Category: Supplemental Essays

This is your basic extracurricular activity essay, and will double with many other prompts from other schools. Already written an extracurricular essay you love? Copy, paste, and call it a day. If not, you can view a thorough, step-by-step guide to writing the essay at…

This is a great chance to talk about whichever community service project you’ve been most involved in. Here’s a step-by-step guide we put together for this one based on two strategies we recommend: the uncommon connections technique and the Elon Musk structure.  Give it a…

Choosing a Topic While it may be tempting to pick something that sounds impressive, if you don’t have strong feelings about it, this could limit your ability to demonstrate the types of perspectives you’ll bring to the UVA classroom. The real opportunity to impress with…

This is your classic “Why us?” essay, but it asks you to be a bit more specific about a particular part of Cornell college. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to getting started: Spend 1 hr+ researching 10+ reasons why Cornell might be a great fit…

This is a standard “Why us?” prompt, but as the following guide explains, you’ll want to be sure to think of this as a “Why us?”—as in you + the school, and why you’d be a great fit together, and not simply “why them.” One…

Choosing a Topic If you read this prompt and think, “Oh, I can totally write about _____________!” jump right down to “Example # 1: Top-of-mind Identity.”  If nothing immediately comes to mind (as a straight, white cis male, I get that), don’t despair! The prompt…

This is a standard “Why Major” prompt. For a larger guide to “Why Major” prompts, click here. Below is a condensed version. One possible approach: Think of this as a quick origin story. Step #1: Imagine a mini-movie of the moments that led you to…

This is a classic “Why us?” essay, but with a smaller word budget than most others of its type. Here’s a complete guide on how to write the “Why us?” essay. Read through it and pay close attention to the “Why Cornell” and “Why Penn”…

This is the classic “Why us?” essay. Northwestern wants to know why you’ve chosen this school—its academic programs, its campus life, its extracurricular offerings—above the others (“what aspects of Northwestern appeal most to you”). In other words, why it meets your needs and goals.  And,…

These are both fairly standard “Why us?” prompts, but as the following guide explains, you’ll want to be sure to think of this not simply as “Why them?” but as “Why us?”—as in you + the school—and why you’d be a great fit together.  One…