what is a supplemental essay for college

Supplemental Essay Guide 2024-25

What do the 2024-25 supplemental essay prompts really mean, and how should you approach them? CEA's experts are here to break them all down.

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How to Approach Supplemental Essays

When our students dig into the college application process, they are often surprised to encounter not only the main Common Application’s personal statement , but also a host of supplemental essay questions. These assignments are often school-specific writing prompts for which a student must also craft thoughtful, well-written replies.

Supplemental essays are often more focused than the Common App assignment, though they vary in length and scope. Their prompts tackle subjects that range from deeper explorations of a student’s background to their collegiate and academic interests.

We often encourage our students to nail down their personal statement topic first, then ask them to approach their supplemental essays in priority order, according to submission deadlines. Many schools will offer prompts that are similar in theme and content to one another (for example, many institutions now ask about a student’s most important activity ), so it is helpful for students to gather and review all supplemental questions before beginning the brainstorm process to see where they might naturally overlap.

Elite institutions often have extensive supplemental sections, as do some honors programs, so students should keep this in mind as they hunt for their essay questions and map out their plan of attack.

All supplemental essays should be given the same time and care as the main Common Application essay. These supplements not only are an excellent opportunity to show a school both your competence and level of devotion to their institution, but also offer opportunities to paint some personality into your application. So embrace supplements, use your unique voice, and show these schools what you’re made of!

Why Choose College Essay Advisors for Supplemental Essay Support

College Essay Advisors has over twenty years of experience guiding students one-on-one through the essay writing process for school-specific supplements. We take a holistic approach to these essays and short answers, considering each student’s application package as a whole and identifying their strengths to highlight. It’s incredibly important to us that each student’s voice is preserved, and we pride ourselves in helping students to write successful supplemental essays that differentiate them from similarly qualified applicants. For more information, submit a contact form below or review our one-on-one advising services or list of student acceptances . 

Agnes Scott College 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Alvernia University 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide  

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morehouse college 2024-25 supplemental essay prompt guide, mount holyoke college 2024-25 supplemental essay prompt guide, frequently asked questions.

It really depends. Typically, the more competitive the university, the more arduous the supplemental essay requirements. Most top universities ask for at least three supplemental essays, but some only require one short essay.

The most common supplemental essay topics are:

• The Why Essay , which asks applicants to discuss their interest in their intended major and/or the school in question.
• The Activity Essay , which asks applicants to describe their involvement in an activity that is meaningful to them.
• The Community Essay , which asks about a community the applicant belongs to and the role that community plays in their life (and vice versa!).
• The Diversity Essay , which often asks applicants to explore how they champion diversity and inclusion in their communities and/or how they engage with people from different backgrounds or who hold opposing views. 
• The Short Answer , which asks applicants to answer prompts in very few words (or characters) to add context to their application and a splash of personality.
• The Oddball Essay , which asks applicants to tap into their creativity to connect curveball questions to their lives and interests.

Just like with the Common App personal statement, you’re going to want to write authentically about yourself while addressing all parts of each supplemental essay prompt. Many schools want to better understand how you see yourself contributing to their campus community and/or diversity and inclusion efforts along with how you hope to use your education to achieve your goals. So, be honest and forward-thinking, and don’t forget to customize each supplemental essay so it’s specific to each school you’re submitting to. That means doing research and weaving information into your essays that demonstrates the amount of time and thought you’ve put into your application. 

We have a few successful supplemental essay examples in our Free Resources section.

Each admissions department has their own process for reviewing applications, and some admissions committees put more weight on supplemental essays than others, but all admissions departments that offer applicants the opportunity to pen additional essays are doing so for a reason: to better understand the applicant and compare similarly qualified candidates. It’s in the applicant’s best interest to not only provide admissions with as much information regarding their candidacy as possible, but also go the extra mile. At highly competitive institutions, admissions officers are looking for reasons to remove students from the applicant pool—don’t let poorly written or (*gulp*) incomplete supplemental essays work against you!

Absolutely not. Please do not reuse content from your Common App essay in your supplements. Although it’s possible for you to expand upon an idea, activity, or community that you mention in your Common App essay in your supplements, you should never recycle content or any phrasing word for word.

Start by reading through all the prompts. Next, jot down ideas that come to your mind (no matter how silly they may seem!). Everyone has a story to tell, and we’re willing to bet you’re more interesting than you think. Give yourself plenty of time to consider different topics and revise, revise, revise! Also, our handy dandy Supplemental Essay Guides are sure to help you on your writing journey.

We have been reading supplemental essays for over twenty years now, so we know a thing or two about the most common mistakes students make. The most common mistakes to avoid are:

• Repeating the prompt in your essay.

You want to make sure every word counts, and repeating the prompt in your essay is a huge waste of space. Rest assured that admissions officers know which prompt you’re responding to. Instead, start your essay off with a strong hook that pulls your reader in (rather than puts them to sleep!). 

• Trying to sound like an academic.

Time and time again, schools post advice on their websites encouraging students to speak in their authentic voices and let the admissions officers reading their applications get to know them. Aaaand time and time again, we read essays students have written in which they go to great lengths to elevate their vocabulary, and in the process, they lose their own voice.

• Using cliches.

Cliches are not your friends when it comes to writing supplemental essays. You may feel like a diamond in the rough, that the world is your oyster, or that love conquers all, but even reading those, did you feel your eyes glazing over? All cliches do is make your essay blend in with the thousands of others in the pile. Emphasize your uniqueness with concrete examples and personal anecdotes, because cliches are rather ineffective, boring, and—let’s face it—lazy.

New York University (NYU) 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

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How to Write Supplemental Essays: The Ultimate Guide

Bertrand cooper.

• Last Updated on September 27, 2024

Table of Contents

It goes by many names: the college essay, the admissions essay, the personal essay, the personal statement, or most recently, the Common App personal statement. By whatever name, it’s the essay high school juniors and seniors write when applying to college.

In this blog post, however, we will focus on a far less famous but no less integral piece of writing: supplemental essays. Whether you’re looking to highlight an extracurricular activity, explain a personal challenge, or explain your enthusiasm for a particular school, this guide will equip you with the strategies you need to enhance your college applications. Let’s explore how to write supplemental essays. 

What are Supplemental Essays?

Supplemental essays are additional, college-specific writing prompts that allow applicants to showcase additional qualities, values, experiences, goals, and motivations for applying to the school.

As ubiquitous as the personal statement is, supplemental essays are only slightly less widespread. The function, at its most basic, is in the name: supplemental essays act as supplements to your personal statement. You’re not going to be able to convey everything about yourself in a single, 650-word personal essay, and so the supplemental essays provide schools with a way of learning additional information about you. 

Now, to be clear, not everyone will need to learn how to write supplemental essays. Some schools do not require them (and for a partial list, check out Colleges Without Supplemental Essays 2024-2025 ). But most competitive colleges and universities do, and—yes—they require supplemental essays in addition to the Common App personal statement . If the schools you’re applying to are considered competitive, you can ordinarily expect 1–5 supplemental essays. If you’re also applying to honors programs or elite programs within a college or university (such as the Wharton School at UPenn ), you can expect special supplemental essay requirements in addition to the general requirements. 

If your schools require them, learning how to write supplemental essays is non-negotiable (or it should be). Although shorter than the personal statement, these are not throwaway essays. Quite often, the supplemental essays request information that admissions officers will use to distinguish between candidates who may have similarities elsewhere in their application packet. In that sense, supplementals can be decisive. 

Another note on taking these essays seriously: although they are often shorter than the personal statement, they typically require much more research. They might also prompt you for information that you’ve never had to think about before. So, don’t underestimate the time a 250-word essay might take.

The Purpose of Supplemental Essays

Knowing the “why” behind supplemental essays provides really powerful context that should guide you in writing them. I mentioned earlier that the basic function is to provide supplemental information. But, again, that’s just the basic function. 

Some of the most common supplemental essays are: 

• Why Major? – Why do you want to study this major, and—often as an implied question—why study it here? 
• Why School? – Why do you want to attend this school? 
• Community – What will you bring to our community of students? 

There are many other supplemental prompts out there besides these three. And there are some that are almost purely informational (e.g. “What brings you joy?”), but something you’ll notice about the bulk of supplemental essays is that they focus on how you’ll relate to or interact with some aspect of the school. That might be the academic ethos, the campus culture, the locale of the school, or any number of specific features—but the heart of the question remains the same. Why is that? 

The truth is that competitive colleges know their reputation. They know what they offer you, and they know what benefits you get from being able to list them on your resume or eventual C.V. 

Application materials like your GPA, test scores, and teacher recommendations already give the school what it needs to assess your academic ability. What they don’t know is whether or not you’re passionate about them specifically. Colleges and universities, especially prestigious ones, want students who are genuinely in love with the school because those are the students who will be the most active on campus, the most committed in the classroom, and who will, down the line, be the most generous with their time and financial resources as alumni. That is what your supplementals need to demonstrate. 

This is also why supplementals often require research. You won’t be able to convince an admissions reader of your passion for, say, Northwestern or the University of Michigan if you cannot make specific and concrete connections between yourself and the school. 

When you research, you’re looking for things you  connect with that you can reference in your writing. If you keep all this in mind, writing supplemental essays will be much easier, and you won’t  miss an important opportunity to demonstrate your passion for the school. 

Preventing Overlap while Writing Supplemental Essays

There are good reasons to identify all the schools you’re planning to apply to early. One of these reasons is so that you can identify how many essays each school is going to ask you to write. Before you start writing, consider the topics you’re planning to discuss in each essay. This is particularly important for schools that require more than two essays, such as a personal statement and two supplemental essays. 

One of the non-obvious aspects of writing supplemental essays is that they exist in an ecosystem or, if you like, as part of a mosaic with each other and with your personal statement. For the most part, the information contained in each essay should be non-overlapping. Each essay—personal statement and supplementals—should add up to provide an overall image of who you are. That only works if you’re picking different aspects of yourself to write about in each essay. 

But because this is writing about a person rather than about a mere collection of parts, it’s often not fully possible for there to be zero overlap. There is a bit of nuance and a bit of fuzziness here, and that is okay.

For example, if your personal statement includes references to your love of the natural world, is it a problem if your “Why Major?” essay is about Biology? Nope! It is (dare I say) perfectly natural for both essays to indicate your love of the natural world. But they should include different stories, different examples, and probably different degrees of focus. 

Whereas the personal statement might describe a love of nature in a general way, and only briefly mention biology courses, a “Why Major” about biology might include a single general sentence on this love of nature, followed by 100 to 200 words on specific feelings about and experiences with biology coursework. 

When writing supplemental essays, some conceptual or informational overlap with each other and the personal statement is okay and may even be unavoidable, but the majority of each essay should contain information that isn’t captured in the other essays. Do your best to provide a varied portrait of yourself. 

Creating a Timeline for Writing Supplemental Essays

In most cases, you should aim to start writing essays 3–4 months before application deadlines. It’s the simplest rule of thumb that will serve you well in nearly all situations. 

In general, the personal statement is your longest essay, and the one almost all schools require. It makes sense to start writing the personal statement first before moving onto writing supplemental essays. But once you’ve put two to three weeks into the personal statement, it’s time to start working on supplemental essays, too. 

The exact timeline for when to start and when to finish writing supplemental essays is somewhat dependent on where you are applying to and whether you’ll be applying for early or regular decision. But, again, rather than trying to calculate exactly how long you can put it off, it’s easiest to just give yourself 2–3 months to complete supplemental essays, ideally over the summer before school and other commitments start drawing on your time. 

I recommend compiling your list of schools in May or June so that you can look at their required supplemental essays several months before deadlines. If you’re doing this at the end of spring/start of summer, keep in mind that schools often do not make their supplemental essays “official” until August as they have the option to change essay topics from year to year (but they usually don’t). So, you can reference supplementals from the previous year for a good idea of what’s to come.

With that early start, you’ll have time to plan what aspects of yourself you’ll use for each essay at each school. Additionally, you’ll find out early if you have any multi-step supplements to write. For example, one of the UPenn supplementals asks you to write a thank you note for the first half of the essay, then deliver it to the person you are thanking, and then reflect on their response during the second half of the essay. This is one of the more involved supplemental examples to be sure, but it illustrates the point: looking at what is required at each school in late spring/early summer will give you the time you need no matter the demand. 

Lastly, for those who want an early start but are very concerned about writing a supplemental essay only to have the school switch prompts in August (unlikely, but possible), you could opt to focus on forms of supplemental essays that you can be sure will come up at multiple schools. “Why Major?”, “Why Second Major?”, “Why School?”, and “Community” essays are extremely common. If, hypothetically, you write a “Why Major?” essay for one school, but they drop the requirement in August, you can be positive that the same “Why Major?” can be recycled for a different school. 

How to Write Supplemental Essays

In contrast to your personal statement, supplemental essays allow significantly less creative freedom. Your goal is to identify every question, both explicit and implicit, in the prompt, and then provide that information fully in the word count given. 

Some supplemental prompts are single sentences. Others are dense paragraphs. Before you start writing, and even before you start researching (which comes before writing), dissect your prompt and then create some sort of blueprint that will direct your research and also serve as a rubric for checking your draft. 

Let’s look at a straightforward “Why Major?” essay from Purdue: 

Briefly discuss your reasons for pursuing the major you have selected.

There are a number of ways to respond to this prompt, but let’s list out some ideas that will allow us to get to 250 words without redundancy: 

• Name your major. 
• Describe an experience that inspired you to pursue this major. 
• Describe an experience that confirmed you would enjoy this major.
• Describe experiences you would like to have related to this major (e.g. types of learning experiences). 
• Describe the things you would like to accomplish with this major.

When a prompt is very brief, it falls on you to think about what avenues there are for answering the question. Try to develop talking points that allow you to use concrete examples and anecdotes, particularly one that allow you to connect your feelings, beliefs, and insights to specific experiences that you’ve had or would like to have. 

In other cases, the prompt will be more detailed. Consider this one from University of Michigan: 

Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests?

In this instance, we need to break this text up so that we can make sure we answer all parts of the question. When breaking up a block of prompt text, feel free to paraphrase if that is helpful.

• Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School [you are applying to]?
• How would that curriculum support your interests?

The above illustrates that “breaking up” a dense prompt can also be thought of as identifying each request for information and then listing it out. 

Once you have your prompts dissected, rather than start writing, the first move is usually going to be a combination of self-reflection and research. The bullet points should direct you towards what you need to reflect on (e.g. why do you want that major) and also tell you what to look for when researching the school (e.g. how does the school teach that major). 

Also, be sure to save these bullets for later when research ends and the writing process actually starts. Re-read them before you write and check your finished drafts against these bullet points to make sure you didn’t lose sight of the questions being asked. 

As discussed earlier, supplementals are one way that admissions officers gauge your passion for the school. It is very hard to show passion for a school that you don’t know much about, and that is where research comes in. 

Take a look at this prompt from UPenn: 

How will you explore community at Penn? Consider how Penn will help shape your perspective, and how your experiences and perspective will help shape Penn.

We will again convert its important information and “asks” into bullet points: 

• How will you explore community at Penn? 
• How will Penn help shape your perspective?
• How will your experiences and perspective help shape Penn? 

Depending on how you count, UPenn is a nearly 275 year old institution, and learning its entire history would be a monumental task. Fortunately, you don’t need to know everything about it. Once you’ve dissected the supplemental essay prompt, it’s pretty clear that there’s only certain information that you need to research. 

For example, researching the following strands would give you everything you need to produce specific concrete answers to the prompt questions: 

• Campus life (what every student is likely to experience)
• Major/Program (what students in your major/program experience)
• Sports/Clubs/etc. (focus on those you intend to participate in)
• Personal Identity (what students with your identities have access to) 

The university website will have a ton of information for each of these. You can supplement the website research with tours (either virtual or in-person), YouTube videos, and contacting admissions directly.

The goal of this research, whether for this supplemental or any other, is to find information that relates to the prompt and also genuinely excites or interests you. Keep the search going until you find something that excites you. 

When you begin writing about your research, it’s important to be specific and go beyond broad descriptions. For example, note this example of a broad sentence that lacks detail and specificity to any one college:

“At UPenn, there are numerous clubs and organizations where I can make an impact…”

Compare this example that demonstrates research and is unique to Penn:

“In 2023, the Penn Lens Club put together a photo exhibit that featured one of my favorite objects to examine in portrait…” 

For a deeper dive, visit our blog post on the Why This College? supplemental essay .

General Tips for Writing Supplemental Essays 

With the prompt dissected and the research complete, the focus is to get to writing. Although there are variations in supplemental essay prompts, it is possible to provide guidelines for all of them. Below are the five things you should make sure you do when writing supplemental essays: 

• Answer the Whole Prompt. Many supplementals are looking for specific things. Make sure you answer everything the prompt is asking!
• Be Direct. Most supplementals ask you to concisely provide facts and information instead of demonstrating your creativity. Use a direct approach: start your essay by answering the prompt.
• Be Specific. Use concrete, specific details to support your answer to the prompt. This is difficult on a limited word count but will set you apart.
• Do your Research. To provide specifics, learn as much as you can about the school, such as particular classes or programs that would be a good fit for you.
• Be Genuine; Be Enthusiastic! Selective and highly selective colleges aren’t just looking for academically strong students; they want students who are genuinely interested in attending their school. Let your passion and enthusiasm shine through!

To provide a stellar response to the supplemental essays, you need to make sure your essays follow all five of these guidelines. 

Recycling/Reusing Supplemental Essays

As you make your way through your list of supplemental essays, you will notice that certain prompts come up multiple times. If four schools all ask you “Why Major,” you can certainly use the same essay for multiple schools. But…there are things to watch out for. 

First, remember that schools often ask for school specificity. So, before you reuse a supplemental essay, read the prompt carefully to decided if you need to research for another school. Each college will have other teaching styles, learning opportunities, professors, clubs, etc. You might need to edit your already-written supplementals to reflect the specifics of every school. 

Next, prompts with the same title can have slightly different wording. One “Why Major?” might focus only on your school years, whereas another “Why Major” might specifically ask for your career goals. So, even when a supplemental essay has the same prompt title, you still need to dissect the prompt for each school. 

In many cases, you can use 80–90 percent of one supplemental essay for multiple schools. But you will still need to be thoughtful. Copying and pasting an essay that contains references to the wrong school or that doesn’t answer the specific prompt shows carelessness and a lack of enthusiasm for the school. Avoid making such a mistake at all costs. 

For a full breakdown of when and how to use the same essay for multiple schools, check out our blog post, Can You Reuse Essays?

To put it all together, compile a list of your supplementals 3–4 months before your due dates; arrange your topics so that each school is getting a varied portrait of who you are (i.e. minimize essay content overlap); start the dissecting/researching/writing process 3–4 months before due dates; follow the five guidelines for good supplementals; reuse/recycle material thoughtfully. And that’s it! 

When writing any college essay, a great way to ensure success is to get feedback. Having someone else review, edit, and offer suggestions on your writing is the best way to level-up each draft and get noticed by admissions. To learn more about the essay services at HelloCollege, including one-on-one time with an expert essay coach, contact us about a free consultation today.

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How to Write the Most Common Supplemental College Essays: A Complete Guide

Note: This post focuses on supplemental essays. If you want advice on the Common App prompts, check out our guide to the Common App essays .

Your grades are in, your test scores have been sent, and recommendation letters have been uploaded…but there’s one last component of your college applications left: the essays. For many students, essays are the final and most daunting hurdle to clear before hitting submit.

Your essays, however, are your opportunity to tell admissions officers how you want them to remember you. Maybe you didn’t do so well on the SAT, or maybe you got a lower grade than you hoped for in Honors Chemistry, but you can’t change your grades or scores.

The essays, however, are entirely in your control. There is so much freedom to tell your story and what makes you unique. Our mission at CollegeVine is to make the essay-writing as stress-free as possible. Read on for our tips and tricks on writing a college essay that will give you the best chance at getting that thick envelope!

Content overview:

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

Want to learn more about Supplemental Essays? Check out one of our popular recorded live streams on this topic.

Common Types of College Essays

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

Common Essay #1: Why this college?

Students’ most common mistake on a “Why this college?” essay is lack of specificity; in particular, some students will list attributes that can apply to multiple schools, which is what you want to avoid at all costs.

When it comes to a “Why this college?” essay, you need to discuss qualities and programs specific to that school. It is not enough to merely list or name-drop, however. Instead, talk about why this item is important to you. Here’s how this plays out:

What not to do:

I want to go to the University of Southern California because it is a highly ranked school in Los Angeles. In addition, I like its Cosmic Writers Club, as well as the Incubate USC program. I am especially excited about the abundant film resources.

Why the previous response doesn’t work:

There are many reasons you want to avoid a response like this. Let’s start with the first sentence: replace the school’s name with UCLA and the accuracy doesn’t suffer. What this means is that the sentence is not specific enough to USC. In addition, you never want to state, or even imply, that you’re applying to a school due to prestige or ranking.

The exception for the previous rule is if a school is ranked highly for a specific program of interest. For example, if you want to pursue creative writing and a school has the number one creative writing program in the country, you can mention this because it is a quality specific to that school. A school’s overall prestige, however, should not be mentioned in your essay.

Why else doesn’t this response work? Let’s look at the second sentence. The writer does well to mention specific programs within USC. However, the response fails to discuss why they liked these programs or how they would benefit from having access to them.

What to write instead:

As someone with a lasting love for writing and a blossoming passion for entrepreneurship, I was so excited to find a large urban school like the University of Southern California that would give me the resources to pursue both. From classes with award-winning authors—amongst them Professor T. Boyle, whose environmental fiction works are similar to those I hope to someday publish—to clubs like the Cosmic Writers Club, which unites author hopefuls, USC offers more resources than I could ever exhaust in my journey to publish my first book.

On the business side, USC is known for fostering the type of creativity and innovation needed in pursuing start-ups. In particular, I was so excited to learn of the Incubate USC program, a unique mothership of ideas that nurtures the creativity of students. With the help of this program, I would be able to pursue my growing interest in the world of start-up ventures.

Why the previous response works:

This response not only mentions programs and resources specific to USC, but it shows how the student would take advantage of these opportunities. In addition, this response portrays passion and ambition, infusing elements of the student’s personality while still staying focused on answering the prompt.

Other things to keep in mind:

• The first time you say the school’s name, you should write it out. After that, you can abbreviate.
• Avoid writing what every other applicant is going to write. For example, every NYU applicant is going to mention NYU’s location in New York City. Unless you have a unique twist on this, you should skip it.
• Don’t mention frivolous things like dorms or dining halls. Your reasons for liking a school should be more substantial.
• Do your research. For example, don’t say you’ve always wanted to go to a city if you’re writing an essay for a rural school.
• Do not copy and paste your “Why this college?” essay and simply change the school name. Many non-Harvard admissions officers have received essays from students about why they want to go to Harvard. If your “Why this college?” essay is so general that you can copy and paste it, your reasoning will not impress admissions officers.

For more tips on writing this essay, see our complete guide to the “Why this college?” essay , including a real sample essay.

Common Essay #2: Why this major? 

One of the most important things to remember is that admissions officers are not looking for a résumé. This is not to say you can’t discuss your activities and how they culminated a passion for a specific major. The challenge, however, is to use these activities to tell a story rather than a mere list of achievements.

How do you do this? Share your thought processes. Many times it is the thoughts surrounding an activity more than the activity itself that will show the reader your journey to choosing a major.

Other tips:

• Don’t ever say that your reason for choosing a major is money-making potential. If you want to mention life beyond college, then talk about how this major will help you achieve your dreams. If your dream is to produce a feature-length film and a film major will help you get there, say that. But don’t say your dream is to be a rich film producer.
• Undeclared? That’s totally okay. Just be sure to list a couple potential majors, and explain your interest in those. Under no circumstances should you say you have absolutely no idea, as that will make you look like you don’t care. For more tips, see our post on how to write the “Why this major?” essay if you’re undecided .

For more tips on writing this essay, see our complete guide to the “Why this major?” essay , including a real sample essay.

Common Essay 3: Elaborate on an extracurricular activity or work experience.

Is there an activity or work experience in your application that you have more to say about? Maybe there’s a story behind it that you want to tell. Some questions to consider are:

• How did you become interested in this extracurricular?
• What is your role in the activity or work experience?
• Why do you do it?
• Have you experienced growth within the activity over time?

There are endless angles you can pursue here, but your essay should, in short, show your motivation behind participating in a certain activity or job.

What you don’t want to do, however, is simply restate something that’s been said elsewhere. If you have already spotlighted an activity in another essay for a given college, don’t write about the same activity. Your goal here is to share new information and your breadth of experiences.

As with the “Why Major?” prompt, it is more powerful to share a story with the reader rather than to detail the activity itself.

For more tips on writing this essay, see our complete guide to the Extracurricular Activity essay , including a real sample essay.

Common Essay 4: Discuss a community you belong to that has impacted who you are today.

“Community” can mean many things, so there are many possible approaches to this prompt. Some applicants respond with a community they’re linked to through culture, and others through sports or a club.

One thing you can emphasize is personal growth—or other aspects of who you are as a person—that has come from belonging to this community. The majority of the essay should, in fact, center around how being part of this group has changed or impacted who you are as a person.

What to avoid:

• Do not discriminate against other communities in your response.
• Try not to talk about your community in broad terms, but instead focus on your place within this community.
• Avoid using the essay as a chance to complain. If you choose to talk about challenges in a certain community, find a way to give your essay a sense of resolution. This can consist even of talking about how you’ve grown as a person or learned how to confront these obstacles in a productive way.

Writing the Essay

Phase 1: ideation.

Highlights of this section:

• Thinking of an idea
• Portraying individuality
• Staying true to yourself
• General tips and tricks

Now that you’re familiar with some of the most common types of essay prompts, let’s dive into the ideation process. Here are some questions that it’s good to ask yourself when you’re just starting out, particularly when the prompt deviates from the more straightforward archetypes above:

• What makes you unique?
• What is your story?
• Is there something you weren’t able to say in your application that you think admissions officers should know?
• Did you mention something earlier in your application that you want to elaborate on?

Remember that your essays, and application in general, should read like a portfolio in which all components are complementary without being redundant. If the application is like a drawing, then the essays should contribute to creating one coherent image without sketching the same line more than once or leaving gaps in the drawing.

Don’t shy away from being quirky! The more you present yourself as your own unique person, the more likely the admissions officer is to remember you. Take the following cases, for instance:

• A football player who scores a winning touchdown in the last five seconds of the game.
• A football player who knits scarves for residents of a retirement home in his free time.

In the first case, telling this story doesn’t do anything to differentiate this football player from others. However, the second story portrays a unique student with two interests the reader might not otherwise have paired together. Individuality is the goal here.

Of course, don’t exaggerate , lie, or pretend to be someone you’re not. In particular, don’t write something just because you think the admissions officer wants to hear it. They have read enough applications to separate the genuine voices from the insincere. As such, your only job is to put your true self on the page!

Here are some other things to keep in mind while brainstorming college essay topics:

• Narratives will always be more successful because they engage the reader emotionally. They are also an easy way to demonstrate how you’ve changed and grown over time.
• If you have already emphasized something in your application, don’t dedicate an essay to it unless can share an entirely new perspective. When in doubt, choose a new topic.
• Your essay doesn’t have to be about something rare and incredible. You don’t have to have started a company or traveled the world to write a solid essay. In fact, some of the strongest essays have taken a simple, perhaps even everyday occurrence, and portrayed it in a beautiful way that shows a unique way of thinking.
• Be sure to answer all aspects of the prompt while still giving the reader insight into who you are. It’s very easy to speak about some topics in third-person or broad terms (example: “What is your idea of success?”). Don’t do this. Instead, find a way to link the prompt to your own life.

Overall, think of the essays as a way to let the admissions officer get to know you on a personal level. Humanize yourself.

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Phase 2: Crafting the Essay

• Show, don’t tell.
• Perfecting the first and last sentence
• What does the essay say about me?

You have likely heard this next tip a hundred times throughout high school, but it’s vital to writing a strong essay: show, don’t tell . The whole point of essays is to give insight into who you are and how you think. Can you effectively do that if you’re merely listing off things that happened? Nope. Let’s take a lot at two examples:

• An example of telling: The cat ran out the door, and I got scared.
• An example of showing: The doorbell rang, accompanied by the creak of the mailbox as the mailman slipped the day’s envelopes inside. I ran downstairs and threw the door open, knowing today was the day I was going to hear back. My excitement made me oblivious, though, and it wasn’t until I saw a blur of dark fur dash through the open door that I realized my mistake.

The second example takes the facts and turns it into a story. It gives the reader a sense of anticipation as well as a character to identify with and root for. That’s what “show, don’t tell” does for your essay.

Now let’s talk about the two most important parts of your essay: the first sentence and the last sentence.

Your first sentence’s job is to hook the reader. Aim for a first sentence that surprises, even slightly jars, the reader to wake them up and get their full focus on your essay. Here are some examples:

• It wasn’t supposed to be blue.
• Was the car meant to sound like that?

In both cases, the writer has intentionally withheld information, providing just enough to leave the reader wanting to know the rest of the story. What isn’t supposed to be blue? What happens next?

As for the last sentence, its job is to resolve the essay, leaving the reader with a sense of peace and finality. Give the reader one last great impression to remember you by. Here’s an example:

“I’ve learned to hold my failures close; not so close that they burden me, per say, but just

close enough that they can guide me as I journey onward.”

This sentence works because it gives the reader a sense that, though the story continues on in the form of the narrator’s ongoing journey, the story on the page has been resolved. It feels peaceful.

Now then, after you’ve completed your first draft, the next thing you want to do is ask yourself the following question : What three things about me can the reader get from reading this essay? If you’re having trouble answering this question, then the essay needs to share more about you. Otherwise, you’re ready for revision!

Phase 3: Revision

• Careless errors
• Staying under the word limit
• Getting a second opinion

You’ve done the hard work. You came up with a brilliant idea and poured your heart and soul into the writing. Now comes the tedious part: revision.

Most importantly, college essays need to be absolutely devoid of grammatical or spelling mistakes . You don’t want to give your admissions officer the impression that you didn’t care enough to proofread, especially after all of your hard work.

Another aspect that tends to frustrate students is the word limit. If you’ve made it under the word limit, great! If not, here are some methods of cutting down.

• Example: In visiting your campus, it occurred to me that the method with which you schedule your classes is ideal because…
• This can be cut down to: The way you schedule your classes is ideal because…
• Most times phrases such as “I think,” “I believe,” “it seems,” and other similar wording is not necessary and simply takes up extra space. Use your judgement, but generally, these phrases get the boot.
• Keep an eye out for the word “that.” This can almost always be cut.
• If you use a long hyphen (—), no space is needed between words. This will bring your word count down. Don’t get too hyphen happy, though!

If the above tips are not enough to get you below the word limit,  you may need to remove entire paragraphs. If a paragraph does not drive the story forward, or is unnecessary in understanding the progression of the story, you may want to remove it.

Once your essay is mistake-free and below the word limit, your next task is to send it to at least three trusted individuals. Ask them the following questions to guide their suggestions:

• Does it make sense?
• Does it sound like me?
• What does it say about me? (Check that this aligns with what you want it to say about you).

Take note of their responses and decide what changes you want to implement. Be receptive, but remember to stay true to yourself and your vision.

Avoiding Pitfalls:

• Avoid discussion of taboo subjects or things that can be perceived as controversial. Everyone is entitled to their own views, but you don’t want to chance saying something controversial that your reader might disagree with.
• Never appear discriminatory in any way. Colleges tend to be vastly left-wing and progressive.
• Don’t turn in work that isn’t your own. When does accepting another person’s edits become plagiarism? If they are rewriting entire sentences in their own words, it is no longer your own work.
• Avoid clichés! It is okay to write about a common experience (like a sports injury or service trip), but only if you have a unique take on them. Don’t write on a popular topic if you will simply describe the same lesson that everyone else learned.
• Don’t write your essay directly into the application text box or it may not save your work. Write it in a separate document and copy and paste it later. Then, double check that the format is correct.

At the end of the day, your essays should just leave the reader thinking: I want to have a conversation with this student. You want to show that you’re an multifaceted, mature person with an interesting story to tell. At CollegeVine, we’re rooting for you all the way—go get writing!

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

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