a class or teacher. The only limit to your focus object is that it is something made by someone other than you. Your reaction should be in conversation with the original artist, not a form of navel-gazing.

The key for this part of the essay is that your description needs to segue into a story of change and transformation . What the essay topic is asking you to show isn’t just that you were struck by something you saw or learned about, but that you also absorbed something from this experience that impacted your own art going forward.

Did seeing the Angkor Wat Temple during a trip abroad with your family foster your intellectual passion for Southeast Asian art or religious monuments?

Part 2: Absorption

This brings us to the second part of the essay prompt: this is where you need to move from the past into the present — and then at least gesture meaningfully toward the future.

It’s one thing to look at a piece of art, such as a sculpture or architectural form, and feel moved by its grace, boldness, or vision. But it’s a sign of a mature, creative mind to be able to take to heart what is meaningful to you about this work and then transmute this experience into your own art or your interpretation of others' creative works.

This essay wants to see that developing maturity in you ; therefore, you should explain exactly how your own vision has changed after this meaningful encounter you've described. What qualities, philosophy, or themes do you now try to infuse into what you create or how you analyze art?

More importantly, this essay prompt asserts that being affected by something once isn’t enough. That’s why in this second part of the essay,  you also need to explain what you’ve been doing to keep having similarly moving encounters with other creative works .

You have some choice, too, when it comes to answering, "What have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?" For example, you could describe how you’ve sought out other works by the same artist who moved you the first time. Or you could describe investigating new media or techniques to emulate something you saw. Or you could discuss learning about the period, genre, school, or philosophical theory that the original piece of art comes from to give yourself a more contextualized understanding.

If you’re planning an academic career in the visual arts or architecture, then you’re entering a long conversation started by our cave-painting ancestors and continuing through every human culture and society since.

This essay wants to make sure that you aren’t creating or interpreting art in a vacuum and that you have had enough education and awareness to be inspired by others. By demonstrating how you react to works that move you—not with jealousy or dismissal but with appreciation and recognition of another’s talent and ability—you're proving that you're ready to participate in this ongoing conversation.

At the same time, this essay is asking you to show your own creative readiness.  For example, describe not only the work you have produced but also your ability to introduce new elements into that work—in this case, inspired by the piece you described. This way, you can demonstrate that you aren’t a one-note artist but are mature enough to alter and develop what you make. Or if you want to major in art history or art education, relate how your perspective on a particular piece of art or architecture is shaped by your unique perspective, based on your experiences, education, and cultural identity.

A student might write their Topic D essay on how Michelangelo's Madonna della Pietà   has influenced their own artistic renderings of youth and beauty in grief.

What are some best practices for teasing out the complexities of art in written form? Here are some helpful tips as you brainstorm and write your essay.

#1: Pick One Piece of Art or Learning Experience

Once you’ve chosen between these two contexts, narrow down your selection even further . If you're writing about an educational encounter, don’t forget that it can come from an informal situation as well. For example, you could write about something you learned on your own from a documentary, a museum visit, or an art book.

If you're writing about a direct experience with art, don't necessarily fixate on a classic piece . Alternatively, you could discuss a little-known public sculpture, a particularly striking building or bridge you saw while traveling, or a gallery exhibition.

Whatever you end up writing about, make sure you know some of the identifying details . You don’t need to know the answers to all the following questions, but do your best to research so you can answer at least two or three of them:

• Who is the artist?
• Where is the piece on display?
• What kind of work is it?
• With what materials was it made?
• When was it made?

#2: Figure Out Why You Were Struck by This Particular Work

The make-it-or-break-it moment in this essay will be your ability to explain what affected you in the object you're writing about . Why is it different from other works you’ve seen? Were you in the right place and time to be moved by it, or would it have affected you the same way no matter where or when you saw it? Did it speak to you because it shares some of your ideals, philosophies, or tastes—or because it was so different from them?

Be careful with your explanation because it can easily get so vague as to be meaningless or so obscure and "deep" that you lose your reader. Before you start trying to put it down on paper, try to talk out what you plan to say either with a friend, parent, or teacher. Do they understand what you’re saying, and do they believe you?

#3: Make a Timeline of Your Own Creative Works

When you think about what you've been making or thinking about making during your high school career, what is the trajectory of your ideas? How has your understanding of the materials you want to work with or study changed? What message do you want your works to convey, or what message in others' works most resonate with you? How do you want your works to be seen or engaged with by others? What is the reason you feel compelled to be creative or involved in the arts?

Now that you’ve come up with this timeline, see whether your changes in thought overlap with the art experience you're planning on describing . Is there a way you can combine what was so exciting to you about this work with the way you’ve seen your own ideas about art evolve?

#4: Use a Mix of Concreteness and Comparisons in Your Description

Just as nothing ruins a joke like explaining it, nothing ruins the wordless experience of looking at art as talking it to death does. Still, you need to find a way to use words to give the reader a sense of what the piece that moved you actually looks like —particularly if the reader isn't familiar with the work or the artist that created it.

Here is my suggested trick for writing well about art. First, be specific about the object. Discuss its colors, size, what it appears to be made of, what your eye goes to first (e.g., bright colors versus darker, more muted ones), what it represents (if it’s figurative), where it is in relation to the viewer, whether or not you can see marks of the tools used (e.g., brush strokes or scrapes from sculpting tools).

Second, step away from the concrete, and get creative with language by using techniques such as comparative description. Use your imagination to create emotionally resonant similes. Is there a form of movement (e.g., flying, crawling, or tumbling) that this piece feels like? Does it remind you of something from the natural world (e.g., a falling leaf, a forest canopy being moved by wind, waves, or sand dunes shifting)?

If the work is figurative, imagine what has been happening just before the moment in time it captures. What happened just after this point? Using these kinds of nonliteral descriptors will let your reader understand both the actual physical object and its aesthetic appeal.

Dissecting the UT and Texas A&M Short-Answer Prompts

Both UT Austin and Texas A&M require short answers as part of their first-year applications. For both schools, some prompts are required by all applicants, whereas others are required by those applying to certain majors or departments.

We'll go over the UT Austin prompts, followed by the Texas A&M prompt.

UT Austin Short-Answer Prompts

UT Austin requires three short answers from all first-year applicants and also offers an optional prompt. Each short answer should be approximately 250–300 words , or one paragraph.

Short Answer 1: Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?

Short Answer 2: Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community, or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at UT.

Short Answer 3: The core purpose of The University of Texas at Austin is, “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society.” Please share how you believe your experience at UT Austin will prepare you to “Change the World” after you graduate.

Optional Short Answer: Please share background on events or special circumstances that may have impacted your high school academic performance.

What Are These UT Austin Short-Answer Prompts Asking?

Obviously, these short-answer prompts are asking four different things, but they do have some similarities in terms of their overall goals.

These prompts basically want to know what you can offer UT Austin and why you'd be a great fit as a student there . They also want to know why you chose UT Austin and your specific major.

In other words, all these prompts essentially work together as a "Why This College?" essay .

How Can You Give UT Austin What They Want?

Admissions officers will be looking for evidence that you're genuinely interested in the school, the major you've chosen, and the career you want to pursue . Make sure to identify features of the program that appeal to you. In other words, why UT Austin? What makes you a good fit here?

Be as specific as possible in your responses. Since you won't have much room to write a lot, try to focus on a particular anecdote, skill, or goal you have.

Admissions officers also want to see that you have an aptitude for your chosen career path , so if you have any relevant work, research, or volunteer experience, they definitely want to know this! It's OK to take a broad view of what's relevant here.

Finally, they're looking for individuals who have clear goals as well as a general idea of what they want to do with their degree . Are you interested in working with a specific population or specialty? Why? What led you to this conclusion?

Texas A&M Engineering Prompt

All engineering applicants to Texas A&M must submit an esssay responding to the following prompt:

Describe your academic and career goals in the broad field of engineering (including computer science, industrial distribution, and engineering technology). What and/or who has influenced you either inside or outside the classroom that contributed to these goals?

What Is This Texas A&M Engineering Prompt Asking?

The engineering prompt wants to know two essential things:

• What are your future goals for your specific field of interest (i.e., the kind of engineering field you want to go into or are considering going into)?
• What environmental or external factors (e.g., a person, a mentor, a volunteer experience, or a paper or book you read) contributed to your development of these goals?

How Can You Give Texas A&M What They Want?

Be as specific as possible in your response. For the engineering prompt, what admissions officers want to know is simply what your biggest engineering ambition is and how you came to have this goal.

You'll want to be as specific as possible. Admissions officers want to see that you have a clear future in mind for what you want to do with your engineering degree. For example, do you plan to go on to a PhD program? Why? Do you have a particular career in mind?

In addition, make sure to specify the main inspiration for or motivation behind this goal. For instance, did you have a high school teacher who encouraged you to study engineering? Or perhaps you decided on a whim to take a computer science class, which you ended up loving.

Remember that the inspiration for your engineering goals doesn't have to be limited to something school-related. If you get stuck, think broadly about what initially got you interested in the field.

Briefly: ApplyTexas Essay Topic E (Transfer Students)

US transfer students and international transfer students must typically submit an additional essay responding to the following prompt (or must submit an essay on one of the topic variations listed above ).

Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope⁠—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

What's the Prompt Asking?

This prompt, which is intended for transfer students, essentially wants to know what hardship, challenge, or social issue has affected you on a personal level (or a larger group you're part of) and why you think this particular issue is so important to you .

For example, maybe you identify as LGBTQIA+ and have personally experienced discrimination in your local community because of your sexual orientation or gender identity. Or perhaps you grew up in a wealthy family but have begun to see recently how widespread the issue of homelessness really is and now are making a more conscious effort to find ways to remedy this problem in your own community.

The issue you choose doesn't have to relate to a wider social issue; it could be a learning disability you have, for instance, or the fact that you no longer share the same religious beliefs as your  family.

The most important part of this question is the connection between the issue and yourself . In other words, why is this issue so important to you ? How has it affected your life, your goals, your experiences, etc.?

This essay is a way for admissions officers to get to know you and what matters to you personally on a much deeper level than what some of the other essay topics allow, so don't be afraid to dive into topics that are very emotional, personal, or special to you .

Furthermore, be sure to clearly explain why this particular issue—especially if it's a broader social issue that affects many people—is meaningful to you . Admissions officers want to know about any challenges you've faced and how these have positively contributed to your own growth as a person.

The Bottom Line: Tips for Writing ApplyTexas Essays

The ApplyTexas application contains four essay prompts (Topics A, B, C, and D), with different schools requiring different combinations of mandatory and optional essays . There are also short-answer prompts for UT Austin, as well as a Topic E only for transfer students.

One way to keep these three similar-sounding essay topics (A, B, and C) separate in your mind is to create a big-picture category for each one:

• Topic A is about your outside .
• Topic B is your inside .
• Topic C is about your future .

Now, let's briefly summarize each essay topic:

Essay Topic A

• Overview:  Describe any unique experiences you've had as a high school student and how these have shaped who you are as a person.
• Pick a specific aspect of your experience.
• Describe how it made you special.
• Describe the setting, stakes, and conflict resolution.
• Add details, description, and examples.

Essay Topic B

• Overview:  Describe a defining trait and how it fits into the larger vision of you.
• Define the core message.
• Fit that core message of yourself into the larger picture.
• Show things about yourself; don’t tell.
• Watch your tone to make sure that you show your great qualities without seeming narcissistic, boring, glib, or self-aggrandizing.

Essay Topic C

• Overview:  Describe "where you are going" in either a literal, goal-oriented sense or a more imaginative sense.
• Pick where you’re going, but don’t over- or underreach.
• Flesh out your destination. How does it relate back to you?
• Ground your “journey” in specific anecdotes and examples.

Essay Topic D

• Overview:  Describe being affected by a work of art or an artistic experience to make sure that you are ready to enter a fine arts field.
• Pick one piece of art or one specific experience of learning about art.
• Figure out exactly why this work or event struck you.
• Examine your own work to see how this artwork has affected your creativity or engagement with art or art history.
• Use a mix of concrete descriptions and comparisons when writing about the piece of art.

Short-Answer Prompts

• Overview: Specific to UT Austin applicants
• Describe your relevant experiences and interests up to this point.
• Describe what about the program appeals to you and how you will use your degree (i.e., your future goals).
• Treat the prompts as parts of a "Why This College?" essay.

Essay Topic E (Transfer Students)

• Overview: Specific to US and international transfer applicants
• Pick an issue that means a lot to you and has had a clear effect on how you see yourself.
• Emphasize how this issue or how you've treated this issue has ultimately had a positive impact on your personal growth.

What's Next?

Curious about the other college essay choices out there? If your target college also accepts the Common Application, check out our guide to the Common App essay prompts to see whether they would be a better fit for you.

Interested to see how other people tackled this part of the application? We have a roundup of 100+ accepted essays from tons of colleges .

Stuck on what to write about? Read our suggestions for how to come up with great essay ideas .

Working on the rest of your college applications? We have great advice on how to find the right college for you , how to write about your extracurricular activities , and how to ask teachers for letters of recommendation .

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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TCU Mission: To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community. Heath Einstein, Dean of Admission

Admissions office

3301 Bellaire Dr N , TCU Box 297013 Fort Worth , TX 76129 , United States of America

[email protected]

Phone number

For first-year students, admissions website.

admissions.tcu.edu/

Financial aid website

financialaid.tcu.edu/

Undocumented or DACA students

financialaid.tcu.edu/pdfs/2023/22-23TASFAA_Packet_English.pdf

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How to Respond to the ApplyTexas Essay Prompts

Cece Gilmore is a Content Writer at Scholarships360. Cece earned her undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Arizona State University. While at ASU, she was the education editor as well as a published staff reporter at Downtown Devil. Cece was also the co-host of her own radio show on Blaze Radio ASU.

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Bill Jack has over a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. Since 2008, he has worked at Colby College, Wesleyan University, University of Maine at Farmington, and Bates College.

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

If you are looking to use ApplyTexas to apply to multiple Texas universities, you have come to the right place. The ApplyTexas essay prompts are a crucial part of the application, and we will walk you through them step-by-step in this guide.

ApplyTexas is a common application form used by most Texas public universities and a few private Texas universities. The ApplyTexas website is a good source for determining if the ApplyTexas application is accepted by your dream Texas school. When filling out the application, there are a few ApplyTexas essay prompts applicants need to fill out. 

Here’s our guide for how to ace each ApplyTexas essay prompts on the application.

Related: Scholarships360’s free scholarship search tool

“Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?” (500-750 words)

This prompt essentially wants to know what events or experiences in high school shaped you into the person you are today. Focus on what you believe to be the biggest impact on your life. Make sure to focus on you . 

Try and choose one to two main life-shaping events that occurred in high school. Be sure that they are specific! Try to zero in on something unique that you were able to participate in or that you overcame. For example, perhaps you sadly lost someone you love due to a disease that inspired you to enter into the medical field. Or perhaps working at an ice cream shop made you realize how much you love customer service. While these are two different life experiences, both show self-awareness and growth. The main goal of writing these supplemental essays is to allow the reader to get to know you and what makes you unique. 

After describing these events, now turn the focus to you! How did you use these opportunities to thrive into the stand-out person you are today? Make sure to clearly link your environment in high school to some prominent traits you now possess.

Questions to consider: 

• How did your particular environment and experiences make you special? 
• What challenges or opportunities have you encountered? 
• How did you overcome these challenges or take these opportunities head on? 

Don’t miss: How many schools should I apply to?

“Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.” (500-750 words)

Define what that unique trait you have is! It can be a piece of your identity, an interest or even a talent. Brainstorm ideas of things that make you so different from everyone else.

Describe this trait or thing that makes you so unique in a story-telling manner. Be creative! Do not just state what makes you unique, but describe it instead. This is the time to make yourself stand apart as a unique individual. Maybe you are an experienced photographer and taking pictures is your passion. Was there a special person who taught you how to take pictures? Do you turn towards a famous photographer for inspiration? Who gave you your first camera? The keys to getting to know the real you are found within your responses. The “why” is what drives the reader to understand the real personable you. 

Be sure to choose a positive trait that makes you look good! Remember this is going to colleges that you want to attend. You want to draw them in, but you also want to make a good impression. So, keep it appropriate and mature, but also creative! 

Once you have determined and written about your special trait, write about how this “piece of you” defines you! You need to contextualize this trait to the rest of your personality and life. How does this one aspect of you make you who you are? 

• What makes you unique from others?
• If you were thrown onto a stage for a talent show what would you perform? 
• How does this unique trait align with your aspirations and identity? 

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“You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?” (500-750 words)

This is a fun prompt that gives you plenty of creative freedom in your response. However, remember that this is going to be sent to a college that you want to attend! Therefore, use this essay to show off your career and long-term goals. 

To be extremely creative, realize that this prompt just states a “ticket,” but does not specify what kind of ticket. Most applicants may immediately think of a plane ticket, but this is your response! Therefore, the “ticket” can be a ticket to medical school, a ticket to a fantasy world where everyone wears fedoras or a ticket to your grandfather’s house. The creativity is endless! 

The most important part of this answer is your ability to justify where you are going with this ticket. You want to be able to show that you have goals for your life. Prove that having this metaphorical opportunity to have a magical ticket will allow you to succeed and reach some of your goals. 

No matter how creative a college essay question is, you always want to make sure you are revealing pieces of your personality. Throughout your response, make sure to be describing yourself and your personal goals. 

Questions to consider:  

• Is there a destination you have always wanted to go to? 
• If money was not an issue, where would you go? 
• What are your aspirations for the future and where would you go to make these aspirations a reality? 

Also see: How to choose financial safety, reach, and match schools

“Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?” (500-750 words)

This essay option is specific for certain majors. Therefore, if you are not applying as a major in architecture, art, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies, or art education, then you are not required to answer this question. 

To begin responding to this essay prompt, begin with a moment of observation you have experienced that changed your thinking. This could be an instance during an art class when a piece was first taught to you or a time when you stumbled upon a piece of art in a gallery. Whatever the experience you had, make sure that you select a point in time where the observation of an object, image or space really made you contemplate. 

After you have described this moment, it is important to list specific details of the piece as well as accurately describe your own emotions while viewing the piece. 

Some questions to consider

• What type of emotion did the art make you feel? 
• Why did the art make you feel some type of emotion?
• What changed in your thinking? 

After describing how your view changed, it is then important to connect back to the future. How will you use what you learned from this experience in your life going forward? It is important to reveal that the lessons learned from this moving experience will stick with you throughout your life.

Also see: How to get in-state tuition as an out-of-state student

Which colleges require which ApplyTexas essays? 

Every Texas university has slightly different essay requirements from the ApplyTexas essay prompt list. For full information, you must create an ApplyTexas account and review the specific requirements. Here are a few Texas colleges and their particular requirements on the ApplyTexas application: 

Baylor University

• Essay A, B and C are optional

Southern Methodist University

• Essay B – optional

Texas A&M University, College Station

Texas christian university, university of texas at austin.

• Essay A 

Next steps after responding to the ApplyTexas essay prompts

Now that the hard part is over, and your ApplyTexas essay prompts are flawless – take a deep breath! 

The different Texas universities found under the ApplyTexas application will have slightly different requirements when it comes to which essay prompt responses they select. Each Texas school will require a different combination of the above three essay-prompts or even all three. In fact, some schools will even have additional prompts of their own. 

Texas universities use these prompts for not only admission, but for selecting students to award scholarships to as well. Therefore, it is crucial to put effort into your essay prompt responses! 

If your dream college also accepts the Common Application, check out our guide on how to answer the 2021-2022 Common App essay prompts to see whether they would be a better fit for you.

Don’t miss: Top Texas scholarships

Additional resources

In addition to prompt-specific advice, it’s a good idea to examine your general writing technique when it comes time to draft your college essays. Check out our guides on how to write an essay about yourself , how to write 250 and 500-word essays, and our general guide for rocking college applications . We can also help you decide how many schools to apply to and how to find safety, reach, and match schools .If you’re wondering whether to send test scores to test-optional schools , we’ve got a guide for that as well. And once you start hearing back, we can help you create a college comparison spreadsheet to make your college choice. Finally, check out our free scholarship search tool to help fund your education and keep all of your college options open. Good luck!

Frequently asked questions about ApplyTexas 

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Texas Christian University Undergraduate College Application Essays

These Texas Christian University college application essays were written by students accepted at Texas Christian University. All of our sample college essays include the question prompt and the year written. Please use these sample admission essays responsibly.

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College Application Essays accepted by Texas Christian University

The common application essay question #1 alec cameron edelson, texas christian university.

Ever since I was a young boy I have been curious and excited to learn new things. My favorite books where the Curious George books, as I thought the little monkey, George, was very much like me. George was certainly lovable, but he was always in...

A Life-Changing Moment in the Denver Airport Anonymous

I was sitting with my teammates in the Denver airport after yet another trip to Boulder, Colorado for a running camp. The week had been successful, and most of my memories made on the trip were good ones. There were, however, exceptions. At one...

Snow Day Addie Stone

At 8:35 AM, on a Tuesday during the school year, November 29, 2011 to be exact, I not-so-vividly recall shuffling around under the covers as a young teenager often does after waking up in the morning and looking over at the clock. After seeing...

Selfishness Anonymous

I slowed my car outside of the soup kitchen and looked at the parking lot. There was one space left, and the only way I could park was to back up into it, which I was terrible at. My heart dropped into my stomach.

Nervously, I put my car in...

Augusta National Kelton Clearman

March 22nd, 1934. I arrive to the course, designed by Bobby Jones, in a 1933 silver Studebaker Dictator at 8am sharp. The wheels squeal in the hot gravel. The grass, still glazed with morning dew, smells fresher and more fragrant than a bouquet of...

The Nature of Politicans Anonymous

NUDE PHOTOS FOUND ON MAYOR MEGAN BARRY’S BODYGUARD'S PHONE. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NASHVILLE MAYOR MEGAN BARRY. HOT POLITICIAN SCANDAL.

So read the bold headlines of national newspapers, claiming a cinema-worthy political mishap in hopes of...

Recent Questions about Texas Christian University

The Question and Answer section for Texas Christian University is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

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Texas Christian University essay prompts

How to Write the Texas Christian University Essays 2017-2018 College Essays , Essay Breakdowns 10 min read

• High School Investor Challenge
• Student Programs
• Executive Committee

Are you a high school student entering your senior year? Apply for the TCU High School Investor Challenge®.

There are two High School Investor programs in 2024:  June 3 - 7 and June 17 - 21.  Completed applications and recommendation must be received by April 15, 2024.

Spend a week on campus with dozens of other students the summer before your senior year of high school, living in residence halls and taking finance classes at the TCU Neeley School of Business.

Throughout the fall and spring, you’ll submit stock trades online. TCU students in the prestigious Educational Investment Fund will analyze your stock reports and offer feedback.

You’ll return to TCU in the spring to present your results to your fellow students, family and professors.

“The TCU High School Investor Challenge is an amazing opportunity to spend a week as a Horned Frog with other people with similar career interests as you. It not only gives you knowledge in economics and investing, but also allows you to experience a week of college level classes and presentation.” John Thomas Borowitz

• What Is the TCU High School Investor Challenge?
• Program Cost
• How to Apply
• Notice of Non-discrimination

The TCU High School Investor Challenge is a unique program for high-achieving, motivated high school students who have a strong interest in investing in the stock market. The Challenge provides initial training in security analysis and portfolio management. To be eligible, you must be currently enrolled in high school with a reasonable expectation of graduating in May or June 2025.

What happens at the High School Investor Challenge?

• Students selected for the program attend a five-day on-campus course in securities analysis (stock selection) and portfolio management. You will learn to access company data and analysts’ reports, and use TCU’s online resources, including Value Line, to evaluate and compare companies. You will stay in TCU dorms throughout the week.
• Each student manages a virtual portfolio and delivers periodic stock reports July-March to security analysts for review, critique and execution of his/ her proposed portfolio decisions/stock trades.
• In April 2025, we invite all students to attend a celebration banquet at TCU to present your portfolios. Parents and family are invited to attend the banquet.

There will be two program offerings, June 3 - 7, 2024 and June 17 - 21, 2024. HSIC A begins Monday, June 3, 3:00 p.m., and ends Friday, June 7, 12:00 p.m. HSIC B begins Monday, June 17, 3:00 p.m., and ends Friday, June 21, 12:00 pm. From June 2024 to March 2025 students will continue to buy and sell stocks to increase the risk-adjusted return of their virtual portfolios. The portfolio management phase of the program ends at 3:00 p.m., Friday, March 28, 2025. Portfolio results will be reported soon thereafter. The celebration banquet will be held in April 2025 on the TCU campus.

Cost is $1600 and covers room, board, and program expenses. (We recommend that you bring a limited amount of spending money for entertainment and miscellaneous expenses while on campus.) The entire program fee is due no later than 30 days after notification of acceptance into the program.

Financial assistance can be requested by those with financial need.

• Complete the TCU High School Investor Challenge Application Form
• Provide contact information for a teacher or counselor willing to provide a recommendation. We will send a link to your counselor or teacher asking for input.
• Submit a copy of your high school transcript, your online application and recommendation response no later than April 15, 2024 .

If you are selected into the program, you will be notified by email.

Students will be selected based on the information contained in the application. Areas of assessment include:

• Scholastic achievement
• Motivation and interest in investing in the stock market
• Unique competence or expertise

To be considered for the program, you must:

• Complete the on-line application, provide a copy of your high school transcript, and provide contact information for a teacher or counselor willing to provide a recommendation.
• Be able to bring a laptop or table to the program that has access to word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software.
• Be entering your senior year of high school with a reasonable expectation of graduating in May or June 2025.
• Have a history and evidence of high achievement in your academic subjects, especially math.
• Plan to continue your education after high school graduation.
• Be able and willing to commit to attend the summer program, June 3 - 7, 2024 or June 17 – 21, 2024.

Mailing Address: Luther King Capital Management Center for Financial Studies Neeley School of Business TCU Box 298530 Fort Worth, Texas 76129

Physical Address: Luther King Capital Management Center for Financial Studies Neeley School of Business 2900 Lubbock Ave. Fort Worth, Texas 76109

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 817-257-7788

Frequently Asked Questions

What if i don’t submit my application by the deadline date.

Completed applications must be submitted by the deadline date, including transcripts and recommendation; no exceptions will be made.

I haven’t taken my PSAT/SAT/ACT yet; may I still apply?

Yes, you may still apply to the program.

I am home schooled and don’t have a teacher or counselor to provide a recommendation. What should I do?

You can have a family friend or an employer provide the recommendation.

Do I have to submit an official transcript?

The transcript must come from the school office. It doesn’t have to be the “official” transcript, but it cannot be a copy of your grades from another source.

Can the recommendation and transcript be submitted separately from the application?

How many applications do you receive and how many students do you accept.

We receive more than 200 applications each year. A maximum of 40 students are admitted to each camp.

When and how will I be notified if I’m selected?

All applicants will receive an email the first week of May telling you if you have been accepted into the program. Students who are accepted will be sent a packet of materials you will need to complete and return to TCU.

Does TCU provide transportation to or from the airport to the campus?

We do not provide transportation to or from the campus.

What time should I arrive on Monday?

You must arrive on campus by 1:00 p.m. You should not arrive on campus earlier than 12:00 noon. Before that time, there will not be staff available to get you into the residence hall.

What if I already have plans and need to come late/leave early?

You must arrive on campus by 1:00 p.m. on the first day of the program. You should not plan to leave the camp early. You will be presenting your work on Friday morning before the camp ends.

I’m an athlete. Will I be allowed to train (swim, run, lift weights) during the HSIC?

You will not have the opportunity to train during the week. During one or more evenings, we plan to go to the TCU Recreation Center where you will have access to the gym facility.

If I have any further questions, what is the best form of communication?

The fastest way to get your questions answered is to email us at [email protected] .

Program Brochure

Need additional information about the TCU High School Investor Challenge? Download our brochure.

Explore Brochure

Apply to TCU

Already in your senior year? Apply to TCU before applying to the Neeley School of Business.

CollegeVine's essay prompt database

Find your college’s application essay prompts for 2023-24

Latest essay prompts for the top 100 schools.

At CollegeVine, our goal is to make the college application process a little less stressful, so we’ve compiled the latest essay prompts for the top 100 schools in one easy, searchable database.

Also, every year we create free guides on “ How to Write X School’s Essays ” for the top 100 schools. In these guides, we give you tips and tricks on how to approach each prompt. As such, our prompt database also contains a link to each school's Essay Breakdown.

Manage your college essays in one place for free.

Essays & Short Answers

• UT Austin Required Essay in the Common App, or
• Topic A in ApplyTexas
• Please keep your essay between 500–700 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

Summer/Fall 2024 and Spring 2024 Essay Topic

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Submitting Your Essay

You can submit your essays:

• In conjunction with your application.
• Using the Document Upload System in MyStatus.

*Students do not need to submit other Common App essays. We’ll only review what is required,

Short Answers

• Submit the required short answers to prompts in your admission application.
• Answers are limited to no more than 40 lines, or about 250–300 words per prompt, typically the length of one paragraph.

Summer/Fall 2024 Prompts

• Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?
• Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at UT.
• The core purpose of The University of Texas at Austin is, “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society.” Please share how you believe your experience at UT Austin will prepare you to “Change the World” after you graduate.

Optional Short Answer

• Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance.

Spring 2024 Prompts

Submitting your short answers.

You can submit your short answers with either your Common App or Apply Texas application. Short answer responses must be completed in order to submit your application.

• Transfer applicants must submit one essay responding to Topic A.
• Applicants to the School of Architecture and Studio Art, Art Education and Art History are required to upload Topic D in addition to Topic A. 

Essay Topics

Topic a (required).

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. You may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. The statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school/college or a record of your participation in school-related activities. Rather, this is your opportunity to address the admission committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and the other application information cannot convey.

Topic D (School of Architecture majors and Studio Art, Art Education and Art History majors only)

Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

Submitting Your Essay(s)