Penn State 2025-2026 Prompts

Writing the Penn State supplemental essay is optional, but writing a strong essay can only help your application chances!

1. This is your opportunity to share something about yourself that is not already reflected in your application or academic records. Tell us something about yourself, your experiences, or activities that you believe would reflect positively on your ability to succeed at Penn State. (650 words or fewer)

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General Tips

This prompt is fairly broad, as college essay prompts go, so many students may feel intimidated by the Penn State supplemental essay. If you’re struggling to settle upon a single essay topic (and yes, it’s advisable that your essay sticks to one topic), try making a list of all your options. After listing all your potential essay topics, consider which topics most positively reflect on your ability to succeed at Penn State and cross of those which might reflect poorly on you as an applicant.

Note that “failure” is not necessarily a bad thing. If you choose to write your essay about a time you failed or struggled, you have the chance to demonstrate your resilience to the reader. A student who can face obstacles and overcome them, get knocked down and stand back up, is a student who will thrive in a challenging academic environment.

If you’re still struggling to settle on an essay topic, consider free-writing. There are a few ways to approach free-writing. On the one hand, you can put your pen to the page and refuse to lift it for a set amount of time (try 5-10 minutes). This strategy forces you to get some ideas down. Some students find it easier to edit a rough draft than compose a new one from scratch, so this strategy might be right for you.

If that strategy doesn’t work for you, you can also try writing just a couple sentences about each of the potential topics on your list. After reading these sentences over, cross out the least interesting ones. Then cross out the topics that feel especially wearisome to keep writing about. If you find your essay interesting and exciting to write, then it’s likely your reader will find it interesting and exciting too.

Penn State Supplemental Essay Question

This is your opportunity to share something about yourself that is not already reflected in your application or academic records. Tell us something about yourself, your experiences, or activities that you believe would reflect positively on your ability to succeed at Penn State. (650 words or fewer)

Although Penn State only has one supplemental essay prompt, you can turn this prompt in any direction that works for you. The expectation is that whatever you write about in this essay is additional information that will strengthen your application and is not already communicated elsewhere in your application. Given this, writing the Penn State supplemental essay is in your best interest.

While brainstorming for this essay, consider the parts of yourself that the reader can’t find elsewhere in your college application. For instance, do you have family obligations that have shaped the person you are today? Have you experienced a life-changing event that transformed your worldview? Is there a social justice issue that motivates you? Do you have a hero whose footsteps you wish to follow?

Alternatively, you can write about something that appears elsewhere in your college application but receives inadequate attention. For example, some of your extracurricular activities might require further explaining so that the admissions team can understand the depth of your commitment and achievement. Similarly, if you have earned an award or honor that could benefit from added context, here is your space to provide that context.

You may also wish to discuss any gaps in your academic journey, such as a drop in grades or lower-than-average test scores. If you have a defensible reason for these apparent lapses in your commitment to your education, you may want to express that reason here. Admissions officers are human, too, and if you show your humanity with authenticity and specificity, you give yourself the best shot at success.

If you need help polishing up your Penn State supplemental essay, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the Penn State Supplemental Essay 2025–2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.

Students admitted to Stanford report an average unweighted GPA of 3.96, an average SAT score of 1505, and an average ACT of 34. In other words, at universities like Stanford, top-notch academics are the norm rather than the exception. You’ll need to count on more than just your GPA and standardized test scores to stand out. This is where your essays come in.

Stanford asks you to respond to 5 short-answer prompts, 3 long-answer prompts for a total of 8 essays. This is much more what most other universities require. While it’s a lot of writing for you to do, you also have plenty of opportunities to show admissions officials your unique strengths as an applicant. With that in mind, let’s have a look at Stanford’s 8 supplemental essay prompts for the 2025-2026 application cycle.

Stanford’s 2025–2026 Prompts

Short Response

Each response has a word limit of 50.

1. What is the most significant challenge that society faces today?
2. How did you spend your last two summers?
3. What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?
4. Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities, a job you hold, or responsibilities you have for your family.
5. List five things that are important to you.

Essay Prompts

Each response should be 100-250 words.

1. The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning.
2. Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—know you better.
3. Please describe what aspects of your life experiences, interests and character would help you make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate to Stanford University.

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General Tips

For the 5 short-answer prompts, you’ll only have 50 words to convey a meaningful response. Avoid restating the question and trim unnecessary connector words to make the most of your word count. You can also improve concision by replacing conjunctions and clunky transition phrases with colons, semicolons, and em dashes.

The first example below is an instance of choppy, overly verbose writing.

Ex. 1: “I think that the most significant challenge that society faces today is improper urban planning. Improper urban planning can result in a surprising number of issues, including noise pollution, increased fossil fuel output, and overcrowding.”

The second example cleans it up using the tips we’ve just discussed.

Ex. 2: “Improper urban planning may sound like a niche issue, but it encompasses a surprising number of society’s challenges—from noise pollution, to fossil fuel output, to overcrowding.”

You have more wiggle room with the reflection—50-150 words—and even more for the long essay prompts—100-250 words. Still, you should strive for concision to improve your essay’s flow. Unnecessary fluff and run-on sentences will confuse your reader no matter the length of the essay.

Wherever possible, write your essays on topics you haven’t discussed elsewhere in your application. If an admissions official sees your math team in your activities transcript, and then reads three short responses about the same math team, they may see you as a one-note applicant. Instead, try to vary your essay topics and take advantage of any opportunities to discuss an activity or interest that isn’t reflected in your transcript.

Finally, before we move to a prompt-by-prompt breakdown of the Stanford supplemental essays, here are two tips to keep in mind for both your short-responses and long-answer essays.

One, detail is key. Instead of telling admissions officials that your 10th-grade swim team was important to you, tell admissions officials about the swim meet where you came last in freestyle, motivating you to practice for months and earn first place at the next meet. Especially in your long-answer essays, detailed anecdotes are an excellent way to craft an engaging narrative.

Two, write essays that tell admissions officials about you. This may seem like obvious advice, but some of Stanford’s prompts ask about topics that don’t relate to you directly. Even so, you need to connect these topics to your own perspective. Instead of reciting to Stanford admissions officials impressive statistics about their own school, tell them why it excites you that Stanford has nearly 900 student organizations. Instead of flatly describing the challenges climate change poses to society, tell your reader how these specific challenges have impacted your own life and what you’ve done to help solve them.

With these higher-level tips out of the way, let’s move on to a prompt-by-prompt breakdown of the Stanford supplemental essays.

Stanford’s Short-Responses

What is the most significant challenge that society faces today? (50 words)

A good response to this short-answer prompt will clearly identify one significant challenge society faces, with unique insight into its problems and potential solutions. Remember, detail is key. Even if you pick a broader topic, you can still explore that topic in a way that sets your response apart from other students.

Let’s say the challenge you’ve chosen is economic inequality. Rather than stating in vague terms that poverty is an issue, you might propose building more homeless-friendly public architecture to combat the dangers poverty poses. In addition, if you connect your response to the public architecture you see in your own community, even better. By going into detail on a specific issue, proposing a solution, and connecting it to your own experience, you’ve shown admissions officials you’re a conscientious and observant student who can bring those qualities to their campus community in turn.

How did you spend your last two summers? (50 words)

Instead of going into exhaustive detail on this short prompt, try to consider themes. What skills or personal experiences did you focus on developing over the last two summers? Can you group your different activities together under an overarching goal you’ve been working towards? If so, you’ll be able to include a wide variety of activities while keeping your response cohesive, as well as giving admissions officials a sense of your long-term plans.

Ex. 1 : “Last summer, I played basketball with my city’s team and volunteered for a school board chair’s campaign. The summer before that, I worked at a Columbia Sportswear in the local mall.”

Ex. 2: “For me, these last two summers were all about connecting with my community—sweating it out with my city’s basketball team, tamping down campaign signs for a school board candidate, and showing a friendly face to customers at the mall’s Columbia Sportswear.”

Like the last prompt, you’ll also want to try thinking outside the box for your response. Don’t just consider extracurricular activities, jobs, or volunteer experiences. Did you travel anywhere interesting? Did you make any long-lasting personal connections? Have you learned any valuable life lessons?

Even if you don’t have a lot of formal activities to recount, you still did something over the past two summers. Try to tell admissions officials more about yourself by highlighting the experiences that were most meaningful to you.

What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed? (50 words)

Prompts like these can be tricky if an idea doesn’t come to mind right away. Try to choose a moment that’s widely recognizable so you don’t have to waste words giving context, but unique and relevant to your specific interests. You might wish you were in the audience for Shakespeare’s first production of Macbeth, or at a 1980’s board meeting when Shigeru Miyamoto first pitched his idea for Super Mario Bros. Remember, you have a wide range of history to work with!

Some other questions to consider: are there any historical mysteries you wish you could solve, like the disappearance of Amelia Earhart? Do you have any historical role models? When you read or watch historical fiction, what time period do you go for? Try to have fun with this prompt. A creative answer will go a long way toward making efficient use of your 50 words.

Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities, a job you hold, or responsibilities you have for your family. (50 words)

This prompt gives you an opportunity to dig a little deeper into a job or activity you’ve listed on your transcript. Ideally, this should be an activity you didn’t mention in Prompt #2. As always, you want to avoid repetition wherever possible so you don’t appear single-faceted.

Try to choose an activity you’ve put a lot of time and passion into. If you’ve changed as a person through the friends you made at chess club, or your role in a political advocacy group completely changed your perspective, tell that story here! Narratives of personal growth make for effective college essays in general. Admissions officials want to invite students who are open to learning and changing over time. Therefore, keep an eye out for any you’ve experienced in your past activities. Of course, the 50-word limit is still limiting. Make sure you clearly identify the narrative you want to tell before distilling it into 2-3 sentences.

The last part of this prompt also gives an opportunity to discuss family responsibilities. Looking after your baby brother, helping your aunt renovate her new home, and cooking meals for a parent who works late may not be activities you’d put on your resume, but they’re still important activities that can help round out your background. If something immediately comes to mind, consider taking advantage of the opportunity this prompt gives you to discuss it.

List five things that are important to you. (50 words)

This prompt breaks from the standard short-response format and asks you to provide a list instead. Take advantage of this formatting break to save on your word count! Consider using a numbered or bulleted list. You could even order your items from least to greatest importance.

Beyond the formatting, the content of this question is vague on purpose. A lot of things might be important to you, from your custom-built PC, to a deeply-held value, to a close family member. Vary your answers to show you can think outside the box, and give a wide-spanning overview of your personal qualities. If you can, make each of your five things fall under a different category.

Some categories to consider: objects that are important to you; people; specific personal values (i.e. not just “gender equality,” but perhaps “holding the door for anyone who comes through, regardless of gender”); abilities; aspirations; places you love to visit.

Stanford’s Essay Prompts

The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (100-250 words)

For this first longer essay prompt, anecdotes are your best friend. Was there a moment in class when you realized you were no longer learning to pass a test, but because you found the subject genuinely fascinating? Can you recall the first time your favorite hobby captivated your interest? If so, opening your essay in that moment will immediately draw readers in and engage them with your perspective.

From there, you can spend time showing your reader why you find your favorite subject/hobby so fascinating, and what you’ve done to pursue it. The idea here is to show admissions officials your enthusiasm for learning at its peak—if your reader can sense your excitement through the page, then you’re doing a great job with this prompt. Again, narratives of personal growth are a great way to craft an engaging essay, so try to illustrate how you actually did learn beyond just feeling excited.

Here’s an example essay to help you get a feel for this prompt, as well as the larger word limit:

“There’s no such thing as talent, only hard work.”

Coming from anyone else, these words would’ve sounded cheap. But, as I looked over my older sister’s shoulder at the sketches she was etching in her notepad, I was mesmerized. I couldn’t believe those life-like characters—the expressive work of a professional comic artist—were something I could learn to do with hard work.

From that moment, I resolved to draw one sketch a day. I looked up online courses on anatomy, perspective, and shading, and made my own disastrous renditions of the tutorials that popped up. Some nights, even though my eyes stung from looking at the page, I refused to go to bed without completing my daily sketch.

When my brother bought a drawing tablet, he immediately regretted saying I could borrow it whenever I wanted. I had a whole new skill set to learn: digital art, with all its quirks and conveniences. Slowly, I began producing work I was proud to look back on, my character sketches starting to look like they could just maybe stand on the same page as my sister’s.

Now, with three sketchbooks scattered haphazardly around my desk as I type, I’m so grateful to my sister for teaching me about hard work early on. I’m happy with where I am in my artistic journey, but I know I still have heaps to learn. And I’m excited to begin that learning process all over again with the next tutorial I click.

Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—know you better. (100-250 words)

For your second long-answer essay, you’ll answer either this prompt OR Prompt 3 below. Try brainstorming a few ideas for both prompts, and going with the prompt you can describe in more compelling detail.

This prompt challenges you to shake up the essay format with a more personal, casually formatted letter. While other essays explore your interests, activities, and background, this prompt aims to understand who you are in your day-to-day life. Though your tone should still be polite, and your sentences grammatically correct, feel free to take a more playful, informal approach to this essay. What music will your roommate likely overhear blaring at max volume from your earbuds? What eccentricities should they expect from living with you?

Your response also shows admissions officials how you might interact with other members of the Stanford community. Try to think about what kind of relationship you’d like to have with your roommate, and how that reflects more broadly with how you’d like to interact with other Stanford students. Would you want to host dorm room study sessions? Are you hoping your roommate will tell you about courses and clubs you might not otherwise have known about? Details along these lines can show admissions officials you plan to engage intellectually with other community members. Again, though, don’t be afraid to talk about the more casual aspects of your ideal roommate relationship.

You can also get a little more creative with your essay’s format for this prompt. A letter format may be the most obvious, but you might also try out a bulleted list of things your roommate should know, or a memo you left on your roommate’s desk before leaving for class.

Please describe what aspects of your life experiences, interests and character would help you make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate to Stanford University. (100-250 words)

Lots of applicants give huge laundry lists of reasons they want to go to Stanford. The intellectual prestige, the academic resources, and the vast opportunities for extracurricular engagement all come to mind. Here, you need to think the other way around. If Stanford’s community can contribute tons to your college experience, what can you contribute to Stanford’s community?

You might be tempted to answer the prompt straight away. Remember, though, avoid restating the question, and consider your essay’s narrative structure as a whole. Instead of:

I can make a distinctive contribution as an undergraduate at Stanford by drawing on my unique perspective as a first-generation college student.

Because of my hard work and resourcefulness which I learned by seeking out help through the college application process, I’ll be able to make meaningful connections in the community and succeed even in the face of adversity.

Try structuring your essay more along the lines of this:

In my junior year of high school, I had no idea how to begin the college application process. Neither of my parents attended college, and I didn’t know anyone who could help. So I learned to reach out on my own. I started by researching my school’s faculty page to find our guidance counselor, then arranged a meeting with her to catch me up to speed on the process.

Even though I started a head behind other students in my class, I learned how to be resourceful and ask for help. Now, as a prospective Stanford student, I’ll bring that resourcefulness to campus by forging connections in the community and uplifting other first-generation students like me.

By describing your personal experiences first, ideally in an anecdote, you can answer the prompt more confidently in your later paragraphs. Plus, you can grab your reader’s attention and stand out among other applicants who answer the question in a more typical fashion.

If you need help polishing up your Stanford supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the Stanford Supplemental Essays 2025–2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.

In this article, we’ll help you nail your Yale supplemental essays.

Although you will want to extensively research Yale during this process, it needs to be in tandem with the soul-searching that these prompts require. Writing these essays, though it’s not always fun, can be a rewarding learning experience for you and help determine what makes you unique. Strive to write essays that no one else could have written—that’s how you know you’re putting down a true, honest, genuine representation of yourself before the admissions officer.

Yale’s 2025–2026 Prompts

Essay Questions

Choose one of the following. Your response should be 400 words or fewer.

1. Reflect on a time you discussed an issue important to you with someone holding an opposing view. Why did you find the experience meaningful?
2. Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.
3. Reflect on an element of your personal experience that you feel will enrich your college. How has it shaped you?

Short Answer Questions

1. Students at Yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. Many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Please indicate up to three from the list provided.
2. Tell us about a topic or idea that excites you and is related to one or more academic areas you selected above. Why are you drawn to it? (200 words or fewer)
3. Reflect on how your interests, values, and/or experiences have drawn you to Yale. (125 words or fewer)

Short Takes

Each response should be 200 characters, or roughly 35 words or fewer.

1. What inspires you?
2. If you could teach any college course, write a book, or create an original piece of art of any kind, what would it be?
3. Other than a family member, who is someone who has had a significant influence on you? What has been the impact of their influence?
4. What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application?

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General Tips

Yale’s supplemental essays demand exceptional economy of language. With strict word limits ranging from 35 words for short responses to 400 words for longer essays, every single word must earn its place. For the shorter prompts, eliminate throat-clearing phrases like “I believe that” or “In my opinion” and avoid restating the question. Instead of writing “The academic area that interests me the most is biology because I find it fascinating,” try “Biology captivates me through its intricate cellular mechanisms and potential for medical breakthroughs.” You can also replace wordy transitions with quick punctuation marks (colons, semicolons, and em dashes) to compress ideas into tighter prose.

For the longer responses, try to paint a picture that extends beyond your transcript and activity list by focusing on specific moments from your extracurriculars. Using concrete details can help create emotional resonance and demonstrate genuine engagement by contextualizing more abstract ideas. Rather than claiming you’re “passionate about history,” describe discovering a forgotten diary in your grandmother’s attic that revealed her immigration story, sparking your fascination with how individual narratives shape broader historical understanding.

Similarly, while your essays should be deeply personal, the strongest essays connect individual experiences to broader questions or themes. If you write about your family’s immigration story, consider how it shaped your understanding of cultural identity, economic opportunity, or educational access. This approach demonstrates intellectual vitality and suggests how you might contribute to campus discussions and communities. Your personal experiences become launching points for exploring larger questions that will matter during your Yale education and beyond. This connection shows admissions officers that you can think beyond yourself while remaining grounded in authentic personal experience.

Yale’s Essay Questions

Reflect on a time you discussed an issue important to you with someone holding an opposing view. Why did you find the experience meaningful? (400 words or fewer)

If you end up attending Yale, you’ll likely be thrust into a community more diverse than any you’ve experienced in the past. Everyone handles culture shock differently, so you’ll want to show that you’re ready to face it with both an open mind and an open heart. Think of a time you approached conflict in a positive or productive way. You want to avoid sounding like you simply engage in debates to be right, or like you’re unwilling to change your opinions even when provided with compelling evidence.

Important lessons can come out of dealing with disagreement or disharmony within a group. Some of these experiences can be incredibly formative. Some of those lessons can include accepting a time you were wrong. Or maybe you found the resilience to defend a position you strongly cared about. Alternatively, perhaps you learned through a debate what it is that really matters to you.

When describing the meaning behind your experience interacting with someone who holds an opposing view to yourself, consider focusing on the lesson you feel you learned from that experience. Remember to center your valuable 400 words around one moment. Doing so will guide you toward exploring its depth and making the conclusions you drew from it more concrete and specific to your unique life experiences.

Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like. (400 words or fewer)

Yale places a huge emphasis on community. Therefore, the admissions officers are keen to find out what piece of the puzzle you’ll fill once you’re there. Think expansively about the concept of community: your extended family, a club you’re part of, a religious group, etc. Furthermore, consider what you’ve done to remain a dedicated member of that community. Writing about how you’ve fostered your relationship to your community over time will allow you to demonstrate why and to what extent the community is meaningful to you.

If you’re having trouble articulating why the community is meaningful to you, consider a time when your connection to your community faltered or you questioned your place in it. Understanding why you chose to re-establish your role in the community after this point of doubt may help you articulate its meaning to you. Invite the reader into your world. Let them feel what you feel. Open a window into why you cherish your community!

Reflect on an element of your personal experience that you feel will enrich your college. How has it shaped you? (400 words or fewer)

This prompt is much broader than the previous two prompts. Therefore, if writing about only about the meaning of your community or the way you respond to opposing viewpoints feels limiting to you, then you should select this prompt as your Yale essay question.

Nevertheless, this prompt’s broadness can be a trap for many students. The prompt tempts a broad answer. Before writing this essay, it’s advisable to write a brief outline so that you can keep your response contained, focused, and specific to you and your experience.

One way to keep this essay response cohesive is to consider a specific experience you have had. Then, use that experience as the basis for your essay response. For instance, maybe you lost the final in your state tennis championship. How did bouncing back from that disappointment change you, and how will you bring your resilience to your college community? Or, as another example, maybe you hold a marginalized identity. Narrating a specific occasion when discrimination had the potential or reality of holding you back. Describing how you responded to that experience, can also be a strong response to this question.

The question is multilayered. The Yale admissions officers don’t just want to know about your experience. They’d also like to know how the experience changed you and how you will bring the lessons you’ve learned to your college community. Considering the three parts of this question, try to work backward by thinking of a life lesson you might want to bring to a Yale residential college community. Then, turn back the clock to recall how you learned this lesson in the first place.

Yale’s Short Answer Questions

Students at Yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. Many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Please indicate up to three from the list provided. (125 words or fewer)

This question is asking you to list three things that interest you at the moment, with the understanding that they might change.

The key is to be honest: what do you truly want to major in? Ideally, you have shown interest in these topics already and these interests are reflected in your transcript and/or extracurricular activities, but sometimes that’s not possible. For instance, you may not have had the opportunity to pursue anthropology while in high school. Still, you may have read books on human history that have led you to want to pursue it in college. Or perhaps your heroes are economists, but economics wasn’t a course at your school.

For reasons like these, some students will put a major they think admissions officers want to see or is more evidenced by their high school experiences. There’s a middle ground to consider: discuss your interest in this topic in the next question, so that you can clarify your interest without seeming inconsistent!

Tell us about a topic or idea that excites you and is related to one or more academic areas you selected above. Why are you drawn to it? (200 words or fewer)

Here, try to laser focus on one or two (at most) of those academic interests you mentioned above. You have 200 words to work with in this question, but this is not the place to cram in everything you like. Instead, you should bring in anecdotes, experiences, or conversations that contributed to your decision to follow your interest(s).

Dig deep and find examples that are meaningful: if you like math, why is that the case? Do you enjoy finding and applying patterns in real life? Did a teacher show you a number trick that blew your mind? If you like literature, was it because you had a debate about a book that changed your perspective on a story? Was it because you want to be a storyteller? Don’t be afraid to invoke some of the most heartfelt and creative moments of your life as you explain why you’re passionate about the idea you’re bringing to this essay.

Reflect on how your interests, values, and/or experiences have drawn you to Yale. (125 words or fewer)

Avoid writing about all the standard reasons (prestige, academics, resources…) unless you have a unique reason for doing so. Even writing about standard aspects of Yale, like New Haven or the residential college system, should be approached carefully because you can be sure that admissions officers have just about read every single possible answer relating to these topics.

You want your “Why Yale?” to be unique, so if you’re going to be writing about academics or resources, you need to show that you’ve done your research. Much like you want every essay to be unique to you, this essay should be unique to Yale (essentially, you shouldn’t be able to use it as a supplement for any other school). Yes, making each “Why X University?” essay unique creates extra work, but it’s the ability to put in that extra work that often differentiates the strong high school student from the future Ivy Leaguer.

When you craft your response to this new prompt, start by reflecting on a specific interest, core value, or formative experience that genuinely matters to you. Then show how Yale uniquely supports, challenges, or amplifies this aspect of who you are. Consider these questions:

• What specific interest, value, or experience has shaped who you are?
• How has this evolved over time?
• What does this say about what you’re seeking in your college experience?

Then connect this to Yale specifically:

• How does Yale uniquely nurture this interest or align with your values?
• What specific program, department, research opportunity, philosophy, or community at Yale resonates with your personal narrative?
• Is there something about Yale’s approach that speaks directly to your experiences?
• What would you contribute to the Yale community based on this connection?

Whatever your answers to these questions, make them specific and spirited.

Yale’s Short Takes

What inspires you? (200 characters/roughly 35 words or fewer)

The most important part of this question is your explanation. Barring truly problematic inspirations, there are no wrong answers here, which means that what matters is how you justify your answer. You want to dive beneath the surface and find an answer that speaks to the narrative you’ve been crafting through all of these essays, while hopefully pulling in something fresh from your personality. Provide specificity in your answer.

Most of all, don’t feel the need to impress the admissions officer. It’s perfectly okay to sound like a teenager in these answers (of course, without being immature).

If you could teach any college course, write a book, or create an original piece of art of any kind, what would it be? (200 characters/roughly 35 words or fewer)

Here’s another chance to explore an interest you might not have quite made clear through your transcript so far. Be creative with your choice of course, book, or artwork. You can certainly draw from Yale’s “Blue Book” (the course offerings listed online), or from a real library or gallery. At the same time, you can also draw from fantasy and niche topics. In addition, you don’t have to limit yourself to an existing field or major.

The ideal result is that if someone read the title, they’d be interested in taking your class, reading your book, or viewing your artwork. A little creativity goes a long way. But there’s no need to overthink it! As long as you describe one of your genuine interests, and/or a genuine aspect of your personality, you’ll be able to successfully answer this question.

Other than a family member, who is someone who has had a significant influence on you? What has been the impact of their influence? (200 characters/roughly 35 words or fewer)

Questions about heroes and mentors are common on college applications, so you may very well have written a similar essay for another school already! If so, feel free to repurpose some of that essay for this one; it does not (and in most cases should not) be Yale-specific. The most important thing is that this essay is you specific.

Think about the teachers, coaches, friends, and even historical figures or people online who may have impacted you. This question is two-fold, requiring you to discuss both the person and their impact on you in only around 35 words. You’ll need to pick someone who you can explain their relation to you quickly. As a result, don’t feel pressure to describe the most esoteric person who’s impacted your life. Respectfully and briefly describe the person you chose and don’t shy away from vulnerability when elaborating on their impact.

What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application? (200 characters/roughly 35 words or fewer)

This short response essay is another great chance to showcase something you haven’t yet mentioned before in your application—make it meaningful! Remember that even the mundane can be meaningful too: this answer doesn’t necessarily need to be about a hidden achievement or a secret passion for quantum physics.

When you write a college application, you craft a multidimensional picture of yourself based on your academics, extracurricular activities, athletics, and/or other endeavors you’ve followed. This question gives you the unique opportunity to showcase another dimension that doesn’t fall within those standard categories.

If you need help polishing up your Yale supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the Yale Supplemental Essays 2025-2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.

Admissions officers at Harvard receive tens of thousands of applications each year, and they boasted a record low acceptance rate of 3.65% for the Class of 2028. Many applicants display academic excellence and extracurricular involvement across the board, so the supplemental essays provide applicants with a valuable opportunity to stand out among their peers. 

Approaching these essays can seem like a daunting task, but with a methodical approach and careful execution, they can elevate an application to the next level. In this article, we will provide you with a number of strategies and tips for how to write the Harvard supplemental essays.

Harvard’s 2025-2026 Prompts

1. Harvard has long recognized the importance of enrolling a diverse student body. How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard? (150 words or fewer)
2. Describe a time when you strongly disagreed with someone about an idea or issue. How did you communicate or engage with this person? What did you learn from this experience? (150 words or fewer)
3. Briefly describe any of your extracurricular activities, employment experience, travel, or family responsibilities that have shaped who you are. (150 words or fewer)
4. How do you hope to use your Harvard education in the future? (150 words or fewer)
5. Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you. (150 words or fewer)

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General Tips

In addition to your Common or Coalition Application essay, Harvard has five supplemental essay prompts, all short responses of 150 words or fewer. Unlike previous years, all five supplemental essays are required. Don’t let this intimidate you! More essays mean more opportunities to tell admissions officials about yourself, and the short word limits won’t stack up to too much writing overall. On the flip-side, you’ll need to be prepared to make good use of those short word limits—so get ready to brainstorm and plan out each response carefully!

As with any application, remember to think of your supplemental essays and your Common or Coalition Application materials as a portfolio designed to represent you as wholly as possible. In practice, this means using each of your essays to their fullest advantage by discussing different aspects of yourself in each one. It is important to avoid redundancy in your essays and in your application overall. Instead, think of each essay as a new opportunity to present a unique side of yourself!

Also, as you compose these essays, be true to yourself. If the prompt asks for a discussion of an activity or experience that was important to you, then really dig into the effects it had on your goals, your mindset, your everyday life. If you decide to respond with a description of something that brings you joy, choose a topic that truly inspires you, instead of trying to conform to what you believe the admissions officers want to see. Genuine and honest writing is compelling. Meanwhile, forced or unenthusiastic writing appears as just that. Allow your genuine self to shine through your words!

And with that, let’s get into a more detailed look at each prompt.

Harvard University Supplemental Essay Questions

Harvard has long recognized the importance of enrolling a diverse student body. How will the life experiences that shape who you are today enable you to contribute to Harvard? (150 words or fewer)

This prompt gives you an opportunity to discuss something important about your background outside your school experiences. Admissions officials are specifically looking for unique perspectives that you’re willing to bring to the table as a prospective student. As you brainstorm your response, try writing out a list of words that describe you—whether your identity, your aspirations, or your place in your community. Do any of these descriptors point to important experiences that shape who you are? If so, think about why they shaped you, and how you would use those life-shaping qualities to impact the Harvard community.

Some examples of experiences that might make a good response to this prompt follow here:

• You’re an older sibling who looked after the baby in the family, fortifying your compassion and work ethic
• You’re an aspiring musician who learned teamwork and conflict-solving after joining a band
• You were the only girl on your school’s math team, inspiring you to encourage others

Once you know which experience to write about, don’t forget to answer the second part of the prompt: how will these experiences help you contribute to Harvard’s community? If you’re the older sibling we mentioned above, maybe you’ll use that compassion and work ethic to organize study groups in each of your classes. Maybe you’ll use the teamwork and conflict-solving you learned from your band to mediate disagreements that come up in intellectual conversations—or maybe you’re looking to draw on your math team experiences by mentoring through Harvard’s Women in STEM Mentorship program.

Whatever you choose, keep your short word limit in mind. Consider jumping straight into an anecdote that explains your experiences so you can answer the second part of the prompt in your essay’s back half. On the line level, don’t forget to use colons, semicolons, and em dashes to connect sentences as concisely as possible.

Describe a time when you strongly disagreed with someone about an idea or issue. How did you communicate or engage with this person? What did you learn from this experience? (150 words or fewer)

This challenging prompt will benefit from some prior brainstorming. Consider which values you adhere to most strongly, and whether those values have changed over time. How did they change? If any crucial conversations were involved in those changes, you can write about one of those conversations here.

If there is anyone in your life right now who holds very different worldviews from yourself, this is a great opportunity for you to explore that relationship. This person could be a family member, classmate, friend, coworker, neighbor, etc. How do you interact with this person? What are your tactics of diplomacy? Discuss one conversation you’ve had with this person in your essay response. Be sure to use specific details so your narrative is vivid for the reader.

In terms of structuring this essay, you’ll want to make sure you include the following elements:

1. The occasion or situation of the disagreement/conflict.
2. The topic or question you and your interlocutor disagreed about.
3. The way you resolved or worked through the conflict.
4. The lesson(s) you learned from this experience.

In such a short essay, it can be challenging to work in all these different narrative elements. Therefore, you’ll want to focus on sticking to the topic and writing concisely. Avoid extraneous words and make sure each sentence relates to the story you’re telling, and you’ll do great!

Briefly describe any of your extracurricular activities, employment experience, travel, or family responsibilities that have shaped who you are. (150 words or fewer)

In this essay, you’re free to go into detail on an activity you’ve already listed elsewhere. That said, we recommend instead picking an experience you haven’t already described, because this gives you more opportunities to show off your strengths and diverse qualities.

Use the categories the prompt lists as a jumping-off point to decide on your essay topic. Are there any extracurricular experiences you didn’t list with your other activities? Where have you worked, and how did your work affect you? Have you traveled anywhere that changed your perspective? Is your role in your family an essential part of who you are?

Again, be as specific as you can. For example:

• Instead of stating how passionate you were about writing your fiction book, explain how facing your fifth rejection email taught you to persevere until you landed the publication
• Instead of saying your retail job taught you to keep a level head in a fast-paced environment, describe how defusing a conflict with an angry customer opened your eyes to new conflict-resolution strategies
• Instead of expressing that you loved your trip to Los Angeles, go into detail about your visit to the California Science Museum’s space exhibits
• Instead of saying that your family’s business gave you a unique work ethic, explain how learning a difficult secret recipe from the family restaurant gave you a sense of pride in your background

Pay attention to the prompt’s wording—this shouldn’t be a superficial experience, but something that shaped who you are. Think carefully about the anecdote you choose to avoid coming across as shallow or generic.

How do you hope to use your Harvard education in the future? (150 words or fewer)

With this prompt, we’re switching gears from your past experiences into the future. Here, admissions officials want to know what drives you. What are your aspirations, and why do you think a Harvard education in particular would best suit your vision? What impact will you have on your community after you graduate? Try to give a sense of your long-term plans, and don’t just blandly describe your intended career field. If you plan to go into data science, for example, explain how you hope to improve the process of peer review by analyzing its availability in past research.

Consider two aspects to your response: how you envision your Harvard education, and how you plan to use it. Connect your intended major—and minors—to your aspirations post-graduation. If you’re dead-set on any specific student organizations or programs, consider focusing on those only if they’re essential to your plans. Remember, you’ve only got 200 words to describe your entire future!

You might also still be undecided about your post-graduation plans, or even your intended major. Be honest about this. Many students switch majors or career choices halfway through college, but even so, you still have a reason you want to go to Harvard. Maybe you know you want to help your community through some kind of leadership role, and you want to decide between a couple of majors provided at Harvard to determine what that leadership role will be. Whatever your reason is, you wouldn’t be applying if you didn’t have one—so think deeply about that reason, and express it genuinely through your essay!

Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you. (150 words or fewer)

This last prompt is a classic “roommate” college essay prompt—it’s a chance to adopt a more casual voice, and show admissions officials a side of yourself they haven’t gotten with your other responses. Consider describing things like your hobbies, music taste, decoration sensibilities, or interesting facts about your living habits. Maybe it’s not your first time living in a dorm, or maybe you’re used to sharing your room with a sibling.

Whatever you choose, try to list three things that give some insight into who you are as a person, and give the list some variety. Instead of listing three hobbies, you might mention one hobby, one tidbit about your background that will play into your living habits, and one hope you have for activities you can do with your future roommate.

You might also consider playing around with your essay’s format to make it stand out. While 150 words is a bit long for a simple bullet-point format, you can still separate your essay out into numbered items—or maybe you’d like to try out a letter format addressed directly to your roommate. If a format along these lines helps you get into the casual headspace the prompt is asking for, then go for it!

If you need help polishing up your Harvard supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the Harvard Supplemental Essays 2025-2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.

There are six Columbia supplemental essays, also known as the Columbia-specific essays. The first two questions ask for lists of media you consume. The second set of four questions are short essays that illustrate your interest in Columbia and how you would fit into Columbia both as a student and a community member. In this blog post, you’ll learn how to write the Columbia University supplemental essays, understand the underlying question the admissions officers are asking, and distinguish yourself from other applicants.

Columbia’s 2025-2026 Prompts

Background Questions

1. List a selection of texts, resources and outlets that have contributed to your intellectual development outside of academic courses, including but not limited to books, journals, websites, podcasts, essays, plays, presentations, videos, museums and other content that you enjoy. (100 words or fewer)
2. A hallmark of the Columbia experience is being able to learn and thrive in an equitable and inclusive community with a wide range of perspectives. Tell us about an aspect of your own perspective, viewpoint or lived experience that is important to you, and describe how it has shaped the way you would learn from and contribute to Columbia’s diverse and collaborative community. (150 words or fewer)
3. At Columbia, students representing a wide range of perspectives are invited to live and learn together. In such a community, questions and debates naturally arise. Please describe a time when you did not agree with someone and discuss how you engaged with them and what you took away from the interaction. (150 words or fewer)
4. In college/university, students are often challenged in ways that they could not predict or anticipate. It is important to us, therefore, to understand an applicant’s ability to navigate through adversity. Please describe a barrier or obstacle you have faced and discuss the personal qualities, skills or insights you have developed as a result. (150 words or fewer)

Why Columbia? Question

1. Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia. (150 words or fewer)
2. What attracts you to your preferred areas of study at Columbia College or Columbia Engineering? (150 words or fewer)

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Columbia’s Background Questions

List a selection of texts, resources and outlets that have contributed to your intellectual development outside of academic courses, including but not limited to books, journals, websites, podcasts, essays, plays, presentations, videos, museums and other content that you enjoy. (100 words or fewer)

This prompt asks you to list your media—what you read, watched, listened to, or generally enjoyed consuming in high school or secondary school, but not for your high school or secondary school. Even if The Great Gatsby changed your life, if you read it in AP English Lit, it’s not the right answer to this question. On the other hand, if you read a poem no one’s ever heard of, but you read it on your own time and enjoyed it, don’t hesitate to include it in your list.

Additionally, if you read a lot of books in high school that aren’t generally considered “literature,” but you enjoyed them, you also definitely shouldn’t hesitate to write them down. The most important thing is authenticity, which will serve to differentiate you. It’s unlikely that any other applicant is going to write down exactly the same titles as you. After all, you should be able to fit 10+ titles within the 100-word maximum. Remember, you don’t need to list authors, subtitles, or any explanatory details.

Don’t be afraid to list something that is popular, unpopular, or light-hearted. Admissions officers want to know that you have a strong personality. If you love listening to music, you might want to start your list with your favorite musical artists, composers, soundtracks, or songs. Still, remember to offer a couple of other types of media before you run out of words. Feel free to express your personality by naming your favorite comedian’s podcast. Mention the romantic comedy you re-watch every year. Or include the social media account of a celebrity llama, if that’s who you follow!

If the admissions officer decides to look up the media you referenced and gets a laugh out of it, then you’re probably on the right track to planting a more memorable seed in their mind. Nevertheless, if there are also “serious”/academic lectures, Ted Talks, educational YouTube videos, or museums you really enjoy, be sure to include at least a few of them in your list.

That said, there are some “don’t”s in answering this prompt. Including the name of a social media account you love but which is not publicly accessible won’t allow the admissions officer to look it up. For instance, NSFW-type material is a no-go (R-rated movies are generally fine, but X-rated movies are probably not appropriate).

Finally, in terms of websites, it’s not advisable to list websites you must use for school, or websites that have many distinct purposes, because it is already implied that you use these websites. For instance, listing the government website of your town doesn’t clearly express your involvement in polling efforts for local elections. Listing Wikipedia doesn’t necessarily communicate that you are a registered admin on the site. Linking the community portal on Wikipedia, though, or a page explaining how to register to vote, might more specifically communicate your involvement in those endeavors.

The underlying questions are: Who are you outside of the classroom? What media shapes you? These questions are not the time to indicate your academic interests. Instead, they’re the perfect occasion to display your unique personality, your cultural influences, and your authentic media consumption.

A hallmark of the Columbia experience is being able to learn and thrive in an equitable and inclusive community with a wide range of perspectives. Tell us about an aspect of your own perspective, viewpoint or lived experience that is important to you, and describe how it has shaped the way you would learn from and contribute to Columbia’s diverse and collaborative community. (150 words or fewer)

This background question gives you the chance to express your personality. In this 150-word essay, you can dive into a (not necessarily marginalized) identity you hold. (For example, your religion, cultural background, or LGBTQ+ identity.) You could also discuss a formative experience you have undergone. (For example, taking care of a family member, participating in sports, or overcoming a health issue.) The underlying questions this essay prompt asks fall along these lines: How has your unique identity shaped the way you move through the world? How will it continue to shape your life?

In posing this prompt, the admissions officers indicate their curiosity about who you have been within your community(ies) throughout your life. In the same vein, they want to know how you will participate in the community of Columbia University undergraduates. As a result, it is important for you to describe your past participation in a community through actions you have taken.

For instance, if you identify as Muslim, how does your Muslim identity manifest (or not manifest) in your choices, personality, or relationship with others? If you are a boy in a family of all women, how has that experience influenced your perspective on women and society? Reflecting on questions like these may help you consider how you may evolve as a Columbia University student.

At Columbia, students representing a wide range of perspectives are invited to live and learn together. In such a community, questions and debates naturally arise. Please describe a time when you did not agree with someone and discuss how you engaged with them and what you took away from the interaction. (150 words or fewer)

This essay asks you to demonstrate intellectual humility, curiosity, and collaborative engagement, which are core values at Columbia. Rather than simply recounting a conflict, you’re being asked to show how you navigate differences constructively. Admissions officers want to see your ability to engage respectfully with opposing viewpoints, your growth mindset and willingness to learn from others, and your maturity in handling disagreement without becoming defensive. They’re looking for specific examples of how you bridged differences or found common ground.

Choose a disagreement that shows you at your best. This could be a classroom debate, family discussion, workplace conflict, or community issue. One piece of advice in choosing a conflict is to avoid highly polarizing topics unless you can demonstrate genuine engagement with the other perspective. Structure your response around three key elements: briefly set the scene of the disagreement in 1-2 sentences, dedicate most of the space to describing your engagement by focusing on your actions (did you ask questions, listen actively, research their perspective, find compromise?), and conclude with 2-3 sentences showing what you learned and how you grew from the experience.

Remember the focus here is how students can contribute to intellectual discourse, not simply win arguments. Show how you made the conversation more productive, demonstrating that you can be the kind of community member who elevates discussions and helps others learn alongside you.

In college/university, students are often challenged in ways that they could not predict or anticipate. It is important to us, therefore, to understand an applicant’s ability to navigate through adversity. Please describe a barrier or obstacle you have faced and discuss the personal qualities, skills or insights you have developed as a result. (150 words or fewer)

This background question asks you to describe your experience with overcoming hardship. Through this Columbia supplemental essay, you have the opportunity to highlight a challenge you have faced in your life and describe how you responded to it. The underlying question here is, How do you respond to adversity?

Many students answer a similar question to this one in their Common App personal statement. If you are one of those students, you should consider selecting a different obstacle to discuss in this essay. Discussing the same obstacle would create redundancy within your application. Moreover, this essay question only permits answers of 150 words or fewer. Meanwhile, the personal statement permits 650 words. It is difficult to effectively condense a 650-word answer down to 150 words without losing crucial details.

In sum, make sure you can discuss your essay topic fully in only 150 words. The prompt doesn’t ask for the greatest barrier you have faced, just “a” barrier you have faced. Of course, you should write about a significant challenge. But even more importantly, you shouldn’t write a rushed, incomplete, and/or oversimplified essay.

Remember, you can also choose to discuss a specific aspect of a barrier you have faced. For instance, if your family is socioeconomically disadvantaged, that is a huge topic that you could probably discuss for pages. Instead, you could focus on a particular, exciting high school opportunity that you had to turn down due to finances. You could mention a specific side job you had to get to support your family while in high school. Or you could describe the way you emotionally supported your family members during a specific time of financial hardship. By keeping your answer specific, you avoid oversimplification or generalization and ensure your answer is specific to your experiences.

Why Columbia? Questions

Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia. (150 words or fewer)

The first Why Columbia? question may seem straightforward. However, it is both one of the most common and one of the most commonly misunderstood by applicants. Unlike the rest of the college application, the Why Columbia? essays should not tell the reader about yourself (at least not directly). Nor should it read like a Columbia University advertisement. Instead, this question expects you to research, refine, and relate to Columbia and its current student body.

Research what classes, programs, professors, extracurriculars, and other aspects of Columbia most interest you. Then, refine this list to include only what is unique to Columbia. For example, you might think Columbia’s English department is amazing, but many other universities have English departments. What about Columbia’s is different from the English departments elsewhere? Lastly, relate to your own unique interests what you’ve listed.

For instance, don’t sing the praises of the Columbia Ballet Collaborative unless you want to do ballet! Moreover, don’t assume that the reader knows exactly how you relate to a given aspect of Columbia. This is unless, of course, you’ve explicitly stated the relation earlier in the application. If you haven’t mentioned anywhere in your application that what you want to do with your physics degree is to work at NASA, then your reader won’t necessarily know why you so badly want to take a class with Professor Massamino.

What attracts you to your preferred areas of study at Columbia College or Columbia Engineering? (150 words or fewer)

The second Why Columbia? question is one of the tougher questions among Columbia’s supplemental essays. This is because it asks you to explain why you are interested in the academic fields that you wish to pursue. Many students feel like they have to explain some grand story about how a doctor saved their best friend’s life and now they want to be a doctor. Or they might feel compelled to spin a tale about looking at the stars every night as a child, dreaming about astrophysics. The truth is, for many students, they chose a subject because they had a talent for it. For just as many students, their choice of major is motivated by career opportunities. As a result, these students need to engage in some introspection before writing this essay.

If you do have a grand story about the origins of your love of 16th-century French history, then that’s amazing. And you should write about it in as much detail as your 150 words permit! If that doesn’t sound relatable to you, though, there are still plenty of ways to express the answer to this essay’s underlying question: Why are you passionate about your prospective major(s)?

One way to get started on this essay is to think back to the origins of your academic interests. After all, a variety of financially reliable fields exist. Moreover, you likely have a talent for more than one academic subject. How did you end up choosing this one (at least for now), and what motivated this decision?

Note that the question also mentions your preferred areas of study at Columbia specifically. Make sure to tailor your response to this question to Columbia’s offerings. You can start the essay by specifying which major(s) at Columbia are of interest to you. Then, you can end the essay by name-dropping majors, courses, or even professors if you have words remaining.

Another question to consider, especially if you can’t remember how you got into your subject of interest, is how you feel when you are doing activities or assignments related to this subject. Does Spanish class always engage your full attention? Do you feel a jolt of excitement when you find out you get to do a chemistry lab? Does reading a book for English class feel more like leisure than work?

Addressing your emotional state can be a great way to “prove” that you are interested in your subject(s) of choice. That said, be sure to use specific language when talking about your emotions. Involve rhetorical devices if you can, versus just writing that math makes you happy.

If you need help polishing up your Columbia supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the Columbia Supplemental Essays 2025–2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.

Brown University’s 2025-2026 Prompts

Supplemental Essay Questions

1. Brown’s Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their academic pursuits. Tell us about any academic interests that excite you, and how you might pursue them at Brown. (200-250 words)
2. Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (200-250 words)
3. Brown students care deeply about their work and the world around them. Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in daily interactions and major discoveries. Whether big or small, mundane or spectacular, tell us about something that brings you joy. (200-250 words)

Brief Reflection Questions

Note that these prompts are found in the Common App as part of Brown’s writing supplement, and are required questions. Instead, they are not found in the Common Application section of Brown’s “How to Apply” web page.

1. What three words best describe you? (3 words)
2. If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100 words or fewer)
3. In one sentence, Why Brown? (50 words or fewer)

Transfer Essay Question

1. What is your most meaningful extracurricular commitment, and what would you like us to know about it? (100 words or fewer)

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General Tips

One of the key features about each of these Brown University supplemental essays is their length: they are short. Limiting each response to 250 words maximum can be challenging, especially when discussing complex interests or topics about which you are passionate. The key to writing a succinct yet impactful essay is to limit the words spent on narrative or objective descriptions and instead devote space to emotions, thoughts, and reflections. For instance, compare…

“Painting brings me joy. When I was five years old, my father bought me my first set of paintbrushes. Since then, I have painted every day, joining art clubs in middle and high school and collaborating with peers on projects in the community. We painted murals and posters for events and local exhibitions, learning and meeting new people as we did so. My skills have improved over time, and I aim to continue my development as an artist and a creative in college and beyond.”

…to the following:

“Painting brings me joy. Ever since receiving my first set of brushes at five years old, I have embraced the challenge of setting color to paper to create brilliant images. As I improved over time, I searched for ways to share the satisfaction of art with others. Orchestrating community projects allowed me to connect with peers and express my gratitude for my hometown. As I continue to develop my skills, I will spread that joy to an even broader audience in college and beyond.”

These two passages have the same word count. However, the second much more effectively gives the reader a sense of who the writer is and what they value about their interest in painting. Instead of simply listing the factual details of an interest or event, academic or otherwise, you can give the reader a glimpse into your emotions and thought processes. Doing so will increase the impact of each word, allowing you to convey your meaning more succinctly.

Brown University’s Supplemental Essay Questions

Brown’s Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their academic pursuits. Tell us about any academic interests that excite you, and how you might pursue them at Brown. (200-250 words)

This first prompt is an iteration of the common “Why X University?” essay type. What makes this prompt unique is that Brown’s Open Curriculum is highlighted. Students are expected to demonstrate a basic understanding of the core tenets of this curriculum in their essay responses.

Essentially, the Open Curriculum at Brown University allows undergraduates to forego the general education and distribution requirements mandated by most colleges and universities and instead enables students to formulate their own paths of study. Some students even develop their own majors based on personal interests that they enter with or discover along the way. This first essay asks applicants to consider how they would make the most of this unique flexibility.

First and foremost, research the Open Curriculum. Read about how current and past students have approached this opportunity, and consider how you would do so yourself. Then, brainstorm. Write out a list of your academic interests. Let these interests range from your intended major to potential interests that you would like to develop further, and everything in between. For now, the more the merrier!

Consider browsing the academic offerings to find departments, courses, or tracks that align with your interests. Lastly, and arguably, most importantly, look for connections between your areas of interest and explore how you could connect them. This is the greatest and most unique benefit of Brown’s Open Curriculum: you can craft your own unique educational experience.

Be sure to delve into the why: Why combine the interests you choose? What added benefit do you gain by studying simultaneously across disciplines? This interdisciplinary emphasis on exploration is central to Brown’s values as a university.

Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (200-250 words)

This second prompt asks Brown applicants to discuss their backgrounds, past adversity, perspectives, growth, and/or community involvement. But 200-250 words is not much room to tell the story of your upbringing! If possible, choose a specific 1-3 anecdote(s) to share. Your anecdote(s) should be from your childhood and involve details about your unique upbringing.

If you have a cultural background, unusual childhood experience, or significant period of growth in your personal history, now might be the time to bring it up in your application. This essay gives you the meaningful opportunity to engage with a part of your past that otherwise wouldn’t have made it into your application. Generally, applications focus on high school experiences, but this essay can (and probably should) focus on an experience before high school.

One pitfall that many students fall into when writing this essay is cliché. It is really easy to describe your childhood in a generic way. But the more personal and, frankly, odd you can get in this essay, the better. Authenticity will go a long way to helping the reader remember your essay long after reading it.

Consider these questions to get your brainstorming going:

• Did you have a weird childhood habit or hobby that ended up teaching you a life lesson?
• Did you suffer bullying and come out stronger, more empathetic, and/or more sure of who you are?
• Did you have a mentor who shaped you?
• Did your hometown have a unique tradition that influenced your worldview?

Remember, growth is key in this essay. After you’ve selected your specific topic and your discrete, brief 1-3 anecdotes, make sure you clarify at the beginning of the essay who you once were. Then, by the end of the essay, clarify who you are now. Displaying growth will not only evidence your maturity but also demonstrate your college readiness and ability to answer a challenging essay question.

Brown students care deeply about their work and the world around them. Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in daily interactions and major discoveries. Whether big or small, mundane or spectacular, tell us about something that brings you joy. (200-250 words)

Lastly, this third supplemental prompt is the most open-ended. This is not just a simple “extracurriculars” or “other interests” prompt, because it is so broad in its scope. As long as it brings you joy, any topic is on the table, academic, artistic, intellectual, philosophical, culinary, athletic, or otherwise. If you feel that your application so far has not done justice to an important part of yourself, then this is the time for you to address what’s as yet unsaid.

The prompt goes so far as to note that the topic can be “big or small, mundane or spectacular.” Therefore, if something specific comes to mind as you read this, then chances are it would make a strong essay, whatever it may be. The most important consideration in choosing a topic for this essay is to select something that truly does bring you joy. Readers can tell when the excitement in your tone is genuine, and that realness is what sells your essay.

As you brainstorm ideas for this essay, restrain yourself from writing about a topic that you think you “should” write about. If your true passion is baking chocolate chip cookies for your little sisters when they are feeling down, but you feel like you should write about coding because it seems more “sophisticated” or “academic,” choose the former. A genuine essay will stand out every time.

As you describe what brings you joy, try to draw the reader into your excitement. Invite them to enjoy the activity or the project with you and show them why it is that you love it. Make them love it too! Vivid descriptors and sensory details can go a long way in essays like this one. This is especially if your passion has a sensory component. Allow yourself and your readers to be swept up in “contentment, satisfaction, and meaning.” Joy is infectious, so fill your essay with as much of it as possible.

Brown University’s Brief Reflection Questions

What three words best describe you? (3 words)

This brief reflection prompt asks you to distill your personality into a short list of descriptors: this is a huge challenge if you want to bring any nuance to your three words. However, on the flip side, although there are many “wrong” answers and many “right” answers, you’re more likely to put down a neutral answer than a “wrong” answer. In other words, if you pick three random positively connoted adjectives, for instance, those words’ impact on your application will probably be neutral or positive.

That said, there are things you can do to increase your chances of positively influencing your application with your three words: Be consistent and inconsistent.

Being consistent with the rest of your application is great, and 1-2 of your words should somehow be synonymous or consistent with the rest of your application. If you have an amazing academic record, maybe one of your descriptors is “hardworking” or “driven.” If you’re applying to study English or Creative Writing, maybe one of your descriptors is “writer” or “reader.” These are consistent descriptors, so that your response feels like it is part of the same application as the rest of your materials.

Being inconsistent allows you to add new value to your application. Maybe you’re applying to study Neuroscience, but one of your words is “illustrator” or “artistic.” Maybe your application deals with really serious topics all throughout, and yet you put that you’re “cheerful” or “playful.” Adding dimension to your personality through these words allows you to bring something new to this essay, even though it’s so short: every response on your application can help you out!

If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100 words)

This final prompt toes a fine line: many students who answer this question earnestly end up sounding full of themselves. There are three main ways to answer this question. First, you can suggest teaching a class on something you legitimately have deep knowledge of. Second, you can suggest teaching a class on something you obviously have no knowledge of. Or, third, you can suggest teaching a class on something you might have some knowledge of.

If you already have deep knowledge of the subject of your imaginary class, then humbly clarify this before listing your reasons for wanting to teach a class on it. Specifically, these should be reasons other than “I am (already) an expert in this topic.” For instance, you might be an extremely talented potter, but your pottery talents don’t come up elsewhere in your application. Thus, you’ll need to discuss your pottery talents briefly, authentically, and modestly before describing why you’d like to teach a pottery class.

If you obviously don’t have knowledge of the subject of your imaginary class, then you’ll want to briefly express why you’d like to know about this topic before explaining why you’d like to teach a class on it. And again, your reasons for teaching this class need to be more than just that you’d like to be an expert who is capable of teaching a class in it. For instance, if you’d like to teach a class on how to safely jump out of a plane, you’re going to first want to clarify why you’d like to be an expert in jumping out of planes before explaining why you’d like to teach other people how to jump out of planes.

If you have some knowledge of the subject of your imaginary class, then you’ll want to clarify the limited extent of your knowledge before explaining why you’d like to learn more about this topic and teach a class on it. For instance, if you would like to teach a class on particle physics, you’ll want to briefly express how much/little you know about the topic. Then, you’ll want to explain why you’re compelled to learn more and to teach people more about particle physics.

When wrapping up your brief reflection, you may want to give an indication of how you will teach the class and/or to whom you would like to teach the class. That said, this is totally up to you and depends on how many words you have left over.

In one sentence, Why Brown? (50 words)

This deceptively simple prompt requires you to distill your reasons for applying to Brown into just one sentence. Although you can compose up to 50 words in your response, make sure it’s all one sentence. Moreover, don’t feel pressure to get close to meeting the 50-word maximum.

Specificity is key in this answer. Many students may feel compelled by Brown’s open curriculum, extensive research opportunities, and beautiful New England campus. However, the best essay responses will stand out from the crowd. Therefore, it’s key that you identify why you specifically are drawn to Brown. Are there specific courses you hope to take? Is there a professor you hope to work with? Does the PLME program provide your ideal educational experience? Whatever your reasons, you’ll likely need to do some research in order to identify them. As long as you’re specific, clear, and genuine, though, you’ll do well in this essay.

Brown University’s Transfer Essay Questions

What is your most meaningful extracurricular commitment, and what would you like us to know about it? (100 words)

Like all of your other essay responses, this brief reflection is another moment to provide something to your application reader that they can’t get from reading the rest of your application. Note the wording of this prompt: “What would you like us to know about [your most meaningful extracurricular commitment]?” This question implies that what you would like the reader to know is something they can’t possibly already know.

In the case of some students, this brief response is the opportunity necessary to clarify something about their extracurricular commitment. For instance, maybe your most meaningful extracurricular has a weird title, and you’re concerned that your activities list in the Common App can’t possibly do it justice. Or perhaps your commitment hours for this extracurricular look strangely high or low, and you’d like the chance to explain it.

In the case of other students, the activities section of the Common App does their activities justice, and thus this essay is a bonus to bring more nuance to their most meaningful activity. If that sounds like you, here are some tips to make this essay response the strongest it can be.

1. Answer your FAQ(s). If you describe this activity to your friends, do they all ask the same silly question? For instance, if you’re a coxswain on a rowing team, and people always ask you “What’s the point of your position and why do you need to train?”, you could take this essay as an opportunity to explain the importance of your position and why you train with the rest of the team.
2. Make it personal. College admissions officers have seen a lot. Moreover, they have probably seen many applicants with the same or similar extracurricular as you. Clarify why you as an individual find meaning in this extracurricular, and how this extracurricular fits into your life.
3. Show growth. Your activities list might mention that you started as Junior Editor in a literary magazine and are now Editor-in-Chief. But, for all admissions officers know, that promotion was just because you were the only 12th-grader in the magazine. In this short essay, you can write about
   1. how you’ve grown through this activity
   2. how this activity has changed you
   3. how you have changed the activity
   4. how your growth has impacted your relationship with the activity.

If you need help polishing up your Brown University supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the Brown Supplemental Essays 2025–2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.

Note that the specific program within USC to which you apply may have additional supplemental materials. These include short essays, short videos, and portfolios of creative work. Check out the programs here and the additional application requirements for USC here.

USC’s 2025-2026 Prompts

Long Answer Questions

The following questions have a word limit of 250.

1. Required: Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections.
2. Optional: Starting with the beginning of high school/secondary school, if you have had a gap where you were not enrolled in school during a fall or spring term, please address this gap in your educational history. You do not need to address a summer break.

Short Answer Questions

3. Describe yourself in three words. (3 words)
4. What is your favorite snack? (100 characters or fewer)
5. Best movie of all time (100 characters or fewer)
6. Dream job (100 characters or fewer)
7. If your life had a theme song, what would it be? (100 characters or fewer)
8. Dream trip (100 characters or fewer)
9. What TV show will you binge watch next? (100 characters or fewer)
10. Which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate? (100 characters or fewer)
11. Favorite book (100 characters or fewer)
12. If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be? (100 characters or fewer)

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USC’s Long Answer Questions

The USC application requires one longer essay (250 words or fewer) and ten shorter responses limited to 100 characters. (But don’t compose a 100-character answer for the questions requiring a single word!). There is also an optional longer essay question only applicable to students with some gap in their educational history other than a summer break.

Required: Describe how you plan to pursue your academic interests and why you want to explore them at USC specifically. Please feel free to address your first- and second-choice major selections. (250 words or fewer)

This standard essay question is deceptively difficult. Most students have enough of a sense of their academic interests to list them and describe why they’re interested in them. However, this question is actually more of a research question than a personal essay question. The USC admissions officers reading your response to this question are less interested in what your academic interests are and more in how you will pursue them while a student at USC.

As a result, it’s recommended that you do some research before answering this question. Read through a list of USC’s majors and minors. Scroll around in the course catalog. Find some programs, professors, clubs, and activities at USC that relate to your academic interests. Mention these opportunities by name and describe how and why you will take advantage of them. Displaying this kind of research will demonstrate your seriousness in applying to USC and your maturity in visualizing your future.

Optional: Starting with the beginning of high school/secondary school, if you have had a gap where you were not enrolled in school during a fall or spring term, please address this gap in your educational history. You do not need to address a summer break. (250 words or fewer)

If your educational background has some kind of gap, then you should answer this question. If not, then leave this question aside.

In your 250 words, you’ll need to summarize the following pieces of information:

1. why you were not enrolled for a period of time during your high school/secondary school years;
2. what you did during your period of non-enrollment;
3. how this experience impacted your educational experience thereafter;
4. and optionally, how this experience impacted your life in general thereafter.

USC’s admissions officers review applications holistically. They don’t want to assume that any gap in educational history is a bad thing. If your period of non-enrollment did have a negative impact on your life, this essay question gives you the opportunity to provide nuance to this experience and describe how you grew from it.

USC’s Short Answer Questions

These short answer questions provide space for you to express your unique personality. Feel free to inject humor into your responses or adopt a light-hearted tone. Still, authenticity is key. Admissions officers ask questions like these because they want to see who you are inside and outside of the classroom.

Describe yourself in three words. (3 words)

You might be thinking it’s a little redundant to mention that describing yourself in three words should take three words to answer, no more and no less. But you’d be surprised to learn how many students don’t take that piece of information to heart! If you have a legitimately clever idea for getting around the word restriction and providing a longer answer, then go for it. Still, bear in mind that if you answer with three unassuming words, you’re more likely to have a neutral response than a negative response. Meanwhile, if you get a little too clever with this answer, you increase the likelihood of your reader taking your response the wrong way.

If you’re having difficulty coming up with your three words, consider asking friends or family to help you out. Ask them to describe you in a word or two, ideally a noun (for example, “artist,” “dreamer,” or “nerd”) or adjective (for example, “creative,” “logical,” or “caring”). It can be hard to describe ourselves. It’s even harder to describe ourselves succinctly. Sometimes, the people who know us best can describe us better than we can ourselves.

If you already know some or all of your words without help, you may still want to run your choices by someone else. Some words have both positive and negative connotations, and ideally, your word choices are primarily positive. For example, “stubborn” can be both a positive and a negative descriptor of a person. Thus, you may want to think carefully about whether your stubbornness is portrayed elsewhere in your application in a positive light that will offset its possible negative connotations.

What is your favorite snack? (100 characters or fewer)

As always, unless you have a uniquely clever and interesting answer that goes beyond the literal meaning of the prompt, keep this answer simple. This answer shouldn’t require you to think too much; if you find yourself over-thinking, just bring it back to basics! When you get home from school and feel a bit peckish, what do most often you gravitate toward? There: that’s your answer, and another USC essay done!

Best movie of all time (100 characters or fewer)

This is a subjective question, but don’t feel pressured to defend your point-of-view. Just share what you think is the best movie of all time. And if you don’t have a favorite, just pick one of your favorites after rolling a die or flipping a coin. 

Note that the context of a college application is, if not formal, not so casual either. Don’t list a movie considered highly inappropriate. If you wouldn’t hypothetically be willing to defend this movie choice to a teacher, a parent, or a college admissions officer, then it’s probably not a good choice to put on a college application. You don’t have to limit yourself to G-rated movies (although if a G-rated movie is your favorite, then put it down), but you should probably avoid anything X-rated and some R-rated movies.

Dream job (100 characters or fewer)

This short answer question, like the previous ones, does not require (and probably shouldn’t) have too much accompanying elaboration, if any. As a result, choose a job description or title which is clear to the reader. Jobs like “writer” or “teacher” are relatively general and you could boost them with concrete and specific details. Consider alternatives like “fantasy novel writer” and “middle school English teacher.”

With this question, because of the word “dream,” you don’t necessarily need to choose a “dream job” that relates to your intended course of study. You might be a pre-med applicant who dreams of being a life-saving surgeon. Or maybe you’re a marketing major who can’t sing but still dreams of becoming a rockstar. Whatever your dreams are, don’t feel embarrassed, just share them!

If your life had a theme song, what would it be? (100 characters or fewer)

Like the question about what movie you think is the best of all time, this question asks you to provide the reader with some insight into the media you consume. Although it may feel natural to put your favorite song to listen to as the answer to this question, consider how/whether the song describes your life. Are the themes of the song—for instance: love, loss, ambition, fear—themes of your life? Is the tone of the song—for instance: joyful, energetic, nostalgic, chill—descriptive of the way you often feel?

Consider that the admissions officers may look up your song of choice and read the lyrics, in the case of songs which have lyrics. As a result, the song should not deal with themes which are too mature for the context of a college application. If you wouldn’t hypothetically feel comfortable writing an essay about this song for your application, an essay which quotes the song and delves into the meaning of its lyrics, then perhaps you should select a different song for your choice here.

Authenticity is still important. Some students who may struggle with their mental health feel uncertain about listing a particularly deep, raw, or emotional song as their “theme song.” If that sounds like you, consider whether the rest of your application somehow demonstrates that you are self-aware regarding your mental health struggles and/or that you have matured over the years in how you meet your struggles. Doing so will help your reader understand that you are a nuanced person, even if your song choice presents a single dimension of yourself.

Dream trip (100 characters or fewer)

In this essay question, you can dream big—consider the limits of where you could go and what you could do there. There’s no right answer to this question, but do consider how someone from the place you would like to visit might view your dream trip plan (if you provide detail about your plan, which you don’t have to). Make sure that your references to other places are respectful of those places and the people who live there, and consider researching your dream trip locale of interest before responding to this question.

What TV show will you binge watch next? (100 characters or fewer)

Like the earlier questions about movies and songs, this question requires you to think broadly about the media you consume. Yet there’s a difference with this question: it focuses on the future. Meanwhile, the earlier questions asked about media you have already consumed.

The admissions officers ask this kind of question are curious about your personality and about your curiosities. Do you seek out procedural dramas, intrigued by the way family relationships might play out in a courtroom? Are you a sci-fi buff dreaming of new technologies and far-away galaxies? Or are you invested in the psyches of reality TV contestants seeking love? 

Like most of these questions, there’s no right answer. Admissions officers aren’t seeking to fulfill specific quotas of history documentary fans and sitcom devotees. However, like previous questions about media, consider your audience and whether your answer suits the context of a college application. Is your answer “safe for work”? 

Lastly, you can feel free to add a brief “because… ” or equivalent statement after your choice, especially if it seems to warrant explanation. Also, note that some show titles are very generic, so without further (minimal) context the reader may not know what you’re referring to. Adding a year, language, director, or something similar might provide the necessary clues so that your answer isn’t confusing.

Which well-known person or fictional character would be your ideal roommate? (100 characters or fewer)

This is a multilayered question. It requires you to not only consider a person or character whom you know and are (presumably) a fan of but also how your lifestyles would align. As a result, your answer will not just indicate what kind of media, news, or other content you consume. It will (should) also hint at how you currently live and what your ideal way of living might be.

Feel free to get creative with this answer. Maybe you want to live with the Flash because he could do the dishes really quickly, or with Bob the Builder because you could co-design your ideal DIY home. On the flipside, you could also take this question more literally and look up a famous figure known for their impressive productivity strategies and excellent sleep schedule.

Favorite book (100 characters or fewer)

This is yet another media-related question that aims to provide dimension to your personality through a window into how you spend your free time. This question, like all of these questions, is best served by an honest answer. What book do you pick up again and again? What book do you think about as you fall asleep? What book are you constantly recommending to friends?

Some students feel pressured to answer this question with a book they read in English class or some impressive-sounding academic treatise. However, admissions officers are skilled professionals who will see right through that kind of answer. If your favorite book truly is The Grapes of Wrath and you first encountered it in 10th grade Honors English, that’s an entirely legitimate answer, and don’t feel self-conscious about it. But if your favorite book is an obscure mystery novel no one’s ever heard of, or written by a highly popular author like James Patterson or Rick Riordan, that’s also totally legitimate. Not every accepted applicant to USC is going to be an English major. Nevertheless, admissions officers do expect to see students who engage with books. So if you can’t think of any books to answer this question with, get reading while you still have time!

If you could teach a class on any topic, what would it be? (100 characters or fewer)

This is a common college essay question that you may have seen on other applications. For example, Yale asks an almost identical question, with 200 characters permitted for a response, because you’re expected to explain why you would teach this class. USC doesn’t require you to explain why. The limit to a 100-character answer further drives home how brief your answer is expected to be.

Of course, if the topic you choose is extremely obscure and requires context to understand, a brief explanation could be helpful. Otherwise, just think broadly and put the course title or topic. Your answer can be anything from academic to athletic, creative to craft-based. It also doesn’t need to be a topic you know much about (yet), but instead something you’re interested in learning more about. Good luck!

If you need help polishing up your USC supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the USC Supplemental Essays 2025-2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.

RPI 2025-2026 Prompts

Required Supplemental Essay Questions

1. Why are you interested in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? (250 words or fewer)
2. Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (300 words or fewer)

Program-Specific Supplemental Essay Questions

The following prompts are required only for applicants to specific programs. If you are applying to the Accelerated Physician-Scientist (B.S./M.D.) Program, the Architecture (ARCH) program, the Electronic Arts (EART) program, the Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS) program, or the Music (MUSC) program, you’ll need to write the respective essay. If not, you’re off the hook!

1. Accelerated Physician-Scientist (B.S./M.D.) Program: State your reasons for aspiring to a career in medicine. (500-750 words)
2. Architecture (ARCH): State your reasons for choosing architecture as your profession (1–2 pages).
3. Electronic Arts (EART): Discuss your interests in the field of electronic arts, and state how this is reflected in your portfolio, if one has been submitted (1–2 pages).
4. Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS): State your reasons for choosing the field of games and simulation arts and sciences, making reference to your portfolio if one has been submitted (1–2 pages).
5. Music (MUSC): Describe your interest in the music major and your goals. Please include completed course work in music, private music instruction, musical performance and production experience, or completed independent projects (1–2 pages).

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General Tips

The RPI supplemental essays all have word limits higher than the average college essay, leading to one of the biggest challenges students have in writing successful essays: organization.

An organized essay not only communicates nuanced ideas to the reader, but it does so in a logical fashion. The reader shouldn’t sense that certain topics receive undue attention while others leave unanswered questions. In addition, the essay has a clear introduction and conclusion. In other words, the reader doesn’t see the conclusion as a restatement of the introduction, even if the ideas both parts of the essay espouse are similar. Instead, the reader can follow the progression of ideas in the essay from the beginning to the end.

What does an organized essay look like in practice? Put simply, it’s easy to compose an outline for an organized essay. Although some students find that writing outlines is a helpful tactic, others find it to be a stifling exercise. If that sounds like you, no problem. Yes, an outline is very useful, but it doesn’t need to be written before you’ve drafted your essay. Instead, you can compose a draft via your usual writing process, and then compose a “reverse outline.” Go through each paragraph and write down its main idea. There, you’ve got a reverse outline.

Once you’ve composed your outline (or reverse outline), consider it from a more macro-level. Does each idea build upon the prior one? Do you address each part of the prompt in your essay? Do any of your paragraphs not relate to the prompt (if so, consider removing them)? Does any idea receive undue attention while other ideas receive cursory attention? Do any paragraphs pack in too many ideas? Or do any paragraphs not fully address any ideas? Lastly, is there anything crucial missing?

After considering all of the questions above, the necessary edits to your essay outline (and, by extension, your essay) should be clear. If not, though, feel free to reach out to our College Essay Review service for personalized help!

RPI Required Supplemental Essay Questions

Why are you interested in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? (250 words or fewer)

This is your chance to show the admissions team why you’re excited about applying to RPI. In other words, this is your “Why RPI?” essay. Many universities consider the applicant’s level of interest when making acceptance decisions. Therefore, demonstrating how interested you are in attending RPI could make or break your application.

How can you demonstrate interest in RPI in this essay? First, you’ll need to clarify your interests to the reader. Then, you’ll need to point to the opportunities at RPI that relate to these interests of yours. Research will be key to making your response to this prompt shine. When possible, name specific programs, professors, courses, or other opportunities at RPI that will support you on your academic journey.

Ideally, you show the reader why RPI is uniquely fitting for your academic interests and personal ambitions. What does RPI offer that most schools don’t? Once you identify the unique offerings at RPI related to your interests, you can explore them in your essay. If you have space, feel free to connect those opportunities at RPI to your future career or other goals. Demonstrating how RPI’s curriculum and extracurricular offerings will benefit you post-graduation will show the reader your forethought and maturity.

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (300 words or fewer)

In this essay, you’re free to go into detail on an activity you’ve already listed elsewhere. That said, we recommend instead picking an experience you haven’t already described, because this gives you more opportunities to show off your strengths and diverse qualities.

Use the categories the prompt lists as a jumping-off point to decide on your essay topic. Are there any extracurricular experiences you didn’t list with your other activities? Where have you worked, and how did your work affect you? What lessons did you learn from these experiences?

Again, be as specific as you can. For example:

• Instead of stating how passionate you were about writing your fiction book, explain how facing your fifth rejection email taught you to persevere until you landed the publication
• Instead of saying your retail job taught you to keep a level head in a fast-paced environment, describe how defusing a conflict with an angry customer opened your eyes to new conflict-resolution strategies
• Instead of describing the responsibilities you took on at your software internship, specifically describe how you caught up to the learning curve set for the college-age interns

Remember, this shouldn’t be a superficial experience, but, ideally, something that has shaped who you are. Think carefully about the activity you choose and the accompanying anecdote(s) to avoid coming across as shallow or generic.

RPI Program-Specific Supplemental Essay Questions

Accelerated Physician-Scientist (B.S./M.D.) Program: State your reasons for aspiring to a career in medicine. (500-750 words)

This prompt is simple, but difficult. Writing 500-750 words about your chosen career path may sound intimidating, but there are a few strategies you can implement to make the process easier.

For instance, if you have experienced a particular critical moment in your life that inspired you to pursue this career, or multiple moments, you can also consider writing this narrative/these narratives into your essay. For instance, was there an occasion when you witnessed a healthcare professional doing their job and felt inspired to follow in their footsteps? If so, recounting this experience could help make your essay more vivid and personal. That said, narrative(s) should not be the sole basis for your essay. Most important is that your essay genuinely represents your reasoning

You may also want start with composing a list of your reasons for pursuing a medical career. This can be a casual list, and your reasons can range from “stable future salary” to “it’s what my parents want for me” to a generic “helping people.” At this stage, the list is just for you. What’s most important is getting everything on the page for yourself.

Then, once you’ve got your list down, pick 2-4 specific reasons that you’d like to focus on in your essay. The rest of the reasons can manifest as smaller points or just remain in the back of your mind as more subtle influences in your writing process. Why is it best to whittle your list down and not try to pack every reason into your essay? In most cases, a long list of reasons will make for an unfocused, abstract essay. Ideally, your essay describes concrete reasons and moves between each point with clear transitions. That way, your reader will understand the nuances of each reason and how each reason applies uniquely to you.

Architecture (ARCH): State your reasons for choosing architecture as your profession (1–2 pages).

This prompt requires you to consider your past, present, and future—all in 1–2 pages! Of course, this isn’t easy to implement. Let’s discuss some strategies to make writing this essay a little bit more straightforward.

First, you may want to start with a list of reasons that drive you to pursue the architectural profession. For instance, what experiences in your past led you to consider the field of architecture? What research, internships, projects, etc. are you pursuing currently that solidify your passion for the field? And how do you envision your future in an architectural career?

Given that “architecture” is a broad field, you may want to indicate to the reader what you hope to specialize in. If your drive to pursue architecture is propelled by your visions of a greener future, then perhaps you can explain why environmental protection is one of your reasons for pursuing architecture, as well as being the sub-field that most interests you. This strategy allows your essay to do double-duty by sharing more about your academic interests while still answering the question.

Electronic Arts (EART): Discuss your interests in the field of electronic arts, and state how this is reflected in your portfolio, if one has been submitted (1–2 pages).

This essay prompt seeks to understand your interests, your portfolio (ideally, one has been submitted), and, if possible, what you hope to do with these interests in the future. On their webpage, the RPI EART program lists “videographers, art directors, graphic designers, audio engineers, musicians, gallery artists, animators, storyboard artists, and more” as careers for their alumni. If one or more of these careers speaks to you, then diving into that career here could help clarify your interests in the electronics arts field for the reader.

If you’re having trouble gaining inspiration for this essay, consider the projects, opportunities, etc. that you’ve pursued in the electronic arts field. Alternatively, consider your favorite artists or other creators and how they inspire you to follow in their footsteps—or forge your own path over the foundation they’ve built! Describing your influences and past experiences in the field of electronic arts will help demonstrate to the reader the depth of your interests and engagement.

Don’t forget to discuss how your portfolio reflect your interests. Focus on the works whose influences or messages might not be clear if the portfolio is evaluated in isolation. In other words, you may want to say the most about the works that are most likely to confuse the admissions team evaluating them.

Alternatively, you can focus on the works that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of your interests, the social justice message underpinning them, or the artistic vision driving them, to name a few directions this essay could take. Most crucial is that the interests you choose to discuss in this essay are clearly named and defined for the reader. Write authentically and in direct response to the prompt, and you’ll do fine.

Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS): State your reasons for choosing the field of games and simulation arts and sciences, making reference to your portfolio if one has been submitted (1–2 pages).

This prompt might look simple, but many students will find it difficult. If it’s helpful, consider writing an outline to guide your essay draft. You can write a chronological outline that starts with your inspiration, moves onto how you pursue your field today, before describing how you envision your career.

Alternatively, you can try writing up a list of reasons you wish to pursue games and simulation arts and sciences. In your brainstorming process, think broadly with the interests you choose to put on this list. Remember, this exercise is just to get you thinking. If one of your reasons feels too personal or unnecessary for the admissions team to know, you have no obligation to include it in your essay. That said, your list might surprise you. At least in the brainstorming stage, don’t hold back.

This essay should provide specific details and remain focused throughout. In most cases, this means writing thoughtfully and thoroughly about just a few of your reasons.

If you’re unsure which reasons to focus on, try free-writing about the ones you’re deciding between. Give yourself 150 words, maximum, per reason in this exercise. Write until you’ve used up your 150 words. Try to write without lifting your pen from the page (or your fingers from the keyboard)! Hopefully, this process will show you which reasons provide the most room for fruitful discussion.

Lastly, you will ideally submit a portfolio and discuss it in this essay. If a particular work reflects one or more of your reasons, then you can (and should) bring it up in this essay. Remember, your reasons can be as simple as “I enjoy X” or “Y fulfills my creative side.” Whatever reasons you pick, though, you’ll need to explain with detail and examples, if applicable.

Music (MUSC): Describe your interest in the music major and your goals. Please include completed course work in music, private music instruction, musical performance and production experience, or completed independent projects (1–2 pages).

This essay should have three parts:

1. Your interest in the music major.
2. Your goals as a result of pursuing the music major.
3. Your musical history.

Your college application might already cover some of these topics (particularly the third point listed above). You’re still expected to rehash them here, even if in brief. When addressing this third part, you can tie your response to the first and/or second part(s). For instance, you can describe a particular course you took and how it inspired your interest in the music field. Alternatively, you can express how a specific project you completed brought you closer to your goals.

This essay response, more than the other RPI supplemental essays, also provides you with the opportunity to express why RPI is the right school for you. You’re not asked to describe your interest in music, but rather in “the music major.” Thus, conducting some research into RPI’s music offerings could help you build a more effective essay. For instance, mentioning how a particular professor, course, club, or other opportunity at RPI attracts you will help you answer the question about your interest in the music major.

Describing your goals could sound like an intimidating task. However, you should see it as a good opportunity to define what RPI experience you’d most like to have. Entering college with defined goals—whether career, personal, or academic—can help you choose courses with intention, pursue extracurriculars purposefully, and overall get more out of your undergraduate experience. Although your goals may evolve throughout your undergraduate years, starting out with defined, yet dynamic goals can only help.

Regardless, you’ll need to indicate some of these goals in this essay. It can be helpful to visualize yourself in five years. Where are you working? What knowledge do you possess? How have you changed as a person? And, most importantly (for this essay, not in general), how has RPI’s music major helped you become that person you see in your future? If you can answer this question, you’re well on your way to a successful essay.

If you need help polishing up your RPI supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the RPI Supplemental Essays 2025–2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.

Duke’s 2025-2026 Prompts

Required Essay Question

1. What is your impression of Duke as a university and community, and why do you believe it is a good match for your goals, values, and interests? If there is something specific that attracts you to our academic offerings in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering, or to our co-curricular opportunities, feel free to include that, too. (250 words or fewer)

Optional Essay Questions

Although these prompts are optional, you can select up to two prompts to respond to. Each prompt permits a maximum of 250 words.

1. Viewpoints and experiences: We believe a wide range of viewpoints and experiences is essential to maintaining Duke’s vibrant living and learning community. Please share anything in this context that might help us better understand you and your potential contributions to Duke.
2. Difference of opinion: Meaningful dialogue often involves respectful disagreement. Provide an example of a difference of opinion you’ve had with someone you care about. What did you learn from it?
3. Something you are excited about: What’s the last thing that you’ve been really excited about?
4. Ethics & AI: Duke recently launched an initiative “to bring together Duke experts across all disciplines who are advancing artificial intelligence (AI) research, addressing the most pressing ethical challenges posed by AI, and shaping the future of AI in the classroom” (ai.duke.edu). Tell us about a situation when you would or would not choose to use AI (when possible and permitted). What shapes your thinking?

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General Tips

These essay prompts all seek to understand who you are as a person. Even in the required essay, which asks you about Duke, you’ll need to imagine yourself at Duke, or at least consider the ways your interests, abilities, and/or personality traits are well-suited to a Duke University experience.

Writing about yourself is difficult, even though it’s one of the hallmarks of the college application experience. (Or, maybe, admissions officers choose to make applicants write about themselves because it’s difficult… ) That said, there are some ways to overcome or even embrace this challenge.

Talk It Out

If you’re having trouble deciding drafting your essays, try talking about the questions asked by the prompts out loud. Talk to a friend or family member or even to your bedroom wall. Consider recording yourself while you speak, or asking someone to type what you say. You absolutely have a story to share, and that story can be shared colloquially, at least in a first draft.

Think About Who You’re Not

If the prospect of defining your identity, interests, and perspectives is daunting, try making a list of things you’re not. Labels you don’t identify with, perspectives you don’t hold, and interests you would never pursue. Once you’ve got this list, try turning every item on it around, and replacing it with an answer that does, in fact, speak to you.

Consider What’s Missing From Your Application

If you look at your application as a whole, there are likely parts of yourself that aren’t communicated in it. Think about the admissions officer looking at your application. Who will they think you are, based on the provided materials, and how does that person differ from the real you? This mental exercise should help you identify what’s missing from your application. Make a list of these missing elements, and try to focus on them while writing your essays.

Duke Required Essay Question

What is your impression of Duke as a university and community, and why do you believe it is a good match for your goals, values, and interests? If there is something specific that attracts you to our academic offerings in Trinity College of Arts and Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering, or to our co-curricular opportunities, feel free to include that, too. (250 words or fewer)

This is your “Why Duke?” essay. In order to effectively answer this essay question, you’ll need to do your research. Not only should you identify what makes Duke unique, but also what makes Duke the right place for you. In other words, don’t list unique qualities of Duke that could apply to any applicant. Determine what aspects of Duke will be relevant to your college experience and academic interests.

This prompt specifically asks applicants to share what their “sense of Duke as a university and a community” is, so you’ll need to make sure you have some facts at the ready to respond to this part of the prompt. For instance, when discussing your “sense of Duke as a university,” you can describe how the academic possibilities at Duke speak to you. Is it the action-driven nature of the Nicholas School of the Environment? Are you inspired by the interdisciplinary opportunities at Trinity College of Arts & Sciences? Further, when discussing your “sense of Duke as… a community,” you can research campus life, student experiences, and more in order to develop a nuanced sense of the kind of people you’d be in company with at Duke.

The key to a compelling response lies in making explicit connections between Duke’s offerings (academic and social) and your personal goals, values, and interests. Start by clearly articulating what you hope to achieve or experience during college—whether that’s conducting groundbreaking research, pursuing interdisciplinary studies, or developing leadership skills through service. Then identify your core values, such as collaboration, innovation, intellectual curiosity, or social impact.

Duke Optional Essay Questions

These essay prompts are optional, but we recommend answering one of them. Every essay opportunity is another opportunity to demonstrate to Duke how excited you are to attend and how well you’ll fit in as a student.

Each essay response is limited to 250 words.

Viewpoints and experiences: We believe a wide range of viewpoints and experiences is essential to maintaining Duke’s vibrant living and learning community. Please share anything in this context that might help us better understand you and your potential contributions to Duke. (250 words or fewer)

This essay response seeks to understand your worldview. If you have had unique life experiences that have influenced your worldview, here’s your chance to share some of those experiences and how they’ve informed your perspective. Be specific in your narration, and make sure to clarify how your perspective(s) have changed.

You may also have a complicated relationship with a certain social, political, or economic issue. For instance, you may have developed your political opinions in opposition to those held by your immediate family members. You can share your ability to think independently with the Duke admissions team in this essay. Explain how you have pursued your own research into subjects important to you, spoken to people whose opinions vary, and forged your own path through it all.

Difference of opinion: Meaningful dialogue often involves respectful disagreement. Provide an example of a difference of opinion you’ve had with someone you care about. What did you learn from it? (250 words or fewer)

This essay prompt seeks to understand the people you surround yourself with in addition to getting a sense of your worldviews. Similarly to prompt one, you’ll need to discuss your perspectives on the world. Unlike prompt one, this prompt focuses on your perspectives through the lens of others in your life.

You can describe a time when you disagreed with a friend, family member, classmate, coworker, or even an authority figure like a teacher or employer. Regardless, discuss your disagreement respectfully so that the reader understands that you approach even complicated issues with nuance and maturity.

In order to effectively discuss the agreements and disagreements you have with the people in your life, you’re going to need to give the reader at least a taste of your values and beliefs. Focus on just one or two important beliefs/values, if you can. Otherwise, you risk your essay feeling bloated or underdeveloped. When discussing your values/beliefs, be sure to provide the requisite context. Moreover, when possible, clarify how the people in your life have disagreed or agreed with your perspectives, versus just stating whether they agreed or disagreed.

Something you are excited about: What’s the last thing that you’ve been really excited about? (250 words or fewer)

This essay is designed to reveal your authentic interests, passions, and what genuinely motivates you. Duke wants to see what makes you come alive and how you engage with the world around you when you’re genuinely enthusiastic about something. In terms of topics, your excitement could stem from anything: a book you couldn’t put down, a scientific discovery you read about, a project you worked on, a conversation that changed your perspective, a skill you learned, or even a problem you’re trying to solve. What matters isn’t the scale or perceived importance of what excited you, but rather how genuine your enthusiasm is.

Remember that you shouldn’t choose a topic you think will impress admissions officers. Instead, focus on the “why” behind your excitement and dig deep into what specifically about this thing captivated you. How did it make you think differently or want to learn more? Perhaps this interest connects to broader interests you already had or led to entirely new areas of exploration. Would you say your excitement inspireed you to take concrete action (ex: research further, start a project, have deeper conversations, or change your behavior in some way)? I would recommend showing your intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm through specific details and vivid storytelling rather than simply stating how you were feeling about the subject or topic. That way you can help the reader feel your energy and understand what drives your passion for learning and engagement with the world around you.

Ethics & AI: Duke recently launched an initiative “to bring together Duke experts across all disciplines who are advancing artificial intelligence (AI) research, addressing the most pressing ethical challenges posed by AI, and shaping the future of AI in the classroom” (ai.duke.edu). Tell us about a situation when you would or would not choose to use AI (when possible and permitted). What shapes your thinking? (250 words or fewer)

This prompt assesses your critical thinking about emerging technology and ethical reasoning. Duke wants to understand how you navigate complex ethical questions and whether you can think thoughtfully about technology’s role in society and learning.

The scenario you present can involve academic work (when to use AI for research vs. doing it yourself), creative projects (using AI for brainstorming versus original creation), or real-world applications (AI in healthcare, criminal justice, or employment). But rather than focusing on abstract or overly broad discussions, you should focus on concrete and realistic situations where you’ll have to make this decisiona about AI usage.

You can demonstrate nuanced thinking by acknowledging both benefits and risks of AI in your chosen scenario. Instead of using absolute statements where it seems like you’ll adopt or reject technology blindly, try to come up with a more specific scenarios! As for your reasoning, consider factors like authenticity, fairness, privacy, human agency, or learning outcomes. What ethical principles guide your decision-making and how do these ideas relate to your personal values and/or experiences?

If you need help polishing up your Duke supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.

The post How to Write the Duke Supplemental Essays 2025–2026 appeared first on College Admissions Blog.